What’s new

What each version of Kin changed, newest first. Kin offers every update in the app as it ships.

2.1.81

  • Kin is a smaller download, for a first install and every update: the disk image is compressed tighter, and the Messages helper inside Kin no longer carries its own copy of the rest of the app.

2.1.80

  • A note that asks something (“Yeah, did she get the job?”) no longer marks a promise done, and “Yes, finished” or “Yep, completed” mark it done again.

2.1.79

  • A plan that’s over leaves ⌃K at its end instead of at Kin’s next Calendar read, and “actually noon works” or “actually not running late” no longer call a plan off.
  • “Yeah, she’s leaving” no longer marks a promise done: only an answer that says it’s done, like “Yes, I did”, does.
  • “Venmo Dan Park” or “Email Dan Park” on your calendar no longer counts as meeting Dan, and “people from LA” finds someone whose hometown is written “LA”.

2.1.78

  • Time questions in ⌃K read more ways of asking: “do I have meetings today” covers the whole day, “who did I see this weekend” on a weekday means the one just gone, and “tmrw”, “on my cal”, “anyone” and “last met with Dan” work. “last saw Dan” starts on the Dan you met most recently, and with Calendar connected, typing “calendar” or “meetings” lists who you’re seeing in the next 7 days.
  • “people in LA” finds who lives in Los Angeles instead of every “la” in your notes.
  • Holding ⌫ to clear the search field no longer goes on to clear the top row’s Waiting on you, plan or promise, and the footer says what ⌫ does to the selected row.
  • A birthday today or tomorrow shows above tomorrow’s events and plans.
  • A plan is read however you agree to it: a yes sent with Message or Help with a reply, or after “what time?” and “7?”, up to three days after the question. “actually no” calls it off, a plan shows only until it’s over, and once it’s on your calendar ⌘K ↩ is Message again.
  • A note marks a promise done only when it answers it, like “Yes”, “Done” or “Sent it”, and that answer is saved with its question. Reminders read better (“show them around the office”, “check their CV”), and ⌘I on a promised introduction lists that person first instead of drafting before you pick.
  • Trips: the flight home is never a trip, even without your city in Settings › You, and neither is a layover, someone else’s flight (“Mom’s flight SFO → JFK”) or a city on your calendar every week. A trip lasts until “Return flight” or “Flight home”, up to six weeks.
  • A few days in a row with someone, like a wedding weekend, count as one visit, so they don’t look overdue a week later. “Coffee with Dan Smith” no longer asks whether it’s Dan Park, and “Venmo Dan” or “Flight to Charlotte” never ask about a name.
  • An all-day plan’s invite has the right date on a Mac set to a Buddhist or Japanese calendar.

2.1.77

  • With Calendar connected, an event nobody was invited to, like “Lunch w/ Dan” on your own calendar, now shows on the right person’s row in ⌃K. A full name shows right away; a first name asks once at the end of the list, “Is this Dan Park?” (↩ Yes, ⌫ Not them), and the answer holds for every later title with that name.
  • Events with two or three people from your contacts show on each of their rows, with the others named: “Dinner with Sam and Alex”. Before, only one-on-ones did.
  • From 6 PM, ⌃K also shows tomorrow’s events with people, after today’s and three at most: “Lunch tomorrow 12:30 PM”. The Calendar window names tomorrow’s plans when today has none.
  • What to bring up next knows the day when the chat says it: “Wish luck with Friday’s chem exam” before, “Wish luck with the move today” on the day, and “Ask how the move went” after. Lines are written again once, so for a few minutes after updating, rows may say “Talked …” instead.
  • ⇥ on someone you’re meeting today shows “Before you meet”: the last thing you talked about, your note from the last time you met, and anything still open, like a promise or a plan that isn’t on your calendar.
  • Add a note (⌘J) opens on one question about the person when Kin has one: a promise still open (“Did you intro them to Sam?”), what to bring up (“How did the move go?”), or the meeting (“What came up over coffee?”).
  • A note that says what you’ll do for someone (“I’ll intro her to Sam”) reminds you on their row from the next day: “You said you’d intro them to Sam”. On an introduction ⌘I opens Introduce with Sam already picked, and ⌫ marks any promise done.
  • When someone asks to settle a plan (“dinner thursday?”) and you say yes, ⌃K tells you if it isn’t on your calendar: “Dinner Thursday 7:00 PM isn’t on your calendar”. ⌘K’s Add Dinner to Calendar… opens an invite that Calendar asks you to confirm, so Kin still never writes to your calendar; ⌫ puts the line away, and a plan called off in the chat (“something came up”) goes by itself.
  • Ask ⌃K about time: “who am I seeing this week”, “who did I see last week”, “last saw Dan” or “when am I seeing Maya” lists the people with the event and when, from your calendar and your notes.
  • With Calendar connected, a meeting you didn’t decline counts as being in touch, so a one-on-one last week keeps someone out of the drifting part of ⌃K. Meeting someone regularly also sets how soon they count as drifting: a weekly one-on-one that stops shows them within about three weeks.
  • Trips, off until you turn on Show who lives where you’re going in the Calendar window: a trip on your calendar, like “NYC” all day Nov 3–6 or “Flight to Lisbon”, ends ⌃K’s list from a week before with who lives there: “In NYC Tuesday · Sam and Priya live there”. ↩ lists them, ⌫ puts the trip away.
  • “people in NYC” now finds contacts whose city is “New York, NY” or “Brooklyn”, and lists the people who live there first.

2.1.76

  • If you haven’t connected Calendar, ⌃K’s list can end on a quiet “See who you’re meeting today” row from the day after setup, on five days at most: ↩ opens Connect Calendar, ⌫ hides it for good, and it’s never selected by default. Typing “calendar” or “meetings” finds it any time.

2.1.75

  • Suggestions of what to bring up next in ⌃K read the past month of your chat instead of its last thirty messages, so they can pick up an earlier thread, like an exam or a trip mentioned last week, not only the latest exchange.

2.1.74

  • Help with a reply and Introduce no longer send for you: ⌘↩ copies the text and opens the chat in Messages, and you send it there.

2.1.73

  • Clean up after the web search removal

2.1.72

  • Web search is gone: Settings › Provider no longer has Let Kin search the web or a TinyFish key, and Coach writes its notes from the chat alone. A search key you saved is removed from the Keychain.

2.1.70

  • Suggestions of what to bring up next in ⌃K are plain and easy to follow (“Ask about the dishwasher”, “Ask how the chem exam went”): Kin writes each one itself around a real topic from your chat, and shows “Talked today” rather than a line built from a misread message.

2.1.69

  • Suggestions of what to bring up next in ⌃K read the way a friend would put them (“Ask if the fingers are getting stronger”) and favor what has happened or changed since you last talked, instead of filling a fixed sentence like “Ask how job is going”. A question you already asked and are still waiting on is left alone.

2.1.68

  • Suggestions of what to bring up next in ⌃K show up for far more people: Kin now picks out what your chat talks about and writes the line itself (“Ask how the soup was”, “Wish luck with the chem exam”), so it never asks again what the chat already answered. A suggestion from an older Kin no longer shows.

2.1.67

  • Suggestions of what to bring up next in ⌃K stick to what your chat actually says, skip what it already answered or settled, and always start with what to do (“Ask how the soup was”).

2.1.66

  • Suggestions of what to bring up next appear moments after you open ⌃K, instead of waiting for Kin to reach that chat, and turn up for more of the people you talk to.

2.1.65

  • With nothing typed, ⌃K suggests something to bring up next with people you talked to lately (“Ask how the Tahoe trip went”) in place of “Talked today”, written on this Mac from your chat.

2.1.64

  • Kin’s website and its updates now come from kincontacts.com.