Changelog

Added

• Video and GIF fills on shapes: Lower thirds and other shapes can now play a video or GIF as their background, set up in the theme designer. A shape's motion can run alongside your theme's own video background. (Plus and Core)
• Apply formatting to every slide: Set one slide's background, heading and body styling the way you want it, then apply it to the whole deck from the page's right-click menu instead of repeating it page by page.

Changed

• No more blank flash between slides and scripture: Switching between a slide and a verse used to flash a blank or standby frame. The outgoing picture now stays on screen until the incoming one is ready.
• Steadier secondary screens: Screens 2–4 keep their slide while the verse takes over, so a hand-off no longer blinks them.
• Suggested slide, where you're looking: The "follow the service" suggestion now appears right under the Main output preview, with accept and dismiss beside it.
• Smoother verse text: Text outlines are more even, and shadow softness now matches what you see in the theme designer.
• Thumbnails hold their picture: Slide cards and deck thumbnails keep the last frame until the new one is ready, instead of flashing a light placeholder.
• Feedback form: Pre-fills the email address on your account.

Fixed

• Older Macs opening to a blank window: On macOS 12 (Monterey), Pewbeam could open to an empty window. Fixed — the app no longer depends on browser features that version doesn't have.
• Verses missed mid-sentence: A reference spoken inside a sentence (for example, "we read in Isaiah 45:19") could be skipped. It's picked up now.
• "Chapter and verse" callouts: Saying something like "Isaiah 45 and 19" now opens the verse your pastor named, instead of only the chapter.
• BLACK is fully black: BLACK now blacks out every output completely, including while an alert banner is on screen.

Added

• Video backgrounds: Your theme background can now be a video or GIF (MP4, MOV, GIF), not just a still image. Motion backgrounds play behind your scripture on NDI, HDMI and every output. Videos are optimised once when you import them, so playback stays smooth even on modest church PCs. (Plus and Core)
• Follow the service: Pewbeam now listens for where you are in your slide deck and suggests the matching slide as your pastor preaches. Suggestions appear for you to accept — nothing changes on the screen unless you say so. Auto-advance is available if you want it.
• Slide backgrounds you can shape: Slide page image backgrounds now have the same controls as the theme designer: image fit, scale, blur and a colour overlay. What you set is what goes to the screen.
• Voice control for slides: Move to the next or previous slide with a voice command, hands-free.
• A clearer way to upgrade: Plans and pricing now open as a full page instead of a cramped dialog, so you can compare what you get at a glance.

Fixed

• Nigerian pricing at checkout: Some Nigerian churches were being sent to dollar pricing at checkout instead of Naira. Checkout now uses the same location as the price you were shown.
• CLEAR now clears everything but your background: On lower-third themes, pressing CLEAR left the bars and reference labels on screen with no verse in them. Only your background stays now, on every output including secondary screens.
• Secondary screens no longer freeze: If a theme's video background failed to play, a second or third screen could freeze on the last thing shown and refuse anything new. It now falls back to showing the verse and warns you.
• Verse list stays put: Double-tapping a verse you'd searched for could select a different one, because the list scrolled between your two taps. Sending a typed reference also left you somewhere random in the chapter instead of on the verse you sent.

Added

• Slide deck export: Export any deck from the slide library — right-click a deck and choose Export as PPTX or Export as PDF.
• Editable PowerPoint: PPTX exports keep your headings, body text, and text boxes fully editable in PowerPoint, with backgrounds, fonts, sizes, and colors carried over exactly as designed.
• PDF quality options: Pick Best, Balanced, or Compact when exporting a PDF to control the file size.
• Shape fills: Shapes in the slide editor now support color, gradient, image, and transparent fills.

Changed

• Navbar: Settings now sits at the end of the navbar, after Get help.

Fixed

• Shape and image properties: Shapes and images added in the slide editor now show their full properties — recolor a shape, or adjust an image's fit, scale, blur, and overlay.
• Slide editor inspector: Removed the theme-only Word study section from the slide editor.

Highlights

• Reliable transcription: Fixed transcription repeatedly dropping and reconnecting during worship, prayer, and quiet moments.
• Faster slides: Slide thumbnails now load noticeably faster.
• Better audio testing: New live input monitoring and a longer microphone test.

Added

• Referrals: Find your church's referral code, copy your share link, and track the churches you've referred.
• Naira pricing: Upgrade plans now display in ₦ for churches in Nigeria.
• Deck canvas sizes: Set a custom canvas size for each deck.
• Slide controls: Control live slides with the arrow keys and reorder slides within a deck.
• Continuous alerts: Run alerts on an infinite loop and see the loop count in the navbar.
• Verse stepping: Step through verses with the < and > keys.
• Get help: Access support directly from the navbar.
• Targeted announcements: Send announcements to specific accounts.

Changed

• Simpler input volume: Replaced dB tick labels with a simpler volume slider, volume glyphs, and a snap at 0 dB.
• Longer mic test: Microphone tests now run for 20 seconds to catch mics that cut out shortly after starting.
• Keyboard shortcuts: The Help page now lists every supported shortcut: LIVE L, Clear C, Blackout B, Tab, and Enter ×2.
• Faster thumbnails: Slide thumbnails now render at display resolution and are cached for noticeably faster loading.

Fixed

• Sunday transcription disconnects: Fixed transcription repeatedly dropping and reconnecting during worship, prayer, or quiet moments.
• Incorrect plans: Accounts upgraded outside checkout, such as Plus → Core, now show the correct plan everywhere.
• Verse search: Clearing a search now returns you to the chapter you were reading instead of leaving an empty panel.
• Microphone testing: Fixed input level bars not responding while talking.
• Microphone reloads: Changing input volume no longer reloads the microphone.

Added

• In-app announcements: Product news and updates now reach you directly inside Pewbeam.
• Automatic updates: macOS downloads updates automatically. Windows installs pending updates when you close the app, with a prompt.
• Live controls: Added LIVE master output override, CLEAR Scripture toggle, and L/C/B keyboard shortcuts.
• Live status: The LIVE pill now blinks while you're on air.
• Windows mic protection: Pewbeam now detects microphones silenced by Windows audio enhancements and provides a one-click fix.

Changed

• Custom theme sizes: Custom canvas sizes are now respected across every output, including secondary channels.
• Clearer errors: Operator-facing error messages are now clearer, without technical internals in toasts.

Fixed

• Live output: Saved themes now repaint correctly when on air.
• Free-plan transcription: Sessions that reach the transcription limit mid-service now show a clear prompt instead of silently stopping.
• NDI cleanup: NDI outputs are now cleaned up when Pewbeam exits.
• Resource downloads: Improved reliability for resource-pack downloads on networks with DNS resolution issues.
• Publish status: Publish failures are now reported accurately, and publish state persists correctly.