Changelog

What has changed in each release of jack7, newest first. For what is coming next, see the roadmap.

Version numbers match what the App Store shows on the app's listing under "Version History".

1.9.0 — 24 October 2026

jack7 now fits every screen, your first games are friendlier, and the table finally sounds like one. This release also carries everything planned for 1.8.2.

  • iPad gets a proper table layout, with the other players across from you;
  • play sideways on iPhone, with the deck and pile on one side and your buttons on the other, and the iPhone Duo works open or folded, either way up;
  • cards you can't play are greyed out at every point of your turn, including in the middle of a run, so you can't take a penalty for a card the rules don't allow;
  • drag a card onto the pile to play it, or tap it as before;
  • the Joker picker only offers cards that fit, so a Joker can't cost you a penalty;
  • a hint warns you before you try to finish on a power card, in rooms that don't allow it;
  • when nothing in your hand fits, the Pick Up or End Turn button lights up straight away and tells you what to do;
  • mistakes are explained in plain English, with the right number of penalty cards for the room you're in;
  • Learn to Play waits for each step: a wrong tap no longer sets the game off without you;
  • new sounds for power cards, the Ace suit change, a pickup coming your way, the deal and "Cards!", plus music for the menus, the win and the loss;
  • the app can now switch on seasonal looks and events from our server, ready for Christmas.

1.8.1 — 6 October 2026

A small release that helps us count real players properly, and asks the happy ones for a rating.

  • after your second win, the app may ask you to rate jack7 on the App Store using Apple's own prompt. It asks at most once per version, and never in the tutorial;
  • analytics now tell App Store installs apart from test and review builds, so the numbers we use to decide what to build next reflect real players rather than our own test devices.

1.8.0 — 19 August 2026

Rules you can actually read, and a table that fills itself.

  • the rules screen rebuilt as three tabs — the basics, power cards, and house rules — so you can jump straight to the part you need instead of scrolling the lot;
  • every house rule now explains what it does and gives a worked example, including the ones left at their normal setting;
  • a rules button in the game header that shows the rules for the room you are in, marking anything the host changed, so you never have to guess whether something is a house rule;
  • quiet lobby? empty seats now fill with AI players so you can get on with playing instead of waiting for strangers to turn up;
  • the lobby counts down before an auto-started game begins, and the host can cancel it if someone real is on the way;
  • card suits in the rules and tutorial text are now drawn in the game's own pixel art rather than borrowed from the system font;
  • anonymous session recordings added, so we can see where the game is confusing rather than guessing — see the privacy policy for exactly what is and is not recorded;
  • crash reports now carry the rules that were in play, which makes a bug caused by a particular house-rule combination far quicker to track down.

1.7.1 — 19 July 2026

A full visual rebuild. Every screen was redrawn in the pixel style the app icon had always hinted at.

  • the whole app re-themed in clean pixel art — cards, buttons, panels, glyphs, and a new app icon to match;
  • motion throughout: cards, dialogs, and transitions now animate rather than snap;
  • clearer onboarding cards, with the miniature example hands redrawn so they read at a glance;
  • gameplay actions constrained on iPad so the table stays reachable on a larger screen.

1.7.0 — 7 July 2026

The game got a voice, and we started listening for crashes.

  • sound effects for card actions, pickups, reverses, illegal taps, and the deck reshuffle, with a background music bed and independent music and effects controls in Settings;
  • ending your turn with no legal card now picks up for you automatically, instead of leaving you stuck at a dead end;
  • cards that cannot legally start a run are greyed out, so an illegal tap is prevented rather than punished;
  • crash reporting added, so problems get found and fixed without waiting for someone to report them.

1.6.1 — 30 June 2026

jack7 launched on the App Store.

  • lowered the minimum iOS version so the game runs on far more devices.

1.6 — June 2026

The release the launch was built on, developed and tested through TestFlight.

  • custom house rules per room — deal size, jokers, runs, power-card finishes, queen cover, pickup stacking and more — with saveable presets;
  • an optional per-turn timer that auto-passes on expiry or disconnect, so one idle player cannot stall a table;
  • a Create Room flow with rule icons you can tap to see what each one does, and active rules shown in the lobby and the public games browser;
  • practice mode against bots — fully offline, with save and resume — so you can play without friends or a connection;
  • a guided, play-along tutorial that highlights the card it is talking about, plus a first-launch walkthrough;
  • bots with distinct personalities that play a genuinely better game, both as practice opponents and as lobby players online.

Earlier

jack7 was in TestFlight from May 2026, working up through virtual lobby bots (1.4), the in-game action log (1.3), and the first offline gameplay (1.5). Those builds were never public.

Something look wrong, or missing a change you remember? Email adi@ambacelar.com.