Releases
Coop Zone — a catalog of co-op levels you and a friend run together
- Open the new Coop Zone card on Home to pick a partner and chain through a catalog of co-op levels back-to-back — no daily cap, no one-puzzle-a-day wait.
- 10 levels in this first zone, mixing five fresh co-op builds with five tuned variants pulled from the daily pool, so there's enough to chew through in one sitting.
- Your map keeps a personal record on each level — best stars, best score, and the friend you got that record with — so you can grind with one friend tonight and a different friend tomorrow without losing progress.
- Beat your own best with a new partner and the map updates to show the latest run — '3★ with Sam' tonight, '3★ with Alex' next time.
- Daily Co-op is unchanged and still lives on its own card — Coop Zone is a parallel place to play, not a replacement.
- Co-op 'your turn' pushes now batch across active sessions so chaining levels with the same friend doesn't multiply your notifications.
Co-op tuning, fixed reminders, and friend-adds on leaderboards
- Co-op levels play at a friendlier pace — more moves per turn, lower targets, and easier two- and three-star thresholds so solid play actually earns stars.
- Deep cascades now pay off bigger, and co-op boards keep the top rows clear of blockers so chains have room to run.
- Co-op pushes — your turn, timeout warnings, and daily-unlocked nudges — now reach your device instead of only filling the in-app bell.
- Daily Challenge 'ending soon' reminders fire again — the nightly push had been silently no-op'ing for the last few weeks.
- The home-card streak badge is honest now — a dormant streak shows as paused with a nudge to play today, instead of faking an active flame.
- Add a friend straight from the leaderboards — every row you're not already connected to has a one-tap add button.
Co-op mode, Google sign-in, and a bigger shop
- Play a daily co-op level with a friend — take turns swapping on the same board with a shared score target, and chase a pair streak that grows the more days you team up.
- A new partner picker shows each friend's status — your turn, their turn, waiting, or done — and a home card jumps you straight into the active game.
- Co-op pushes (and the in-app inbox) cover when it's your turn, when the round resolves, and when a timeout is closing in, each with its own toggle in Settings.
- Continue with Google to sign in, or link Google to your existing guest account from Settings so your levels, gems, and streaks come with you.
- Four new shop bundles: a rotating Daily Deal that refreshes every day, Pass Plus (one-time Pass + gems + boosters), Season Complete (a subscription that grants Battle Pass Premium every season), and the Ultimate whale bundle. Every tile now spells out exactly what's inside.
- New About, How to Play, FAQ, Changelog, and Contact pages live behind a footer on every page, so it's easier to share or link to specific corners of the game.
- Fixed a crash that could blank the screen on launch when a co-op notification arrived before the rest of co-op shipped.
Keyboard play and a smoother, faster app
- You can now play with the keyboard — arrow keys move the cursor, Enter or Space selects and swaps, Home/End jump to the edges.
- Solo replays that got stuck after the recent engine update now save fresh runs again, so your ghost picker fills back up.
- The app paints faster on launch, and cascades and boosters feel smoother under heavy chains.
- The friend ghost picker no longer spills past the dialog edge — the row snaps tile-by-tile with soft edge fades.
- The "New version available — Refresh" toast actually refreshes when you tap it now (the button was previously decorative).
Wins land reliably after rainbow runs
- Five-in-a-row matches that drop a rainbow gem now register reliably — no more 'validation failed' toast on the swap that follows.
- Going to the map or replaying after a win now waits for your progress to save, so the next level actually unlocks instead of leaving you stuck on the old one.
Gem Rush rebrand and ghost-race polish
- Gem 5 is now a magenta pentagon, replacing the blue-violet teardrop on both the canvas board and result screens.
- Five-in-a-row over an intersection now reliably drops a rainbow gem on the five-line instead of being swallowed by an L or T match.
- Ghost races have a redesigned HUD card with a VS stamp, opponent avatar, head-to-head badge, live score, and a color-coded delta pill that flips green or red as the lead changes.
- The pre-race VS overlay is bigger, lingers a touch longer, and can be tapped to skip straight into the race.
- Fixed the ghost-race delta being stuck at 0 the entire run.
- Head-to-head records now stay consistent for both players in a race — no more mismatched W-L counts.
- The booster tray and pre-game booster picker now stay out of the way during ghost races so the head-to-head is the whole show.
- Zone 4 levels (76–100) now have reachable score targets — old three-star bars were physically impossible on most of those boards.
- Push permission prompts now back off if you say not yet — 3, 7, 14, then 30 days — and a 'Don't ask again' option sticks for good.
Theme picker, sprite refresh, and ghost-race polish
- Pick a light, dark, or system-following theme from Settings — and no more flash of light when you open the app in dark mode.
- Gem and blocker sprites have a fresh hand-printed look, with riso misregistration ghosts, deeper overprint shadows, and tighter board FX.
- Battle Pass now has a single Claim All button that scoops up every unlocked tier in one tap.
- Notifications inbox has a Mark all as read button — clear the unread dot without opening every item.
- Ghost races now have their own sound and haptic cues — overtake, retake, halfway, and photo finishes each feel distinct.
- Sharing your ghost-race result now works from the iOS Home Screen, and pinging a friend to come race actually delivers the push.
- Winning the last unlocked level on a slow connection no longer bounces you back to the map before the next level opens.
Ghost Race — chase your best, beat your friends
- Every level completion now saves a replay of your run, and retries can race that ghost in real time on the same board.
- A new picker on the level-start screen lets you choose which past run — your best or a friend's — to race.
- The HUD flashes OVERTAKEN and RETAKEN as the lead changes, with a live delta that updates on every score gain.
- A pre-race VS overlay sets the matchup, and the result dialog tracks your head-to-head record against that opponent.
- Top-scored levels on the world map now wear a crown, and friend-ghost levels show a head-to-head badge with a Race Friend shortcut that preselects their ghost.
- After racing a friend's ghost, you can ping them with a push nudge to come race you back.
Extend Level — keep going on a win or a loss
- A new Extend Level booster appears on every win and loss dialog — 150 gems to keep playing on any objective, once per attempt.
- After a win, an extend gives you a fresh window of moves or time to chase a higher score and more stars.
- After a loss, an extend hands back enough moves or seconds to recover the run instead of starting over.
- If you're short on gems, a quick-buy pack lives right inside the extend card — pay, return, and the level resumes exactly where you left it.
- Heading to the full shop to top up also routes you back into the level after checkout, with the board, score, and timer intact.
- Back-button or refresh during a purchase now safely restores your in-flight level instead of dropping you to the start.
Daily Spin, new shop tiers, and smart nudges
- Daily Spin lands on the home screen — give the wheel one flick a day for gems, boosters, or a rare prize, with a streak that builds the longer you keep showing up.
- Push notifications now cover streak-at-risk reminders, energy-full alerts, and weekly leaderboard nudges, each its own opt-in toggle in Settings.
- The shop has a new Mega gem pack at $14.99 and a sharper Best Value layout, with anchor prices showing what each tier actually saves.
- Gempop Pass is now available as an annual subscription at $39.99 a year — about a third off the monthly price.
- New players get a one-time starter bundle on day 3 — 300 gems plus one of every booster for $1.99, with a real 72-hour countdown.
- Daily result share links now open a result card with your score, stars, and streak, and the share text no longer pastes the link twice.
Daily Challenge v2 — friends boards, streak freezes, daily twists
- Daily Challenge now rotates objectives by day of the week — Time-Attack Sunday, Cascade Friday, halved-moves Saturday, and four more — labeled at the top of the board so you know what you're walking into.
- Stars now multiply your daily gem reward (1.25× at two stars, 1.5× at three), so chasing a perfect run actually pays.
- Streak freezes auto-bank one per week (two with Gempop Pass), up to four. Miss exactly one day and a freeze is spent silently to keep your streak alive.
- Streak milestones at 7, 14, 30, 60, 100, and 365 days now drop bonus gems, booster bundles, and an avatar frame at the highest tiers.
- A friends-only leaderboard for today's puzzle now appears on the home card and full-screen on the daily page.
- Finishing the daily opens a Wordle-style share card — copy a one-line result, share it, or download a PNG — and the daily page stays open afterward so you can come back to watch friends' scores roll in.
- Friend invites and acceptances now send a push notification, gated by a new 'Friend invites' preference.
- The weekly leaderboard now tracks score gained this week instead of the all-time total — so it actually differs from the all-time board.
- Fixed cascade and MEGA popups rendering blurry or in the wrong font on iPhone Safari.
- Fixed a duplicate-request error when accepting a friend invite via 'Accept & Play'.
Gem Rush bonus and louder cascades
- Score and timed levels now end with a Gem Rush phase — leftover moves and seconds rain down as bonus points before the win dialog opens.
- Level Complete now shows a Score / Bonus / Total breakdown so you can see exactly how much your tempo earned.
- Big chains now spray confetti, flash the board edges, and stamp a STORM mark when you push a combo past five deep.
- Clearing level 100 now triggers a finale celebration with denser confetti and a 100 / 100 cleared badge.
- Streak chips, premium badges, and completed level numbers stay readable in dark mode again.
- Fixed a bug where some timed-level wins were rejected at the leaderboard.
Tougher targets and real boss fights
- Score targets across all 100 levels jumped — most levels no longer fall to a single lucky cascade.
- Move budgets are tighter, with the L100 boss dropping to 12 moves at the highest target in the game.
- Score and timed levels no longer end the moment you hit the target — keep playing through your move budget to push for two and three stars.
- Three-star wins now require 2.5× the target score instead of 1.5× — a real grind for replay value.
- Boss levels at 25, 50, 75, and 100 hit meaningfully harder than their neighbors, and the mini-bosses at 15, 40, 65, and 90 do too.
- Mid and late zones gained more obstacles, with thicker ice walls and denser blocker patterns in zones 3 and 4.
- The Continue card now says "So close!" when you fail within striking distance of the target.
Name-aware invites and shared-link fix
- Invite links now greet visitors with the inviter's display name.
- Once an invited visitor signs in, the friend request fires automatically.
- Shared links and deep links open the right page directly instead of showing a 404.
- Collect-objective swatches now match the actual gem colors on the board in every zone.
A distinct look for every zone
- Each zone now has its own printed-zine identity — different halftone textures, edge stamps, and a second ink color across the world map, the game board, and the HUD.
- Zone titles on the world map now show a volume kicker above the name, like "Vol. 01 — Prism Press" and "Vol. 04 — Blueprint Edition."
Economy rebalance
- Battle Pass rewards re-tuned: a full pass now spans about a season instead of two weeks, and gem amounts are smoother across the 30 tiers.
- Several mid-pass tiers now grant boosters instead of gems for more variety on the way up.
- Daily Challenge gem rewards re-tuned to keep daily play meaningful without outpacing the in-app shop.
Top record on every level
- Each level now shows the current top record — holder, score, and how long it's stood — above the board.
- The What's New dialog now opens reliably after a release.
Session recovery and install shortcuts
- If your sign-in is ever lost, a recovery dialog now offers to sign you back in instead of silently failing.
- You can now install Gempop from Settings at any time — handy if you missed the original prompt.
- Audio updates reach you reliably after each release.
- Switching between levels no longer briefly shows the previous level's board.
- Settings now shows the current app version, and a What's New panel summarizes each release.
Mute splits and per-level top scores
- Music and sound effects now have separate mute toggles in Settings.
- Daily Challenge gives subscribers a bonus.
- Top score is now tracked per level.
- Notification preferences are now per type — opt in or out by category.
Email sign-in and leaderboard refresh
- Sign in or recover your account by email.
- Display name validation is friendlier.
- Leaderboards now sort by level reached.
Drop-objective levels and how-to-play
- New drop-objective levels with ingredients to clear.
- Audio now unlocks reliably on iOS.
- Added a How to Play guide.