Today’s changes in tonGues were small on purpose. Neither is a headline feature — but they’re the kind of thing you notice the moment it’s right: the app feels calmer and gets out of your way.

A connection status that fades, not pops

Next to the Friends wordmark we show a live connection label — Connecting…, Syncing…, or No connection. It used to appear and disappear in a single frame, which read as a hard blink every time the network changed its mind.

It now fades and slides in and out instead of popping, and because it’s a visibility change rather than an entrance, we made it something you control: there’s a new Connection status toggle under Settings → Motion, joining the existing motion categories (nine now). When motion is switched off, the label simply updates instantly — no special-casing needed.

A couple of details we cared about:

  • The label only cross-fades when it appears or disappears. Switching between two live states updates in place, so you don’t get a distracting flicker between similar words.
  • The wordmark never shifts. The slot is always laid out, so the header stays put and the text keeps sitting exactly on the wordmark’s baseline.

A clear way out of a call

When a call ends, tonGues shows a short end card — who it was with, how it ended, how long it lasted, and a Call again button. The card returns you to the app on its own after a few seconds (a little longer when there’s a reason to read), and tapping anywhere dismisses it early.

The catch: “tap anywhere” is not the same as an obvious way out. So we added a Back button right next to Call again. Now leaving the end card is a named, one-tap action instead of a hidden gesture or a short wait.

Why we bother with the small stuff

A messenger is mostly made of these moments — a label that blinks, a screen you can’t quite leave. Big features get the attention, but the small ones are what make an app feel considered. We write them up as we ship them, so the polish gets its share of the credit too.

— the tonGues team