Offline downloads are much more useful. Stopped downloads can now remain playable as partial downloads, resume from the saved range, show clearer remaining-time estimates, and behave more naturally in the Downloads manager.
Original file copying is now built for large media files. On Mac, Copy Original File can preserve partial progress, resume interrupted copies, show an ETA, stream data more efficiently, and keep the downloads list synchronized with files on disk.
Browse is easier to scan and harder to confuse. A new compact Browse layout, article-aware sorting, better server switching, preserved server nicknames, and cleaner iPhone and Apple TV navigation make large libraries feel more predictable.
Server library work is clearer and better coordinated. Scan startup now shows immediate feedback, maintenance actions avoid running over each other, excluded folders are honored more consistently, and scrub-thumbnail failures can be inspected directly.
Playback and thumbnail reliability improved. ShowShark is less likely to stall or crash around local playback, high-throughput streams, thumbnail generation, scrub previews, and media pipeline cleanup.
Server updates are more respectful of active use. Automatic update preferences are preserved, and prepared Server updates wait until active sessions are idle before installing.
Getting started is smoother. The ShowShark website has direct Player and Server download paths, richer product examples, better mobile layouts, and an updated first-run welcome experience on supported platforms.
Downloads & Offline Playback
Stopped offline downloads can remain playable. A partial download now records the playable media range instead of being treated as a failed or unusable package.
Offline downloads can resume from saved progress. When a partial package already exists, ShowShark can continue from the latest downloaded point instead of starting over.
Partial offline playback shows the correct playable range. Scrubbers, transport controls, remote commands, picture-in-picture, mini player state, and scrub previews now respect the shortened downloaded segment.
Offline playback ends more cleanly at the downloaded boundary. Reaching the end of a partial download now behaves like a normal end of playback instead of looking like a network buffering problem.
Offline seek audio stays better aligned. Scrubbing within downloaded media now avoids the multi-second audio delay that could appear with some AAC and coalesced offline packets.
The download action is now named Stop when it preserves partial progress, matching what the action actually does.
Download progress is easier to monitor. Remaining-time estimates now appear in both the file-detail download popover and the Downloads manager.
Completed downloads are simpler to open. Finished rows can be tapped to play, while Delete is moved to swipe actions on touch platforms and a context menu on Mac.
Background download handling is more careful on iOS. ShowShark coordinates background download activity separately from normal media playback so active downloads and playback do not step on the same audio-session state.
The Downloads manager now reacts to disk changes. If download packages, copied files, sidecars, or the downloads index change outside the app, ShowShark refreshes the list, updates progress from disk, prunes missing items, and reports missing copied files more accurately.
Original File Copies
Mac users can copy original source files from File Details. Copy Original File is available from the Mac detail toolbar for users who need the untouched source media rather than an offline playback package.
Original file copies can be stopped and resumed. Partial copied files are preserved, and later copy attempts can pick up from the bytes already on disk.
Large original file copies stream more efficiently. ShowShark now uses a dedicated source-file stream instead of repeated chunk requests, which is especially helpful for large files and slower remote paths.
Copy progress includes an ETA. The Downloads manager and File Details copy popover now estimate remaining time from byte progress.
Interrupted copies recover more predictably. ShowShark validates file size, resume offsets, and source changes so stale or mismatched copy state is less likely to produce a bad completed file.
Copy writes are more stable under heavy throughput. Incoming file data is written through a dedicated serialized path so high-speed copies do not overload the app's main UI work.
Browse, Search & Navigation
Browse now has a compact layout option on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and visionOS. The new text-first rows are useful for large folders and library lists where density matters more than artwork.
The compact Browse preference is remembered. You can switch between the visual grid and compact list with the Browse toolbar control, and ShowShark keeps that choice.
Movies, TV Shows, and Music sort more naturally. Titles beginning with "A", "An", or "The" are ordered by the meaningful part of the name while still displaying the familiar title.
Switching servers starts Browse in the right place. Manual server changes now reset to the new server's root instead of briefly carrying over a folder from the previous server.
Reconnects preserve your current browsing context. During temporary remote reconnects, ShowShark keeps the media browser visible and refreshes the current folder after reconnecting instead of jumping back to root.
Stale Browse responses are ignored. Old folder-loading results from a previous navigation or server switch can no longer repopulate the current view with outdated items or errors.
Custom server names are preserved. If you gave a saved server your own display name, future logins, discovery updates, invites, and watch-party flows no longer overwrite that alias with the server-reported name.
Adding a server is simpler. New server forms use the server-reported name by default, while custom display names remain available when editing saved servers.
The Search tab is cleaner. The duplicate large in-content Search heading was removed so the mode selector and search field sit higher on the page.
iPhone Browse navigation is clearer. At the root, the leading toolbar button opens the server list; inside folders, the chevron steps up the browse path.
iPhone breadcrumbs no longer crowd the toolbar. Breadcrumb navigation is reserved for larger layouts, keeping narrow-screen media browsing easier to read.
Apple TV Browse focus is more reliable. The Locations, TV Shows, Movies, and Music selector now handles remote focus movement more naturally.
Apple TV root chrome is cleaner. The duplicate profile icon was removed from the root tab bar; profile switching remains available from Settings.
Account sign-in is easier to find. The former Upgrade area is now Account, and signed-out users see clearer Sign in with Apple prompts in Account, Locations, and Devices.
Server Library Management
Scan Now gives immediate feedback. The Library tab now shows preparation and metadata-provider validation progress before the main scan progress appears.
Library maintenance actions are coordinated. Scans, cleanup, validation, intro detection, scrub thumbnail caching, and excluded-directory edits now avoid starting while another library operation is active.
Intro detection and scrub thumbnail caching report active work more accurately, so the Library tab can enable and disable related controls at the right time.
Excluded directories are honored more completely. Provider scans now skip excluded roots before listing them, so direct child media files inside an excluded path are not accidentally discovered.
Episode parsing avoids common resolution mistakes. Filenames or metadata containing values like 960x540, 640x360, or 973x734 are no longer mistaken for season and episode numbers.
Local library folders recover better after NAS restarts. If a direct-access folder disappears and comes back, ShowShark Server can refresh the saved bookmark and retry the browse request before showing an access error.
Scrub thumbnail cache failures are now inspectable. The Library tab can show a searchable failures sheet with the affected video, failure reason, timestamp, and thumbnail counts.
Scrub thumbnail failure records persist across launches until you clear them, making it easier to understand what happened after a long cache run finishes.
Scrub thumbnails are generated more reliably for WebM and Matroska files. ShowShark now uses a fallback seek strategy for files that do not return a frame from the earlier seek point.
Thumbnail requests avoid exact end-of-file offsets, reducing failed preview requests for media with exact-minute durations.
Playback & Media Reliability
High-throughput playback does less work on the main UI path. Video, audio, subtitle, bitrate, and end-of-stream packets now move through a dedicated ingress processor before UI state is updated.
Decoded video frames are queued more efficiently, reducing unnecessary actor hops during playback and helping the app stay responsive under heavy stream load.
Local video playback avoids duplicate media probing. When ShowShark already extracted file metadata during request validation, playback can reuse it instead of running another discovery pass.
MPEG audio handling is more stable during local playback. ShowShark now prefers its bundled decoders for MP1, MP2, and MP3 paths when available.
Stopping playback, transcoding, or thumbnail work is safer. Media pipelines now wait for a cleaner shutdown path before releasing their underlying resources.
Thumbnail generation focuses only on video. Thumbnail extraction no longer tries to decode audio, subtitles, captions, or metadata streams that are irrelevant to preview images.
Thumbnail generation is less likely to crash on files with DTS audio or unusual stream layouts.
Single-thumbnail generation is more reliable in release builds, helping Server archives and shipped builds handle thumbnail requests consistently.
Server Updates & App Experience
Server automatic update preferences are preserved. ShowShark Server no longer rewrites the default update interval on every launch, so user and administrator choices stay in effect.
Prepared Server updates install when the Server is idle. If an automatic update is ready, ShowShark waits for active sessions to drain before shutting down and installing it.
New Server installs are ready for automatic update installs when automatic update checks are enabled, while existing preferences remain respected.
ShowShark Server has a new menu bar icon. The normal menu bar state now uses a shark-fin template icon while warning and reconnecting states keep their status symbols.
First launch now opens an updated welcome resource on iOS, macOS, and visionOS instead of the older in-app tutorial sheet.
The welcome page does not block app startup. If the page cannot be opened, ShowShark logs the issue and continues launching.
Website & Downloads
The ShowShark website now has direct download cards for ShowShark Player in the App Store and the latest ShowShark Server zip.
The product page explains core features more clearly, including remote access, Apple-device playback, offline viewing, IPTV, YouTube, professional media handling, and comparisons with other media-server options.
Screenshots and videos are easier to browse. The website now includes a richer media gallery with in-page previews and a centered lightbox.
The website works better on small screens. Long sections such as screenshots, comparisons, and release highlights can collapse on mobile, and narrow layouts avoid horizontal overflow.
Release highlights are now easier to review online, with a What's New section that links back through prior ShowShark release notes.