Backspace 1.11.0

Backspace 1.11.0

Everyone now has a personal sticker collection: upload your own images, send them in channels and direct messages, and react with them. Members can poke each other in a channel, and a space owner can give the owner group in the member list its own title. On Linux, a screen share with system audio no longer carries the voices Backspace plays.

Upgrading

• This release has three database migrations, 0029, 0030 and 0031, which run on first start. As before every migration, a database backup is taken first, unless backups are turned off with BACKUP_DISABLED=true. Migration 0029 adds a message type column, so a poke can be stored as a system message, and rebuilds the index the unread counts use. Migration 0030 adds the owner title to spaces. Migration 0031 adds the sticker collections and the sticker images.
• Sticker images are stored in stickers/ inside the upload directory. Back it up with the rest of the uploads. The daily storage cleanup removes a sticker image that no collection, message or reaction on the instance uses any more.
• Each sticker carries the address of the instance that stores it. Changing PUBLIC_ORIGIN or DOMAIN later leaves stickers sent before the change pointing at the old address.
• Clients and spaces on 1.10.0 or older: a sticker shows as a line of text with a link, and a sticker reaction as a pill with that text. A space hosted on 1.10.0 or older also adds a link preview of the image. A stored poke shows as "System message", and a space there offers neither pokes nor the owner title.

Stickers

• The picker next to the message box has a new tab, marked with a heart, that holds your collection; pick a sticker to send it as a message. The reaction picker has a Stickers tab too. Hovering a sticker reaction shows the image at full size above the names of the people who reacted (#388, thanks @Cirzear).
• Add stickers from PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF images of up to 5 MB. Animated images stay animated. Up to 20 images can be added at once from the file picker, by dropping them or by pasting; you name each one before anything is uploaded. Images that are refused stay in the form with the reason, and the others are added (#388).
• A right click on a sticker or an image in a message offers "Add to my stickers". This works for stickers and images from your own instance (#388).
• A collection holds up to 200 stickers. Removing one from your collection leaves the messages and reactions that already use it unchanged (#388).
• Reply quotes, the direct message list, desktop notifications and search results show a sticker as "Sticker". Searching for text no longer matches the address inside a sticker (#388).

Pokes

• A right click on the author of a message in a channel offers Poke. The channel shows a line such as "Anna poked Ben", and Ben's avatar in the channel gives a short shake for everyone looking at it. Pokes play no sound, send no notification and do not count as unread (#384, thanks @Cirzear).
• Poking needs permission to send messages in the channel, and works only on members who can see it. A member can poke 5 times a minute (#384).
• In direct messages and in spaces on instances that do not offer pokes, a right click on the author opens the message menu as before (#384).
• A poke cannot be edited, replied to, or found by search, and names people by their nickname in the space (#384).

Spaces

• A space owner can replace the "Owner" heading of the member list with a title of their own, up to 32 characters, from the pencil next to the heading. Only the owner can set it; Manage Space does not allow it. The title is shown to every member on desktop and on phones, does not change any permission, and is cleared when the space changes owner (#385, thanks @Cirzear).

Voice and screen sharing

• On Linux, a screen share with "System audio" on no longer sends the voices and sounds Backspace itself plays. Where PipeWire runs, the desktop app captures every other app's playback to the default output and leaves Backspace out. This needs the 1.11.0 desktop app and an instance on 1.11.0. The Flatpak and systems without PipeWire capture as before. Windows will follow separately (#449, thanks @QuddyMusic).
• When your microphone or speakers are set to the system default and you change the default in your operating system, Backspace now switches to the new device. It used to stay on the old one, on every platform (#449).

Downloads

Platform	Download
Windows x64	Backspace-1.11.0-win-x64.exe
Windows arm64	Backspace-1.11.0-win-arm64.exe
Linux AppImage x86_64	Backspace-1.11.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage
Linux AppImage arm64	Backspace-1.11.0-linux-arm64.AppImage
Linux deb amd64	Backspace-1.11.0-linux-amd64.deb
Linux deb arm64	Backspace-1.11.0-linux-arm64.deb
macOS Apple Silicon	Backspace-1.11.0-mac-arm64.dmg
macOS Intel	Backspace-1.11.0-mac-x64.dmg

The .blockmap and latest*.yml files are read by the auto-updater and are not meant to be downloaded by hand.