PODIUM Release Notes

Symbols Panel

Ink ring → Symbols

The Symbols panel has been substantially revised:

• Vertical scrolling grid — the symbol preview now scrolls vertically instead of horizontally, displaying significantly more symbols at once and making it easier to scan a group at a glance.
• Recent group — a new group at the top of the list shows your most frequently used symbols, updated automatically as you work. Starts empty on first use.
• Basic group — a hand-picked selection of commonly used symbols spanning clefs, noteheads, accidentals, rests, dynamics, and articulations. Useful when you don't know which SMuFL group a symbol belongs to.
• Signatures group — pre-composed key and time signatures, each as a single ready-to-place symbol. Key signatures cover all major and minor keys (e.g. C♯ major as one symbol rather than seven individual sharps); time signatures cover all common meters.

See the Guidebook: §6.4 Symbols

Page Turn Speed (Pace)

Book, Horizontal Scroll, and Vertical Scroll layout panels

A Pace slider in each layout's panel controls the speed of tap- and drag-driven page turns. For Book layout the value is in seconds/flip; for Horizontal and Vertical it is seconds/snap. In all cases a lower setting produces a faster turn. Fling-driven turns are unaffected — their speed is determined by the fling itself.

See the Guidebook: §5 Page Turning

Remembered Layout View

Any layout — pan and zoom

However you pan and zoom a layout — for example, dragging and pinching a score to fill the screen on a tablet — Podium now remembers that position and zoom. Each layout keeps its own view, so switching layouts and back restores each as you left it, and your view is now saved with the score: reopen the file and it returns to exactly where you left off.

See the Guidebook: Chapter 5: Layout Ring

Merge (Page Ring)

Page ring → Merge

A new Merge cell in the Page Ring lets you insert an entire PDF score into the current score at any page position. Tap Merge to open the file panel and select a source PDF; the cell activates and a brief message confirms the file is ready. Tap any page to insert the source PDF before that page. The cell stays active after each merge, so you can insert the same file at multiple positions without reloading it. Long-press the cell to lock it, keeping it active indefinitely for repeated use across many pages.

See the Guidebook: §7.6 Merge, §7.7 Flatten

Edit Panel (Ink Ring)

Ink ring → Edit → drag out

The Edit cell now opens an Edit panel when dragged out, providing precise controls for fine-tuning the position, size, and rotation of annotation objects. Especially useful when touch handles are too coarse for accurate adjustment, or when working with a stylus. This panel replaces the previous precision sliders.

The center of the panel shows the icon of the current target annotation. Touch any annotation to make it the target, or use the running stick-figure icons to step through annotations in stacking order. Four arrow buttons move the target; crescendo and decrescendo buttons enlarge or shrink it; and two rotation buttons rotate it clockwise or counterclockwise.

See the Guidebook: §6.8 Edit

Keyboard

More ring → Keyboard

An on-screen keyboard panel for devices without a physical keyboard. Its main purpose is progressive search: as you type, results in the active panel narrow in real time. Progressive search works in the file Open and Save panels (filtering by file name) and in all dropdowns — most usefully the category picker in the Symbols panel (Ink ring → Symbols), which otherwise requires scrolling through a list of nearly 3,000 SMuFL glyphs organized into named categories.

See the Guidebook: §9.7 Keyboard

Metronome Enhancements

More ring → Metronome

Three new controls have been added to the Metronome panel:

• Mute/Unmute — silences the metronome click without affecting Piano or Review playback. Previously the only way to silence the metronome was to set the master volume to zero, which silenced all audio.
• Hide/Show — toggles the conducting pattern trace on and off. When hidden, the conducting hand continues to animate at the beat point but the pattern lines are not drawn, giving a cleaner visual cue without the trace.
• Latency slider — adjusts the timing offset between the audible tick and the visual ictus (the moment the pendulum or conductor's hand reaches its beat point). Use it when the click and animation feel out of sync — particularly helpful when listening through Bluetooth headphones, which introduce inherent audio delay.

See the Guidebook: §9.2 Metronome

Piano Panel

More ring → Piano

The Piano panel now has improved control of its width and the visible piano keys.

See the Guidebook: §9.5 Piano

Background Gesture Shortcuts

Anywhere on the score background

Updates to gestures that provide quick access to commonly used controls without opening the menu:

• Swipe up — toggles the menu between its parked state (collapsed to the top-left corner) and its default centered, expanded position.
• Swipe down — toggles full-screen mode. On iPhone and iPad, entering full-screen by swipe isn't possible (WebKit only permits it from a direct tap), so use the Screen button in the App Ring to enter; the downward swipe still exits.
• Long-press anywhere on screen — summons the menu at the pointer position. Previously, long-press only worked on the score background; it now works everywhere, including directly on score content. Without lifting the pointer, you can immediately drag the menu to any position, or fling it to park it at the nearest edge — all in one continuous gesture.

See the Guidebook: Chapter 3: Interface Basics

Double-Tap Panel Header to Activate Cell

Any panel → header

Double-tapping any panel's textured header now activates its corresponding menu cell—exactly as if you had tapped the cell in the ring. This is a convenient shortcut for re-activating a tool from its open panel, without reaching for the menu. If the second tap is held for about half a second (a long press), the cell is also locked.

See the Guidebook: §3 Panels

Wakelock (App Ring)

App ring → Wakelock

A new Wakelock cell prevents the screen from automatically dimming or locking while Podium is in the foreground. Tap to toggle it on and off. The candle icon appears lit when Wakelock is active.

See the Guidebook: §8.6 Wakelock

Glass Theme and App Ring Updates

Long-press the menu center → App ring → Theme

A new Glass display theme joins the existing Light and Dark options. The Theme cell now cycles among all three rather than toggling between two. Glass is a neutral mid-tone theme designed to reduce eye strain under varied lighting conditions.

See the Guidebook: §8.2 Theme

Curtain (App Ring)

App ring → Curtain

A new Curtain cell draws a translucent overlay over the score. Tap to toggle the curtain on and off; drag out to open the Curtain panel, where you can choose the color and adjust opacity. Two colors are available:

• Black — dims the screen to reduce the light your device casts into the surrounding environment, useful when performing in a dark theater.
• Red — for performing in a dark environment, such as an orchestra pit or a theater wing, where you need to preserve your night vision. Dim red light doesn't bleach the eye's rods the way white light does, so reading the score under a red curtain lets you stay dark-adapted to the surrounding gloom. (The benefit largely disappears if the stage or conductor is brightly lit, since your eyes will adapt to that higher light level instead. Also, note that red annotations or markings on your score will blend into the background and may become invisible.)

See the Guidebook: §8.5 Curtain

Screen Panel (App Ring)

App ring → Screen → drag out

The Screen cell now opens a Screen panel when dragged out, providing precise controls for moving and resizing Podium objects — the menu, score, or any open panel. This is especially useful when pinch-zoom is too coarse for accurate positioning, or when working with a stylus.

The center of the panel shows the icon of the current target object (empty means the background, affecting all objects). Four arrow buttons move the target in any direction; a crescendo-shaped button enlarges it and a decrescendo-shaped button shrinks it. Touch any object to make it the target, or use the running stick-figure icons to step through Podium objects in stacking order.

See the Guidebook: §8.7 Screen

Release Notes Moved Out of App

App ring → About → About tab

The Release Notes tab has been removed from the About panel. In its place, the About tab now includes a link to these release notes on the Podium website. This allows maintaining much more extensive and useful release notes than was practical to display inside the app.

Updated SMuFL Documentation Link

The link to the SMuFL (Standard Music Font Layout) specification in the About panel now points to the current location of that document. SMuFL is the standard that governs the music notation symbols used throughout Podium's annotation palette.

Browser Extension

Chrome, Edge — install once from your browser's extension store

The Podium browser extension adds a context-menu item to every PDF link on the web. Right-clicking a link and choosing Open in Podium sends the PDF directly to a Podium tab, skipping the usual download-and-open workflow.

The extension also integrates with IMSLP. On any IMSLP score page, a Podium button appears alongside the standard download links. Clicking it opens the score immediately, handling the IMSLP disclaimer and wait automatically.

See the Guidebook: §2.1 Browser Extension

Progressive Web App (PWA)

Install from your browser's address bar or browser menu

Podium can now be installed as a Progressive Web App. Once installed, it opens in its own window, appears in your operating system's application launcher, and continues to work without an internet connection after its first load. The PWA is updated automatically the next time you launch it while online — no manual update step is needed.

See the Guidebook: §2.2 Progressive Web App

App Ring

Long-press the center of the menu to open the App ring

A new ring provides access to application-level settings that were previously scattered or unavailable. It contains five cells:

• About — version information and links to release notes and the SMuFL specification
• Storage — a panel for managing cloud storage connections and reviewing stored data
• Guide — opens the Guidebook (this document)
• Theme — switches between light and dark color schemes
• Screen — toggles full-screen mode

The Theme and Screen cells were previously located on the More ring. Moving them to the App ring keeps the More ring focused on practice tools.

See the Guidebook: Chapter 8: App Ring

Magnify

Page ring → Magnify

The Magnify cell opens a floating magnification panel that displays an enlarged view of whatever portion of the score it is placed over. Drag the panel to reposition it. On touch screens, pinch within the panel to change the zoom level; a slider is available for pointer-based input. The panel can be left open while turning pages, so you can keep a close-up view of a passage as you read through a score.

See the Guidebook: §7.8 Magnify

Piano Tuner

More ring → Piano → Tuner tab

The Piano panel now includes a chromatic tuner. It listens via your device's microphone and uses the YIN pitch-detection algorithm to identify the nearest note, measure the deviation in cents, and rate the detection confidence — all updated in real time. The tuner is available as a tab within the existing Piano panel, so it does not require opening a separate tool.

See the Guidebook: §9.5 Piano

Cell Locking

Long-press any Ink ring or Page ring cell

Ink ring and Page ring cells normally deactivate automatically after a few seconds of inactivity, which prevents accidental operations. When you need to work continuously within one tool — annotating an entire movement, or reorganizing many pages — you can lock a cell on by long-pressing it. A locked cell remains active until you tap it again to unlock it. A visual indicator distinguishes locked cells from unlocked ones.

See the Guidebook: Chapter 3: Interface Basics

Edit Panel

Ink ring → Edit

The Edit panel provides precise numeric control over the position, size, and rotation of a selected annotation. You can enter exact values for X, Y, width, height, and rotation angle. This is a complement to the freehand drag and resize handles: use the handles for quick adjustments, and the Edit panel when placement accuracy matters — for example, when aligning annotations across pages or matching the dimensions of a staff system.

See the Guidebook: §6.8 Edit

Cut, Copy, and Paste (Page Ring)

Page ring → Cut / Copy / Paste

Three new cells in the Page ring — Cut, Copy, and Paste — operate on a local clipboard. They let you move pages to a different position within the same score (Cut + Paste) or duplicate them (Copy + Paste), without affecting the clipboard shared between separate Podium instances.

The previous Copy and Paste cells, which transfer pages between different browser tabs running Podium, have been renamed Export and Import to better describe what they do. Their behavior is unchanged.

See the Guidebook: §7.3 Cut, Copy, Paste and §7.5 Export, Import

Tap to Turn Pages

Book, Horizontal Scroll, and Vertical Scroll layouts

A short tap on the score in these three layouts now advances one page, in the same direction as a quick fling. This gives an alternative input method for users who prefer tapping over swiping, and is particularly useful when using a stylus or a mouse.

See the Guidebook: §5.1 Book Layout

Guidebook

App ring → Guide, or Guidebook.html

A comprehensive in-app reference covering all ten rings and their tools in detail. Each chapter includes annotated screenshots, embedded video demonstrations of key workflows, and usage notes. A keyword index at the end provides a quick path to any topic.

Shared Copy/Paste Buffer

Page ring → Export / Import (renamed Export and Import in V2.0)

Pages can be copied from one Podium instance and pasted into another running in a different browser tab. A common use: open two scores side by side, copy select pages from each, and paste them into a third score to assemble a custom practice set or extract a single movement. The shared buffer persists for the duration of the browser session.

See the Guidebook: §7.5 Export, Import

Dark Mode

App ring → Theme (More ring → Theme in V1.1)

A dark color scheme reduces display luminance during low-light practice or extended reading sessions. Switching themes affects the menu, panels, and the area surrounding the score. The score pages themselves remain as rendered from the source PDF. Podium remembers your theme preference across sessions.

See the Guidebook: §8.2 Theme

Page Expansion

Score ring → Details

Scores sometimes contain pages of varying width — for example, when a landscape-oriented title page is mixed with portrait-oriented score pages. The Page Expansion option in the Details panel scales pages that are narrower than the widest page in the score up to match, producing consistent margins and a more uniform reading experience.

See the Guidebook: §4.4 Score Ring: Details

Page Management in Table Layout

Layout ring → Table

In Table layout, pages can now be reordered by dragging them to a new position, and deleted by dragging them off the edge of the layout. This makes it straightforward to remove blank or unwanted pages, reverse a two-page spread, or reorganize a score's structure directly in the layout view.

See the Guidebook: §5.4 Table Layout

New Annotation Fonts

Ink ring → Text

Two new fonts are available in the Text annotation tool: Vercetti, a proportional serif suitable for formal annotations, and Patrick Hand, a casual handwritten-style font. These join the existing font choices and can be selected per text annotation from the Text panel.

See the Guidebook: §6.3 Text

Auto-Off Safety

Ink ring and Page ring cells now deactivate automatically after a brief period of inactivity. This prevents an annotation or page-management tool from remaining active unintentionally — for example, after you set down your device mid-session. If you need a cell to stay on indefinitely, long-press it to lock it (added in V2.0).