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What's New in SquadUp 1.3.0

SquadUp 1.3.0 makes the app more connected and more responsive. You can now search across everything, your Calendar Blocks save to your account instead of staying local, the recovery layer is fully live, and the app can begin making quiet factual observations based on your patterns when you have enough history.

This release does not add noise. It adds reach — things that were already useful are now more reliable, more surfaced, and easier to get back to.

The short version: Search finds anything. Blocks save everywhere. Recovery is on. The Library knows a bit more about what you might need.

Highlights​

  • Search. A single search bar on your Dashboard finds any task, habit, journal entry, or checklist. Recent items appear before you type.
  • Calendar Blocks sync to your account. Blocks used to live in local storage. They now save to your account and survive reinstalls and device changes.
  • Custom block names and week-by-week adjustments. Rename Work, Personal, or Home to whatever fits your life. Shift block times for a specific week without changing your defaults.
  • Custom blocks (Pro). Pro users can add up to three additional named blocks beyond the defaults.
  • Recovery tools are fully on. Daily State Card, Tiny Win, Gentle Return, Recovery Mode, and Momentum Map are now active for all users.
  • SquadUp Guides in your Library. Five guides now appear at the top of your Library — streaks, Dip Mode, task breakdown, morning routines, and Focus Timer basics.
  • Library suggestions when habits are missed. When a habit has been missed a few days in a row, the app quietly surfaces a relevant Library article in the Habits screen.
  • Optional weekly digest email. A short weekly email with your habits completed, tasks closed, focus sessions, and best streak. Opt in from More → Notifications.
  • Behavioral observations rolling out. Return Delta, One True Sentence, Linkage Moments, and Focus Signal are live and being validated internally before expanding to all users.
  • Switch Starter Pack. Change your archetype after onboarding from More → Settings.

Improvements​

  • Calendar Blocks are now backed by your account instead of local storage, which means they come back after a reinstall without needing to be reconfigured.
  • Week-by-week block adjustments let you shift times for a specific week — for travel, a quiet week, or a crunch period — without changing your default setup.
  • Custom block names replace the default Work, Personal, Home, School labels everywhere they appear: dividers, calendar groupings, task chips, and empty states.
  • A quiet behavioral note appears in the Calendar view if a block has been consistently empty for a few weeks. Factual, past tense, no prescription.
  • The Library now includes five built-in SquadUp guides. These appear as a dedicated shelf above all other Library content the first time you open the Library.
  • When a habit has been missed for a few days, a soft suggestion card appears in the Habits screen linking to a relevant Library article. One suggestion at a time. Dismissible.
  • The recovery drawer is now open by default. Daily State Card, Tiny Win, Gentle Return, Recovery Mode, and Momentum Map are all active and accessible from the left-edge drawer on your Dashboard.
  • Starter Pack can now be re-applied or switched after onboarding. All five archetypes are available from More → Settings: Student, Professional, Health-Focused, Parent, and Creative. Free users have access to two; Pro unlocks all five.
  • Pro users can add custom Calendar Blocks beyond the three defaults, with a custom name and color.
  • Subscription state updates are more reliable. Changes to your plan apply exactly once regardless of delivery timing.
  • The weekly digest skips sending when there is nothing meaningful to report. No empty emails.

Fixes​

  • Push notifications are now reliable. The scheduled push notification system had a silent failure at the cron level — the handlers for daily task reminders, streak alerts, and weekly recap notifications were never reached. All three are now wired correctly. If push notifications felt inconsistent or absent in earlier builds, this is the fix.
  • Dead device tokens are cleaned up automatically. A daily background job now checks Expo's delivery receipts and marks tokens from uninstalled apps or deregistered devices as inactive. This keeps the delivery pipeline clean without any action on your part.
  • The daily notification cap now actually enforces. The per-day and per-hour limits you set in notification preferences were stored but never checked on the server. They are now enforced server-side. If you set a limit of 3 per day, the app respects that.
  • Returning from device Settings re-registers automatically. If you tap "Open Settings" on the notification preferences screen and then enable notifications in your device settings, the app now detects the change and re-registers your device for push notifications when you come back — without needing to tap anything.
  • Calendar Blocks no longer reset when the app is reinstalled or moved to a new device.
  • Press feedback, card entrance animations, and focus environment effects feel more consistent and responsive across the app.
  • The What's New screen now scrolls correctly when there are more items than fit in the visible area.

Search is now available from a magnifier icon on your Dashboard header.

Type at least two characters and results appear grouped by type: tasks, habits, journal entries, and checklists. Before you type anything, the screen shows your five most recently viewed items.

Tapping a result opens the item directly and records it as a recent. The search result list shows the item title, type, and status so you can tell similar items apart at a glance.

Calendar Blocks — Upgraded​

Calendar Blocks were introduced in v1.2.0 as a way to give your week simple context. In v1.3.0 they got three meaningful upgrades.

Persistence. Blocks now save to your account. If you reinstall the app or switch devices, your block setup comes back without any action on your part.

Week-by-week adjustments. In the Calendar Blocks settings screen, a "This week" section lets you shift block times for the current week only. Your default times stay unchanged. The adjustment expires automatically after two weeks.

Custom names and colors. Every block can now have a custom name. If Work does not fit your actual life, change it to something that does — Deep Work, Studio Time, Client Hours, anything up to 20 characters. The name appears everywhere the block label shows up.

Custom blocks (Pro). Pro users can add up to three additional blocks beyond Work, Personal, and Home. Each gets a name, color, and the same day and time configuration as the defaults.

Free users see a quiet inline note in the task block chip row when custom blocks are available on Pro. Tapping it opens the upgrade screen.

Recovery Tools — Now On​

The recovery layer was built during v1.2.0 and shipped dormant. In v1.3.0 it is fully on.

Open the left-edge drawer from your Dashboard to reach it. The drawer contains:

  • Daily State Card. Shows one of four states — Steady Flow, Light Momentum, Recovery Day, or Reset Recommended — based on your recent activity. Each state has a short description and an optional action.
  • Tiny Win. Suggests one small thing to do. Pulls from your open low-effort tasks first, then from a preset pool if nothing qualifies. Completing a tiny win marks the task done.
  • Momentum Map. A quiet seven-day view of your activity rhythm. Labels describe days as Returned, Tiny Win, Focused, or Rest Day — no streaks, no missed markers.
  • Recovery Mode. A simplified screen with three actions: pick a tiny win, shrink today's task list, or move non-urgent items. Accessible from the Daily State Card when you are in a reset state.

Gentle Return appears inline on your Dashboard — not in the drawer — after three or more days of inactivity. It checks in quietly without framing absence as a problem.

None of these surfaces require action. They are available when useful and stay out of the way when they are not.

Library Guides​

Five SquadUp guides now appear as the first shelf in your Library. They are seeded when your account is created and stay in your Library permanently.

The guides cover:

  • Streaks Explained — how streaks work and when to ignore them
  • Using Dip Mode — what the recovery layer is for and how to use it without pressure
  • Task Breakdown Basics — how to split a stuck task into something movable
  • Building a Morning Routine — using checklists to anchor the start of your day
  • Focus Timer Setup — how to configure and get the most from a focus session

These are plain-language guides, not self-help content. They explain how the app's features work and why.

Library Suggestions​

When a habit has been missed for three or more consecutive expected days, a suggestion card appears at the bottom of the Habits screen.

The card shows a short Library title relevant to that habit's category, with a "Read Now" link and a "Not now" dismiss. One suggestion at a time. If you dismiss it, it does not reappear for that habit until your streak resets.

This is a quiet, optional touchpoint. The app does not tell you why you missed days, diagnose a pattern, or suggest you need help. It surfaces relevant content and stays out of the way if you are not interested.

Weekly Digest (Opt-in)​

The weekly digest is an optional email sent on Mondays. It covers the previous week: habits completed, tasks closed, focus sessions, and your best streak.

All copy is past tense and factual. The email does not evaluate your performance, compare you to past weeks, or tell you what to do next.

To turn it on: More → Notifications → Email Digest.

If you opt in and then unsubscribe from a digest email, the preference is updated and no further digests are sent.

Behavioral Observations​

Four behavioral surfaces are now live and being validated before they expand to all users.

  • Return Delta. When you come back after time away, a quiet card shows what changed since your last session: tasks closed, habits completed, items now overdue. Session-scoped — it does not reappear during the same open.
  • One True Sentence. At the start of a session, surfaces one item the system considers most worth your next unit of attention. Dismissible. Disappears when you take any action.
  • Linkage Moments. A single-sentence observation that names a connection between two patterns in your recent activity. Past tense, factual, no prescription. Appears at most once per day.
  • Focus Signal. If focus sessions have been cut short repeatedly within a week, a card appears on the Focus Timer setup screen suggesting a shorter format as a pre-filled option.

All four are suppressed during Dip Mode, after recent dismissals, and when activity history is too sparse to say anything grounded. They appear one at a time and do not stack.

These surfaces are being validated and will roll out to all users gradually.

What SquadUp Is Not​

v1.3.0 adds behavioral observations. A few things that does not mean:

  • It does not predict what you will do next.
  • It does not diagnose your emotional state from behavioral data.
  • It does not surface a numeric score for your productivity, momentum, or consistency.
  • It is not a therapy app, wellness platform, mental health tool, or coaching service.
  • Observations are past tense and factual. They describe what happened. They do not tell you what it means or what you should do.
  • Suggestions from the app are optional and dismissible. Nothing is mandatory.

SquadUp is a productivity app. The goal is to help you plan, keep moving, and recover without the app making you feel managed.

Still In Progress​

  • Behavioral observation surfaces (Return Delta, One True Sentence, Linkage Moments, Focus Signal) are live internally and rolling out gradually. They may not be visible to every user immediately.
  • Android store screenshots and Play Shorts clips are being produced for v1.3 UI.
  • Android App Links require a verified domain connection and are not yet active.
  • The weekly digest opt-in is in settings but not on by default. You need to turn it on.

Notes​

v1.3.0 is the largest release since v1.0.0 in terms of scope. It adds infrastructure (search, account sync, email), activates the recovery layer that shipped dormant in v1.2.0, and begins the behavioral observation layer that was always part of the plan.

None of these changes are loud. Search is behind a tap. Blocks sync silently. Recovery tools appear when opened. Observations are quiet when they appear and absent when they would not add anything.

That is the release.