Nebula – Videos and Podcasts

Welcome Home.

The main view–now called Home–has been redesigned to make it even easier to discover content you’ll enjoy. In addition to the featured content you’re used to seeing, Home is now where you can find additional pages of curated content grouped by category or interest such as News, Culture, Science, and Classes. We’ll continue to add more Home pages over time, so let us know what you’re interested in seeing more of.

Some other smaller changes in this release include:

• Settings has a new icon
• Library has a new icon
• Browse has been renamed Explore

And also, the team took this update as an opportunity rewrite the entire Featured/Home view in SwiftUI.

This release focused on minor improvements and app polish:

Improvements

• Downloaded content is now ordered by the date and time it was downloaded.
• Podcast player analytics have been added to help diagnose and solve podcast playback issues.
• Added an in-app notification system to communicate required app updates and minimum app and OS version requirements.
• Updated the description of the background audio setting to clarify that this setting only applies to videos and lessons. Podcast audio will always continue upon locking device.
• Updated and refreshed the app color palette.

Improvements

• Built for iOS 17. Let us know if you run into any new issues.
• You can now choose to have audio continue playing when you turn off your screen. This can be toggled on and off within app settings under Player Preferences.
• New widget size added to let you see the two most recent videos from your library.
• Added “Browse Videos” button to watch history when there is no watch history to show.
• Improved messaging in the Credits view when a network error occurs

Bug Fixes

• Squashed another bug that could lead to downloads unexpectedly being deleted. If you continue to see this issue after updating please let us know: help@nebula.tv.
• Corrected a bug where the tab bar icon for Featured was missing after launching the app through a web link to the Library view.
• Improved long press interactions when viewing in landscape orientation.
• Fixed a font legibility issue on the sign-up screen when in dark mode.

New Stuff

• Lesson History has been added to the Classes section of Library.
• You can now add a widget to your Home Screen that shows the latest video from your library.
• Introduced Spotlight support. Channels and downloaded videos can now be included in Siri Suggestions and Spotlight search results.

Bug Fixes

• Watch History now displays all video history, instead of just the last 200 videos.
• Fixed a bug that could cause a square to be displayed around the channel avatar image.

• Fixed a bug that prevented saved podcast episodes from being synced across devices.

New in the previous release:

• We’ve improved the contextual awareness of Up Next to help make recommendations more relevant.
• Downloading content on a cellular connection that does not have unlimited data now shows a confirmation prompt.
• Added an Airplay button to podcast episode detail screen.
• Removed Watch History from app settings (its new home is in Library).
• Added telemetry data to the video player to help improve streaming video quality and debug playback issues. This can be toggled off or on in app settings.
• Updated the credits screen.
• Updated Google Cast SDK.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused Classes to not load for users who had not watched a lesson.
• Added the correct text description for autoplay in the app settings.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the loading spinner on Featured to never go away after pulling to refresh.
• Scrolling down and back up the list of videos in a channel view caused a bunch of empty space to appear. That’s been fixed.
• Voice Over in the Library view will now only read a preview of the podcast episode description text, rather than the entire description.
• Fixed an issue where the title of a podcast detail screen was sometimes duplicated.

• We’ve improved the contextual awareness of Up Next to help make recommendations more relevant.
• Downloading content on a cellular connection that does not have unlimited data now shows a confirmation prompt.
• Added an Airplay button to podcast episode detail screen.
• Removed Watch History from app settings (its new home is in Library).
• Added telemetry data to the video player to help improve streaming video quality and debug playback issues. This can be toggled off or on in app settings.
• Updated the credits screen.
• Updated Google Cast SDK.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused Classes to not load for users who had not watched a lesson.
• Added the correct text description for autoplay in the app settings.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the loading spinner on Featured to never go away after pulling to refresh.
• Scrolling down and back up the list of videos in a channel view caused a bunch of empty space to appear. That’s been fixed.
• Voice Over in the Library view will now only read a preview of the podcast episode description text, rather than the entire description.
• Fixed an issue where the title of a podcast detail screen was sometimes duplicated.

This release focuses on revamping the Library view and expanding podcast functionality:
• Library now consolidates all of your saved, followed, and downloaded content into one space, with individual tabs for Videos, Podcasts, and Classes to keep everything organized.
• Podcasts can now be followed.
• Podcast episodes can now be saved to listen to later.
• Push notifications have been added for podcasts. Get notified when a new podcast joins Nebula, or when new episodes of podcasts you follow are released.
• Downloads and Watch History are now accessible from the Library tab.

Bug Fixes and Improvements
• Corrected a bug that allowed users to interact with video controls underneath the autoplay end card.
• Faster loading of the Featured tab.

• Autoplay behavior has been corrected to be off by default. Autoplay can be turned on my tapping the ∞ button in the video player.
• Certain network conditions, such as in-flight WiFi, could cause users to be signed out and have their downloads deleted. We’ve improved how the app handles network errors and this should no longer happen.
• Autoplay can now be toggled on/off within app settings, as well as the video player.
• Fixed an autoplay bug where a video would sometimes get skipped.

Our big focus for this release has been on improving the video player experience. Here’s what we have for you:
• Autoplay — When you finish watching a video, a recommendation for what to watch next will be shown. If Autoplay is on, the recommended video will automatically begin playing after ten seconds. To toggle Autoplay off, simply tap the infinity symbol in the video player.
• Skip Forward/Back — We added video player controls to skip back or forward 10 seconds at a time (the double tap gesture also still works for this).
• PiP preferences — You can now control whether or not picture-in-picture is automatically started when leaving a video (this behavior can be changed in the Player Preferences section of app settings).
• Controls for Autoplay, playback speed, and subtitles have been moved to the bottom of the video player for easier access.
• Redesigned playback speed menu no longer obscures the entire video player.
• Video and channel name are now shown in the fullscreen video player overlay.

There are also a few of other improvements outside of the video player:
• Links in video descriptions to other Nebula videos now open inside the app.
• The keyboard now opens automatically when you go to Search.
• Added the context menu to videos in the channel playlist view.
• Renamed and rearranged a few things in app settings.
• Adjusted spacing of the fullscreen video player controls.

Bug Fixes
• There was a bug where dismissing a notification for a video would cause that video to automatically play, or for you to just see a black screen, when you next opened the app. This is now fixed.
• Some users have reported downloads disappearing. To investigate this issue, we have added a few diagnostics. Please continue to let us know if you’re running into this.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent Nebula exclusive podcasts from appearing.
• Playback speed preferences are now properly persisted by the PiP player after pausing and resuming video.
• Removed Clear Progress and Mark As Played from context menu in the podcast episode detail view.
• Minor tweaks to spacing on the Featured view.

Now if you'll excuse us, we have some shrines to clear and a kingdom to save...

We're back with another update focused on polish and bug fixes. We have dropped support for iOS 14. Please be sure you are on iOS 15 or higher to continue receiving app updates.

Improvements
• Relative timestamps are now more granular for videos less than 24 hours old. Videos older than 24 hours show absolute dates.
• The video player's "skip back" button can now be used to jump to the previous video.
• Podcast context menus have been simplified, and you can now initiate downloads from the podcast episode view.
• Watch History now shows progress bars on thumbnails and loads your history faster.
• Improvements to the networking layer which should help with battery and bandwidth usage.
• The delay for automatically hiding video player controls has been increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds.
• Download progress indicator in dark mode now looks nicer.
• Markdown is now handled by iOS's built-in support, and the third-party library we were previously using has been removed. (Underscores in URLs are no longer interpreted as Markdown.)

Bug Fixes
• Pausing and restarting a video in PiP no longer resets the playback speed to 1x.
• Playback speed preference should once again persist across videos.
• Fixed several memory leaks which should reduce memory usage and address crashing that could occur after watching a lot of videos.
• Eliminated some crashes that could occur when...
• Sharing content
• Showing alerts
• Downloading videos on a very slow connection
• The app was refreshing auth tokens

• Fixed an internal reporting tool

• Autoplay was mistakenly disabled by default, now the default state is on. It can be disabled in settings if desired.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a crash while syncing media progress.
• Fixed an issue in our diagnostic code that could lead to a crash.

New Stuff
• Podcast downloads.
• Listen progress is now shown on podcast thumbnails.
• Added quick actions to podcast episodes for downloading, marking episodes as played, and clearing listen progress.

Bug Fixes
• We’ve tuned up the video player controls: the scrubber is easier to tap and slide, back/play/pause/next buttons are spaced further apart, and gesture controls have been refined to minimize accidental PiP transitions.
• Fixed a bug that would occasionally keep playing audio after dismissing a video.
• Video player controls are no longer automatically hidden when a video is paused.
• Fixed a bug where the player controls could become obscured after returning from PiP.
• Sometimes after dimsising the video player, the app would get stuck showing a splashscreen. That should no longer happen.
• Fixed a couple of crashes introduced in the previous app version (2.13).
• Fixed a bug with “Watch Next Lesson” that could cause the wrong lesson to play or the app to crash.

This release focuses on technical improvements to increase the overall quality, stability, and maintainability of the app.

Improvements:

• The Watch Later rail is now more responsive when adding or removing videos, and updating progress
• Podcast progress tracking is now more reliable and accurate
• The subtitle button will now toggle subtitles on/off rather than opening a modal
• Optimizations to improve load times on videos
• The Watch History view scrolls more smoothly and is more responsive to watch progress changes

Bug Fixes:

• Finally fixed the bug that prevented you from exiting fullscreen video (thanks to all who reported that)
• Tapping context menu items no longer causes the screen to flash
• Fixed inconsistencies with progress indicator on classes
• Addressed an issue that prevented people with a specific set of subscription conditions from signing in

• Nebula First — look for the lightning bolt for exclusive early access to upcoming videos from many of your favorite creators.

New stuff:

• Expanded Notifications — Get notified of new Classes, Nebula Originals, and more
• Added quick actions to push notifications to easily follow channels, save videos, and more
• Improved Chromecast support


Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug where downloaded lessons could fail to play while offline
• Added the “Follow” button back to new channels on Featured
• Rotating videos to landscape no longer clips the bottom portion of the video
• Fixed a bug that could prevent the Shared with You attribution badge from displaying

• Introducing the Shared with You rail—a section in Featured which surfaces Nebula links received through Messages
• Re-introducing the beloved swipe down gesture to minimize the video player
• Faster loading of videos and lessons
• Said farewell to our oldest bug; an animation issue on channels that had exactly two videos (we’ll never forget you)

New stuff:

• SharePlay — Watch videos and classes together
• Universal Links — Links to Nebula content will now be opened directly by the app
• Picture-in-picture can now be used while browsing the app
• Video thumbnails added to push notifications
• Nebula and Classes are now available as separate subscriptions

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug where subtitle preferences were not correctly persisted
• Podcast playback no longer pauses when you background the app or put your device to sleep
• Improved display of content menus
• Download icon will no longer appear on content that cannot be downloaded
• Fixed automatic dismissal of video player overlay when speed and subtitle settings are open

• Class Downloads — You can now download classes and watch lessons while offline
• Updated autoplay for Classes to always start the next lesson from the beginning
• Added a progress indicator to class thumbnails
• Tapping a video's channel avatar on the Featured view will now take you to the channel details
• Improved subscription flow to better accommodate users who are signed in, but do not have an active subscription
• Fixed a bug where Watch History would sometimes show unwatched videos

Features
• Quick Actions - Press-and-hold on video and channel tiles to quickly add a video to Watch Later, clear watch progress, follow a channel, manage notifications, and more!
• Did you catch that? Watch Later. Add videos to Watch Later while browsing the app, and easily access them from the Featured view whenever you’re ready to watch.
• Watch History - A list of videos you’ve watched is now available inside of settings.
• Video progress is now shown on top of video thumbnails.
• Share links to videos or channels through the quick action menu, or from video & channel detail views.

Fixes
• Subtitles preferences are now persisted across videos.
• Fixed crash that sometimes occurred while browsing podcasts.

• Sometimes the app crashed while searching for podcasts. Not anymore.
• We improved the image handling for classes banners.
• Removed unnecessary zeroes from class and lesson duration.
• We fixed a glitch in the presentation of the channel screen.
• Lessons were not always starting at the beginning. Now they do.
• There is more space for content in the class detail view on iPad.
• Keyboard shortcuts for classes are now working as expected.

Introducing Nebula Classes! Develop real-world skills, discover new passions, and gain valuable insights from your favorite creators.

Enhancements:
• Improved subscription management in settings

Bug fixes:
• Fixed the bug where some videos had unnecessary letterboxing.
• Videos would not always resume from where you left off. That's now fixed.
• Podcast episodes now save listening progress, and will resume from where you left off.
• Fixed numerous rotation issues throughout the app.
• Improved handling and messaging for subscription errors.
• "View All" button appeared on all rails on Featured that contained videos, and tapping it always took you to a list of latest videos. The button should now only appear when it's supposed to, and when present, will navigate you to the correct video list.

• Lock Screen controls now show video thumbnails, progress, and skip forward/backward buttons.
• External playback controls — such as headphones and Siri — are now supported.
• Video playback will now resume after interruptions like phone calls.
• The video scrubber was hopping around a lot. We've decaffeinated it.
• Fixed bug where video progress would sometimes be lost.
• Featured view now stays correctly locked to portrait orientation.
• Improved placement of playback speed popover on iPad.
• Better handling of splitscreen layouts on iPad.
• Trimmed excessive empty space that sometimes appeared on video details.
• Fixed keyboard shortcuts for skipping forward/backward.
• Fixed bug where a video tile could not appear more than once in the Featured view.
• Improved readability of scrubber tooltip in Cast screen.
• Fixed several bugs with variable playback speed.
• Search now lives in the navigation bar.
• Compiled with iOS 15 SDK for better iOS 15 support.

• You can now change the playback speed for videos.
• Some visual tweaks to the video player's interface.
• Improved error reporting to help us better identify user-facing issues.
• Bug fixes and performance improvements for John Gruber.

• Added a sneak peek for podcasts. (Feature-length debut forthcoming.)
• Background audio makes its triumphant return for iOS 14 users.
• Downloads were acting out. We've shown them some love and added background support, download progress tracking, and fixed a number of bugs.
• "Bug fixes" and "improvements".

• Look everyone, keyboard shortcuts for the iPad video player!
• Sometimes the app would crash when loading a video description. We put an end to that nonsense.
• Brave iPadOS beta users noticed that our tab labels were truncated. We fixed that too.

We wore masks while we worked on these updates.

• Manuel found a bug in My Shows where a channel doesn’t get properly updated upon refresh. We fixed it.
• Rene got a tweet from “Techinterested1” about our mis-colored player background. We changed it to black.
• Gruber asked us to make the gray channel names darker to improve accessibility. Done.
• Chris noted that our status bar stayed in place even in fullscreen mode on iPad. We fixed that.
• While fixing things for these nice people we spotted some minor UI things and fixed those too.

We're close to the finish line with the Apple TV app, but wanted to sneak out a quick update:

• Support for subtitles. We're still adding them to the videos, but our app is ready.
• You can now contact support from within the app.

This update is boring. Just a quick fix to help people log out of their account in some circumstances. Sorry to get your hopes up, but don't worry, fun stuff is still on the way.

Assorted bug fixes and improvements. Just kidding; here's what we actually did:

1.6.1

• Every Original in the Originals row had the word "Original" so we removed it because it's like okay, we get it, there are lots of Originals.

1.6

• There's now a list of Originals right up at the top of the Featured view.
• About screen now supports dark mode.
• "Browse" has been reorganized slightly to make content easier to find.
• Swiping on hero images no longer sends images flying.
• Fixed some SSL errors.
• Fixed disappearing video descriptions when rotating.
• Thomas Frank did an episode of Working Titles and honestly the last four minutes are super weird. We'll check in on him.

Assorted bug fixes and improvements. Just kidding; here’s what we actually did:

• There’s now a list of Originals right up at the top of the Featured view.
• About screen now supports dark mode.
• “Browse” has been reorganized slightly to make content easier to find.
• Swiping on hero images no longer sends images flying.
• Fixed some SSL errors.
• Fixed disappearing video descriptions when rotating.
• Thomas Frank did an episode of Working Titles and honestly the last four minutes are super weird. We’ll check in on him.

Hello darkness, my old friend.

• Dark mode. Total smoke show. You can manually toggle it in settings.
• Optional dark app icon, if you’re into that sort of thing.
• Featured tab now shows the latest videos.
• iOS can now auto-fill your password.

We’ve also dropped iOS 12 support so we can focus on new features. Sorry, iPhone 5 users.

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals. We wanted to get a few fixes and improvements out before we hit the egg nog. New in this release:
• Launch/loading experience is much improved.
• Videos in search are now sorted by date, newest first.
• Airplane mode will no longer sign you out of the app. Sorry, Mick.
• Channel view headers now collapse gracefully, giving more space to the content.
• Fixed an awkward crash when downloading videos.
• Thumbnails load faster.
• Not really an app update but have you seen Working Titles? So great.

iPad Support is Here

By pitchforks-and-torches levels of popular demand, Nebula now supports iPadOS. Enjoy your favorite Nebula Originals on your favorite tablet.

Also new in 1.4:

• Fixed a nasty cache bug which led to "no videos found" on the Featured view.
• Overhauled search to be more search-y.
• "All Creators" under "Browse" contains an option for viewing all recent videos.

A couple of secret features:
• Pull to silently refresh the featured view
• Double-tap on the right or left of the player to skip ahead or backwards.


We're working on more, but we wanted to hurry up and ship the iPad version before things got ugly. Thanks for your support, everyone. Enjoy.

We’re planning for a future we can’t tell you about. Look, it’s not in our nature to be mysterious, but we can’t talk about it and we can’t talk about why.
• Fixed some layout issues
• Ready for iOS updates probably idk
• Now with more Wendover

Bug fixes and performance improvements. Yeah, yeah, every app update says that. So instead of being vague, here's what we actually did:

• Moved sync operations off of the main thread, which was blocking the UI from loading quickly.
• Tweaked the way we load images to make loading feel faster.
• Made it easier to find creators in the Browse Tab.
• Sacrificed a test device to Mercury, the Roman god of speed and luck. But also sleep, so that could go either way.

We have lots of big content stuff coming up, so we wanted to fortify the app a little to support it all.

• You can now browse and purchase creator merchandise from within the app.
• Animations are prettier in the Featured and Browse tabs.
• Improved performance.
• Allow for service-side reordering of featured items.
• Fixed some assorted tiny bugs.

The next update will likely include more performance and merch improvements, especially around API calls and speeding things up on slow networks. And maybe a surprise or two. Stay tuned!

Wow, launch weekend has been amazing. Thank you to everyone for the kind words, feature requests, and bug reports. Please keep them coming.

• Improved contrast in the tab bar
• Fixed some weird download bugs
• Various cosmetic improvements
• Fixed a rare bug where the app would become sentient and attempt world domination
• Performance improvements

Up next: improved merch support and some fancy new UI