--- title: "What's new: Desktamer" description: "What changed in each version of Desktamer, the desktop pet app for Mac, Windows and Linux. Newest first." image: "https://desktamer.com/og.png" url: "https://desktamer.com/changelog/" --- # What's new Every version of Desktamer, newest first. The app shows the same notes after it updates. ## 0.7.1 9 October 2026 ### Your data - When a data file can't be read, Desktamer puts its last backup back in its place. Before, the next launch could find nothing there and start over, and then save over the backup too. A lost settings file no longer makes the next launch a first one, bringing back starter pets you'd removed. - A data file another program is holding open is never saved over: Desktamer leaves it alone until it's restarted. - Saves reach the disk before they replace the old file, so a power cut can't leave an empty one, and the backup is refreshed every hour while Desktamer runs, not only at launch. - When saving keeps failing (a data folder that can't be written to, say), Desktamer tells you instead of only writing it in its log. A save that came out wrong no longer replaces the last good file. - Going back to an older version of Desktamer keeps a copy of your Quest save before that version drops the Mine, the coins pets hold and talent picks. ### Free week - The free week needs the internet once in its first three days, so Desktamer's server can count it. Offline after that, Desktamer asks you to connect, then carries on by itself. - A free week begun with the computer's clock wrong no longer ends early once the clock is put right, and one begun with a clock that was ahead no longer loses those days: Desktamer goes by its server's count. - Moving to a new computer (Migration Assistant, a new disk) no longer ends the free week on the spot: Desktamer's server decides whether that computer had one. - On a computer without an id of its own (some Linux and Windows setups), the free week is no longer over seconds after the first launch. ### Licenses - A paid license is taken away only when the store says the key or this computer's activation is gone, not by an unclear or partial answer. - A license file broken by a power cut no longer asks for your key again: Desktamer keeps a copy beside it. - Entering your key again on the same computer (after reinstalling, or losing the license file) uses this computer's earlier activation instead of another of your three. If the store says the key is already in use on three computers and one of them is this one, Desktamer frees that one and activates again. - While Desktamer confirms a license activated on this computer, the activation screen says so instead of asking for your key. - Activating works behind a proxy set in your Mac's or Windows' network settings, as updates already did. - Desktamer waits longer for the store when you activate, and an activation it couldn't use while offline is handed back once it's online, so it doesn't hold one of your three. - On a Mac, a paid license is no longer locked as "This copy of Desktamer was changed" after a cleaner, antivirus or language remover touched the app. - On Windows, the license stays on this computer instead of roaming with your profile, where other computers read it as "activated on another computer". ### Pets - A pet with broken animation data no longer crashes Desktamer at launch or when it's imported. It's listed as a pet that couldn't be read. - An animated pet whose frames claim to last no time at all no longer freezes its window. - Files with names like "cat (.png" import again, and links to files elsewhere are no longer followed: import the file itself. - Add the starter pets says when it can't find them or they're already there, and no longer does nothing while the first launch is still bringing them in. Import… now shows its errors. - Replace, when an imported pet has the id of one you have, puts your old pet in the Trash for 7 days instead of deleting it. The question now shows the pet you already have, by its own name and picture, not the one coming in. - Importing a pet with the same id as one in \~/.codex/pets asks first, instead of quietly hiding the Codex pet. - Look in \~/.codex/pets says so when it finds no pets there. - If a starter pet can't be added at the first launch, Desktamer says which one. Add the starter pets no longer adds a second copy beside a starter whose files can't be read. - A link to a file named like con.zip or nul.gif downloads on Windows. - A GIF or zip made to look enormous is turned down at once, not after several seconds and hundreds of MB of memory. ### Quest - Waiting at a Mine layer that isn't open yet, the diggers dig plain rock. They used to dig the guardian's metre over and over, at about fifty times the crystals. - The Mine no longer shows the time the computer slept as dug, only to take it back a few seconds later. - The board no longer asks you to tap coins while no pet can hold one up (Coins on pets off, or every pet in the menu bar). - The day's ore cap no longer starts over when the clock moves back across midnight. - Bosses of the four new regions you'd beaten before 0.7.0 give their hats now, not after the next Rebirth. - The Rebirth panel says what really starts over: training, but not talent picks. It also says that potions and the Mine are kept. - The Mine screen finds the same fossils, geode finds and chest prizes the game keeps, so the fossil count no longer flickers and a buy the screen says you can afford is no longer refused. - A geode whose timer ran out while the computer slept or Desktamer was shut is lost, not broken afterwards. - Putting the clock back no longer makes a Mine skill, a geode's timer or a cooldown last longer, hides the Mine's events for as long as the clock was ahead, or freezes the Mine screen until the clock catches up. - Taps in the Mine always count before something you buy or use right after them. - The foreman's switches flip the moment you press them, and pressing both quickly no longer undoes the first. - With Desktamer's window minimized or hidden, Quest no longer counts as open: the Mine's diggers stop when the cart is full, and the "While you were away" card shows what came in meanwhile. - The "While you were away" card says what the Mine's diggers found: new fossils, fossil hats and achievements. They used to go unannounced. ## 0.7.0 6 October 2026 ### The Mine - Quest has a new screen, the Mine. Tap the rock to dig for crystals, hire diggers who keep digging without you, and let the foreman take over from there. Taps then become boosts: combos, weak spots and skills. - Twelve layers, each opened by your Quest record and ending in a guardian. A gold vein, a chest, a thief or a rainbow turns up now and then for a tap. - Start a new shaft for relics, which make the next one faster. Relics also fill the altar, and the Mine has achievements and pickaxe skins. A ring of pickaxes strikes the rock, with one more for every Pickaxe level. - The Mine sends Quest a crate of ore, up to a cap each day, and every complete set of fossils gives your heroes a hat. Quest's Rebirth leaves the Mine as it is. ### Quest - Quest is painted from scratch: 52 monsters from the Mushling to the Elder Dragon that breathe and strike poses, dungeon rooms lit by their fires, outdoor scenes with drifting clouds and swaying banners, and new coins, chests, hearts and effects for every special, attack and status. - Four new regions: the Sunken Reef, the Dune Ruins, the Sky Isles and the Starfall Void, each with its own boss and hat. - Alchemy stones grow from a chip into a jewel as they get bigger. - A hero's perks are now a talent tree in three branches, Offense, Defense and Utility, with a point every 5 levels. Picks stay through Rebirth. Perks picked before don't carry over: open a hero's Talents to spend their points. - Pets save some of their gold and hold it up as a coin that grows into a pile and then a sack. Tap one to take it now, or it comes in when you open Quest. A sack can hold ore too. Turn it off in Settings → Quest → Coins on pets. - The arena draws on the graphics card and uses about a fifth less CPU while it's on screen. ### Pets - New starter pets painted for Desktamer: a Knight, a Wizard and a Fox. If you added the starters before, remove them and click Add the starter pets to get the new ones. - A pet standing still takes far less CPU than before. ### Settings - A Motion setting in Settings → General: match the system, full or reduced. Reduced keeps Quest's effects but leaves out shakes, flashes and confetti. - Open Desktamer stands out at the foot of the tray menu. ### Windows - Pets stay in front of other apps' always-on-top windows, and pets that come out no longer cover an open speech bubble. - A full-screen app hides only the pets on its own display. - Pets no longer freeze for good over Remote Desktop, and they come back after the graphics driver resets, napping ones included. - A larger Text size no longer cuts off pets, the card or the tray panel. A pet at the top of the screen keeps its bubbles and hearts in sight. - The tray panel stays out of Alt+Tab, and a bubble or hover card no longer closes it or quick capture. - Contrast themes no longer blank Quest's glows, rings, frames and icons. Quest, Time and Habits pictures paint again after a graphics reset, and Habits' boards no longer flicker at some window sizes. - Hats, the boss crown and the loot coin are sharp at 125% and 150% scaling. ### Linux - Pets show on NVIDIA's own driver. - A bigger font DPI no longer cuts off pets, the card or the capture box, and pets no longer cover the card. - A window whose page stops comes back on its own. - A desktop without a compositor is told it needs one. ### Also - Today keeps a reminder and a routine step in view in a short window, and Stats' axis labels and headline numbers fit. ## 0.6.1 3 October 2026 ### Linux - Desktamer now runs on ARM64 Linux too, such as Ubuntu in a VM on an Apple silicon Mac, or a Raspberry Pi: get the arm64 AppImage, .deb or .rpm. - On Ubuntu and other GNOME desktops under Wayland, pets stand on the floor, take clicks and drags, open their card, and can be flung all the way up to the top bar. A pet's menu closes when you click somewhere else. - The tray menu is shorter on GNOME, so Summon, Start a timer and Do Not Disturb open with room for their items. The time rows are one row there (a click opens Time), and Get pets and Launch at login are in the app. - App menus list Desktamer under Games, and Ubuntu's App Center shows its description and website. ## 0.6.0 2 October 2026 ### A free week - Desktamer is free for seven days on a new computer, with everything in it: no card, no email. About and the status bar show the days left, with Buy and Enter License Key, and the last two days a strip over the tabs says so too. - When the week is over, your pets fall asleep and Desktamer opens on the activation screen. Everything is kept: buy it, and they pick up where they left off. ### Pets - Pets walk off either end of the Dock, down to the bottom of the screen, and hop back up onto it. Turn it off in Settings → Pets → Drop off the Dock. - Over a full-screen app, pets stand on the bottom of the screen where the Dock was, and hop down to it (and back up when you leave). "Hide pets in full-screen apps" works on macOS again, hiding only the pets on that display; it's now off by default on macOS. - Menu-bar pets walk every empty stretch of the bar, both sides of a notch included, and hop from one to the next. - Every right-click menu shows an icon beside each action. ### Quest - An action out of reach still answers a click: it says why, such as how much gold a level takes. - The Bag can take back the gear and stones of heroes whose pets are gone from the library. - Buy gets the item you clicked, even if the shop restocked a moment before. - A finished bounty stays to be claimed after a Rebirth, and a hero restored from the Trash after a Rebirth starts over like the rest. - The Fallen Angel's treasure is no longer sold off to make room for an ordinary drop. - Fights use the heroes' current strength, and turning Quest off stops Auto. - Results show when the hammer or ritual lands, not before; screens keep their place, levels and badges. ### Data - A data file that can't be read is set aside and the last copy used, instead of starting over and overwriting it. ### Licenses - Activating a key also confirms it with Desktamer's own server, which ties the activation to this computer. It needs the internet for a moment, as before, and after that Desktamer works offline for good. - A license activated with an earlier version is confirmed the same way the first time this one opens. Online, that takes a moment; offline, Desktamer waits on the activation screen and tries again every few minutes. ## 0.5.0 1 October 2026 ### Habits - A new Habits tab keeps small daily habits as fuse beads on a pegboard, a week to a column: a bead for each day done, a clear one for a day off, and a week with none missed melts into one ironed strip. Give each habit a colour, a pixel icon, its days and a daily goal, such as 8 glasses. - Check in from the craft table's jars or a habit's button: the bead flies to today's peg and your pet jumps. Desktop pets cheer your streaks. - Bead your pet's portrait: every habit done adds a few beads until the picture is whole, then iron it and put it on the shelf. - Share your boards as a picture, with or without the habits' names. - Today at a glance and the tray menu show your habits, a click each, and a habit can remind you at its time. ### Time - A new Time tab shows how far through the day, week, month, quarter and year you are, under a living pixel sky: the sun and moon keep the hour, the tree keeps the season, and your pet walks the week. Pick the pet with the gear. - The tray menu lists all five. Click one to show it beside the menu-bar icon, such as "Year 74%" (on Windows, in the paw's tooltip), and again to hide it. - Today at a glance, below the notch or above the tray, opens on a strip of the five. ### The menu-bar menu (macOS) - Each item has an icon, and each pet in Summon its face. - The time rows line up in columns, each beside a ring that fills as the span goes by. Details such as the water you've drunk so far are in grey. ### Quest - The account level's ladder shows the level you've reached and the next three, and opens from the badge. ### Security - A downloaded update is checked again just before it installs. If the file changed since it was downloaded, it's thrown away and downloaded again. - An animated GIF or WebP too large to use is turned away, instead of using up your computer's memory. - Crash reports leave your user name out of file paths. - On macOS and Linux, only your user account can read the licence file. ## 0.4.0 30 September 2026 ### Licence - Licence keys bought on desktamer.com now activate. ### The notch (MacBooks with one) - An island grows out of the notch: what's running shows beside it, and reminders drop down from it. - Hover it for Today at a glance: focus, water, timers, the next reminder, your tasks, and a line to jot something down. - Pets can live in the notch: they walk it, nap inside it, peek out and hang from its edge. - Pets there react when the Mac starts charging, a call starts, or it runs hot. ### Windows - Click the paw in the tray for Today at a glance; right-click it for the menu. - The paw shows the minutes left on a running timer or focus session. - A tip shows how to keep the paw on the taskbar when Windows tucks it away. - Walking pets use less CPU. - The setup shows the paw. ### Updates - A red dot on About when an update is ready, with what's in it before you restart. - After an update, a What's New window shows what changed. - "Update automatically" in Settings and About. With it off, a downloaded update installs only when you choose Restart to Update. ### Lighter on your computer - Pets rest while the screen is off, locked or showing the screen saver, and carry on where they were. - Sleeping pets use a small fraction of the CPU they did, and resting pets about half. - Pets start with less memory, and write to disk less often. - The Quest tab uses less CPU once monsters glow, and fights under another tab cost less. ### Privacy - Desktamer now sends anonymous usage statistics: that a copy is in use, its version, whether it's activated, and how updates went. Turn it off in Settings → Focus & privacy. ### Linux - The paw icon comes in every size. ## 0.3.0 28 September 2026 ### Quest - Quest is laid out like a game now: a top bar with your gold and account level, and a rail of eight screens: Adventure, Heroes, Blacksmith, Merge, Quests, Shop, Alchemy and Book. - Heroes: a hall with a paper doll for gear and an evolution ceremony. Hold a level-up to keep buying. - The Blacksmith's forge: take any item from +0 to +15, with heat, blessed strikes, reforging and salvage into ore. Gear no longer fades as the run moves on, and auto-equip puts on the best of the bag. - Alchemy stones: seven colours in four sizes, with a socket for each on every hero. - Potions at the shop, and merging one hero's growth into another (now and then a lucky merge). - A bounty board of up to ten notices, a bounty chest and a daily streak. - Special bosses on replays: the Treasure Goblin, the Alchemist and the Fallen Angel. - A new Rebirth dialog. Rebirth now pays stars only for stages past your last best. - Rewards fly to where they go, Epic and Legendary gear sparkles, and every item shows all it adds. - The power bar counts crits, skills, stones and effects, so even numbers mean an even fight. - Rewards, gear prices after Rebirth, reforging and potions are rebalanced. - Auto keeps fighting when you switch tabs, and Farm keeps going after a lost fight. - Fixed "while you were away" counting too much gold, and gold spent mid-fight not showing. ### Pets - A deleted pet waits in a Trash for 7 days, so you can bring it back. - Settings → Pets → Cursor: turn looking at the cursor on or off, and choose how far away pets notice it. ### Updates - A download that stalls now gives up and tries again later, instead of sitting at the same percent. - Restart to Update from the disk image or another disk now asks you to move Desktamer to Applications. ## 0.2.0 27 September 2026 ### Quest - Upgrade Rare and rarer gear at the shopkeeper. - Gear stats, drops and shop prices are rebalanced. - Skip appears 3 seconds into a fight, and changing stage stops the fight. - A new hero joins the reserve instead of swapping one out. ### Windows - The System tab shows GPU use, temperatures, battery details and disk traffic. - Fixed a freeze the first time the cursor rests on a pet. - Fixed the app getting stuck: a blank Today tab, "Measuring…" and images that never loaded. - Fixed Quick capture showing as a blank box, and not opening again after Alt+F4. - F5, Ctrl+R and Ctrl+P no longer reload or print Desktamer's windows. - Updates no longer install while Windows is shutting down. - Fixes for touch screens, non-Latin keyboard layouts, pet imports and the tray menu. ## 0.1.0 25 September 2026 The first release of Desktamer. Desktamer is made by [Taha Bozdemir](https://tahabozdemir.com/) at [Bold Biscuit](https://boldbiscuit.com/). Questions and bug reports go to .