Windscribe for Mac

What's new in this version:

Windscribe 2.9.9
Added:
- feature to export/import preferences to/from JSON file
- password reveal/hide button for main login
- 'status' command to the CLI
- advanced parameter for specifying specific wireguard server

Improved:
- anti-censorship measures in WireGuard and OpenVPN
- labels and descriptions in preferences to match the mobile app
- debug log feature to include the installer log
- installer to support keyboard shortcuts (ESC/Enter/etc.)

Fixed:
- WireGuard anti-censorship
- app may become unresponsive when using tray locations menu
- transition to 2FA screen when logging in
- importing/exporting preferences closes the app window if docked
- banned/disabled message not showing during login
- update screen may not be clickable after an alert is shown
- reveal password icon may be slightly cut off at certain scaling
- pressing Login from external config mode causes UI to not display
- returning to login screen does not set focus to username field
- user is forcefully logged out on some server errors
- imported split tunneling settings not reflecting in the GUI until after app restart
- right-click also triggering Static IP link
- various minor UX issues on login screen and preferences
- hard-to-read 10 Gbps location icon
- possible crash during app exit
- advanced parameter file location differs between Guinea Pig vs Beta/Release builds
- misdetection of TCP error during OpenVPN connection
- installer log reordering in merge log
- escaping of the OpenVPN password
- incorrect translation of 'Quit' in French translation
- in-app update to 2.9.2 by reverting change for deduplicating libraries in installer
- ARM installer error that is a regression after LZMA migration
- path reference with wrong case which breaks with case-sensitive APFS

- Removed unnecessary threads running on helper service
- Removed misleading logs indicating errors when it's benign
- Removed unnecessary parameters for server list request API call
- Updated boost, c-ares, and lzma dependencies
- Updated ctrld dependency to 1.3.3


Windscribe 2.8.6
Added:
- machine-generated translations for Chinese (Traditional), Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian/Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese
- language localization to the installer
- minimize and close-to-tray feature
- advanced parameter to control server list (locations) functionality in censored countries

Improved:
- anti-censorship feature. Feature automatically enabled for first-run users in censored countries
- the appearance of the sign out button
- error message when the connected DNS utility (ctrld) fails to start
- uninstall. Helper and CLI symlink are removed on OS reboot if the app has been uninstalled
- app and installer main icon
- installer to unify it with the Windows installer
- the connection mode description in preferences
- in-app upgrade message to indicate the update will be downloaded before terminating connections
- firewall functionality while using split tunneling
- build instructions in the README

Fixed:
- IP does not change on GUI when using inclusive split tunnel
- (potentially) Air Drop, Handoff, Airplay and other local Mac sharing features are partially functional or blocked with Allow LAN turned on
- MAC spoofing to ensure we do not undo spoofs that did not originate from us
- symlink for windscribe-cli isn't created
- debug log to more clearly indicate that a custom dns is being used
- double-right-clicking on the IP address makes it blurry on the main screen
- top of password dots on login screen are clipped
- UI 'weirdness' on the login screen when secure hotspot or proxy gateway feature is enabled and a SSL-error occurs
- ESC text is misaligned with the close button in preferences
- incorrect padding in 'out of data' screen
- load indicator for bottom-most location is slightly clipped
- clicking the blog link in the About menu doesn't do anything
- pressing Cmd+Q results in the exit prompt showing, but the app exiting immediately anyway
- drop-down menus can be resized or moved
- installer main window can be resized
- misleading error message displayed during first time use of MAC Spoofing feature
- special user account for helper is displayed
- reconnect not triggered when OpenVPN reports a tunnel connectivity failure
- search icon on locations screen may overlap the All icon
- UI issue when the hotspot feature is enabled and a SSL error occurs
- app may not reconnect after Internet is restored when using OpenVPN
- app gets stuck on the logging in screen after accepting the 'ignore SSL errors' prompt
- split tunneling rules not reapplied if firewall state is toggled
- in-app update fails when updating from 2.7
- using the dock menu and clicking "Quit" causes the app to crash
- split tunneling description suggests app supports per-app split tunneling
- some text in preferences not matching with the mobile app
- auto-connect not triggering when reconnecting to the same network
- using the dock menu and clicking "Quit" causes the app to crash
- UI issue where search tab may overlay other tabs
- UI screen transition issues when anti-abuse is triggered
- UI connection state may stick at 'connecting' when disconnecting and connecting to a different location rapidly
- bottom information bar on connect screen is not displayed after upgrade screen is dismissed
- firewall does not disable on failed connection to non-existent location
- opening locations drop down when prompted to save preferred protocol causes errant UI behavior or may crash the app
- UI screen transition issues (UI may freeze) when account is expired or anti-abuse is triggered
- firewall not blocking traffic while disconnected in split inclusive mode
- 'OK' text in installer is not centered underneath the checkmark button for some languages
- wireguard binary contains debug symbols

Updated:
- app dependencies (cURL/OpenSSL/OpenVPN etc.) to latest available version
- connected DNS utility (ctrld) to v1.3.2


Windscribe 2.7.14
Added:
- anti-censorship toggle in preferences
- anti-censorship feature: WireGuard UDP stuffing
- anti-censorship feature: use domain fronting via CDN for API requests
- anti-censorship feature: OpenVPN TCP split-reset, UDP stuffing, Stunnel extra padding
- anti-censorship feature: use extra TLS padding for fallback API requests
- translations for Arabic, Czech, French, German, Hindi, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish
- an icon on the main screen to indicate anti-censorship mode is enabled
- new in-house Stealth/Wstunnel application
- a small loading spinner to some operations which may take a long time
- feature to remember last locations tab on exit and default to that tab on startup
- support for DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) and split DNS to the 'Connected DNS' feature
- custom alert screens, replacing the native OS message boxes
- icon on connect screen indicating if connection is auto, manual, or network preferred protocol
- new logout and quit screens

- Improved latency (ping) algorithm to reduce ping frequency, especially during app startup
- Improved installer icons

Fixed:
- DNS failures with firewall enabled on macOS 14 Sonoma
- Stealth/Wstunnel sometimes can't connect
- app may open locations screen to a random tab
- "All protocols failed" prompt doesn't show
- LAN-hosted DNS server cannot be accessed when using a custom OpenVPN config
- OpenVPN not using custom DNS
- spinner animation on the ROBERT page continues after the website has already been opened
- Logout/Quit screen UI bugs
- Manage ROBERT rules link click does nothing
- UI overlap and alignment issues
- loading spinner in Manage Account preference slows down
- access to server IP to be only allowed for Windscribe & system apps
- incorrect error message in the DNS domain screen when a domain name is not valid
- WireGuard may not recover correctly in manual mode
- OpenVPN UDP and TCP may not work with certain commented out Advanced Parameters
- executable signature checking mechanism disabled in the helper and CLI
- app may become non-responsive and eventually crash
- app to appear on the active virtual desktop when user clicks either the menubar icon or dock icon
- firewall disabled on computer startup when firewall mode set to Always On
- validation of the domains entered by the user
- some user interface transitions involving the "SSL error" alert
- split tunnel hostname and IP validation errors are unclear
- firewall's enabled state not restored if it was enabled when the Windscribe firewall was turned on
- window shadow incorrectly sized on logout/exit screens
- login screen height may be truncated
- alert screen may overlap other screens (e.g. news feed, protocol change)
- notifications are missing after marking all as read, leaving the notifications screen, and returning to it
- view/send log functionality to truncate the log if it is too large to view/send
- firewall settings updated repeatedly when pinging locations
- installer built on Apple Silicon crashes on launch
- app update takes a long time if done while connected
- protocol badge not immediately updated on network changes
- app removes user's static IPv6 configuration and does not restore it
- Air Drop, Handoff, Airplay and other local Mac sharing features are partially functional or blocked with Allow LAN turned on
- helper holds installer executable hostage after installing app
- always-on firewall bug causing app to hang on startup

- Removed redundant signature verification method
- Removed incorrect primary IP check when enabling the Allow LAN Traffic preference
- Removed full directory paths from log to obscure user's PII
- Removed timestamp from news feed items
- Updated app to use server-supplied ping (latency) values
- Updated app warnings and error messages
- Updated to OpenVPN 2.6 and OpenSSL 3


Windscribe 2.6.14
Fixed:
- free accounts not pinging pro locations
- upgrade widget not hidden when returning to login screen
- 'out of data' screen isn't vertically centered
- MAC address spoofing toggle state isn't saved
- crash when reconnecting to different servers


Windscribe 2.4.11
- Update 10Gbps badge and location load when best location changes
- Added new flags
- UDP fails to connect on Mac fixed
- Fixed crash on bad server locations list
- Fixed OpenVPN infinite reconnection loop in some cases
- Dynamic Wireguard Interface Allocation Support
- Privilege escalation vulnerability fixed
- Fixed cut off long favorites location names in the tray menu
- Fixed static IPs display issue in tray menu
- Standardized API interaction timers
- Fixed automatic firewall deactivation when account status changes to disabled
- Fixed protocol selection not immediately saved to disk
- Updated app icons in menu bar
- Fixed app crash on Emergency Connect.
- Increased service start wait time to 20 seconds.
- Refactored wireguard connection to avoid blocking engine thread
- Fetch session when app receives focus
- Fixed firewall silently enabling by itself in rare cases
- Misc bug fixes


Windscribe 1.83 build 22
New Features:
- Show Static IP device ID in the UI
- Ability to select DNS server used by the app while disconnected

Bug Fixes:
- Build-a-Plan locations sometimes not showing correctly
- Prevent WindscribeService crash if DNS settings change
- Custom configs can now be connected to while expired
- Bypass anti-abuse check if Build-a-Plan is activated
- Fixed SSL CA bundle issue


Windscribe 1.83 build 18
New Features:
- WebSocket stealth protocol support
- Location list sorting methods: Geography, alphabet, latency
- Build-a-Plan support (future feature)
- Static IP + port forwarding support (future feature)
- Custom OpenVPN config support

Bug Fixes:
- Stuck on login in China
- App prevents graceful Windows shutdown
- App freezes in “Windscribe is shutting down” state
- Bad IKEv2 connection causes client to lock up
- Don’t disable server location on ping test failure