This release is a significant one. A lot happened between 1.6.0 and here. Some of it visible, some of it painful, and some of it work that makes everything else possible.
Backend
2 changes
Backend
2 changes
- Moderation systemHaven now has a real moderation infrastructure. Server bans cascade immediately across active sessions — banned users lose server access, voice connections, and content visibility in real time. Channel-level access revocation, server kicks, and user-to-user blocking are all wired end to end. Server staff get a modmail panel to receive and action reports filed in their servers, with escalation to Haven staff when needed.
- Reports flowMessage and profile reports now actually go somewhere. Server staff see reports routed to them in the new modmail panel. Reports routed to Haven staff reach a private admin portal. Every report submission triggers an alert to Haven staff with minimal metadata — no content in the email, just enough to know something needs attention.
UI
3 changes
UI
3 changes
- Avatar uploadsYou can now upload a profile photo directly instead of pasting a URL. Square crop, live preview, saves on confirmation. Old links still work if you had one set.
- Custom window chromeThe native OS title bar and menu bar are gone. Haven now has its own minimal title bar with drag region and window controls. Feels more like an app, less like a browser window.
- Markdown toolbarThe message composer now has a formatting toolbar. Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, inline code, code blocks, links, and an overflow menu for blockquotes, headings, and lists. Keyboard shortcuts work too! Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U. The underlying renderer was also replaced with a proper markdown library, so rendering is more reliable across edge cases.
UX
1 change
UX
1 change
- Voice presence soundsJoin and leave sounds now play when you or someone else enters or exits a voice channel you're in. Toggle and volume controls are in notification settings.
Legal
1 change
Legal
1 change
- LegalTerms of Service and Privacy Policy are now live. New signups are asked to agree at registration. These documents are plain English and well worth a read if you're curious about how Haven handles your data.
An honest note on this: a significant chunk of work between 1.6.0 and 1.7.0 was a Capacitor-based mobile implementation that ultimately got pulled before this release.
The short version is that WKWebView on iOS has platform-level keyboard handling limitations that couldn't be fully engineered around. Rather than ship something that felt broken on mobile, the decision was made to gut it and rebuild properly using React Native and Expo which shares Haven's existing codebase where it matters and handles native keyboard behavior correctly.
Mobile is still coming. It's just being done right instead of done fast. The desktop and web clients are the focus for now.