Beta Channel
Pre-release fixes, experiments, and version history for Aion beta
2.12.20
LatestImproved
- Added configurable linked applications so related launchers, engines, and helper apps share user-activity state without sharing their other rules.
Fixed
- Fixed AutoQuit closing a container app while the user was actively interacting with its linked engine by resetting the whole activity group's countdown and rechecking the relationship immediately before quit.
2.12.19
Fixed
- Fixed AutoQuit closing an app that was currently in use by resetting foreground idle tracking on input and revalidating the exact process immediately before graceful or force quit.
- Fixed release-notes links in the update dialog so Stable and Beta updates open their canonical changelog pages.
- Fixed switching between Stable and Beta when both channels use the same version number by allowing the requested one-time same-version update.
2.12.18
Fixed
- Fixed the configured menu-bar global shortcut doing nothing after monthly activity summaries were introduced.
2.12.17
Improved
- Reduced background work for Dock apps without windows: confirmation stays responsive during a pending close, while idle scans back off and wake on app or window changes.
2.12.16
Fixed
- Fixed Helper installation on Macs with a legacy Aion Helper by migrating Direct builds to an isolated v2 service before cleaning up the old service.
2.12.15
Improved
- Simplified Activity History filters into one menu with separate activity-type and outcome sections.
2.12.14
Improved
- Unified Activity History into one view: the selected time range now drives the summary and activity details, while monthly reminders stay in the menu.
2.12.13
Improved
- Renamed Protected Decisions to Protection Blocks and clarified what the metric means, including when protection keeps an app open.
Fixed
- Fixed whitelist and Focus Mode keep-open decisions being filtered out before they could be recorded in Activity History, which could leave the protection count at zero.
2.12.12
Fixed
- Fixed Direct Helper updates failing with Operation not permitted when macOS retained a stale enabled registration. Aion now re-registers the same-name Helper without unregistering first and waits for it to become ready.
2.12.11
Improved
- Reorganized Activity History into three clear sections: monthly report, recent 7-day summary, and activity details. Unified metric icons and colors, with better narrow-window layout support.
2.12.10
Improved
- Simplified the Helper installation dialog by removing repeated explanations and keeping the required capabilities clear at a glance.
Fixed
- Fixed the first Helper installation attempt failing while macOS was still starting the newly registered service. Aion now waits for Helper readiness and retries transient startup errors.
2.12.9
Fixed
- Fixed Direct Helper installation when an older privileged Helper left root-owned files behind. Aion now lets SMAppService take over the legacy registration instead of launching an unsupported external cleanup process.
2.12.8
Fixed
- Fixed Direct Helper installation when an older privileged Helper left root-owned files behind. The repair flow now uses a system administrator authorization to remove those legacy artifacts before registering the new Helper.
2.12.7
Fixed
- Fixed Direct Helper updates failing repeatedly when an older privileged Helper left root-owned files behind. Aion now requests the required administrator authorization, removes only the legacy Direct Helper artifacts, and continues the update.
2.12.6
New
- Added a richer local monthly Activity History report with impact totals, active days, previous-month trends, top apps, and actionable follow-up suggestions.
Improved
- Monthly reminders now open the full Activity History report directly, stay dismissed after being viewed, and remain local to the Mac in both Direct and Setapp editions.
- Improved Aion's macOS Shortcuts integration with discoverable Quit All Apps and Run App Shortcut actions.
- Improved Helper startup and update handling to avoid repeated repair prompts during temporary connection delays.
Fixed
- Fixed monthly report cards being marked as read merely by opening the menu bar panel.
- Fixed Shortcut actions failing to appear or communicate with Aion in some installations.
2.12.5
Improved
- Improved local performance diagnostics with version-specific collection windows, request/result denominators, clearer rates, and separate numeric samples without exposing app identities.
2.12.4
Fixed
- Fixed automatic installer ejection when Aion starts with an installer already mounted or when the setting is enabled while an installer is mounted.
2.12.3
Fixed
- Fixed a packaging issue that could prevent the Direct beta from launching after updating to 2.12.2.
2.12.2
New
- Added a local monthly Activity History summary and reminder flow for both Direct and Setapp editions, with no fabricated usage or cloud upload.
Improved
- Improved automatic-quit monitoring so unchanged background refreshes stay quiet while meaningful app, process, and protection changes still wake it promptly.
- Improved frontmost-app idle tracking so the countdown starts from actual inactivity and follows the configured timeout and color thresholds.
Fixed
- Fixed the countdown ring and idle state being retained incorrectly after switching back to the current app.
2.12.1
Fixed
- Improved Sparkle update downloads on slow or interrupted connections by allowing more time and avoiding stale cached responses.
2.12.0
New
- Added a local monthly Activity History summary and reminder flow to the Setapp edition, with no fabricated usage or cloud upload.
- Added Setapp-owned protection entries with clear source badges while keeping user-created rules separate.
Improved
- Made automatic-quit monitoring react to app, window, Focus, power, session, and settings changes, with coalescing and a low-frequency rescue scan to reduce unnecessary idle work.
- Strengthened Direct and Setapp policy isolation across runtime behavior, migrations, portable settings, and presentation.
Fixed
- Fixed channel-owned protection entries from overwriting or removing matching user rules during migration, sync, and removal.
- Fixed wake-up and background failure paths so inaccessible windows, unavailable Helpers, and unknown states remain fail-closed.
2.11.18
Fixed
- Kept audio, video, camera, microphone, transfer, and AI status badges accurate while the menu bar panel is open, including for foreground apps.
- Restored the shared signing profile and build-tool lookup used by the notarized beta packaging workflow.
2.11.17
Improved
- Reduced idle energy use by suspending automatic-quit scans when no eligible apps are waiting to quit.
- Made process, resource, media, network, and window monitoring event-driven and adaptive to menu visibility, lock state, battery use, and system idle time.
- Coalesced MediaRemote and AI lease checks, and stopped Helper network sampling when no protected download or upload app is running.
Fixed
- Prevented repeated failed app-icon loads and high-frequency media errors from creating unnecessary background work.
2.11.16
Improved
- Reduced background monitoring work when no protected apps are active, improving idle CPU and energy usage.
- Improved Helper compatibility and diagnostics while keeping older or unavailable Helpers safe.
Fixed
- Fixed protection scans and automatic-quit checks doing unnecessary repeated work during idle periods.
2.11.15
Improved
- Activity History summary cards now fill the available width evenly, and protection status badges are easier to read in the menu bar.
- Helper version checks now keep active protection scans connected while the update state is refreshed.
Fixed
- Fixed the Helper update sheet showing installation copy when an existing Helper required an update.
2.11.14
New
- Improved automatic quit checks by safely reusing the privileged Helper connection during concurrent protection scans.
Fixed
- Fixed the automatic quit countdown getting stuck when download or upload protection was enabled.
2.11.10
New
- Added privileged network sampling for download and upload protection, with a disk I/O fallback when Helper is unavailable.
- Added localized More Filters and Section labels in Activity History.
Improved
- Made Activity History rows compact by default while keeping detailed information available on expansion.
Fixed
- Fixed download protection missing high-volume transfers from apps such as Gopeed when normal-user network sampling is unavailable.
2.11.9
New
- Added automatic sizing for the Settings sidebar across localized languages.
Improved
- Reduced duplicate writes for notification icon and cloud settings payloads.
- Refined Activity History presentation and quit-success history handling.
Fixed
- Fixed duplicate or missing terminal records after a quit attempt succeeds through force quit.
2.11.8
New
- Added clearer Memory Pressure settings so users can opt in to faster idle cleanup when macOS is under sustained memory pressure.
Improved
- Smart Suggestions now respect existing app rules, allowlists, blocklists, active scenes, and Instant Task decisions before showing a recommendation.
- Improved quit-failure feedback with clearer animation and a single final result when a normal quit is followed by a successful force quit.
- Reduced repeated notification icon writes and tightened Window List diagnostic privacy.
Fixed
- Fixed smart protection suggestions from appearing for unsupported apps or conflicting with an existing explicit decision.
2.11.7
New
- Added per-process network activity detection for downloads and uploads using macOS nettop counters.
Improved
- Download and upload protection no longer treats unrelated disk cache, logs, or database activity as network traffic.
Fixed
- Fixed downloads that stayed in memory and uploads that did not read from disk being missed by the old disk-I/O proxy.
2.11.6
New
- Added process-level audio output attribution so Aion can keep multiple apps safe when they are playing audio at the same time.
Improved
- Media protection now supplements single-slot Now Playing metadata with CoreAudio process signals.
Fixed
- Fixed secondary audio players being missed when another app occupied the Now Playing slot.
2.11.5
New
- Added clearer edition-aware startup handling for direct and Setapp builds, including safe identity separation and conflict protection.
- Added focused smart protection suggestions for supported apps, while respecting existing rules and list decisions.
Improved
- Improved iCloud portable-settings sync with profile-aware merging and a one-time migration for settings saved by older builds.
- Improved Activity History and notification results for protected, skipped, and unfinished quit decisions.
- Hardened beta packaging and edition-specific update behavior so direct and Setapp distribution paths remain isolated.
Fixed
- Fixed older iCloud settings becoming orphaned when moving to the portable profile format.
- Fixed edition-specific bundle and cache identities being shared across direct and Setapp builds.
2.11.3
New
- AI lease status: `aion lease list` now reports active AI protections directly through Aion's local Unix socket.
Improved
- CLI lease commands now use a stable default holder, so begin, renew, and end work reliably across separate terminal or Agent invocations.
- Demo screenshot automation now preserves legacy language aliases, serializes overlapping batches, restores the previous app language, and safely handles output paths and CLI arguments.
Fixed
- Fixed inconsistent lease-list response fields while retaining compatibility with existing integrations.
- Fixed whitelist-only apps being accepted as AI lease targets; lease authorization now requires a currently known app identity.
- Fixed batch capture timeouts caused by missing or incomplete manifest writes, with clear failure and cancellation results.
2.11.2
Improved
- Localization Cleanup: Standardized UI keys for Advanced Settings and Demo Mode across all 11 supported languages, resolving dual-language text issues.
- Packaging Safety Gate: Added strict pre-build UI localization audit to automatically block future builds if unlocalized or hardcoded dual-language strings are introduced.
2.11.1
New
- CLI lease command: AI app protection (the no-auto-quit lease protocol) can now be controlled directly from the terminal or any script via `aion lease begin/renew/end`. No External Agent Control switch required — the lease channel is always available.
Improved
- aion-cli.sh now includes built-in lease help (aion lease help) with usage examples and protocol notes.
- Blacklist CLI list command now uses the correct status JSON key.
2.11.0
New
- External Agent Control: Added a toggle in Advanced Settings to allow AI tools and scripts to control Aion via URL scheme commands (scene switching, protection toggles, blacklist management). Disabled by default — opt-in only.
- CLI automation support via aion:// URL scheme: scenes, protections, blacklist, UI windows, and status query now fully accessible to external tools when enabled.
Improved
- Advanced Settings now groups developer tools and automation controls in dedicated sections for better clarity.
2.10.26
Fixed
- Completely eliminated NSPopoverFrame subview anchor arrow in HUD mode for a clean floating window.
2.10.25
New
- Added safety alert modal when attempting to blacklist macOS system processes to prevent accidental desktop freezes.
- Comprehensive update to built-in and online tips library for all major features.
2.10.24
Improved
- Enhanced Cloudflare License API network requests to resolve device management loading issues.
Fixed
- Completely removed popover floating triangle arrow when opened via HUD shortcut.
2.10.23
New
- Added Demo Mode & Marketing screenshot utility (Option+Shift+S to capture clean app window screenshots, Option+Shift+D to toggle).
Improved
- Enhanced system-level app auto-quit exclusion and smart process protections.
- Optimized headless Developer ID signing and notary integration.
Fixed
- Fixed menu bar popover HUD position tracking and floating triangle arrow pointer in shortcut HUD mode.
2.10.22
New
- Menu bar popover can now be opened with a global shortcut (default Option+M) and appears near your mouse following the same HUD positioning rules.
Fixed
- Fixed self-healing device 403 authorization fallback and ISO8601 parser edge cases.
2.10.21
New
- This beta starts a new Sparkle update-signing key lineage on the current packaging Mac. Existing installs from the old key lineage must download and install 2.10.21 manually once before automatic updates resume.
Improved
- Polished app animations and physical feedback per design guidelines.
- Added interactive scale feedback to all Onboarding buttons.
- Optimized MarqueeText scroll and expand/collapse transitions.
Fixed
- Fixed tooltip entrance animation direction to instant ease-out.
2.10.20
Improved
- Auto-quit failure notifications now wait until the retry flow is exhausted, instead of appearing after an early failed attempt that may succeed moments later.
- The auto-quit failure wording is now clearer for apps that remain running in the background: Aion says the quit did not finish instead of implying the response was blocked.
Fixed
- Fixed misleading notifications for apps such as IntelliJ IDEA where an early quit attempt could report failure even though a later retry closed the app.
2.10.19
Improved
- Auto-quit failure notifications are now actionable: click the notification to open Activity History filtered to apps that did not close.
- Repeated auto-quit failure notifications for the same app are now suppressed briefly, reducing notification spam from background helper processes.
- When an app is eligible for force quit, the notification can show a guarded Force Quit action that re-checks the target before acting.
Fixed
- Improved the confusing blocked auto-quit flow where users could see repeated background-process notifications but had no clear place to review or act on them.
2.10.18
Improved
- Whitelist protection is now applied consistently to the Dock-app-with-no-windows cleanup path.
Fixed
- Fixed an issue where an app in Whitelist could still be auto-quit after its last standard window disappeared if the separate windowless Dock app cleanup option was enabled.
2.10.17
Improved
- Menu bar resource values are now displayed with stronger body-style text, making CPU and memory values easier to read at a glance.
Fixed
- Fixed the menu bar resource text readability again after the previous style was still too subtle in daily use.
2.10.16
Improved
- Menu bar app-list resource values now use a normal text style again, so CPU and memory readouts fit more naturally with the rest of the row.
Fixed
- Fixed the menu bar app-list resource text after the earlier emphasis styling made CPU and memory values look too strong.
2.10.15
Improved
- Menu bar app-list resource values are now easier to read at a glance, with stronger contrast and clearer numeric styling for CPU and memory.
Fixed
- Fixed a readability issue where CPU and memory values in the menu bar app list could look too light and too small to scan quickly.
2.10.12
Improved
- Activity History UI Performance: Rebuilt the record list with a lazy-loading architecture, significantly improving scrolling fluidity and reducing CPU spikes when browsing long activity logs.
- Translation Sync: Automatically synchronized missing localization keys across all 11 supported languages.
- Website deployment: Hardened the artifact synchronization flow to ensure all binary assets (DMGs, ZIPs, and Deltas) are correctly tracked and published.
Fixed
- Fixed a deployment failure where symbolic links for the latest DMG could cause Cloudflare Pages build errors.
- Fixed an update-delivery issue in 2.10.11 where missing binary artifacts prevented existing installs from receiving the latest update.
2.10.10
Improved
- Activity History in Settings now uses a more stable scroll layout, so long lists avoid extra layout fallback work while you drag and browse older records.
Fixed
- Fixed a Settings-window freeze path where scrolling the Activity History page could saturate the main thread and make Aion appear unresponsive.
2.10.9
Improved
- Long-running memory usage now sheds more of the Settings window and icon-loading overhead after the window closes, helping the app settle closer to its lightweight background footprint.
- Settings-related Combine observers and Activity History rendering now avoid extra duplicate subscriptions and repeat sorting work during long sessions.
Fixed
- Fixed another runtime-memory issue where settings observation rebuilds, long-lived icon cache entries, and the Settings window close path could keep more UI and cache state alive than necessary.
2.10.8
Improved
- Activity History now separates apps Aion kept open from apps it could not close, so blocked rules, retry backoff, and real close failures are easier to tell apart at a glance.
- Activity History filters and expanded rows now use the same user-facing grouping and explanations shown in the list, so it is easier to understand why an app stayed open.
Fixed
- Fixed confusing Activity History wording where apps that failed to close or paused retries could appear in the same 'Left Running' bucket as apps Aion intentionally kept open.
2.10.7
Improved
- Long-running Space and display tracking now handles private SkyLight copy results with explicit ownership, so repeated window and Space refreshes release those Core Foundation objects instead of letting them accumulate.
Fixed
- Fixed another memory growth issue where WindowManager could leak retained SkyLight display-space arrays over time, especially during long sessions with repeated HUD, Space, and fullscreen checks.
2.10.6
Improved
- Dock-windowless auto-quit now coalesces overlapping refresh passes, so the 1-second cleanup timer no longer stacks extra scans while a previous pass is still running.
Fixed
- Fixed another slow memory-growth path where dock-windowless checks repeatedly rebuilt full WindowServer window dictionaries for each app instead of reusing a lightweight per-cycle snapshot.
2.10.5
Improved
- Window rules now coalesce overlapping refresh requests, so repeated timer, wake, and display-change checks do not keep stacking extra scans while an earlier pass is still running.
Fixed
- Fixed another slow memory-growth path where long-running window-rule checks could keep accumulating AppleScript, Accessibility, and temporary Foundation objects over time.
2.10.4
Improved
- Dock-windowless auto-quit now relies on WindowServer first for regular apps, so the always-on 1-second cleanup path does much less Accessibility work during long sessions.
- Installer auto-eject now responds faster after app installs and retries more reliably when the app is still running from the mounted image or the first detach attempt fails.
Fixed
- Fixed a slow memory-growth path where dock-windowless cleanup could repeatedly query Accessibility window state for regular apps even when WindowServer had already confirmed a live window.
- Fixed an installer cleanup regression where auto-eject could stall after installation because the mounted app was still active or the detach step failed once.
2.10.3
Improved
- Long-running memory use is now handled more conservatively by releasing heavy window and Space scan objects earlier and trimming stale PID-scoped monitor state during refreshes.
Fixed
- Fixed a memory growth issue where repeated window and Space scans could leave bridged system objects and stale per-PID tracking state behind over long sessions.
2.10.2
Improved
- Dock-windowless cleanup now treats Terminal and iTerm more carefully when their windows live on another Space, reducing false cleanup decisions during fullscreen video use.
- Repeated auto-quit failures now back off more cleanly, so the same app is less likely to keep re-entering the same failed countdown loop in logs.
Fixed
- Fixed a regression where Terminal could be mistaken for a windowless app during fullscreen video playback on another Space, leading to repeated failed quit attempts.
2.10.1
Improved
- Generic download tools now keep using the default traffic threshold even on Pro, so download and upload protection still work without forcing a custom threshold first.
Fixed
- Fixed a regression where apps such as Gopeed could miss download or upload protection after the guard was enabled but left on the global default threshold.
2.9.44
Improved
- Built-in Focus modes now keep stable internal identities across app and system metadata, making system-selected modes like Work less likely to drift after an update.
Fixed
- Fixed a Focus regression where selecting a built-in mode such as Work could resolve back to Do Not Disturb after the system reloaded the filter selection.
2.9.43
Improved
- Focus-enabled beta packaging now requires the Xcode-generated app bundle path by default, reducing the risk of system integrations disappearing after an update.
Fixed
- Release packaging now blocks the native SwiftPM fallback path for builds that declare Focus/AppIntents integration, preventing this unstable route from being used as the default beta release path.
2.9.42
Improved
- Process Monitor now refreshes less aggressively in both visible and background states, reducing unnecessary churn while keeping menu and monitoring data updates smoother.
- Smart Guard disk-write detection now samples activity over a shorter interval, so busy apps can be recognized a little faster during write-heavy work.
- Hover menus now wait slightly longer before auto-dismissing after the pointer leaves, making short pointer slips less likely to close the menu unexpectedly.
Fixed
- Auto-Quit UI state propagation was restored so short-lived quit states can still reach views that depend on AppState updates.
- Dock-windowless auto-quit keeps its 1-second polling path, preserving the intended responsiveness for apps that lose all windows.
2.9.27 - 2.9.41
New
- Added a dedicated Activity History page in Settings so you can review what Aion changed, why an app stayed open, and whether each close flow ultimately succeeded or failed.
Improved
- Activity History and About were tightened for the default Settings window size, with clearer wording, cleaner summaries, easier-to-scan filters, and quicker access to Feedback and Support.
- Focus Filters were rebuilt around app-owned metadata and safer packaging, so Aion can reappear in macOS Focus settings with localized labels and more reliable system integration.
- Menu Bar and Window HUD now do less work while visible: Option-key state uses modifier events instead of polling, HUD filtering runs off the main path, hidden HUD work is cancelled on close, and recovered window titles reuse short-lived Accessibility snapshots more efficiently.
- Packaging and packaged-resource loading were hardened across modern build outputs, making beta artifacts and bundled resources more consistent.
Fixed
- Activity History: Fixed additional untranslated labels, improved fallback localization for older English records, and collapsed one quit flow into a single final result entry instead of separate attempt and result rows.
- Settings recovery: When saved settings are missing or become unreadable after an update, Aion now restores the latest valid local backup before falling back to defaults.
- App Rules: Fixed Window Auto-Close strategy menus showing blank content when an older stored rule no longer matched the app's supported strategies.
- Focus/App Shortcuts packaging: Fixed beta builds dropping app-level localization files required by Focus integration.
- Process Monitor and settings-driven UI refresh: Fixed stale app metadata when the same PID set returned in a different order during the visible-state fast path, and restored nested settings changes propagating through AppState.
- Smart Guards: Reduced unnecessary media probing work while keeping guard decisions more stable.
2.9.19
New
- Added Pro-only AI App Protection for local AI workflows, so Aion can temporarily keep an app out of automatic cleanup while an AI client is still using it.
Improved
- Menu Bar: Apps currently retained for AI work now show a dedicated AI badge, making it clear why they were not auto-quit.
- Auto-Quit: Before closing an AI-held app after lease expiry and grace, Aion now sends one short close-check back to the AI side instead of immediately treating it like normal idle background state.
Fixed
- AI integration: Unknown app keys, stale close-check replies, and conflicting holders are now rejected more strictly, reducing the chance of invalid clients keeping the wrong app protected.
2.9.17
Improved
- Browser-style rules now focus on download activity by default, using a higher proxy threshold to reduce false positives.
- The browser preset no longer turns on upload protection automatically.
Fixed
- Windowless Dock Apps now explains that apps with their own window auto-close rule are skipped from this fallback path.
2.9.15
Improved
- App variants now normalize profile and automation suffixes more consistently, keeping copied apps and profile-based rules stable.
- Window Rules now choose their default strategy by app type and automatically migrate older configs to a supported rule.
Fixed
- Auto-Quit: Apps with explicit Window Rules no longer also fall back to the generic dock-windowless auto-quit path.
- Pro gating: Free devices no longer retain Pro-only rule and scene behaviors through Cloud Sync or non-UI entry points.
2.9.14
New
- Added a dedicated setting to turn full-screen video auto-reclaim on or off.
Improved
- Cloud Sync now keeps the full-screen video auto-reclaim preference in sync across devices.
2.9.13
New
- Smart Guards: Full-screen video playback can now reclaim focus automatically when another app steals the active space.
Improved
- Full-screen video protection now tracks full-screen Spaces more reliably across app activation and Space changes.
2.9.9
Improved
- Installer cleanup: Added a longer safety delay before detaching mounted Aion volumes, reducing the chance of interrupting fresh installs or first-launch handoff.
Fixed
- Auto-Quit: Fixed regular apps being misdetected as windowless when Accessibility briefly missed a live window by falling back to WindowServer state.
- Installer cleanup: Fixed pending auto-eject tasks not being cancelled cleanly after a DMG was already unmounted.