X-Now 2.1.0

Release Notes: X-Now v2.1.0

X-Now v2.1.0
Readable typography, a structured native tray, and a consistent desktop identity.

X-Now v2.1.0 refines the native desktop layer around the official X website. The release keeps the v2.0.0 tray, media, audio, login, and external-link features while improving the parts you see and use every day.

What's new

Rendering stability: no more bleached windows, black flash bands, or scroll flashing

v2.1.0 also ships a set of WebView2 rendering fixes (documented in depth in docs/BUILD_AND_FIXES.md):

• The Chromium occlusion tracker is disabled for the app's webview, so video-heavy feeds can no longer leave the restored window bleached.
• DirectComposition video overlay planes are disabled, eliminating one-frame black bands around videos while scrolling or after restore/resize.
• The native background is now theme-adaptive: the page reports X's real theme color (XNOWBG protocol) and the app re-syncs the WebView2 background at runtime, so unpainted scroll/restore frames fill with the same color as the content instead of flashing as a contrasting band.
• A video mount guard eliminates the last "shocking" flash class: X's player chrome paints black for the first few frames at every static↔video post transition (before poster or first video frame is ready); the app now hides the fresh player until its first frame decodes, verified frame-by-frame with a CDP screencast harness. This includes recycled-player src swaps, which X's virtualized feed performs constantly while scrolling.
• The playback watchdog is event-driven (window events wake it instantly, 5 s fallback poll), fixing a restore-time pause race and cutting idle battery/CPU cost (~6× fewer OS wakeups while hidden in the tray).
• Every launch logs its effective WebView2 configuration, and per-launch toggles (--no-occlusion-fix, --no-gpu-video-overlays-fix, --webview-default, --webview-args, --webview-diagnostics) allow clean bisecting of any rendering regression.

Readable typography inside X

• The post composer and reply boxes use 15px text.
• The primary sidebar, the More button, its flyout, and X menu labels use 17px text.
• The styles apply inside X-Now's window and do not change your X account settings.
• Unread-count badges keep their smaller size, so the larger navigation labels do not overwhelm status indicators.

A clearer native tray menu

The tray menu now groups related actions into native submenus:

• Navigate: Home feed, Explore, Notifications, Messages, Bookmarks, and My profile.
• Window: Always on top, Launch on Startup, and Refresh.
• View: Zoom controls and Developer tools.
• Tools: Copy the current URL, open the current page in the default browser, compact memory and cache, and open the Cobalt downloader guide.
• How to X-Now: short usage reminders for media saving, links, the Escape key, and native playback controls.

The menu also provides Show / Hide X-Now, About X-Now, and Quit X-Now. Every actionable item has a purpose-made 16x16 icon. Always on top and Launch on Startup use native checkmarks that follow their current state.

Consistent X-Now branding

The refreshed icon set in icons/ now covers the application surfaces that users see:

• Window and taskbar identity.
• System tray identity with a purpose-made 32px render and a purpose-made 48px window render, keeping the brand sharp at common display scales.
• About card identity using the high-resolution icon.png.
• Application launcher and Windows executable identity.
• Windows NSIS installer and uninstaller identity through icon.ico.
• Native tray-menu glyphs for navigation and tools.

The repository includes the complete master icon kit (icons/) for reference and future packaging work.

A more useful About card

About X-Now opens as an overlay inside the X window. It shows the X-Now icon, the current version, the Rust and Tauri foundation, the author credit, and a compact feature grid for:

• Media saving.
• Tray controls.
• Quiet minimize.
• External links in the default browser.

The overlay does not open a second application window and does not interrupt the signed-in page.

What v2.1.0 includes from v2.0.0

X-Now v2.1.0 retains the desktop features introduced in v2.0.0:

• Close-to-tray behavior with instant media pause.
• Pause-on-minimize with page-side pausing, a Rust watchdog, and Windows audio-session mute protection.
• Smart tray Show / Hide behavior and optional hidden-to-tray startup.
• Full-resolution image saving and post-scoped video saving to Downloads\X-Now.
• Direct MP4 saving when X exposes a usable URL, with a Cobalt browser hand-off when X exposes only a streamed blob: URL.
• Bottom-right download status toasts and silent Windows downloads.
• External links opened by the operating system's default browser.
• In-app Google and Apple sign-in popups with automatic cleanup after login.
• A titlebar that shows the signed-in X handle.
• A persistent local WebView session with no X account database or analytics added by X-Now.

Installer packages

The v2.1.0 GitHub Actions release pipeline builds native packages in parallel across Windows, macOS, and Linux:

Platform	Package	Target and notes
Windows	.exe NSIS, .msi WiX, and .exe portable	x64; Windows 10/11; Edge WebView2 Runtime
macOS	One universal .dmg	arm64 plus x86_64; macOS 11 or newer
Linux	.AppImage, .deb, and .rpm	x64; WebKitGTK 4.1 runtime

The pipeline validates the v2.1.0 version in src-tauri/tauri.conf.json, src-tauri/Cargo.toml, and src-tauri/Cargo.lock. It checks the expected package types, verifies both macOS slices with lipo, and publishes verified SHA-256 manifests.

Installation

Windows

1. Install the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime if Windows does not already provide it.
2. Run the downloaded NSIS .exe or WiX .msi installer.
3. Sign in through the official X page inside the app.
4. Use the tray icon for navigation, media saving, zoom, memory tools, and startup behavior.

macOS

1. Open the universal .dmg.
2. Drag X-Now to Applications.
3. On first launch, right-click the app and choose Open. The current unsigned build can trigger a Gatekeeper warning.
4. Sign in through the X page inside the app.

Linux

For the AppImage:

chmod +x *.AppImage
./*.AppImage

For .deb or .rpm, use your distribution's package installer. The runtime needs WebKitGTK 4.1. GNOME users may also need an AppIndicator extension for tray support.

Important usage and trust notes

• X-Now is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or maintained by X Corp. or Twitter, Inc.
• X-Now handles X content inside WebView2 on Windows and WebKit on macOS and Linux.
• Media saving uses URLs that X exposes to the page. X-Now does not bypass X access controls.
• Downloaded media belongs to the post's author. Follow X's terms, local law, and the rights attached to the media.
• The current release packages are unsigned. Windows SmartScreen and macOS Gatekeeper may display trust warnings until code signing and notarization certificates are configured.
• Verify downloaded installers with the published SHA256SUMS.txt file before installing.

Related documentation

• README.md: product overview, feature guide, and user installation steps.
• CHANGELOG.md: version-by-version technical history.
• SECURITY.md: privacy model, Tauri capabilities, and vulnerability reporting.
• docs/RELEASE_PIPELINE.md: GitHub Actions workflow guide, artifact verification, and release steps.

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Authored and maintained by @benedictusrey.

X-Now v2.0.0

🐦 X-Now — v2.0.0

X, elevated. A lightweight Rust + Tauri v2 desktop client — the official x.com, now with real OS superpowers. ~7 MB binary, no Electron.

✨ What's new in v2.0.0

• 🪟 Close-to-tray — the ✕ button hides the window to the tray and pauses media instantly; one tray click brings it back.
• 🔇 Guaranteed pause on minimize — page pause + Windows OS-level audio-session mute + a Rust watchdog: video audio never plays in the background. Restore resumes at 50% volume, following X's own on-screen autoplay rules.
• 🖱️ Smart Show / Hide tray toggle — restores whenever minimized/hidden/unfocused, hides (pausing first) only when visible and focused.
• 🚀 Launch on Startup — starts hidden to the tray, never popping a window over your work.
• 💾 One-click media saving — right-click images/videos in your feed and save them directly to Downloads\X-Now.
• 🎨 Seamless About overlay — X-branded in-app card, version and author link, no window hop.
• ⚔️ Full comparison vs X Web in the README.

📦 Downloads

Platform	File
Windows 10 / 11	X-Now_*_x64-setup.exe or X-Now_*_x64_en-US.msi
macOS (Apple Silicon)	X-Now_*_aarch64.dmg
macOS (Intel)	X-Now_*_x64.dmg
Linux (AppImage)	X-Now_*_amd64.AppImage
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)	X-Now_*_amd64.deb
Linux (RPM)	X-Now_*_x86_64.rpm

🚀 Getting started

Windows: install Edge WebView2 if not already present (preinstalled on Windows 11), then run the installer.

macOS: on first launch, right-click the app → Open to allow an unsigned build, then confirm in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Linux: the AppImage is self-contained — chmod +x X-Now_*_amd64.AppImage && ./X-Now_*_amd64.AppImage. For .deb/.rpm, install libwebkit2gtk-4.1 first (sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev); tray support on GNOME needs an appindicator extension.

✨ Highlights

• 🖥️ Native window + system tray with feed shortcuts (Home, Explore, Notifications, Messages, Bookmarks, Profile)
• 💾 Right-click images/videos → saved to Downloads\X-Now (full-resolution images; videos always from the clicked post, with bottom-right progress toasts); right-click links → opened in your default browser
• 📌 Always-on-top · 🔍 Zoom controls · 🧹 memory compaction · 🔎 dev tools · URL copy/open
• 🔐 Signed-in session stays local — no analytics, no account database

Authored and maintained with ❤️ by @benedictusrey

X-Now v1.1.0

• Updated default resolution to 1300x850 (1.53:1 layout shape)
• Implemented native OS checkmarks for tray settings
• Replaced audio redirect with pure JS mute injection

X-Now v1.0.0 - The Initial Build

The inaugural release of X-Now! Check the README for features.