Release Notes

Changelog

Everything new, improved, and fixed in LingoBudi.

v0.8.02026-02-25Latest

Phrases Mode & Mobile Improvements

AddedChat mode selection — choose between "Words" (individual vocabulary) or "Phrases" (full sentences and expressions) when starting a new chat

AddedPhrase Builder practice mode — type complete phrases from memory with word count hints and punctuation-insensitive validation

AddedPhrase-focused AI tutoring — in Phrases mode, the AI introduces useful conversational expressions like greetings, common questions, and idiomatic phrases

AddedSession mode indicator — chat sessions show a small icon in the sidebar indicating whether they're Words or Phrases mode

AddedShow/Hide Features section in Settings (mobile only) — toggle Audio Controls and Word Drop game visibility

AddedHelp & Support button in Settings for mobile users to access the Help tab

ChangedPractice mode back bar — now a prominent emerald sticky bar below the header with centered mode title and visible Back button

ChangedMobile footer navigation — replaced Help button with Settings (gear icon) for quicker access to preferences

ChangedSettings page reorganized — Language Settings moved to top, new API Settings section for Gemini key, cleaner section groupings

ChangedLearning Intensity buttons — now show icons (seedling/fire/bolt) with shorter labels on mobile (Easy/Med/Hard)

ChangedWord Drop game hidden on mobile by default — can be enabled via Show/Hide Features in Settings

ChangedSidebar starts collapsed on mobile to prevent overlay appearing immediately on login

ChangedPhrase comparison ignores all punctuation including ¿¡ and various quote styles — just get the words right

ChangedChat audio playback — click directly on highlighted vocabulary words to hear pronunciation instead of using a separate Listen button

RemovedRemoved "Listen" button from chat messages — audio is now triggered by clicking the vocabulary word itself

AddedWord Bank practice mode — view all saved vocabulary in a scrollable list with filter tabs (Show All, Words, Phrases) and tap-to-hear audio

AddedSearch Chats — search modal with real-time filtering, results grouped by date (Today, Yesterday, Previous 7 Days, etc.), and quick access to New Chat

AddedSidebar tooltips — hover over collapsed sidebar icons to see labels appear to the right

ChangedSidebar redesign — removed right sidebar on desktop, added Practice shortcut to left sidebar above Settings

ChangedCollapsed sidebar — hides chat list when collapsed for a cleaner look, shows only action icons

ChangedNew Chat icon — changed from plus to pen-to-square icon, removed background color to match ChatGPT style

ChangedChat type icons — sidebar and search results now show distinct icons for Words (font icon) and Phrases (quote icon) mode chats

ChangedHeader chat label — shows "Word Chat" or "Phrase Chat" instead of just "Chat" to indicate session mode

ChangedSidebar toggle icons — hamburger menu when collapsed, double chevron when expanded with subtle box shadow for visual clarity

ChangedSidebar branding — logo and LingoBudi text moved to top of sidebar, logo replaces hamburger menu when collapsed

ChangedCollapsed sidebar styling — entire sidebar background becomes white for a cleaner minimal look

ChangedHeader simplified — removed LingoBudi branding from main header since it now lives in the sidebar

ChangedTTS limit alerts — Phrase Builder and Visual Cards now show an inline warning below buttons when daily audio quota is reached instead of a shifting banner

ChangedLanguage indicator button — clicking the native → target language display in the header now opens Settings for quick language changes

v0.7.22026-02-22

Sign In Navigation Link

AddedSign In link in the public desktop navigation bar so visitors can quickly access the login flow

AddedSign In link in the mobile slide-out menu for easy access on smaller screens

v0.7.12026-02-19

Voice Selection & Mobile Polish

AddedMale/Female voice selection in Settings — choose between a female voice (Kore) and a male voice (Algenib) for all text-to-speech throughout the app (desktop only)

AddedVoice preview — tapping a voice option in Settings plays a short sample so you can hear the difference before committing

ChangedChat "Listen" button now shows three distinct states: Loading (amber spinner while fetching audio), Speaking (emerald pulse during playback), and Listen (idle)

ChangedAudio cache keys now include the voice name so switching between male and female voices always plays the correct audio instead of serving a stale cached version

ChangedAudio features (Listen, voice preview, speaker buttons) are now desktop-only while mobile audio compatibility is being resolved

RemovedRemoved redundant "Get Started" button from the navigation header — Sign in with Google on the landing page is now the sole call-to-action

v0.6.02026-02-19

Dark Mode

AddedFull dark mode support — toggle between light and dark themes across the entire app and all public pages

AddedAppearance section in Settings with Light/Dark toggle buttons for logged-in users

AddedSun/moon toggle in the public navigation header for visitors

AddedTheme preference persists in localStorage and applies instantly on page load with no flash

ChangedMobile layout — header and bottom navigation are now locked in place using dynamic viewport height so they stay visible on all mobile browsers

ChangedLight emerald tinted content background for contrast against the white header, footer, and chat input areas

v0.5.02026-02-19

Mobile Experience & Audio Prefetch

AddedFully responsive mobile layout — sidebar slides over as an overlay with a backdrop, bottom navigation bar replaces the desktop right panel, and tighter spacing throughout

AddedPractice mode selection page — choose between Visual Cards, Spelling Master, and Word Drop from a clean card grid instead of a cramped tab bar

AddedBack navigation in practice modes — a "Back to Practice Modes" link and centered mode title at the top of every active game

AddedAudio prefetch for vocabulary — Gemini TTS audio is pre-generated and cached when words are introduced in chat, so Visual Cards always play high-quality audio instantly

AddedBrowser TTS fallback notice — a clear message appears when Gemini quota is exhausted and basic voice is used instead

AddedSitemap.xml and robots.txt — auto-generated at build time for search engine indexing

AddedWhat's New modal — logged-in users can now read the changelog directly from the update banner instead of being redirected to the public changelog page

ChangedShared Footer component — extracted duplicated footers across all public pages into a single responsive component

FixedCollapsed sidebar visual artifact — removed a gray blob that appeared in the desktop collapsed sidebar

v0.4.12026-02-17

Word Drop Polish

FixedWords now visibly hit the bottom strip before disappearing — danger line aligned to the game area instead of off-screen

ChangedReplaced large "Danger Zone" label with a subtle gradient strip at the bottom of the game area

AddedActive word highlight — the next word to type has a bold emerald border so it stands out from the rest

FixedInput field now clears automatically when a word is missed and when pressing Enter, so you can immediately type the next word

AddedDeep links for practice modes — /practice/visual-cards, /practice/spelling-master, and /practice/word-drop are now bookmarkable URLs with browser back/forward support

AddedWords remaining counter in the Word Drop HUD — shows how many words are left to drop in the current level

ChangedTrimmed Word Drop speed presets from 5 to 3 (Slow, Normal, Fast) — removed the two fastest settings that were unplayable

AddedWipe All Data in Settings — single button that permanently deletes all local and cloud data with a triple confirmation (type DESTROY + type YES) to prevent accidental data loss

v0.4.02026-02-16

Word Drop Game & Quality of Life

AddedWord Drop — a new arcade-style practice game where vocabulary words fall from the sky and you type the translation before they hit the danger zone

AddedAdjustable speed slider with 5 presets (Snail → Blazing) and progressive difficulty levels in Word Drop

AddedGoogle site verification for approved branding and search indexing

ChangedSpelling Master now advances to the next word on Enter after a correct answer instead of requiring a separate click

ChangedPractice tab module progression counter is hidden during Word Drop for a cleaner game view

ChangedSwitched chat model from gemini-3-flash-preview to gemini-2.5-flash — 12x higher daily free tier quota (250 vs 20 requests/day)

AddedDaily rate limit notification — amber banner with countdown info when free tier chat quota is reached

FixedGoogle Drive sync failing with 403 on updates — removed invalid parents field from PATCH requests

AddedSign out button in sidebar — quick access to sign out without navigating to Settings

AddedSupported languages showcase on Landing Page and How It Works — displays all 7 available languages with flag icons

ChangedSoftened free tier messaging across Landing Page, Terms, and How It Works — clarifies the daily limit (~250 messages), that requests pause rather than charge, and how to upgrade via Google Cloud Console

v0.3.02026-02-15

Audio Caching & Browser TTS Fallback

AddedIndexedDB audio cache — spoken words are stored locally so repeat plays are instant with zero API calls

AddedBrowser text-to-speech fallback — when Gemini TTS quota runs out, audio automatically falls back to the browser's built-in speech engine

AddedSpeaker button on Visual Cards — hear the target word pronounced on the flashcard front face

AddedPrevious card navigation — go back to the last flashcard in Visual Cards

ChangedSpeech buttons now show three states: idle, loading (spinner), and playing (pulse animation)

AddedRate limit notification — friendly banner when daily TTS quota is reached instead of silent failure

v0.2.02026-02-14

Personalization & API Key Validation

AddedDynamic greeting — displays your Google profile name instead of "Student", with manual override in Settings

AddedGemini API key validation — keys are verified on entry, in Settings, and at runtime during chat

AddedCircle flag icons on language dropdowns using custom dropdown component with SVG flags

Added"Remove API key on sign out" toggle in Settings for privacy-conscious users

ChangedWipe Local Cache now uses a two-step confirmation modal requiring you to type DESTROY

ChangedSidebar branding updated to "Let's chat!"

v0.1.02026-02-13

Initial Release

AddedAI-powered language tutoring chat with Gemini

AddedVisual flashcards and Spelling Master practice modes

AddedGoogle OAuth sign-in with Google Drive cloud sync

AddedText-to-speech for chat messages using Gemini TTS

AddedSupport for 7 languages: English, Mexican Spanish, Castilian Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese

AddedZero-knowledge architecture — all data stays in your browser