Desktop App Changelog

Release notes for the SentiaRead macOS and Windows app.

Desktopv1.12.9

Windows Window Controls & Reader Settings

New Features

  • Custom window controls and borderless title bar designed specifically for Windows
  • Added an opt-in scroll wheel page turn toggle in reader settings, with refined gesture momentum

Improvements

  • Faster cloud TTS audio synthesis with low-latency routing and automatic fallback for users in mainland China
  • Smoother loading placeholders for books, podcasts, and YouTube channels in Discover, and a cleaner sidebar

Bug Fixes

  • Automatically repairs and refills missing sentence contexts and definitions during synchronization
Desktopv1.12.7

Touchpad & Wheel Page Turns

New Features

  • Turn pages smoothly using your mouse scroll wheel or touchpad swipe gestures in the reader

Improvements

  • More reliable connections and faster sync for users in mainland China
  • Faster book cover loading and improved caching across your library

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed lookup accuracy for words and phrases containing curly apostrophes
Desktopv1.12.6

No More PDF Page Limit

New Features

  • PDF import no longer caps the page count, so thousand-page textbooks, manuals, and paper collections come in whole

Improvements

  • Signing in works more reliably on slow or unstable connections

Bug Fixes

  • Inline vocabulary meanings now scale with your reading font, and no longer get squeezed at tight line spacing
Desktopv1.12.5

Rebuilt Onboarding & Steadier Imports

New Features

  • A rebuilt welcome and first-run guide, in step with the mobile app
  • A Chrome extension shortcut in the sidebar, and an X contact option under Help & Support
  • Settings links straight to the changelog on our website

Improvements

  • Reworked import and sync status: big files no longer freeze the window, uploads show real progress, and the indicator clears as soon as everything is up
  • Deleted books leave your library right away, without waiting on the cloud
  • Rebuilt upgrade and trial screens that follow your interface language
  • The main window opens roomier by default

Bug Fixes

  • The upgrade screen no longer flashes English when it opens
  • Interface language no longer carries over to another account after switching
Desktopv1.12.4

PDF Import, Read-Aloud & Collections

New Features

  • PDF import, parsed right on your computer, with chapters, images, and the cover picked up automatically
  • Read-aloud that keeps going through a whole chapter
  • Collections for organizing your library from the sidebar
  • A rebuilt quick lookup card with a steadier layout and one-click add to your vocabulary
  • An interface font size control under Appearance
  • Footnotes open in place, without leaving the page you're on

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed the white screen on launch in 1.11.0
  • Fixed sign-in failing when the computer's clock is off
  • Fixed the translation card running off the window near the bottom of a page
Desktopv1.12.0

Clearer credits and Plus limits

Improvements

  • Usage settings show how many credits you get each week, and note that they refresh every Monday without carrying over
  • Upgrade prompts and the usage screen spell out what Plus covers — unlimited lookups, translation and AI explanations within fair use
Desktopv1.11.0

In-app browser, YouTube, and collections

Six weeks of work on where your reading material comes from and how you keep it organised: a browser inside the app for finding and downloading books, YouTube videos you can study the way you study podcasts, search across everything with one shortcut, and collections for arranging your library.

New Features

  • A browser window inside the app: open a site, download a book, and it is imported without leaving SentiaRead, with a task panel showing what is still coming in
  • Book sources moved into the Discover page, with a set of built-in sites you can search one by one and fuller result rows to tell editions apart
  • YouTube videos come with captions you can study: the player sits above the transcript, the current line is lifted onto a card, and the word being spoken fills in as you listen
  • Press Cmd+K to search your library and the catalog from any screen, with covers shown in the results
  • Group books into your own collections, which sit in the sidebar alongside the automatic ones, and switch between categories with tabs on the library page

Improvements

  • Lookup windows can be dragged out of the way, and the detail panel shows the sentence the word came from
Desktopv1.10.0

Sentence analysis in reading assist

New Features

  • Reading assist adds a sentence analysis view and a simplified rewrite of the sentence, alongside the explanation, meanings and highlighted expressions

Improvements

  • Reading assist is organised into tabs and the original sentence can be collapsed, so the panel stays compact
Desktopv1.9.0

Windows support

The desktop app now runs on Windows as well as macOS. This release also brings native-language explanations to vocabulary lookups and lets you paste text from the web straight into your library.

New Features

  • SentiaRead desktop now runs on Windows (64-bit), with the same library, reader and sync as the Mac app
  • Vocabulary lookups explain each meaning in your native language, and you can pull up an example sentence for the specific meaning you are looking at
  • Podcast transcripts can show inline meanings for words already in your vocabulary list, the same way books do
  • Copy an article from the web, paste it in, tidy it up in the editor, and save it to your library — clippings get their own badge on the cover

Improvements

  • Page turning in the reader is now done by clicking the left or right side of the page instead of scrolling
  • Reading fonts ship with the app, so a book looks the same on Windows and macOS, and each platform starts from a sensible default
Desktopv1.8.0

Podcast subscriptions and What's New

New Features

  • Subscribe to a podcast and find every show you follow on one subscriptions page
  • A What's New section on your library shows content recently added to the catalog, with a full list when you want more
  • Import Markdown files and read them like any other book
Desktopv1.7.0

Open With on macOS

New Features

  • Open a book from Finder straight into SentiaRead — right-click the file and use Open With, or make SentiaRead the default

Improvements

  • The library home has a Continue row for the books and episodes you are partway through, and a History page listing what you opened recently
  • Book details open as a page you can go back from, returning you to the same spot in the catalog, and scrollbars now sit over the content instead of taking up width
  • Podcast pages and the play button show their loading state, so it is clear when audio is still being fetched
Desktopv1.6.0

Podcasts with interactive transcripts

Listening joins reading on the desktop. Browse podcasts, play an episode, and follow the transcript while it plays — with the same lookup, vocabulary highlighting and note-taking you already use in books.

New Features

  • Find podcasts in the app, open a show to see its episodes and description, and play an episode in a two-column player with the transcript beside it
  • The transcript follows the audio word by word, and you can look a word up, save it, or highlight a line exactly as you would in a book
  • Slow an episode down or speed it up, and come back later to the second you stopped at

Improvements

  • Word lookups, translation and reading assist respond faster from mainland China, and you can pick your service region by hand in account settings
  • Saved words highlight without lag in long chapters
  • The quick lookup toolbar shows a placeholder while the definition loads, instead of an empty box
Desktopv1.5.0

Reading goals and streaks

New Features

  • Set a daily reading goal and watch it fill in: a progress ring on your library, plus a page with your calendar, longest streaks and a trend chart

Improvements

  • Reading assist lets you turn the thought-group split on or off, so you can keep a sentence whole when you don't need it broken up
Desktopv1.4.0

Reading assist for long sentences

New Features

  • Select a long sentence and reading assist breaks it into thought groups, translates it, and points out the expressions worth knowing — each part can be read aloud

Improvements

  • If your library ever looks out of date, you can clear the local copy and pull everything down from your account again, step by step
  • Books added on another device download in one piece and are checked for completeness before they open
Desktopv1.2.0

Inline meanings and native-language lookup

New Features

  • Quick lookup now answers in your native language, so a word you don't know isn't explained with more words you don't know
  • Words already in your vocabulary list can show their meaning inline, right above the word, so you can keep reading without opening a card

Improvements

  • Quick lookup results appear without a wait on a page you have just turned to
Desktopv1.1.0

Quick lookup toolbar

New Features

  • Select a single word and a compact toolbar appears right there, so a quick lookup no longer opens the full dictionary card
Desktopv1.0.0

SentiaRead desktop for macOS

The first stable desktop release, for macOS. Build a library from your own EPUB and TXT files, read them in a paginated reader made for a big screen, and look up words in context without leaving the page. Your library, reading progress, vocabulary, highlights and notes stay in sync with your account, so you can carry on where your phone left off.

New Features

  • Build your library by dragging EPUB or TXT files in, picking them from Finder, or adding free books from the built-in catalog — covers are pulled from the file and duplicates are caught before they pile up
  • Each book opens in its own window with a paginated reader: one or two columns, twelve reading fonts, six themes, a chapter outline, click zones on either side to turn the page — and it reopens where you stopped
  • Look up any word right in the page: definitions that take the surrounding sentence into account, in English and your native language, US and UK phonetics you can play, and example sentences
  • Save words to your vocabulary list, mark what you know with a keyboard shortcut, and see saved words highlighted as you read — a word you look up repeatedly is added for you
  • Highlight passages — including selections that run across paragraphs — attach notes to them, and browse everything you have marked from one place
  • Have a selected passage read aloud, with each word highlighted as it is spoken, in an American or British voice