v2.114.0 — Prompts, the monthly call and a new way to listen

A big release for readers, writers and listeners. Stanza gains a weekly writing prompt and a monthly open call, gentler ways to find poems that are waiting for a first reader, a redesigned podcast experience, and content warnings that blur in place instead of interrupting you.

A prompt every week

Each Monday at noon UTC there is a new writing prompt. Read what other poets made from it, or write your own.

• The prompt page - Open any prompt to read the poems written for it. You see only poems you are allowed to open, so the count is yours, and an archive keeps past prompts open.
• Week and later - Poems written during the week are listed first, in the order they were written (newest first afterwards, with a toggle). Poems added later sit under Written later.
• In your feed - A prompt card appears now and then in your feeds, in the same format as the surface around it. Dismiss it and it stays dismissed on that device.
• Attach a poem - Choose a prompt in your poem's settings and the poem shows its prompt line while the prompt is live.

The monthly call

A themed open call with a proper rhythm: a call for entries, a reading period, then a results day.

• A visible timeline - Each call shows when entries close, when reading ends and when results arrive.
• Results all at once - On calls with a timeline, decisions stay private until the readers publish results, so everyone hears on the same day.
• Recognition in words - Selected poems carry a short citation from the readers, and honourable mentions are named too. There are no badges.
• The issue - Selected poems are gathered into a public list for that call, and the org's followers are told when results are out. Poets who have switched off list inclusion still appear on the call page.
• Selected for - A selected poem carries a Selected for line, and on results day it gets a small ornament in feeds.

First readers and a quiet reading note

A poem that has not yet had a written response is easier to find, without any rankings or pressure.

• Written responses count - A first response is a written one: a reply, a margin note or a critique. A cheer does not count. If it is later deleted, the poem goes back to waiting.
• After you publish - You may be offered a poem or two that are waiting for a reader. It is an invitation, never a gate, shown at most once a day, and you can switch it off in Settings under Writing.
• Discover - A shelf of poems waiting for a reader sits on Discover and hides when there is nothing to show. Poems are shown as posted on a day, never as how long they have waited.
• Reading notes - At most one quiet note a day, only when it is true, such as a poet you read has posted. No streaks, no urgency. Find the switch in Settings under Notifications.
• Asking about notifications - Stanza now asks about notifications at a moment that makes sense, such as after your first poem, and no longer at the end of onboarding. If you say not now, it waits.

Seasons

Stanza can now change with the calendar, and the changes are always optional.

• Seasonal shelves - On Discover, shelves such as Autumn poems are gathered from the tags poets put on their own work. They are shuffled daily, never ranked, and hide when there are too few poems.
• Themes - Seasonal and partner decorations appear while they are scheduled. Turn them off any time in Settings under Appearance to get the plain app.
• Seasonal frames - While a season is running, you can give a poem a seasonal frame in its appearance settings.
• Past seasons - A seasons archive lists seasons that have started, with the prompts that went live during each. Find it under Library, Explore, or from the decorations setting.

Podcasts, redesigned for listening

One player now follows you through the app on web and mobile.

• Real waveforms - Episodes show the actual shape of the audio, and episodes from before this release are being filled in.
• Pick up where you left off - Progress is saved as you listen. Rows show New, In progress or Played, and Play resumes from your spot.
• A mini player that follows you - It sits above the menu bar on a phone, in the sidebar on desktop, and can be minimised into a ring around your picture. Audio keeps playing while you browse.
• Lock screen and headset controls - On mobile, the lock screen, notifications and Bluetooth controls drive the same player. Skips are back 15 seconds and forward 30.
• Transcripts and chapters - When a transcript has real timings it follows along as you listen, and times in the show notes become chapters you can tap.

A podcast directory and show pages

Podcasts now opens on a directory, and each show has one page.

• The directory - Rails include a weekly Pick of the week, Continue listening, New episodes, Popular this week, shows from poets you follow, a mood picker and categories, then All shows. See all opens a full list.
• Moods and categories - Hosts choose up to two moods per episode and up to three categories per show.
• The show page - The latest episode, popular episodes, all episodes with seasons and filters, the host and similar shows, on one page.
• Honest numbers - Shows display members listened, counting signed-in members only, and nothing is shown for very small numbers.
• For hosts - View analytics on your show page gives subscribers, listens, responses and top episodes for free, and completion, listen-through and longer date ranges with Pro. Nobody is named.

Sleep timer, Play next and live reminders

• Sleep timer - Choose Off, End of episode, or 15, 30 or 60 minutes. The last seconds fade out.
• Play next - Queue up to 25 episodes on your device and they play one after another.
• Remind me - On a scheduled live performance, tap Remind me and you will be told when it goes live. You only need this if you do not already follow the performer.

Quote a line, note a line

On an episode with a timed transcript you can now work with a single moment.

• Quote - Turn a line, or two neighbouring lines, into a share card in Square or Story format.
• Note - Leave a margin note on a line. It is a reply like any other, and the host can switch transcript notes off for an episode.
• Cue links - A link with a time opens the episode cued to that moment, ready for you to press Play.

Podcasts and live readings in your feed

Your feed can now show a live reading or a new episode, but only from poets and shows you chose.

• Chosen sources only - Cards come from poets you follow and shows you subscribe to, never from popularity. Live comes first, then newest.
• Hide or show fewer - Hide one card, or show fewer from that show or poet. This never unfollows or unsubscribes you.
• Preview live readings - A setting for whether the muted preview of a live reading plays always, on Wi-Fi only, or never.

Fonts and appearance

• Font pairs - Choose a title font and a body font separately for each poem, from suggested pairs or by hand, and use them for new poems.
• A larger font catalogue - Hundreds of families, served from our own servers and never from a third-party font host.
• Poems and profiles only - Your chosen font styles your poems and your profile, and the rest of the app keeps its own typefaces.
• Light-mode poet themes - A poet's theme colour now appears as a pale tint in light mode, with readable ink.

Content warnings that blur in place

A warned poem now shows on its own page, blurred, with one label and one Show button instead of a pop-up.

• Show or Why? - Show reveals the piece for this session. Why? explains who added the warnings and what each one means.
• Your control per warning - For each kind of warning choose Ask first, Always show or Hide poems. Settings also has a switch to turn blurring off.
• Episodes and live too - Podcast episodes and live readings blur the same way, and audio or video does not play until you press Show.
• Hide poems - Warnings you hide are left out of feeds, search, Discover and lists.

Profiles and activity

• A fuller Feed tab - A profile's Feed can show reposts, quotes, list adds, episodes and replays, filtered with one menu.
• Undo means undo - Undoing a repost now also takes its activity away.
• Know who responded - On your own poems, lists and episodes you see who responded, unless they chose to keep that activity private.

Also in v2.113.0

A few more things arrived the same day.

Badges for supporters and long-time members

Two new kinds of badge, drawn in the same inked-seal style as the rest.

• Supporter: shown on your profile while you have Stanza Pro. If Pro ends it quietly becomes Former supporter, as a thank-you for the time you backed us.
• Your choice: turn off "Show my supporter badge" in Settings, Privacy to keep it to yourself. You still see it in your own settings.
• Tenure: a growing tree marks how long you have been here: three months, six months, one year, then two, three and five years. Your profile shows the highest one you have reached.

More to find on Discover and Explore

• Past seasons: the seasonal shelf on Discover now links to the seasons archive.
• New episodes in Explore: fresh episodes from shows you do not follow yet appear in Explore, marked "New on Stanza". Hide one, or ask for fewer from a show, from the card.
• Stage settings: live previews and the podcast and live cards in your feed are now switched on or off in Stage settings in the app, as on the web.

Also in v2.114.0: choose who can see your replies

Replies now have an audience of their own, like poems.

• Your default: Settings, Privacy, "Who can see my replies": Public, Followers, Friends or Only me. Public stays the default, so nothing changes unless you choose.
• Just this reply: tap the audience chip in the reply box (or a margin note) to choose for one reply. You can change it later from the reply's menu.
• What others see: people outside the audience do not see the reply, or anything written under it. The count stays the same for everyone, with a quiet "and 2 more replies you can't see".
• Yours, always: you always see what you wrote. If a reply above yours is hidden from you, yours shows under "A reply you can't see".

Smaller fixes and improvements

• Phone in landscape - The sidebar no longer collides with system bars.
• Mood labels - Mood names read correctly.
• Lists and activity - List adds show up correctly in activity.
• Tomatoes setting - The tomato privacy option opens and closes as one tidy row.
• Signing out - Signing out now removes your device from push notifications.
• Spoken composer - Publishing from the spoken composer is fixed.
• Under the hood - Updated Flutter and Next.js, and a more stable moderation sidebar and header.