About
Which version you are on, which releases you are offered, and what changed.
Version and channel
The tab names the version you are running and checks for a newer one.
Which releases you are offered depends on your channel. Stable is everyone. Nightly adds the release currently under evaluation, and is opt-in. Each channel includes everything below it, so turning nightly on does not stop you receiving a stable release the moment it is newer.
Version history is here too, filtered to the channels you have enabled, so the notes for a release you cannot receive are not listed as though you could.
What updating does
An update downloads in the background and installs when you choose, not underneath you. Your projects, chats and settings live in your data directory rather than in the app, so updating does not touch them.
Staying current
Settings → About shows the version you are running and checks for a newer one. With Auto-Update on, PandaOS downloads a new release in the background and installs it when you restart. With it off, Check for Updates does the same on demand and nothing is installed until you click.
Release channels
Three channels are nested, so each one sees its own releases plus everything more stable than it:
| Channel | What you get |
|---|---|
| Stable | Full releases only. The default, and what everyone gets without changing anything. |
| Nightly | The version currently being evaluated, plus stable releases. Available with Experimental Features on. |
| Beta | Internal development builds, ahead of nightly. Restricted to internal accounts. |
A channel switch is a property of this machine, not of your profile, so it stays put when you switch projects. Turning a channel off returns you to the more stable one below it on the next update.
On the prerelease channels, PandaOS offers you the newest published build in your channel, which is not always the highest version number. A beta and a nightly with the same core sort in an order that has nothing to do with which was built later, so PandaOS goes by what was actually released rather than by version comparison.
Version history
The About page lists past releases with their notes, filtered to the channels you have enabled. It is the quickest way to check whether the fix you are waiting for has shipped.
The rest of the page
Usage Analytics controls whether anonymous product analytics are sent, and Replay Onboarding puts the first-run tour back so you can walk through it again.