January 2026 - MBraille-Test

Working with other applications
by Harri Pasanen Feb. 1, 2026

Feb. 1, 2026

Hi, If you are are an existing MBraille user, do you regularly use other applications from MBraille, like fantastical, notemaster, drafts, blindsquare, ... ? I'm just wondering what to keep and what to cut. Best regards, Harri

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v0.9.3 available, Android goes to big leagues
by Harri Pasanen Jan. 31, 2026

Jan. 31, 2026

Hi All, New features: - Added MBraille Beta accessibility service. This means TalkBack can be left on and braille keyboard can still be used. - Kudos to Peter for pointing me in right direction in Android documentation. The approach is sufficently different from the way Apple does it, that I had not run across this possibility in my searching. You need to go to phone Settings -> Accessiblity and enable the MBraille Beta accessibility service Note: Android seems to reserve a small strip for TalkBack in screen edges, so you want to configure your layout so that it is a bit towards the center from the edges. - Markdown navigation mode. Useful for example when going through the help. When you open a file which ends in .md, it is interpreted as a markdown. Then in preview you can navigate also by headings. - Context sensitive help gesture, beginning of. Hold dot 1 and swipe up with two fingers. it will tell you if you are in command mode, or text mode, the current file name, if it is read only. Fixes: - Some missing translations added Disclaimer: I did not have time test much, my CPUs are still cooling down from all the builds I've done today. :) There are known rough edges related to language change and spelling, Best regards, Harri

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Accessing Help Menu
by Eileen Misrahi Jan. 31, 2026

Jan. 31, 2026

Hi Harri and All, This may be a silly question, but I want to access the help menu while in the Braille keyboard. I can't remember the gesture off hand. Can someone jog my memory- Thanks. Eileen Sent from my iPhone

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v0.9.2 small fixes
by Harri Pasanen Jan. 31, 2026

Jan. 31, 2026

Hi Quick fix that would have been a showstopper for many contracted braille users, plus hopefully finally the correct click sound. # Version 0.9.2 Fixes: * y and z were swapped in liblouis table when using contracted braille. UEB, French, Danish affected.* click sound changed once more Best regards, Harri

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v0.9.1 fixing and polishing
by Harri Pasanen Jan. 30, 2026

Jan. 30, 2026

# Version 0.9.1 Polishing and fixing only this time. * Changed the audio library used to a low latency one, so it should feel faster. * Cleaned up VoiceOver use in iOS, it should now use VoiceOver, with the speed you configured for VoiceOver. * Tuned the speed scaling of iOS self voicing, slowest was too slow, fastest too fast. This is platform dependent, so let me know how it feels now. * Changed the keyboard click sound * Announce beginning of text when deleting backwards by word, when nothing left to delete. (swipe left with two fingers) * Adjusted self voicing speed scaling for iOS * Self voicing on iOS can also now be interrupted, like on Android. It can still probably be improved, let me know if needed. Best regards, Harri

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v0.9.0, MBraille goes AI
by Harri Pasanen Jan. 29, 2026

Jan. 29, 2026

Hi all, Release time again. Slowly converging on MBraille 1.0, which will be a public store release and named MBraille 26. There are still some rough edges and missing features, but I hope most of the heavy lifting is done. Now this release is something I'm quite excited about and looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Changelog entry below. (Note that changelog is also a command in mbraille, where you can browse the history of changes for each release) # Version 0.9.0 This is a rather big release with fixes and new features. ## New features * yandex search, works like google search * option in settings to hear clicks for char entry * AI chat. Currently uses Gemini. Swipe up with 3 fingers and type ai followed by your prompt. Example ai write me a haiku about fish The answer will be inserted into your text at current cursor location. Without arguments gemini will use your current text as prompt and append it's response to the text. You can then continue the conversation just adding a new prompt in the end, holding dot 4 and swiping up to get your last command, which was gemini, and swiping down. This is a very powerful interaction model, better than the chat windows available in browsers, which require you to copy paste the answers. Important: the functionality has privacy implications, the test version uses free Gemini chat, where Google may use your data for training. For the final production version, I will switch to paid tier, where your data is not used for training according to Google Terms of Service. I'm wondering about announcements, now it says 'Response inserted' when you get an answer. Short answers could be just spoken directly... maybe a preference setting for this is needed. Anyway, let me know what you think. ## Fixes * lang command now also changes the spelling language * Android build in 0.8.0 had issues with liblouis, so Slovak, Danish, French at least were affected * Number entry in French fixed * voice feedback on number entry fixes for all supported languages * fixed argument passing to Google, DuckDuckGo and StartPage searches. * fixed sms command + phone number * improved some announcements for Android. * self voicing should now be interruptable, similar to VoiceOver. Best regards, Harri

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Back to work
by Harri Pasanen Jan. 27, 2026

Jan. 27, 2026

Hi all, I was planning to do a release today, but I did not manage to fix everything I planned to. I'll release it once I have caught up with my plan. Anyway, MBraille should now again make daily progress, even if no releases are coming every day. Best regards, Harri

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v0.8.0 is out, vacation time
by Harri Pasanen Jan. 16, 2026

Jan. 16, 2026

Hi, # Version 0.8.0 Lots of new things and some fixes. New: * spotify and youtube commands These work like google, so support search. Try: swipe up with 3 fingers, type "youtube abba" and swipe down. Spotify is exactly the same. * Cloud sync on .txt, .md and alias.mb Pick your poison, Google Drive, DropBox and OneDrive available. OneDrive sync may be still flaky, to double check. Fixes: * in liblouis words involving v or y were misbehaving. So at least French and Danish were affected, probably others as well. Thanks to Jean-Philippe for noticing. * some announcements improved Todo, first few items from my list: * Self voicing TTS currently cannot be interrupted, especially a problem on Android. * Add announcement of current file name. * Warn of not saved file. * Entering numbers when in contracted French needs work, liblouis does not seem to handle it. * add support for iCloud sync Other things: I've tested mostly on Android, but the majority of people on this list are iOS users. So let me know if the cloud sync or other things have issues. I'll be on vacation and travelling for a week, and will not be making new test versions until I'm back. I will however occasionally check my email, so keep the feedback coming. Best regards, Harri

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Progress report
by Harri Pasanen Jan. 14, 2026

Jan. 14, 2026

Hi, Just a quick note on progress: Google Drive sync already works in my very limited testing. Now I'm ironing out kinks from the Dropbox support. Tomorrow I have kind of a busy day, not sure how much time I will have to develop. But in a couple of days you should have cloud capable MBraille in your hands. Best regards, Harri

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Random thoughts
by Harri Pasanen Jan. 12, 2026

Jan. 12, 2026

Hi all, I was thinking of one handed braille mode. I hope to eventually bring that capability as well, as it should be pretty straight forward. But while thinking of limited input capabilities, I wondered if Morse code keyboard is used by any blind users? Apparently Google's GBoard has a Morse code mode which works with TalkBack and VoiceOver. Just curious. Best regards, Harri

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