9.0 Beta 3

9.0 beta 3

Changelog

general - Smart Backup Cache: masters ≥ 1 GiB move from tmpfs /tmp to persistent GoldenNugget app-data folder — no RAM cost and no size ceiling for big backups
general - Cache reuse window: cache younger than 30 min reused with NO device session — instant apply when no wallpapers pending
general - PosterBoard on iOS 27 beta 6+: AppDomain sparse restores rejected by the device — wallpapers delivered through the protective restore instead
general - Phase 2 telemetry: connection drops at zero progress reported as REJECTED restore instead of fake success, with auto-cooldown + retry on fresh connection
general - Fixed _wait_for_device forcing re-pair after security recovery: pairing survives the wipe, forced re-pair crashed with MissingValueError BEFORE Phase 3 — protective backup was never restored
general - NotEnoughDiskSpaceError caught and retried instead of crashing; user prompted whether to continue without protective backup
general - Prune self-heal: manifest rows without payloads dropped before they abort Phase 3; directory rows preserved (renameatx ENOENT fix)
general - Stale protective working copies (>1h) auto-cleaned at start of each apply
general - Speed up three-phase restore: faster initial polling (1s), shorter settle after reconnect (3s vs 30s), shorter Phase 3 retry delay (3s vs 10s), skip disk-check diagnostics on incrementals
general - Removed --enable-legacy-support: iOS < 26.2 stays hard-blocked

Stability - Phase 3 protective restore retries raised to 18 and survive DeviceNotFound / NotPaired / ConnectionFailed during boot (@Wind0ws11Aero)
Stability - Fixed encrypted-backup crash + added warning when opening encrypted backup (@Wind0ws11Aero)

Tweaks - New declarative tweak registry: one entry per tweak defines id/title/plist/compat/UI kind; loader and UI derive from it
Tweaks - Wallpapers always applied as configurations (DB-based); Descriptors method removed entirely
Tweaks - Warning when disabling Location Services daemon on iPhone 14 (reported wallpaper loss)
Tweaks - Passcode Themes removed (non-functional on iOS 27)
Tweaks - Text input tweaks accept empty values (clear Lock Screen Footnote etc.)

UI - Apply page rebuilt with iOS-style components (Apply / Remove Tweaks / Progress status)
UI - Split tweaks to separate tabs in PosterBoard
UI - Removed Templates button from sidebar (now a PosterBoard tab)
UI - Readded Daemons tag in Classic UI
UI - 12px edge padding on main layout
UI - eventFilter no longer crashes on layout items lacking QObject wrappers

misc - skip_setup.py rewritten as a cross-platform tool (cfgutil prepare --skip-all)
misc - Large dead-code sweep (~1.5k lines): duplicate helpers, unreachable branches, stale enums, legacy status_setter exe, pyuac dependency
misc - Full architecture guide (docs/ARCHITECTURE.md) covering every package and flow
misc - Offline regression tests for the backup cache (tools/test_protective_cache.py, tools/test_cache_placement.py)
misc - lockdown_session() context manager replaces ad-hoc device connection handling everywhere

Full Changelog: 9.0b2...9.0b3

9.0 beta 2

9.0 beta 2

Changelog

UI - Unified shell: the classic sidebar is back as the only old-UI chrome — Home keeps its classic page, every other sidebar entry opens the iOS-style pages (Tweaks / PosterBoard / Daemons / Status Bar / Settings / Apply)
UI - UI mode switcher restored in both settings pages: Classic = sidebar + classic home with iOS-style action pages; iOS = full-screen iOS interface starting at its own home page
UI - Single reusable header for every iOS subpage: title, back button and per-page actions ("+ Add Tendies") are reconfigured on the fly instead of building a new header per page; hidden on the home page
UI - Templates moved out of the sidebar and rebuilt as a tab inside PosterBoard
UI - Removed redundant per-page back buttons (the sidebar and ESC / mouse-back handle navigation now)
UI - Fixed missing background, broken Settings navigation and the sidebar highlight not following ESC / mouse-back in the unified shell
UI - 12px edge padding on the main layout

general - Fixed _wait_for_device forcing a re-pair after security recovery: the pairing record survives the wipe, and the forced re-pair crashed the whole apply with MissingValueError BEFORE Phase 3 — the protective backup was never restored. Connect no longer re-pairs; one autopair fallback runs only if pairing is genuinely lost
general - PosterBoard on beta 6+: AppDomain sparse restores are rejected by the device (connection drop at 0%, no recovery). Wallpapers are now delivered through the protective restore instead — injected into the working copy like every other tweak file. GOLDENNUGGET_PB_SPARSE=1 forces the legacy delivery
general - Phase 2 telemetry: a connection drop at zero progress is reported as a rejected restore instead of a fake success, with an automatic 25s cooldown + retry on a fresh connection

Stability - Phase 3 protective restore retries raised to 18 and now survive DeviceNotFound / NotPaired / ConnectionFailed during device boot (by @Wind0ws11Aero)
Stability - ForceSolariumFallback disabled on iOS 27 + improved toggle switches (by @Wind0ws11Aero)

misc - Full architecture guide (docs/ARCHITECTURE.md)
misc - restore.py is usable from the command line again
misc - Removed stale pyuac dependency and the MinGW DLL hunt left over from the deleted status_setter exe

What's Changed

• [QOL] [FIX] Improved toggle switch, Disabled ForceSolariumFallback on iOS 27, Stability improvement of _restore_protective_backup by @Wind0ws11Aero in #15
• [FIX] Fix the patch of PosterBoard on iOS 27 beta 6 + by @Wind0ws11Aero in #18

Full Changelog: 9.0b1...9.0b2

9.0 beta 1

9.0 beta 1

"if this is beta 1 what will be on release?"

Changelog

general - Smart Backup Cache: applying tweaks no longer re-uploads your data every time — first apply makes a selective backup, every next apply is incremental (only changed files)
general - PosterBoard database now rides the same protective backup: one backup session per apply instead of two full ones
general - On iOS 27 beta 6+ PosterBoard is delivered through the protective restore (AppDomain sparse restores are rejected there)
general - Protective restore self-heal: manifest rows without payloads are dropped before they can abort Phase 3; directory rows preserved (renameatx fix)
general - Encrypted backups work with the fast cached path when you provide your backup password (manifest decrypted locally only)
general - Non-protective data is drained mid-stream during backup — no multi-GB temp files
general - Measured on dev beta 6: full apply cycle ≈ 40-95 seconds
general - Remove --enable-legacy-support: iOS < 26.2 stays hard-blocked

Tweaks - New declarative tweak registry: one entry defines id, title, plist, compatibility and UI kind
Tweaks - Wallpapers are always applied as configurations (DB-based); broken Descriptors method removed
Tweaks - Warning when disabling Location Services daemon on iPhone 14 (reported wallpaper loss)
Tweaks - Passcode Themes removed (non-functional on iOS 27)

iOS UI - Tweaks page renders straight from the tweak registry
iOS UI - Removed leftover "Apply Method" toggle

misc - lockdown_session(): one safe way to open device connections everywhere
misc - Large dead-code sweep (~1.5k lines): duplicate helpers, unreachable branches, stale enums
misc - Full architecture guide (docs/ARCHITECTURE.md) + offline regression tests for the backup cache
misc - Kill switch for the new cache: GOLDENNUGGET_NO_BACKUP_CACHE=1

Known limitations: encrypted-backup cache path is new — exercise it and report. Status Bar stays disabled on iOS 27+.

Full Changelog: 8.3-1...9.0b1

8.3

8.3

Changelog

General - Remove legacy code completely (Feature Flags, BookRestore, SparseRestore, Mobilegestalt, and related artifacts)
General - New UI reaches full feature parity with classic (SpringBoard, StatusBar, PosterBoard video tab)
General - (experimental → stable) Encrypted backup support
General - Removed language and region from SkipSetup feature (resolves #6)
General - Rework psysbackup (plist backup feature)
General - Auto-load latest preferences (using presets)
General - Check free disk space before device backups
General - Add "Partially Supported" screen for iOS 27
General - Exclude PosterBoard from presets
General - Auto-save presets on daemon toggle
General - Remove useless settings
iOS UI - Back navigation via ESC and mouse button
iOS UI - Remove extra background cards behind rows, fix progress label flicker on home
i18n - Complete Russian localization fix - Preset list refresh (iOS UI + classic)
misc - Update README, CONTRIBUTING, CHANGELOG, contributors
misc - Final cleanup (BookRestore leftovers, status bar debug logs, Wayland logs)
misc - Add .gitignore for local artifacts
misc - CI on Node 24 / Python 3.14
and even more changes under hood.

What's Changed

• [QOL] Removed my infos about my device by @Wind0ws11Aero in #9
• [QOL] Revise README for GoldenNugget by @Wind0ws11Aero in #12

Full Changelog: 8.2.1...8.3-1

8.3 beta 2

8.3 Beta 2

Changelog

General - Remove legacy code completely.
General - Polish new UI.
General - Rework psysbackup (plist backup feature)
General - Auto-load latest preferences (using presets)
General - Remove useless settings.

8.3 beta 1

8.3 beta 1

Beta 2 will be a WAY bigger than beta 1

Changelog

general - removed language and region from SkipSetup feature (resolves #6)
general - (experimental) new UI
general - (experimental) encrypted backup support
general - remove legacy code (bookrestore, sparserestore, mobilegestalt)

Full Changelog: 8.2.1...8.3b1

8.2.1

8.2.1 bugfix

This update focused on QOL and bug fixes.

Changelog

General - Fix "reset tweaks" function
General - add revert last apply
misc - Open issues and Discussions

8.2

8.2

Changelog

General - Backup control center.
General - return SpringBoard tweaks
General - Disable status bar tweaks for iOS 27
PosterBoard - disable split for iOS 27
misc - rename "miscellaneous" into tweaks
misc - update README.md (#2) and home page.

8.1

GoldenNugget 8.1

CHANGELOG

General - Expand backup so almost all of user data will stay on iPhone (you will need to re-login to Apple ID still)

8.0

GoldenNugget 8.0

CHANGELOG

General - IOS 27 Support! (thanks to Win11Aero)
General - Remove support for old versions (26.2 and older, can still be enabled via --enable-legacy-support)
New - Preset feature
New - Plist backup and generation
PosterBoard - Remove Video Support
PosterBoard - enable support for newer versions
PosterBoard - Disable descriptors
PosterBoard - New apply method
Misc - New logo and branding
Misc - Fix SEGV
Misc - Remove Discord link
Misc - Point to GoldenNugget repo
Misc - Change lead developer
Misc - Use GoldenNugget directory for configs
Misc - Remove Pocket Poster Helper
Misc - Code clean-up

Full Changelog: https://github.com/awesomenull-dev/GoldenNugget/commits/8.0