v0.20.0

Read picture books in your language, start groups, rewrite a passage

• Picture books translate into your language. Open a picture book's reader and pick a language from the Language control. Languages that already exist switch in one free tap. A new language shows its "Translate into ... for 1 credit" button only after you tap it, so nothing is charged by opening the window. The first reader pays that one credit. Every later reader gets the cached translation free, and print exports can use it too.
• Memory aids say what they help with. Every hint on a cheat sheet, in German, English, French, Italian and Turkish, now carries a short "Helps with: ..." label naming the thing it actually teaches, in place of the old one-size mnemonics.
• Groups. Create a group or join one, and share your stories on its shelf. Each group carries a label: original, public domain or fan fiction, set when the group is created and fixed after that. Every story now has a switch next to Visibility, *Only I and people I invite can continue*. Fan fiction starts with it on and is shown only to logged-in readers. You can also start fan fiction directly from Groups, with a source brief the story model keeps to. Invite-only groups take requests to join, with an optional note, and the owner and moderators approve or decline them from a Requests tab. The Terms gained a Groups section (Sections 4, 7, 8 and 9 were updated). You don't need to accept them again.
• Write a story inside a group. Every member now gets a "Write a story here" button on the group page. The new story joins that group's shelf and you land on it once it is created. A Private story shows on the shelf only to its author until it goes public.
• Fan fiction in named steps. Fan fiction started from Groups opens on a short note about fan fiction, then the source setup, then Basics. Each step is named and its Next button stays on screen, even on a phone. Closing the wizard with unsaved input asks first. The normal "Start a new Story" wizard is unchanged.
• A shared brief for fan-fiction groups. A group's owner and moderators write one brief of characters and facts for the whole group. Members can suggest a change from the group's Brief tab, and the owner or a moderator accepts or dismisses it. A new fan-fiction story in the group starts from a free copy of that brief, which the writer then extends on their own.
• Find more for a brief, priced by model. "Find more" asks the AI to add characters or facts to a brief, either from what it already knows or from a live web search. The price sits next to the button and names the model it runs on, so nothing is charged as a surprise.
• A required check before a fan-fiction story starts. The wizard reads your idea and flags a scene the source already tells. It suggests a new angle, such as another character's point of view or what happens before or after, and Next stays blocked until you take that angle or rewrite the idea. Characters from the source never speak their original lines in the new story.
• Develop a group character. Owners and moderators can turn a brief entry into a full character. "From the AI's knowledge" fills what the AI remembers about the work, so check it. "Fill plausible" also invents the rest and marks it Invented. A web search gives the best coverage, for a higher price. A story built with group characters also gets a "Room for characters" meter and a choice of which builder parts each character brings in.
• Develop now fills the character in front of you. Watch each field close one at a time as the AI writes it, instead of waiting for the whole sheet. A Stop button ends the run early: nothing is saved and you are not charged.
• Characters from a long series keep their whole story. Develop no longer freezes a character at one moment of a work that spans years. Age, looks, abilities and love interests now describe the change across the work, for example "11 at the start, 17 by the end".
• A clear message instead of a stalled generation. If a paid answer would repeat its source too closely, it is refunded on its own and you see a plain message asking for a different angle.
• A warning for a group name already in use. Creating a group with a name that exists shows a link to it and lets you continue anyway.
• A front page for new visitors. Signed out, the home page now opens with one line about the app and a Start reading button. A Start here shelf of featured stories and a Short reads shelf for one sitting come next, and a link to the Story Finder closes the page. The full story table is there once you sign in.
• A soft wall after three stories. Signed out, you can open three different stories before an overlay asks you to create a free account to keep reading. A story opened through a shared link always opens.
• Continue reading. The home page lists the last three stories you read, each opening at the chapter where you stopped. It follows your account, so it works on a second device too. Until you have opened three stories, the Start here shelf shows as well.
• Stay logged in for 30 days. A login used to end after a day. It now lasts 30 days, and logging out takes you to the home page instead of the login card. The mail that confirms your address now reads as ours, with the subject "Confirm your email for Infinite Stories".
• One language across Learning. The Language filter on the Learning page now opens cheat sheets and flash cards in that language, and it follows your account to other devices. A new "Review" entry shows how many saved words are due and opens the review queue. A story with a course now offers "Learn with this story" on its page.
• Tours and help pages caught up. The reader tour starts on the new home shelves. The gift guide keeps your prefilled story to the end, and every Designer step points at the control it names. Help pages now match the app: costs, counts, links and screenshots were checked against the current version. Opening a help article now always starts at the top of the page.
• Only the story's owner changes its cover. A chapter picture that exists can be replaced or removed only by the story's owner or that chapter's author. Readers who may continue a story can still fill a chapter's empty picture slot. The check now runs before an image batch reserves any credits.
• Security hardening. A review of this release tightened who can see a group's private shelf stories, where the login pages may send you back to, and how reports and invites are handled. A story that went Private no longer shows its title in another story's crossover list.
• Rewrite a passage. Select text while writing a chapter, describe the change you want, and a side-by-side view shows the rewrite next to the original. Accept it to replace the selection, or discard it. Nothing is written until you save.
• A hint when two choices read the same, and a rewrite for them too. The chapter editor now flags when both of your typed choices lead to similar places, and a "Suggest different choices" button offers two alternatives. Saving is never blocked by the check.
• Audiobooks remember where you stopped. Close the player mid-chapter and it resumes from the same spot next time, instead of the start.
• Sound Off now means off. Turning sound off in Settings used to leave some effects playing on the scored-reading specials. It now silences every player at once.
• Admin issue lists show new reports right away. The admin issues view and the Review Queue both surfaced the wrong list before. Both now show every open issue, and the sidebar badge updates as new reports come in.
• More flash cards on thin topics. Topics that used to offer only a handful of cards, such as Time, now meet a floor of at least 20 learner cards per language, mined from existing pictures plus drawn clock-face tiles.
• Picture practice removed from courses. The optional "Picture practice" button on a course header is gone, with no replacement. The standalone Flash cards area is unchanged.
• The notification bell moved on desktop. It now sits in the floating top-right buttons, directly below the sound control, instead of the sidebar footer, and its list opens beside those buttons rather than over them. The Settings button took over its old spot in the sidebar.
• Phones get a top bar. The menu button and the sound, bell and more buttons used to float over the page and cover titles. They now sit in one slim bar that slides away while you scroll down and comes back as soon as you scroll up.
• Fixes. An achievement counter (days active) could read backwards after a background sync. It now only ever counts up, and affected accounts were repaired. Saving a word from the dictionary tooltip used to leave the tooltip open, and the dictionary made far more picture requests than it needed to. Both are fixed. A login that had been revoked elsewhere no longer leaves the app spinning. Signed-out visitors keep a working "Start a new Story" button with a link to log in, and the reader tour now asks before it opens instead of assuming yes. Typing in the character and scene builder's edit mode used to snap back to the old value on every keystroke, a regression since 0.18.0. It is fixed.