v1.6.1-beta.1

1.6.1-beta.1 (2026-07-04)

🧪 Pre-release build for testing. This is a beta on the opt-in beta channel — stable users are unaffected and stay on 1.6.0. Opt in under Settings → Diagnostics → beta updates to receive it in-app. Please report anything odd.

🎧 What's fixed

WASAPI Exclusive freeze (#322)

On some Windows machines — especially onboard Realtek codecs — turning on WASAPI Exclusive would freeze playback: the track stayed stopped, and turning the toggle back off took many clicks.

Root cause: the device resets itself the moment WaveFlow grabs it in exclusive mode. WaveFlow saw that as "device disappeared" and tried to reconnect — but the previous exclusive connection was still holding the device, so the reconnect failed (AUDCLNT_E_DEVICE_IN_USE) and even the fall-back to shared mode couldn't get in. Re-grabbing exclusive re-triggered the reset → an endless loop.

The fix, two parts:

• Release before reconnect — the old exclusive connection is now fully released before WaveFlow re-opens the device, so the reconnect (and the shared fall-back) can actually get in.
• Give up gracefully — if a device keeps resetting on exclusive, WaveFlow now stops fighting it: after a few flaps it drops to shared mode for that session and keeps playing, instead of freezing. Toggle exclusive off/on (or switch device) to try again. Your saved preference is untouched — a fresh launch still tries exclusive.

🔎 What to test

If WASAPI Exclusive froze for you before, please try this build and check that:

• turning WASAPI Exclusive on and pressing play either plays in exclusive, or falls back to shared and keeps playing — no more freeze;
• if your device can't hold exclusive, playback continues in shared after a few seconds (you can confirm in the log: "WASAPI exclusive disabled for this session after repeated device flaps");
• turning exclusive off is immediate — no multi-click.

Logs live at Settings → Diagnostics → open logs folder if you want to share what happened.

🛠️ Under the hood

• Beta builds now self-report their exact pre-release version, so the in-app updater stops re-offering the same beta after you install it (#348). No effect on stable releases.

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Thanks for testing 🙏 — feedback on this build directly shapes whether the fix ships in the next stable (1.6.1). Everyone not on the beta channel keeps running 1.6.0 as usual.