Grūps App v0.8.5 is out today with a focused round of fixes and improvements across three areas that affect daily use: notifications, the map, and the bookings system.

Notifications that actually work

Push notifications have been unreliable in some configurations — this release fixes the most significant issues:

  • Android notifications now appear as banners instead of crashing the app when one arrived
  • iOS notifications now display with a proper title and message instead of silently doing nothing
  • Sender avatars appear correctly as a thumbnail on both platforms
  • Browser notifications now appear as banners even when you have the app open in the current tab — previously they were silently dropped
  • Each new message now gets its own banner instead of replacing the previous one

A faster, smarter map

The map has been rebuilt to feel much more responsive:

  • Location data and map tiles now load in parallel instead of sequentially, so the map is ready noticeably faster
  • Your location is found more quickly using network-based positioning alongside GPS
  • The map remembers your last position and opens there rather than starting from scratch
  • Fixed a visual blurring effect that was incorrectly applied at all times
  • Fixed the back button position when the sidebar is open

Booking management for hosts

Hosts can now manage bookings properly from within the app:

  • Approve or reject pending bookings directly from the bookings view
  • Rejecting a booking shows a prompt where you can include a reason for the guest
  • Cancelling a booking lets you choose whether to notify the guest by push, email, or both — with an optional message
  • A new booking details view shows full information without navigating away
  • Confirmation, rejection, and cancellation emails now show times in the guest's local timezone
  • Booking requests can now be submitted via a public link — no account required

Profile and timezone

You can now set your timezone in your profile, choosing from 15 common options. It's used for booking times and event notifications, and is automatically detected from your browser when you first create an account.

Other fixes

  • The group announcement banner now appears across all group pages, not just the home page
  • Collapsing the banner is remembered as you navigate — it won't reappear until you expand it again
  • The Calendar section in the sidebar now expands to show sub-pages: Calendar, Signups, Check-ins, and Bookings
  • Logging out now always clears your session, even if something goes wrong during sign-out
  • Empty state screens across Announcements, Posts, Polls, Lists, Q&A, Recognitions, and Albums have a consistent, polished look