What’s new in Cistella

About Cistella

Closed-testing build 15

Version 1.0.0+15 · Prepared October 24, 2026

Prepared for closed testing; Google Play availability is separate. Availability depends on your installed version and testing access. Earlier builds keep their previous behavior until updated.

Use a strong, unique passphrase: standard ZIP AES uses 1,000-iteration PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA1, with weaker password-guessing resistance than the previous custom format. Project/photo filenames stay inside the encrypted payload; outer filenames, sizes and timestamps remain visible. Not every ZIP extractor supports AES.

No new permissions or network destinations are added. Theme-file destinations depend on your configured system document providers. Automatic backups still depend on app launch and running-app checks, not new OS background scheduling.

Closed-testing build 14

Version 1.0.0+14 · Built October 22, 2026

Prepared for closed testing; Google Play availability is separate. Availability depends on your installed version and testing access. Earlier builds keep their previous behavior until updated.

Automatic backups still depend on app launch and running-app checks, not new OS background scheduling.

This build adds no new accounts, permissions or data destinations. Existing privacy and deletion guidance below still applies.

Closed-testing build 13

Version 1.0.0+13 · Built October 20, 2026

Prepared for closed testing; Google Play availability is separate. Availability depends on your installed version and testing access. Earlier builds keep their previous behavior until updated.

Your part status names and colors

Settings → Appearance → Labels adds Premium customization for Needed, Ordered and Owned names and colors. These are global-only overrides, not project or workspace overrides. Name and color resets are independent: resetting one leaves the other unchanged. Explicit overrides apply in native and Desktop Access; customization remains stored when Premium is unavailable. Native defaults remain Neutral/Info/Success; Desktop Access defaults remain Warning/Info/Success. Stable status IDs and stock, ordering, archive and completion behavior are unchanged. Existing backup and deletion controls still apply.

Existing project/task status and progress colors still follow project → enabled workspace → global override → theme default, subject to Premium permissions. Use inherited color clears an override; changing a status label does not change its color. Part customization does not add new scoped status fields.

One picker, three positions

Native and Desktop Access now keep the real editable Dashboard, Tasks and Controls pages above the same draggable picker. Drag the handle to collapsed, halfway or expanded; accessible increase/decrease actions are available. Collapsing preserves the selection, draft and typed hex. Role choices and scrolling do not auto-expand it. Controls no longer replaces its page with a separate focused view; seed picking uses Back to Details. Reduced motion snaps immediately.

Compact Primary/Wheel controls, horizontal shades and recent colors leave more room for previews. Hex and Wheel sit side by side when they fit and stack when needed; the wheel keeps its size. Wheel and swatch changes apply immediately to the draft; Apply hex applies typed hex, while Paste validates and applies clipboard hex. Save commits the draft; Cancel discards it. A failed save keeps the draft for retry.

Dashboard counts, project progress and task samples more closely match the app, using fictional data without live actions. Dashboard and Tasks share the same Page color within a theme, not a new per-screen color. Contextual Background, Text & icon and Border choices expose shared colors; project cards remain borderless. Preview colors and transparency stay literal, including stored hidden colors. Custom colors remain pinned until explicitly reset to Automatic; changing a seed affects Automatic colors only. Resetting all colors requires confirmation.

Settings and layout refinements

Affected Settings screens and overlays better respect system insets, and long dropdowns scroll within available space. These are targeted fixes, not a claim that all Android 15 warnings are resolved. In the landscape theme editor, the keyboard can still obscure controls; universal keyboard visibility is not promised. Large text and small screens can still require scrolling.

This build adds no accounts, permissions, third-party requests or data destinations. Storage, network, privacy and deletion behavior are unchanged; the existing privacy and deletion guidance below still applies.

Closed-testing build 12

Version 1.0.0+12 · Built October 18, 2026

Prepared for closed testing; Google Play availability is separate. Availability depends on your installed version and testing access. Older installed builds retain their previous editor.

Edit colors on interactive previews

Native and Desktop Access now share interactive previews for Dashboard, Tasks and Controls. Select a component to edit its colors, then use the bottom tabs or swipe between pages. Dashboard and Tasks previews stay above the color picker; Controls offers a focused sample with Back to controls. Details, Undo and All colors sit beside Save. All colors is a shortcut, not an Advanced mode.

The Project counts card, task rows, borders and date indicators more closely match the app. Contextual Background, Text & icon and Border choices help explain shared colors. These are synthetic samples, not your project data.

Compact controls and better keyboard handling

Primary colors, Wheel, shades, recent colors, hex entry, Copy and Paste are available from the first selected component. Smaller Primary/Wheel controls leave more room for the preview, while the wheel keeps its size and the picker stacks when needed. Large text and an open keyboard can still require scrolling.

Improved color-field focus during layout changes, immediate wheel selection and keyboard handling. The editor actions remain readable under custom themes; preview colors remain literal. Readability advice does not silently repair your chosen colors.

Your colors stay yours

The editor exposes 41 colors used by the app and preserves all 43 stored color roles, including unused colors and exact transparency. Custom colors stay pinned until you explicitly reset them to Automatic. Changing a seed affects Automatic colors, not unrelated Custom overrides. Resetting all colors requires confirmation.

Details contains the theme name, Light/Dark appearance and background/accent seeds. Undo groups color-editing sessions. Save commits the draft; Cancel discards it. A failed save keeps the draft for retry. Storage, network, privacy and deletion behavior are unchanged.

Also introduced in closed-testing build 11

Version 1.0.0+11 · Built October 16, 2026

These changes are included in build 11 and retained in build 12 unless noted above. Older installations keep their previous behavior until updated.

One appearance, with colors that follow your project

Each theme has one explicit light or dark appearance. All eleven built-in themes remain, with existing Free/Premium requirements. Live color editing, recent colors and Catppuccin palettes work in the native app and Desktop Access; build 12 replaces the earlier Basic/Advanced editor with the previews above.

Project content inherits from the project’s owning workspace when its customization is enabled, unless the project has its own theme; otherwise it uses the global theme. Opening a project from All Workspaces still follows that project’s scope. The combined All Workspaces list remains globally themed.

Important: older custom themes need recreating

Custom themes using the old light/dark theme format need recreating after the one-time upgrade. The theme-only transition preserves project data, photos and independent category, status and progress colors. Custom themes already in the new format are preserved.

Supported older full backups retain compatible project data and settings; the restore preview explains obsolete-theme fallbacks before confirmation. Legacy standalone theme files are rejected rather than imported as empty themes. Original backup files are unchanged. New theme files are not promised readable by older apps; downgrading is unsupported.

Clearer cards, forms and dashboard defaults

Project cards retain the selected category color instead of brightening it. The opacity control still adjusts its strength, and saved opacity values are preserved. Compact cards, due-date warnings, progress colors, menus, outlined forms and text-size controls have also been refined.

Native and Desktop Access start with Overview when no dashboard layout is saved, and Reset layout returns to Overview: Project counts, Project progress, Time & costs, Project spending and Time logged. Saved custom layouts and selected presets are preserved. Reporting periods are unchanged.

Reusable copies and recurring drafts

In the native app, Save as Template creates a separate reusable copy and leaves the original project unchanged. It preserves active tasks, subtasks, parts, linked photos and project settings, but resets progress and does not copy journal entries or time history.

From Template on the Recurring tab opens a draft to configure the name, notes, frequency and next date before saving; cancelling writes nothing. The source category is read-only, and workspace and priority are inherited. These new flows are native-only; there is no Desktop Access From Template API. From Template on the Projects tab keeps its existing regular-project behavior.

Photo choices, small fixes and Google Drive sign-out

In the native app, link existing project photos when adding tasks, parts or journal entries, alongside Gallery and Camera choices. Removing a draft selection does not delete the source photo. Clearing project dates, journal spacing, photo selection, keyboard behavior, theme saves and backup restoration have also been improved.

Signing out of Google Drive ends the connection without deleting local data or Drive backups. Delete unwanted backups separately. The existing Privacy Policy and Data Deletion guidance still apply.

Closed-testing build 10

Version 1.0.0+10 · October 12, 2026

These changes are included in the closed-testing build, not a claim that everyone has received an update. Availability depends on your installed version.

Remember reporting periods for each card

Native and Desktop Access use a compact reporting-period pill in each time or spending card header. Choose a range for one card, or enable Apply to all reporting cards before choosing a preset or custom dates. This includes hidden reporting cards. The switch remembers your choice across app restarts and is included in settings backups. Changing the switch alone does not apply a period; turn it off to adjust cards independently.

Each card starts at 30 days and remembers its selected range across app restarts, including hidden cards. Last 7/30/90 days keep rolling forward; custom dates stay fixed. These preferences apply across workspaces and are included in settings backups. Desktop Access uses the same saved per-card ranges and apply-all choice as the native app. Saved layouts are unchanged. Project counts remain a current snapshot; tasks, parts and project lists are not date-filtered.

Move a project without starting over

Long-press an active project card and choose Move to workspace in the native app. Pick a destination and confirm Move. The same project keeps its tasks, parts, photos, logs and project settings; nothing is duplicated. Its recorded time and spending follow its new workspace membership. Your current workspace view stays selected, with a View action to switch to the destination when the project leaves the current filtered list.

Select the workspace label on an active project card in Desktop Access to choose a destination, then confirm Move; your current workspace filter stays selected. A project cannot be moved into a workspace deleted during confirmation.

Add photos while editing

Native Edit Project now offers the same labelled Gallery and Camera photo actions as New Project. Desktop Edit Project supports staged photo uploads and optional cover selection before Save; cancelling writes nothing. Adding photos preserves an existing cover unless you choose a replacement. Failed cover selection keeps successfully uploaded photos. Concurrent cover changes are detected rather than silently overwritten.

A calmer Desktop dashboard

Dashboard replaces the Analytics button and opens in the main panel while the project browser and sidebar remain visible. It continues to report across all workspaces. Background dashboard updates keep loaded cards visible without flashing a loading bar. Time and spending refresh with the selected reporting period; initial loading, range changes and failures remain visible.

Short logs that would round to zero hours are shown in seconds or minutes, including time-chart labels. Daily time rows retain their calendar dates and recorded hours across daylight-saving changes. Desktop Access still reorders dashboard cards with up/down controls only, and its Time logged card shows daily rows rather than the native chart.

Archived work still counts

On native and Desktop Access dashboards, the Projects total and Planning, In progress, Paused and Done counts include archived projects. Deleted projects, templates and projects in deleted workspaces are excluded. Archiving does not erase completed work from the Done count. Active projects, project lists, tasks, parts and deadlines continue to exclude archived projects. Counts reflect current status, not historical completion dates, and are independent of reporting periods.

Other fixes

Tapping the Android Desktop Access notification opens its settings directly. Log cards have more consistent spacing, and dashboard cards without cover photos no longer reserve an empty cover slot.

Also introduced in closed-testing build 9

The customizable dashboard offers project, task, part, date, time and spending cards, layout presets, optional category colors and Undo while editing. Native dashboards can select a workspace; Desktop Access shows all workspaces. Existing saved layouts are preserved. Time and spending ranges do not filter current projects, tasks or parts.

Settings are grouped into Appearance, Organisation, Workflow, General, Photos, Desktop access, Backup & restore, Trash and Help. Currency, time format and the default opening tab are under General; privacy and deletion links are under Help. Existing preferences and Premium requirements are unchanged.

Project headers have clearer progress, dates, logged time and budget, with notes in the app bar and Edit project in the three-dot menu. Money displays retain nonzero cents without unnecessary zero-only decimals. Backup timestamps use local time, upcoming dates exclude past dates, and pending project notes save when leaving the detail screen.