Changelog

Site update — August 14, 2026 · Headlines in one color

Website only; no change to the app.

• The headline no longer fades from one color into another across the letters. A gradient poured through text is the house style of every generated landing page on the web, and it was on the hero here, on the small uppercase label above each section, and on the license label in the purchase panel. The words are one solid color now — the accent this page already used everywhere else — so the headline finally matches the page under it.
• The figures on the download-stats page were faded the same way and are plain white now. The color belongs to the bars beside them, not to the digits.
• Gradients are kept where they belong — the buttons, the app tile and the rule above the support panel are untouched. It is only text that stopped fading.
• No change to the app.

Download update — August 12, 2026 · Opens without an internet check

• The copy of Liftr in the download now opens without needing the internet. macOS checks that an app has been approved by Apple before it runs for the first time. That approval can travel inside the app itself, and in the download it did not — so the first launch had to reach Apple to confirm it. Offline, behind a hotel or campus login page, or when Apple’s service was slow, that check could fail and macOS would report that Liftr “cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software.” The approval now travels with the app, so the first launch works with no connection at all.
• Automatic updates were never affected — the copy they install already carried its approval.
• The installer window opens at the right size. It was one title bar too short, so the artwork behind the drag-to-Applications arrow was cut off along the bottom and the window opened already scrolled. It now fits exactly.
• The app itself is unchanged: same version, same signature. Only the download was repackaged, so there is nothing to do if you already have Liftr installed.

Site update — August 12, 2026 · What actually connects to the internet

• A privacy answer on this page was wrong, and is fixed. It described Liftr as working “offline” — which stopped being true once Liftr gained the ability to update itself. Conversions, and everything you open, were never sent anywhere and still aren't; the claim about connections was the part that was false.
• Every connection Liftr makes, in full: a check for a new version about once a week, and — only if you enter a business license key — a check that the key is valid. Nothing about your files is in any of them, and the update check sends the app version and nothing more.
• The update instructions were out of date. They described downloading a new copy and dragging it over the old one. Liftr updates itself — it checks about once a week and offers to install the new version in place, refusing any download that isn't signed by us. You can still replace it by hand, and you can turn the automatic check off.
• No change to the app.

Site update — August 12, 2026 · Readable buttons and small print

• The buttons in the header say what they say. The Tip and Download pills were drawing their label at 55% opacity over a colored fill, which measured as low as 1.6:1 against it — well under the 4.5:1 the accessibility guidelines ask for. Their labels are now solid, and the fill behind them is set a shade deeper so the text genuinely clears that bar.
• The Subscribe and Support buttons too. Their labels were colored for one end of a two-color gradient and disappeared into the other end. Both now use a single fill that the label is legible on all the way across.
• The newsletter note, the “More apps” caption and the version line under the download button were all set too faint to read comfortably; each is now above the AA threshold.
• Keyboard shortcut chips are legible against their own background.
• The screenshot viewer no longer makes every visit quietly re-download this page as if it were an image — a wasted request on each load.
• No change to the app.

Site update — August 11, 2026 · Clearer search results

• The description under this site in Google is no longer cut off. It ran past the length Google shows and broke mid-word; it now reads as a complete sentence.
• Sharing a link to the privacy, terms or changelog page now shows a proper preview card instead of a bare URL.
• The sitemap now reports when each page actually changed, so search engines re-check pages that have been updated instead of assuming they are stale.
• No change to the app.

August 11, 2026 · A new look

• Changed: Liftr has a new app icon. Every twoplus11 app moved to one generated palette, so the color in your Dock, on this site and on the download page is now the same color — they had drifted apart.
• Changed: refreshed the site to match, including the tab icon and the link preview image.

Site update — August 10, 2026 · App name and icon in the hero

• The top of the product page now shows the Liftr icon and name above the headline, so it is clear which app you are looking at without scrolling to the nav. No change to the app.

1.3.8 — August 9, 2026 · Automatic updates

• New: Liftr updates itself. When a new version is out you get a prompt with the release notes and can install it in place — no more visiting the site and dragging a new copy over the old one. This is the last update you have to install by hand.
• New: refreshed appearance — Liftr now uses the shared twoplus11 palette and a regenerated app icon, so it matches the rest of the family.
• Fixed: contrast and keyboard-navigation problems (WCAG 2.1 AA) — faint text is now readable, and every control can be reached and used from the keyboard.
• Fixed: the Check for Updates button spins while it checks, instead of flashing an empty window.

1.3.7 — July 17, 2026 · 13-language localization

• 13-language localization — Liftr now speaks 13 languages, with an in-app flag picker; it auto-detects your Mac's language, and you can override it anytime.
• Fixed: “Strip metadata” now actually removes GPS/EXIF data — previously the toggle had no effect.
• Fixed: “Clean color fringe” now actually applies during export — previously the toggle had no effect.
• Fixed: the eyedropper now samples the correct pixel when a trim or non-original aspect preset is active.

1.3.6 — July 16, 2026 · One logo everywhere

• Changed: the in-app logo (sidebar header, empty state, drag-and-drop overlay, and license panel) now uses the exact same glyph as the app icon — the framed subject with the lifted head and shoulders — so the logo is identical everywhere.

1.3.5 — July 16, 2026 · Appearance override fix

• Fixed: pinning the appearance to Light or Dark (instead of following the system) now restyles the whole window — previously the translucent header and footer kept the system's appearance, leaving hard-to-read text when the override and the system disagreed.

1.3.4 — July 15, 2026 · “Tip”

• Renamed the “Donate” link to “Tip.”

1.3.3 — July 15, 2026 · Dark icon refinement

• Refined the dark-mode Dock icon: now a true near-black, monochrome-style background with just a hint of purple, instead of a deeper tint of the same color.

1.3.2 — July 15, 2026 · Icon fixes

• Fixed: the app icon could show the wrong light/dark variant in Finder, Spotlight, Launchpad, and the Dock while Liftr wasn't running. It now updates everywhere immediately, not just the Dock tile of an already-open app.
• Fixed: the icon shown on this site didn't quite match the real app icon.

1.3.1 — July 14, 2026 · Dock icon padding fix

• Fixed: the Dock icon rendered edge-to-edge with no padding, making it look larger than every other app in the Dock. It now follows Apple's standard icon grid, sized and spaced to match.

1.3.0 — July 13, 2026 · Reposition the subject & background

• Move and resize the subject — a new Subject panel adds Scale/X/Y sliders so you can nudge or resize the cut-out within the canvas.
• Pan and zoom a custom background image — when your background is your own photo, new Zoom/X/Y sliders (under Background → Fit) let you reframe it without leaving Liftr.
• The app now follows your system's light/dark setting for its Dock icon.

1.2.0 — July 12, 2026 · Color picker, straight lines & presets

• Standard color picker — the + in the Background swatches now opens a proper color picker: a saturation/brightness square, a hue slider, and a hex box, so you can dial in any exact color, not only sample one from the photo. It works alongside the eyedropper — sample a color from your image, then fine-tune it in the picker.
• Erase in a straight line — hold Shift while erasing (or restoring) to constrain the stroke to a straight line, great for cleaning a straight edge in one drag. Click a point, then Shift-click another, to connect them with a straight line.
• Save your own quick presets — hit Save current under Quick presets to save the whole background-and-export setup as a named preset, right beside the six built-ins. Apply it in one click on any image; remove it with the × on its tile.

1.1.0 — July 11, 2026 · Backgrounds & sharing

• Background fade — a new Keep original slider brings the original background back, from fully removed (0%) to untouched (100%); land anywhere in between for a soft, ghosted backdrop.
• Restore brush — the touch-up tool now has Erase and Restore modes; paint the subject back where the cut-out went too far. Press R to flip between them.
• Eyedropper — pick a background color straight from your image.
• New: a Business license button in the header — one click to upgrade to, or manage, a business license.
• New: Automatic update checks — the app quietly checks about once a week and badges the update button when a newer version is available (never a pop-up; nothing is downloaded or installed automatically). Turn it off with Automatically check for updates in the update panel.

1.0.3 — July 10, 2026 · Touch-up eraser

Clean up stray edges by hand, with zoom.

• Eraser — when the cut-out picks up a stray speck or a rough edge, turn on the new eraser (the Erase button above the image, or press E) and paint it away. You work right on the lifted subject; undo a stroke with ⌘Z or hit Clear to start over. Your erasing carries through to every background you try, and into Copy and Export
• Zoom in for fine detail — while erasing, zoom and pan with familiar shortcuts: ⌘+ / ⌘− to zoom, ⌘0 to fit, ⌘1 for 100%, or the zoom controls in the corner. Hold Space and drag (or two-finger scroll / pinch) to pan. Size the brush with the slider or the [ and ] keys, right down to a fine tip for tight edges
• Copy grabs exactly what you see — the Copy button (⌘C) now copies the image just as it appears on screen: your chosen background, edge refinements, and any erasing all included

1.0.2 — July 10, 2026 · Numbered batch cards

A small quality-of-life touch for large batches.

• Numbered batch cards — every photo in the batch list now shows its position (1, 2, 3…), so it's easy to see the order at a glance and point to a specific image when you're working through a big batch. The numbers renumber themselves automatically as you add or remove photos

1.0.1 — July 9, 2026 · Intel Macs supported

Background removal now works on Intel Macs — for real.

• Intel Macs supported — 1.0.0 shipped as a universal app, but the removal relied on Apple's Vision model (VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest), which only runs on Apple Silicon's Neural Engine and so failed on Intel. Liftr now falls back to an on-device CoreML model (U²-Net) on Intel Macs, so removal works there too — still 100% on your Mac, nothing uploaded. Apple Silicon Macs are unchanged and keep the faster Vision path

1.0.0 — July 8, 2026 · Initial public release

The first release. Lift the subject, drop the background — entirely on your Mac.

• On-device removal — drag in a photo, or a whole batch, and Apple's Vision model (VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest) removes the background in about 0.2 seconds per image, at full resolution. Nothing is ever uploaded
• Any background — drop the subject onto transparency, a solid color, a blurred version of the original photo, a gradient, or your own image. The matte is cached, so changing the background never re-runs Vision
• Edge refinement — tighten, feather and clean up the cut-out edge so hair and fine detail look natural
• Soft drop shadow — an adjustable shadow (blur, opacity, offset) so a cut-out sits believably on its new background
• Trim, aspect & size — trim-to-subject auto-crop, plus aspect-ratio and output-size control for product shots, avatars and social posts
• Batch with presets — process many photos at once and apply a preset to all of them: Transparent PNG, Product White, Studio Gray, Soft Shadow, Portrait Blur, Social Gradient
• Before/after compare — a slider to see exactly what changed, the original on one side and the cut-out on a checkerboard on the other
• Export PNG, JPG, HEIC & TIFF — transparent PNG, HEIC and TIFF for cut-outs, plus a flattened JPG when you need one
• Copy & Share — copy the cut-out straight to the clipboard, or send it through the macOS Share sheet
• Non-destructive by design — originals are never modified; every export is a new file, and same-name files are never overwritten unless you say so
• Private by design — everything runs on your Mac with Apple's Vision and CoreImage. No cloud, no account, no telemetry; works offline
• Signed and notarized by Apple — macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon & Intel
• Free for personal use forever — full resolution, unlimited batch, no watermarks; commercial use requires a one-time $5-per-computer business license