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
Hi Harri, A few notes: 1. Self voicing on iOS is not interrupting, so that appears to still need work. 2. A 2-finger swipe left when there's no text does not announce that you're at the beginning. You get no feedback whatsoever. This behavior is inconsistent with the 1-finger swipe left behavior. 3. The keyboard clicks are not the traditional iPhone keyboard click sounds. With the old MBraille, you could choose between two versions of clicks, the first being identical to the standard iPhone clicks. It would be great to have that option again. 4. The typing and associated clicks are nowhere near as responsive as the old MBraille. I type extremely fast and the new MBraille is noticeably more sluggish than the old MBraille. I just did a side-by-side comparison. 5. Is there a reason why the new MBraille always self-voices, versus integrating with VoiceOver like the old MBraille did? This could be one reason for the sluggishness. 6. I have a lot of other comments and what appear to be bugs or things that the old MBraille does better, but I'm reserving most comments and judgment until the voice can be interrupted, as the that makes things feel extremely different and awkward, so I will test everything once that's done, and I can do a much more equivalent side-by-side test. Thanks as always!
On Jan 29, 2026, at 2:45 AM, Harri Pasanen via MBraille-Test <mbraille-test@lists.mpaja.com> wrote:
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 _______________________________________________ MBraille-Test mailing list -- mbraille-test@lists.mpaja.com To unsubscribe send an email to mbraille-test-leave@lists.mpaja.com
Just a quick note: VoiceOver should work in iOS, if it doesn't, that is a bug... Best regards, Harri Sent from [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) for Android. -------- Original Message -------- On Thursday, 01/29/26 at 10:01 Suleyman Gokyigit <sgokyigit@icloud.com> wrote:
Hi Harri,
A few notes:
1. Self voicing on iOS is not interrupting, so that appears to still need work.
2. A 2-finger swipe left when there's no text does not announce that you're at the beginning. You get no feedback whatsoever. This behavior is inconsistent with the 1-finger swipe left behavior.
3. The keyboard clicks are not the traditional iPhone keyboard click sounds. With the old MBraille, you could choose between two versions of clicks, the first being identical to the standard iPhone clicks. It would be great to have that option again.
4. The typing and associated clicks are nowhere near as responsive as the old MBraille. I type extremely fast and the new MBraille is noticeably more sluggish than the old MBraille. I just did a side-by-side comparison.
5. Is there a reason why the new MBraille always self-voices, versus integrating with VoiceOver like the old MBraille did? This could be one reason for the sluggishness.
6. I have a lot of other comments and what appear to be bugs or things that the old MBraille does better, but I'm reserving most comments and judgment until the voice can be interrupted, as the that makes things feel extremely different and awkward, so I will test everything once that's done, and I can do a much more equivalent side-by-side test.
Thanks as always!
On Jan 29, 2026, at 2:45 AM, Harri Pasanen via MBraille-Test <mbraille-test@lists.mpaja.com> wrote:
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 _______________________________________________ MBraille-Test mailing list -- mbraille-test@lists.mpaja.com To unsubscribe send an email to mbraille-test-leave@lists.mpaja.com
Hi again, Indeed, VoiceOver is not working if you have UEB selected in settings. It also requires that you have the switch "User Native Screen Reader" on. I will clean all this up for the next release, it came about with Windows desktop support, where it is hard to determine programmatically if the screen reader is active. I will just remove this switch from mobile platforms. So on iOS the self voicing will only be used if your braille table locale is different from your phone locale. So you will be able to switch languages, say French and English, and have both voiced as native speakers. Thanks for spotting this. I will address other issues as well in the next update. Best regards, Harri On Thursday, January 29th, 2026 at 10:41 AM, Harri Pasanen <harri@mpaja.com> wrote:
Just a quick note: VoiceOver should work in iOS, if it doesn't, that is a bug...
Best regards, Harri
Sent from [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) for Android.
-------- Original Message -------- On Thursday, 01/29/26 at 10:01 Suleyman Gokyigit <sgokyigit@icloud.com> wrote:
Hi Harri,
A few notes:
1. Self voicing on iOS is not interrupting, so that appears to still need work.
2. A 2-finger swipe left when there's no text does not announce that you're at the beginning. You get no feedback whatsoever. This behavior is inconsistent with the 1-finger swipe left behavior.
3. The keyboard clicks are not the traditional iPhone keyboard click sounds. With the old MBraille, you could choose between two versions of clicks, the first being identical to the standard iPhone clicks. It would be great to have that option again.
4. The typing and associated clicks are nowhere near as responsive as the old MBraille. I type extremely fast and the new MBraille is noticeably more sluggish than the old MBraille. I just did a side-by-side comparison.
5. Is there a reason why the new MBraille always self-voices, versus integrating with VoiceOver like the old MBraille did? This could be one reason for the sluggishness.
6. I have a lot of other comments and what appear to be bugs or things that the old MBraille does better, but I'm reserving most comments and judgment until the voice can be interrupted, as the that makes things feel extremely different and awkward, so I will test everything once that's done, and I can do a much more equivalent side-by-side test.
Thanks as always!
On Jan 29, 2026, at 2:45 AM, Harri Pasanen via MBraille-Test <mbraille-test@lists.mpaja.com> wrote:
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 _______________________________________________ MBraille-Test mailing list -- mbraille-test@lists.mpaja.com To unsubscribe send an email to mbraille-test-leave@lists.mpaja.com
Hello, Thanks, slovak braille code is now working great. Would there be a chance to review translation texts before going public? I think human translation is always better than AI translation. For example I would translate the braille editor as Brailový editor to slovak. The top left back button in the settings window is not translated. I think the texts of some of the buttons sound like there is a bit of duplication. For example Custom braille and voice settings grouping, Custom braille and voice language settings. Do other language texts sound similar? I think for the public version this should be polished. Thanks and greetings Peter Dňa 29. 1. 2026 o 8:45 Harri Pasanen via MBraille-Test napísal(a):
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
_______________________________________________ MBraille-Test mailing list --mbraille-test@lists.mpaja.com To unsubscribe send an email tombraille-test-leave@lists.mpaja.com
Hi Peter, Yes indeed, I'm sure the translations will need work. There are still some upcoming features I'm planning to implement, so the texts keep changing. Once all features are complete, I will call for help on the translation front. I will also still do a number of releases to polish the user experience, as Suleyman noted, there are rough patches with performance and other smaller things, which are often more important than features. Best regards, Harri On Thursday, January 29th, 2026 at 12:18 PM, Peter Vágner <pvdeejay@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello,
Thanks, slovak braille code is now working great.
Would there be a chance to review translation texts before going public?
I think human translation is always better than AI translation.
For example I would translate the braille editor as Brailový editor to slovak. The top left back button in the settings window is not translated. I think the texts of some of the buttons sound like there is a bit of duplication. For example Custom braille and voice settings grouping, Custom braille and voice language settings.
Do other language texts sound similar?
I think for the public version this should be polished.
Thanks and greetings
Peter
Dňa 29. 1. 2026 o 8:45 Harri Pasanen via MBraille-Test napísal(a):
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
_______________________________________________ MBraille-Test mailing list -- mbraille-test@lists.mpaja.com To unsubscribe send an email to mbraille-test-leave@lists.mpaja.com
participants (3)
-
Harri Pasanen -
Peter Vágner -
Suleyman Gokyigit