Groups.io: Changelog

Subscribe via RSS

Area All areas Messages & Topics Editor & Drafts Hashtags Email & Delivery Members Moderation Group Settings Subgroups Integrations Calendar Files Photos Wiki Databases Chat Ask Subscription Account & Login Billing Enterprise Design & Accessibility Public Pages & Help Mobile App Site-wide

Type All types New Change Bug fix API

Search

Filter

---

October 9, 2026

Chat

• CHANGE: In chat, you're now told when the connection drops and when it comes back. A message you send while disconnected stays in the message box instead of being lost. New messages, deleted messages, and the typing indicator are announced to screen readers. The "jump to latest message" button can be reached with the keyboard and says how many new messages there are.

Ask

• CHANGE: In Ask, the question box stays in place while an answer is written, and screen readers are told when Ask is thinking, when the answer is ready, and if there's an error. The Copy and Post to Group buttons now have names.

Subscription

• BUGFIX: When someone tried to join a group through a VPN or anonymizing proxy, the join form sent them to the home page without saying why, and no confirmation email was sent. The join form now explains that joins through a VPN or proxy aren't accepted and asks them to turn it off and try again.

Account & Login

• CHANGE: The login form, two-factor code, and passkey recovery forms now stay valid for 20 minutes instead of 4. If one does expire, it's shown again with your email address kept and a message explaining what happened, instead of a blank login page.

Billing

• BUGFIX: On phones and other narrow screens, the Sponsor This Group button didn't appear on a group's home page, because it's in the Group Information section, which is hidden on small screens. The button now appears below the member count on narrow screens. https://beta.groups.io/g/main/message/41358
• CHANGE: Switching a group between monthly and yearly billing from the Plans page now asks you to confirm, and shows the amount that will be charged, before anything is charged. Donations now show a Confirm Donation step with the amount before your card is charged. The amount is checked first, and a declined card keeps what you entered and suggests what to try next.
• CHANGE: The page after joining a group with a paid membership no longer reloads every few seconds while the payment is confirmed. It now checks in the background, tells you when your membership is ready, and waits for you to click Continue.

Design & Accessibility

• BUGFIX: When using VoiceOver on an iPhone or iPad, some key presses caused an error, and the site's keyboard shortcuts didn't respond to them. Those key presses now work normally.
• NEW: We've made a large round of accessibility improvements across the website, to meet the WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standard. People who use a keyboard, a screen reader, zoom, or high-contrast settings should find the site much easier to use. An updated accessibility conformance report (VPAT) is available on request. The changes below are the ones you're most likely to notice.
• CHANGE: Every page now has a "Skip to main content" link as its first item, which appears when you press Tab. Pages are announced to screen readers when you move between them, and each page has a main heading that names it.
• CHANGE: Everything on the site can now be used with a keyboard alone, including menus, dialogs, the message editor's image and attachment tools, file and photo actions, database tables, calendar events, chat, polls, map markers, and analytics charts. When you close a dialog or menu, the cursor goes back to where you were instead of to the top of the page. Buttons, icons, and form fields all have names that screen readers read out.
• CHANGE: Pressing Tab to a button now shows a clear blue-and-white ring around it, so you can always see where you are. It appears only when you use the keyboard, not when you click.
• CHANGE: Some colors changed so that text is easier to read. Green, red, and blue buttons and badges are slightly deeper. The light blue Info and orange Warning buttons and badges now have dark text instead of white. Several hashtag and label colors (such as cerulean blue, tomato, purple, and blush) are slightly deeper, with white text; the lighter colors now have dark text. Small gray text, such as dates and counts, is a little darker. Several dark mode colors that were hard to read, including table headers, the current page number, and some link-style buttons, were fixed.
• CHANGE: Links in sentences, help text, and notices, and the author links in topic lists ("Started by", "By"), are now shown in a heavier weight, so you can tell them apart from the surrounding text without relying on color. They're underlined when you point at them or move to them with the keyboard.
• CHANGE: Tooltips now stay open while you move the pointer onto them, and you can close them with the Escape key. The abbreviated badges on Your Groups and in your feed (P, M, NP, NMM, and others) now have their full meaning available to screen readers.
• CHANGE: Error messages that pop up at the top of the page now stay until you close them, instead of disappearing after a couple of seconds. Other notices stay for 10 seconds and don't disappear while you're pointing at them or have moved to them with the keyboard. A failed image upload now shows a message that stays until you close it.
• CHANGE: On phones, the full title of a topic, chat, or wiki page is now shown on the page itself, since the header can only fit part of it. On very short screens, such as when the browser is zoomed in a long way, the header and bottom bar scroll with the page instead of covering most of it. Pages no longer scroll sideways on narrow screens.
• CHANGE: Pages now tell browsers and screen readers which language they're in, matching the language you've chosen for the site, so screen readers use the right pronunciation.

Public Pages & Help

• BUGFIX: In the online help center manuals, the expandable sections (headings you click to show more text) looked like links but didn't open when clicked, and glossary terms didn't show their definitions when clicked. Both work again. https://beta.groups.io/g/docs/message/618

Mobile App

• BUGFIX: In version 5.0 of the iPhone and iPad app, tapping a file in the Files section, or an attachment or photo download, always brought up the share sheet asking which app to open it with, instead of showing the file. PDFs, images, Office and iWork documents, text files, and common audio and video files now open right away in the app's viewer again. Other kinds of files still bring up the share sheet so you can choose an app that can open them.