v2.6.3

Astraeus 2.6.3

New

• Open any game for its details. In the Scores or Fixtures panel, click a live or finished game:
  • Football: goals with the minute, scorer and assist, own goals, penalties, yellow and red cards, and the match stats side by side.
  • American football, hockey and baseball: every scoring play with its quarter, period or inning.
  • Basketball and others: each team's leaders and box score numbers.
  • F1 and motorsport: the weekend's sessions with their winners, plus the running or final order, with the lap while a race is on.
  • Tennis and fight cards: every match or bout in the event, live ones first.
  • Golf: the leaderboard.
  • Chess: every board in the round, who's playing whom with titles and ratings, and results as they come in.
  • All games takes you back to the list.
• The score on the long pill wears its sport's icon: a ball for football, a helmet for F1, a pawn for chess, a racket for tennis and so on.
• Live games on the long pill show the clock when there's room, like "BAR 1-0 RMA 67'".

Better

• The long pill's score only shows games that are on or just finished. A game that ended in the last two hours still counts. With none of those, it shows your latest results. Games that haven't started never show there.
• Scrolling over the score works, and it goes through every game you follow, newest first.

Fixed

• Updating no longer changes your desktop pill, and the note about the long pill no longer shows. Whichever pill you had stays.
• A race or tournament result on the long pill is no longer cut off. It now reads like "Scheffler won".

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.6.2

Astraeus 2.6.2

New

• US Markets widget. The S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq, Russell 2000, VIX, NYSE Composite, NYSE American, the 10-year yield, gold and oil, each with a small chart and its change, plus whether the market is open, in pre-market, after hours or closed. Click it for every market at once, and add any ticker you like.
• NYSE American widget, with the index's chart for the day.
• Sports widgets: Scores and Fixtures. Follow up to three of nearly 50 leagues: football, F1 and motorsport, basketball, American football, baseball, hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, MMA, chess and more, with men's and women's competitions named as such. Scores shows live games and the latest results; scroll over it to go through them, and click it for every score with its periods and venue. Fixtures shows what's live, the latest results and what's coming up, grouped by day in your own time zone.
• Add a game to your calendar. In the Fixtures panel, Add puts a coming game in Astraeus' calendar, with no calendar account needed. It then reads Remove, to take it back out. Open its day in the calendar to see it, and remove it there too.
• Every widget opens for more. Click any widget for its details. They open smoothly, growing out of the widget. Weather opens the forecast, and stocks open their chart with the day's numbers.
• Market and score items for the pills. The regular pill can show the S&P 500. The long pill can show it too, and a live score, like "BAR 0-1 RMA". Scroll over the score to go through the games. The score item is offered while a Scores or Fixtures widget is on your Widgets page.
• Pick the pill for each place. On the desktop and when not on the desktop, choose the regular pill or the long one, in Settings or right in the long pill's editor. A regular pill on the desktop with the long one over your apps works too.
• Different long pill items when not on the desktop. Turn on Own widgets on the editor's Not on desktop tab, and the long pill keeps one set of items on the desktop and another over your apps. It's off until you switch it on.
• Right-click the regular pill to customize. It opens the long pill's editor. If neither place uses the long pill yet, it asks first.

Better

• The long pill is now the desktop pill for everyone. If you used the regular pill on the desktop, you'll see a short note about the change once, and Switch back puts the regular pill back. You can also change it any time under Long pill in Settings. If you already used the long pill, nothing changes, and with Pill on the desktop off there's still no pill on your desktop.
• The long pill's editor is tidier: the place, the pill it wears there and your undo, reset and done sit in one row along the top.
• Long panels scroll all the way down, so the last row is never cut off.

Fixed

• The theme no longer flips while the panel is open and you switch windows.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.6.1

Astraeus 2.6.1

New

• Edit fullscreen right where it is. The pencil beside the lyrics mark opens an editor over the player. Drag and resize the cover, the song, the lyrics and the clock, with guides that snap them into line, and keep one layout for songs with lyrics and another for songs without. Its panel holds the cover's corners and glow, which parts of the song show, the lyric style, the background and the visualizer.
• Edit pages, tiles and widgets over your wallpaper. Right-click the rail or the tiles on the Tools page to arrange them in an editor that shows them exactly as the panel does. The widget editor now matches the board too.
• Undo, redo and reset in every editor: pages, tiles, widgets, fullscreen, the long pill and the display dashboard.
• A short tour of where everything is, the first time the panel opens. Play it again from Tour in Settings.

Better

• Widgets have cleaner layouts at every size, and the gallery shows each one as it will look.
• The System page shows its top processes straight away, with real numbers from the start.
• The long pill leaves the extras in brackets, like "(feat. …)", off song names.
• Settings is lighter: the fullscreen options live in the fullscreen editor now, and Fullscreen under Advanced hides the pencil or the wrong lyrics mark. Switches are a little larger, with more room around them.

Fixed

• Resizing the lyrics in fullscreen no longer changes their font size.
• Lyrics no longer drop in from the top when their column changes size.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.6.0

Astraeus 2.6.0

New

• The long pill. A long pill for your desktop with the widgets you pick, including new RAM and GPU ones. Right-click it to arrange it on any edge, stuck or floating. Turn it on under Long pill on the desktop in Settings.
• Regular pill or long pill when not on desktop. Keep the long pill for the desktop and let the regular pill take over on top of your apps, or keep the long one everywhere. It's a switch in Settings and a choice in the pill's editor.
• A different theme when not on desktop. The desktop and your apps can each have a whole theme of their own: look, accent, background, blur and opacity. Each of Astraeus' two themes matches HaloBar's when one follows the other.
• The Clear look, and glass tints. Clear has icons that turn black or white to suit what's behind them, and a panel tinted by your wallpaper. Glass can be tinted dark, white or any color.
• Stay up in fullscreen. An advanced option, off by default, that keeps an always-shown pill over fullscreen apps. Clicking it opens the panel, or turn that off for only the pill. Exclusive fullscreen games still cover it.

Better

• Long pill settings are at the top of Advanced, with no long scroll to them.
• Sliders stop with their knob inside the track at both ends.

Fixed

• The long pill could freeze after you finished editing it.
• The Window widget no longer says "Program Manager" on the desktop.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.5.1

Astraeus 2.5.1

New

• Timers of any length. On the Tools page, type a time and press Enter: 20 for minutes, 1h 30m, 90s or 1:30, up to 24 hours.

Better

• A more minimal Settings. Cards lose their borders, titles are no longer in capitals, and the text is easier to read. Notes that only repeated their setting are gone, and the orb and motion preview are plainer.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.5.0

Astraeus 2.5.0

New

• A Widgets page. More than 80 widgets in a searchable gallery: clocks, weather, timers, notes, system rings, stocks, and accounts you connect with your own keys. Make each one small, wide or large, and drag them where you want them.
• A display dashboard. Give a whole screen to a grid of tiles you arrange yourself, with its own layout for each monitor.
• Accessibility. High contrast, a text size that can follow Windows, full keyboard navigation, and support for Narrator, NVDA and JAWS. Find it under Settings → Advanced.
• Pick your lyrics. If a song's lyrics are wrong, move the mouse in the fullscreen player and use the small icon in the top right corner to choose another version, or none. Your choice is remembered for that song.
• Other media playing. Right-click the album cover on the Media page to see everything else that's playing and switch to it.
• The album cover thumps with the beat in the fullscreen player. Turn it off in the Visualizer card under Settings → Advanced.
• More visualizer options. A waveform across the player, and Any volume, which keeps the visualizer moving when Windows plays quietly.
• More ways to show the panel. A narrow column layout, a panel that stays pinned open, and a floating card clear of the screen edge.
• Report a problem. Settings → Advanced copies a short report to your clipboard, with your name taken out. Nothing is sent: you read it, then paste it where you choose.

Better

• Lyrics line up more often. Astraeus now compares the copies it finds from each source and passes over one that disagrees with the others, so a copy with missing lines no longer wins.
• Starts sooner at sign-in. Astraeus no longer waits in line behind Windows' other startup apps.

Privacy

Widgets only connect to the service they show, only while the panel is open and the widget is on your Widgets page. Keys you enter are encrypted with Windows, and Export leaves them out. The full list is in the Privacy section.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.4.0

Astraeus 2.4.0

New

• A full audio mixer. Every app on every output, with live level meters, its own output device, and the microphone's volume and mute. No virtual audio devices needed.
• Mixer groups. Up to 8, each with a name, color and icon. Set volume, mute and output for the whole group, with each app still adjustable inside it.
• Chat mix. One slider balances your game group against your chat group.
• Ducking. Chosen groups lower automatically while another group plays.
• Mixer profiles. Save the whole mix and switch between profiles from the Mixer or with a shortcut.
• Mixer shortcuts with an on-screen note: Ctrl+Alt+M mutes the mic, Ctrl+Alt+P picks the next profile, Ctrl+Alt+[ and ] move the chat mix, and Ctrl+Alt+1 to 8 mute a group. Turn them on in the Mixer's options.
• Workspaces (experimental). A Tools tile and a pill widget that show your workspaces and switch between them, from a tiling window manager when one is running, otherwise Windows' own virtual desktops. When a supported tiling manager is installed, the tile is added on its own.
• To-do list and server monitor as new tabs on the Tools page. Servers are checked once a minute.
• More tiles: keyboard language, recycle bin, and pending Windows and app updates.
• More pill widgets: workspace, keyboard language, the window in front, and free disk space.
• Visualizer opacity. One slider for how see-through the bars are, on the Media page and in the fullscreen player, shared with HaloBar. It replaces the album art strength slider; the art now shows at full strength.

Better

• The mixer is lighter. It reads levels only while it's open or while a group, ducking or a shortcut needs it.
• Mixer sliders stay visible on every theme, Starfall included.

Note

Workspaces is experimental. Tell us if it misses a workspace change or shows the wrong one.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.3.0

Astraeus 2.3.0

New

• A new Shelf. Cards for text, links, images, files, colors and code, with search, filters, pins, notes and stacks. Preview anything at full size, drag items in and back out, and paste straight into the app you were in. Saved history is encrypted.
• Everything you copy can land on the Shelf. Off by default: Advanced settings → Shelf, with how many cards to keep and when to delete them.
• Album art background. The cover behind the Media page, the fullscreen player, or both, each on its own switch, with a Strength slider. The Media page switch and the strength are shared with HaloBar.
• Visualizer sensitivity. One slider for how strongly the bars and the glow react to the music, shared with HaloBar.
• Open only with the shortcut. Hovering or clicking the closed island does nothing; only the keyboard shortcut opens it. There's also an option for this only when an app window is under the edge, with its own hover delay.
• Check for updates right in settings, under Advanced.

Better

• A lighter Astraeus. Starfall, the Home cards and the fullscreen player draw with less work, and a closed panel no longer keeps redrawing after a quick page switch.
• The sidebar fits around your taskbar, Windows' or HaloBar's, at any size, and refits when it changes.
• Sidebar layouts fixed: the calendar, the forecast, the weather card and the page row no longer overlap or cut off.
• Every settings control is a solid accent, no more gradients.
• Smoother picker and sidebar. The color picker catches every click, and the sidebar no longer flickers when clicked.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.2.3

Astraeus 2.2.3

New

• Starfall, a theme only Astraeus has. A deep night sky with fine star dust, a violet glow that drifts slowly around the open panel, and soft light along the edges. The pill wears it too. HaloBar takes it on when it follows Astraeus.
• Lyrics text size. Advanced settings → Text size, from 80% to 150%, for both the classic and two-screen player.
• A rail that scrolls. With more than five pages on, the side rail scrolls instead of squeezing them in. Small arrows show where more pages are, the wheel moves it one page at a time, and ↑/↓ switch pages while the mouse is over it.
• The pill on the desktop is on by default for new installs: on an empty desktop the island stays up, with the clock when nothing is playing.

Better

• A lighter fullscreen player. It draws only as fast as what's moving needs, no longer runs at full speed on high-refresh screens, and steps right down when a game is in front.
• Display size now sits in Advanced settings, beside the lyrics text size.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.

v2.2.2

Astraeus 2.2.2

Fixes

• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Settings and the other panels answer clicks again. In 2.2.1 they opened but ignored every click.
• The Live page from 2.2.0 is gone; it wasn't ready.

Everything else from 2.2.0 is here:

New

• Two screens for the fullscreen player. With two monitors, press S in the fullscreen player to spread it across both: the cover and the song on one screen, the lyrics on the other. Press W to swap them. Closing either screen closes both.
• Your own keys. Settings → Fullscreen keys lets you pick the keys for two screens and swapping, with Ctrl, Alt or Shift if you like.
• The pill follows you. With Astraeus on every screen, rest the mouse at the top of another monitor and the resting pill rises away and comes back on that screen.
• Advanced settings. Power, weather, volume and brightness, and backup now sit in their own section at the end of Settings.
• Out of a game's way, on every screen. When a game goes fullscreen on the pill's screen, the pill moves straight to another screen that has Astraeus.

Better

• Lyrics in a rounder type, made for singing along, in both the classic and two-screen player.
• Smoother sliders. Bigger, easier to grab, with a value bubble while you drag.
• Calmer Tools and Pages settings. The buttons no longer jump while you scroll.

Note

The executable is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show an "unknown publisher" warning the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.