What changed in each version
Every update is signed and installs from the app menu. Language and glyph packs update on their own, in the background.
Starts faster, easier to find, nothing left behind
This is the first public release that includes everything listed under 1.0.5 below.
Faster start
The first launch no longer rebuilds its character references, which could take several minutes on some PCs. Warm-up is about 40% shorter (27 s down to 17 s on our test PC), and the progress window now says what it is doing at each step.
Easy to find
The round button lights up like a neon sign for 2 seconds when the app starts, and again if you launch it while it is already running.
Language list
Languages to download are now sorted alphabetically by name. The trial days badge shows in your interface language.
Language on screen
The question asked when you pick a screen now lists every supported language, starts with no preset answer, and warns you if you choose your own language, since text already in your language is never translated.
Dark, textured backgrounds
Light text on a dark, grainy or patterned background (newsletters, game menus, streaming apps) is now read to the very first and last letter of each line. Before, the background grain could cut off a word at either end.
Zones are for subtitles
Drawn zones are made for subtitles, up to two short lines. If you draw a zone over a whole page, document or e-mail, the app now explains it and offers Auto (full screen) instead.
Laptops with two graphics cards
When a PC has both integrated and dedicated graphics, the app now uses the dedicated card and picks the matching performance mode.
Clean uninstall
Uninstalling removes everything the app created, for every Windows account on the PC: downloaded language packs, settings, logs, caches, crash reports and the start-with-Windows entry. If you reinstall later, enter your licence key again.
Secure connections
Every connection to our server uses HTTPS only, with verified certificates and no redirection to another site. Language packs downloaded on demand are checked against our signed list before they are installed. A program update is installed only if it carries our own code signature.
Easier support
Logs are written in English. At startup the app now checks that each part is really running (reading, translation) and writes a clear line if one is missing, so a problem on your PC can be diagnosed from the log file alone.
Reads more of the screen, faster, with less memory
Reading
Japanese and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) are now read straight from the image, including vertical Japanese text in manga. Hand-lettered comic and manga balloons are read too.
Russian, Ukrainian and Greek
Latin words inside the text (brand names, code, acronyms) are now read as Latin letters. Accents and diacritics are read more reliably across European languages.
Page layout
Multi-column pages are read in the right order, and the overlay stays steadier on scrolling pages and animated backgrounds.
No garbage on screen
Unreadable text is stopped before translation. In our release test, 1 line out of 389 slipped through.
Faster
Up to 20 scans per second per screen (about 15 before). 96% of the lines on screen get translated, with a median delay of about one second.
Better translations
Common word groups and expressions are now translated as a whole: 21 source languages, mainly into English and French (60 language pairs).
Packs on demand
Translation packs are no longer bundled with the installer. They download once, with visible progress, the first time you pick a language pair.
Lighter
About 1.5 GB less memory in Fast mode. The automatic setup now looks at the memory actually free when the app starts, so a PC already busy with a game runs fewer reader processes.
Translation is still fairly literal on long, complex sentences. Subtitles over a moving background can be split into several pieces. A translation can stay a moment too long on a sticky page element, such as a side menu.
More reliable reading and translation display
Translation
Romanian, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese clearly improved. Language selection is more reliable.
Fixes
Fixed a blocking issue that could prevent translations from being displayed.
Reading
Accents are kept, glued letters are separated more often, word spacing on bold and title lines is fixed, and the bottom of the page and the site header are now read.