Find out what's included in the latest version of the Pugpig Bolt Timeline, the technology that controls the appearance and capabilities of cards in Timelines and Edition ToCs. This affects iOS, Android and Web.

Bolt Timeline versions automatically roll out everywhere at 10:30 UTC the day after release, unless specifically configured otherwise.

Note that dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format

5.6 - Released 2024-10-29

Major changes

• Added a new carousel option allowing you to include video content in a new way. The new carousel supports both vertical and horizontal videos, has an updated sleeker style and will automatically play videos full screen.
• Carousels and other swipe-able content can now now reliably be swiped on Android. 
  • We'll remove the currently used arrows in the next timeline update.

Additional changes

• You can now theme the featured edition on a storefront separately to others.

5.5 - Released 2024-09-10

• Bug fixes and performance improvements.

5.4 - Released 2024-08-12

• Added support for the new persistent video player.
• Added support for portrait orientation of video cards.
• Added support for consent for adverts on the timeline.

5.3 - Released 2024-07-02

• Added the ability to display pip/dot indicators on carousels.
• Added the ability to set explicit date/time strings on event cards, rather than always having to use timezones.
• Hides published date from footer of event cards, to avoid confusion with the date that shows on the card.

5.2 - Released 2024-06-03

• Improved behaviour of timeline anchor links, linking to cards in the timeline should now take the user to the correct location on all platforms.
• Removed published dates from the footers of all event cards to avoid confusion for users.
• Improved loading of styling on the timeline and added more detailed logging to help identify errors as stated on our known issues page.

5.1 - Released 2024-04-17

• Fixes an issue for customers on Bolt Android 3.14 or lower, where users would sometimes be unable to interact with cards on the timeline.

Note - 3.14 was over a year old at the time of release, hence why we always recommend an app update every 6 months or so to ensure you're on the latest version of Pugpig Bolt iOS or Android.

5.0 - Released 2024-04-10

• Updated core Timeline framework from Vue 2 to Vue 3. There should be no noticeable changes but this will make it much easier for us to improve performance and add exciting features in the near future.

4.16 - Released 2024-02-20

Note - 4.15 was released on Feb 12th, rolled back on Feb 14th and re-released on Feb 20th as 4.16, due to rendering issues.

• Added support for a new type of media, the persistent video player, which is initially pinned to the top of a timeline and autoplays but then remains on the screen when you scroll. It is currently only available for m3u8 videos.
• Improved Android loading speeds for clients using Timeline Layouts.

4.14 - Released 2023-11-23

• Added support for m3u8 videos
• Expanded external URL query parameters to work with iframed websites within the timeline
• Fixed various issues with carousels, adverts and grouped content

4.13 - Released 2023-09-25

• Added support for responsive adverts when using our new timeline layouts feature
• Improvements to various analytics parameters
• Support for two new types of timeline cards, Piano and Group.
• Card action bars will no longer overlay cards and will always appear below them

4.12 - Released 2023-07-24

• Added the ability to include audio playlist cards, allowing users to queue all audio in a timeline or section with one tap
• Added the ability for header cards to include a link
• Fixed various issues involving edition download icons not being in the correct state

4.11 - Released 2023-06-20

• Move the default placement of the section. Now placed at the top of the card rather than in the action bar at the bottom.
• Added estimated reading time to the action bar if enabled in the CMS.
• Moved Kickers to be in front of the headline, if enabled.
• Added support for Flashes, which will display in place of a section if provided.
• Fixed an issue where carousels could not be swiped if trying to swipe on the headline of a card.

4.10 - Bug fixes & performance improvements (Released 30/05/23)

• Accessibility improvements
• Fixed an issue causing some video cards not to show
• Fixed an issue where terms in search cards with spaces would not load results
• Fixed an issue where some section tags would overlap with images

4.9 - Loading error (Released 17/04/23)

• Fixed an issue causing the timeline to error if taking a long time to load

4.8 - Search card (Released 04/04/23)

• Added the ability to include a search card in your timeline
• Added a read overlay, to highlight if an article has already been read
• Fixed an issue causing timeline MPU ads to ignore whether or not a card was hidden

4.7 - Bug fixes & performance improvements (Released 13/02/23)

• Fixed an issue on Android causing unwanted styles to show while the timeline is loading
• Pull to refresh banner is no longer shown on edition ToCs

4.6 - Bug fixes & performance improvements (Released 17/01/23)

• Minor card layout improvements for related articles and video cards
• Adjusted text to speech audio icon to have the same behaviour as save and share when in dark mode
• Fixed a backwards compatibility issue with older Bolt native versions

4.5 - Minor improvements (Released 09/01/23)

• The strings on the saved timeline are now localisable
• Audio timeline icon has been adjusted and audio metadata fonts now set correctly
• Timeline grids have been disabled until the next version, pending a fix

4.4 - Performance improvements (Released 06/12/22)

• Improved the loading speed of collapsible section header cards within Edition ToCs
• Added support for an audio icon on timeline cards to appear if Amazon Polly audio is enabled
• Pull-to-refresh will no longer unhide content hidden under a collapsible section
• Fixed an issue causing JW player videos not to load if the JW platform had been updated
• Grids will no longer try to move cards that it shouldn’t to fill spaces, for example headers

4.3 - Right to left (Released 25/11/22)

• Added support for right to left content in the timeline
• The last updated message at the top of a timeline is now localisable
• Google ad cards can now be added to the timeline (in a 300,250 size)

4.2 - Timeline grids (Released 25/10/22)

• Added the ability to display timelines in a grid view, customisable per screen size
• Added the ability to change the background colour of edition cards on the storefront
• Added the ability to change font and font size of edition names on the storefront
• Added the option for collapsible sections on the edition Table of Contents
• Fixed an issue causing the bottom card in the saved timeline to be cut off after unsaving a card from the timeline

4.1 - Bug fixes & performance improvements (Released 12/10/22)

• Adjusted the subscription button to only display on storefront filters containing editions available as part of that particular subscription
• Fixed an issue causing external link cards to ignore metered paywall functionality

4.0 - Updated timeline styling (Released 15/08/22)

• Updated the default styling of all timelines. This will need to be enabled manually for existing apps to avoid any potential styling clashes, but will be the default for any new apps.
• Text resize now applies to cards on timelines
• Fixed an issue causing gaps to show above the cover on edition cards

3.10 - Draft editions and edition cover hover state (Released 29/06/22)

• If looking at a preview feed we now highlight which editions are draft
• On web the cursor will now accurately reflect that edition covers are clickable
• Added the ability to show date in various formats on timeline cards

3.9 - Better download buttons  (Released 20/06/22)

• Fixed bug with storefront rendering duplicate or incorrect covers
• Improvements to the download indicator
• Added an additional step when tapping the download indicator to delete a specific edition
• Default storefront button styling updated
• Removed max-height limitation for line clamping card titles 

3.8 - Date hiding and storefront improvement (Released 25/05/22)

• Option to use display date in the action bar
• Carousel can contain cards that are excluded from the metered paywall
• New BoltCarouselTap analytics event
• Fixed hover states on touchscreen devices
• Tapping the download icon no longer moves you into the edition
• Youtube privacy mode support for video cards
• Hide date on card based on flag from CMS
• Progress indicator falls back to a spinner if it can’t determine progress

3.7 - Storefront styling (Released 14/04/22)

• Updated Storefront styling with a new default theme
• Added support for anchor links on timeline cards
• Fixed various issues with download icon behaviour on the storefront

3.6 - Bug fixes & performance improvements (Released 31/03/22)

• Various bug fixes

3.5 - Dark Mode (Released 14/03/22)

• Added dark mode support for styling elements outside of articles.
• Added support for generic video cards. Now as well as Youtube, Vimeo and JWPlayer you can have a link to any mp4 in a video card.

3.4 - Subscribe via Storefront (Released 01/02/22)

• Added a subscribe button to the Storefront tabs which will display if a user is not signed in or subscribed and there are in-app subscriptions available for purchase

3.3 - Behavioural improvements (Released 02/12/21)

• Improved truncation behaviour of edition titles in storefront tabs
• Improved tap to full screen behaviour on timeline image galleries so that the full screen view opens on the image you tap on rather than always opening the first image in the gallery

3.2 - Storefront download button (Released 29/11/21)

• Added a download indicator to editions in storefront. When tapped this will show download progress and when complete will reflect that. If tapped while download is in progress then it will cancel the download and revert to the previous icon.

3.1 - Storefronts and Editions (Released 24/11/21)

• Improved support for displaying editions/timelines in an edition style Storefront.
• Allow images in the timeline to go to full screen if tapped.
• Improved how audio loads in the timeline to improve performance and bandwith usage.

2.16 - Video card improvements

• Tapping play on a video card now plays the video straight away rather than the previous behaviour where the 1st tap on the poster image would show the player and the 2nd would play the video
• Removed the option to save or share header cards

2.15 - Audio duration (Released 16/06/21)

• Audio file duration is now passed in the feed so that it can be displayed on audio cards

2.14 - Brightcove (Released 09/06/21)

• Added support for Brightcove video cards in the timeline.
• Added a new default card style, which allows you to have an article's text above the image.

2.13 - Bug fixes & performance improvements (06/05/21)

• Fixed an issue causing event cards to show HTML markup