Releases

PowerPic can now keep itself up to date, so this is the last version you’ll need to download by hand:

• New: Automatic updates — Once this version is manually installed, PowerPic will offer to download future updates for you. You can turn the behavior off in Settings, check manually using the Check for Updates… menu. Every update is cryptographically signed and verified before it installs.
• New: Anonymous usage data — PowerPic now reports which features get used, so development time goes where it’s actually useful. It’s tied to a random app ID, never to you, and never sends your content — privacy page for full terms. Opt out any time in Settings → Share anonymous usage data.

A second cloud AI provider, plus a way to constrain edits to marked areas:

• New: OpenAI provider — alongside Google Gemini, pick OpenAI (Fast) (gpt-image-2.5-flare) or OpenAI (Quality) (gpt-image-2.5-sunburst) for image edits, with the same running-conversation and annotation-guided workflow. Add your API key in Settings to enable it.
• New: Masks — right-click any annotation and choose Set AI inpainting mask to tell the model to only edit pixels inside that region, leaving the rest of the image untouched. A checkerboard toggle in the footer previews the mask layer. Currently, the layer is sent to OpenAI only as an additional “input”; Gemini receives it as standard annotations.

Gemini gets annotations as precise instructions (text), not just pixels:

• New: AI understands your markup — In addition to the image and annotation layer, PowerPic now also sends a text transcription of the markup — what each annotation is, a region it points to (for arrows), area coordinates. So “‹note› → this area” lands reliably instead of relying on the model interpret pixels alone.
• New: Arrows bind to freehand strokes — arrow endpoints can now attach to a freehand drawing too, not just shapes, text, and overlays. Drop an end onto its highlighted dots and it follows along.
• Improved: Arrowhead alignment — Classic and Barbed caps now sit consistently at the endpoint, and toggling cap styles on a selection keeps the arrow’s bounds steady.

Point-to-point line drawing, plus a round of selection and editor refinements:

• New: Draw polylines click-by-click — use Draw to build a multi-segment line (dragging still paints freehand). Delete removes the last point. Return or a double-click ends it, so does clicking on the first point to close the shape.
• New: Arrow straighten & unbind — right-click selected arrow to reset its Bézier handles, or to detach any bound ends.
• Improved: Arrows stay attached to text — bound arrows follow a text box live as it grows or shrinks while you type, and survive re-editing.
• Improved: Text boxes auto-shrink as you remove lines, not just grow.
• Improved: Toolbar-aware shortcuts — with nothing selected, the color (1–8) and size (+/−) keys adjust the active tool’s defaults.
• Improved: Esc clears the current selection.
• Improved: History — wider for longer filenames.
• Fixed: Zoom repaints the canvas immediately; the lock badge keeps a stable size across zoom levels.

Arrows can now ‘lock’ to annotations and have true Bézier controls. Plus, a round of editor polish:

• New: Arrow endpoint binding — connect an arrow’s end to a shape or a text box (one of the control points) and it stays attached, as you move or resize it. Right-click an arrow → Unbind start / end to detach.
• New: Two-handle arrows — arrows are now full Bézier curves with an independent control handle for each end, so you can make nicer bends, true S-curves. (Existing arrows are upgraded automatically).
• New: Align Center H / Center V — new options in right-click Align menu to center a multi-selection horizontally or vertically.
• New: Reset settings — a Settings option that restores preferences to defaults and clears saved styles & presets.
• Improved: Font menu renders actual font families.

Major pass on annotation power tools — richer arrows, multi-select editing, alignment, “fast” color palette, and more shortcuts:

• New: Arrowhead options — cap placement (none / start / end / both), style (classic, triangle, barbed, dot, square), and scale (S / M / L / XL) are now independent, editable from the second toolbar row.
• New: Align — with two or more annotations selected, right-click → Align (or ⌥⌘ + arrow keys) snaps their left / top / right / bottom edges to the selection’s outermost edge.
• New: Multi-select editing — When multiple annotations are selected, toolbar and right-click changes apply to the whole set; they’re tool-aware (e.g. an arrowhead change in a mixed selection only touches the arrows).
• New: Keyboard colors — a palette of eight editable swatches in Settings. Press 1–8 to apply a color to all selected lines & fonts, or 1-8 with ⇧ for a background fill.
• New: Keyboard sizing — press + / − to grow or shrink the font size and/or line width for shapes, arrows, and freehand.

Enhances file loading experience, smart history badges, and transactional edit forking.

• New: Files loaded from disk (raw images, PDFs, `.powerpic` bundles) now have their origin fully tracked, displaying `‘PowerPic | filename’` in the window title.
• New: Export As… and Save Project… panels now automatically pre-fill with the original filename and directory instead of a generic timestamp.
• New: The History menu now renders distinct high-fidelity badge icons based on the file source: folder badges for `.powerpic` projects, document/file badges for raw image/PDF files, and clock badges for auto-captured/edited drafts.
• New: When an existing file is opened, edited, and closed, its modifications automatically fork into a new cache entry in History while the original file-source bundle is left completely pristine.
• Improved: Redundant cache forks are bypassed on close if all edits have been fully undone (the undo stack is empty).
• Robustness: Monotonic filename suffixes are dynamically appended during concurrent saves to completely prevent disk timestamp collisions.

Gemini prompts now remember the conversation.

• New: follow-up prompts build on earlier turns — “replace the sky with a sunset”, then “now make it warmer”
• New: your previous prompts stay pinned at the top of the response panel, showing exactly the context in play
• New: the panel’s close button becomes Clear Session once context builds — click to start fresh; collapsing the panel keeps the session
• Improved: the AI panel can collapse to a slim bar (chevron) to peek at the canvas without losing the response, and ✕ cancels an in-flight request
• Note: switching providers (or Flash/Pro) starts a fresh session; Apple Intelligence prompts remain independent one-shots

Capture whole windows, Apple-style — plus editor and docs polish.

• New: press Space during a capture to toggle window mode — the window under your cursor highlights; click to grab it complete and un-obscured, even when other windows overlap it
• New: window captures are pixel-true with transparent rounded corners
• Improved: the Edit Image button now reads as a button and lights up while active — click it again to cancel
• Improved: the right-click menu shows its keyboard shortcuts; zoom and Edit Image gain shortcut tooltips
• Improved: exporting a transparent image to JPEG or BMP flattens onto white instead of black corners

Enabling AI now works without restarting the app.

• Improved: enable Apple Intelligence in System Settings while PowerPic is running and the AI input updates by itself — through “model downloading…” to ready
• Improved: pasting a Gemini API key enables open editors immediately
• Fixed: an editor opened before Apple Intelligence was available could show an enabled AI input that silently did nothing

File saving fixes and editing polish.

• New: default font size and line width are driven by image width
• Fixed: .powerpic project files are never modified (only if re-saved using Save Project)
• Fixed: .powerpic files no longer show greyed out in the Open dialog
• Improved: discarded captures (History and editor’s Trash button) go to macOS Trash — recoverable
• Improved: when re-saving using Save Project, location and filename are pre-filled
• Improved: resizing an image also scales annotation text and stroke sizes; Cancel/undo restore everything
• Improved: Gemini image edits are far less likely to bake annotations into the result

• Improved: annotation defaults scale with image size and screen density
• Improved: Gemini edits return at your original size — unless you ask to upscale or reshape
• New: keyboard zoom — ⌘+ / ⌘− / ⌘0
• New: font lineup (draftsman-leaning), sizes up to 128 px
• Improved: “Remember last style” now on by default; text styling no longer disturbed by shape tools
• Improved: transparent-color drawing falls back to a visible stroke
• Fixed: stray color-panel echo could tint a new text box
• Docs: expanded guides + full shortcuts reference

• Fixed: AI input and ⓘ tips were dead on Macs without Apple Intelligence — Gemini now works regardless
• Fixed: app icon shows in Finder, dialogs, and System Settings
• Fixed: Retina captures open at true physical size
• Improved: Welcome screen — shortcut badge, permission heads-up, full-menu-bar tips
• New: Online Docs… menu item; Settings window fits its content

Onboarding, branding, and quality-of-life fixes.

• New: first-launch welcome window — points you at the menu bar icon, teaches the capture shortcut, and warns when a crowded menu bar is hiding the icon (with tips to make room)
• New: custom PowerPic menu bar icon (template — adapts to light/dark menu bars)
• New: in-app feedback — Send Feedback… files bug reports and feature requests directly
• Improved: capture region drag starts on the very first click
• Improved: custom capture shortcuts no longer request Accessibility permission (only the ⌘⇧4 override needs it)
• Fixed: ⌘C/⌘V of selected annotations now duplicates them — a stale clipboard image no longer pastes over a fresh internal copy

The first public beta of PowerPic.

• New: Region capture with a global shortcut
• New: Annotations — shapes, arrows, freehand, text, image overlays, with presets, locking, layer ordering
• New: Image editing — crop, rotate, flip, resize, auto-enhance, straighten
• New: AI assistance — Apple Intelligence (on-device) or Google Gemini
• New: History, one-click copy / export, editable .powerpic projects