Release notes

A faster way to receive the gratitude you have earned.

• Eligible members can now cash out their available balance in minutes, instead of waiting for the weekly run, for a small instant fee.
• Instant payout only appears once your payouts are set up and your balance is ready, so you always know when it is available to you.
• The standard weekly payout stays free and continues to run automatically every Friday.

People who sign up with a non-Google email get a smoother sign-in, a big set of public tipping guides goes live, and the Help Center is rebuilt to be clearer and easier to scan.

• If you sign up with an email address instead of Google, sign-in links now work end to end: welcome emails carry a real one-time link, and clicking a link in an email takes you where you meant to go instead of forcing a Google login.
• A full set of public tipping guides is now live, including a tip jar page, a tipping etiquette page, and more, with honest answers to the questions people actually search.
• The Help Center was rebuilt with clearer foundations and step-by-step guidance for creating your page, sharing your thank-you link, understanding what landed, and setting up payouts.
• Public pages were tuned so they show up well when shared and when found by search engines and AI assistants, while your private pages and dashboards stay blocked from crawlers.
• A new brand page and cleaner share previews make HayloFriend links look right wherever you paste them.
• An early preview of a Gratitude Wall is viewable while you create and preview your page. It does not publish anything publicly yet.
• Checkout success pages were hardened so a confirmation page never gets cached and shown in the wrong browser.

The legal pages were refreshed to match how the product actually works today.

• Terms now explain the current fee model in plain terms: the standard fee is 3.5%, and some Haylo Guide referral traffic can carry 4.5% so the extra 1% can fund Guide program credits when a referral qualifies.
• Terms clarify that Guide credits are founder-reviewed program credits, not wages or guaranteed payouts, and describe how Friday payouts and eligible instant payouts work.
• Privacy was updated to cover Guide applications, referral verification, matching a sign-up to an earlier tip, affiliate click reconciliation, non-Google email sign-in, and public pages.
• The Cookie policy now lists the short-lived cookies used for claiming a tip, paid-giver flows, Guide activation, and the public-page accent preference.

Creators can now style their public page from the create studio and see it the way visitors will.

• You can customize the feel of your public page: atmosphere, background, card shape, photo shape, glow, button glow, accent color, and how much your "for" and "why" stand out.
• A new free atmosphere, Purple Rain, joins the existing Studio blue and Blueprint looks.
• The live preview in the studio now tracks your public page more closely, so what you see while editing is what visitors get.
• Your saved style settings now stick reliably and load on your public page every time.

Recommendation links get a public home, better share cards, clearer Amazon disclosure, and steadier reliability.

• A new Affiliates page is live, explaining how Recommendation cards work, with a Lifetime Tally visual and clear, honest details.
• Thank-you pages now have branded share cards, so a link looks polished when posted to messages, Slack, or social.
• Every Recommendation card on a public page now shows the required Amazon disclosure right under its "Check price" button, and the disclosure no longer flickers on hover.
• Recommendation links pasted into the studio now reliably update the card text, and a mobile card no longer showed the raw link in its details.
• Behind the scenes, Recommendation clicks now record the details needed to match qualifying Amazon reports later, without storing any buyer personal information.

The activity view now describes bank payouts in plain language.

• Bank payout rows now read clearly: paid payouts say they were paid out, in-progress payouts say Stripe is still syncing, and failed payouts say the payout could not be completed.
• A failed bank payout no longer keeps showing as still settling.

A coherent set of public marketing pages goes live, and you can now sign up with an email link instead of only Google.

• The homepage now offers two clear ways to start: continue with Google, or enter an email and get a one-time sign-in link.
• A connected set of public pages is live and linked from a shared footer, covering the product, professions, and side-by-side comparisons with other tipping and support tools.
• Comparison pages now end with a simple sign-up card so you can claim your handle once you see how HayloFriend is different.
• Cookie settings open consistently from the footer across all marketing pages.

The first profession-specific landing pages go live, and creators can upload their own photos in the create studio.

• New pages built for doulas and teachers, each paired with a guide for the people who want to thank them, answering real questions like whether to tip, how much, and what is appropriate.
• The teacher guide honestly notes that many school districts cap monetary gifts, so nobody is put in an awkward spot.
• Each page shows a real, live example so visitors can see the actual flow before signing up.
• You can now upload your own photos into the photo library, set one as your cover, rename it, delete it, and reuse it. Drag and drop works, with clear guidance on accepted image types and size.

Haylo Pro becomes a clear upgrade, and free creators get a basic management view.

• Free creators can keep up to 3 live ritual or relief lights at a time; Haylo Pro creators can publish unlimited ritual and relief lights.
• Recommendations stay free and never count against that limit.
• Everyone gets a "published lights" view to browse, search, filter, and edit their lights and drafts; archiving, deleting, and keyboard search are Haylo Pro extras.
• When a free creator hits the 3-light limit, the studio now points calmly to Haylo Pro and the 14-day trial instead of showing an error.
• The "earned this week" figure now appears in the management view, connecting your work to recent support.

Payout handling got safer and the difference between your balance and Stripe's balance got clearer.

• Payout messages now use clearer language when you do not have enough withdrawable balance, so it is not confused with other balances.
• A failed bank payout can now safely return the funds to your HayloFriend balance so your records stay correct.
• Payout safety still holds the line: no payout proceeds unless your withdrawable balance confirms the funds are available.

Creators can now offer recurring support, and Haylo Pro powers a premium set of studio controls.

• Creators can turn on recurring support for eligible ritual and relief lights, and public pages can show a real Subscribe option instead of only one-time thanks.
• The studio now shows recurring pricing with take-home guidance, monthly versus yearly options, and clearer inline help on desktop and mobile.
• Haylo Pro unlocks the premium authoring layer: recurring management, full photo search, custom atmosphere skins, and accent color controls, with a cleaner billing and checkout flow.
• Subscription confirmation emails got their own reliable path so they send dependably.

Identity reliability so your chosen name and public handle move together and renames stop breaking things.

• Saving your chosen name now updates your public handle everywhere it appears, or fails clearly, instead of quietly drifting out of sync.
• Older versions of your handle now point to your current one instead of showing up as a separate identity.
• Renaming no longer destabilizes your public handle or who owns a payout.

New in-product guidance helps creators connect Stripe and pick up where they left off.

• Your Impact now includes two guided walkthroughs: connecting Stripe, and resuming a payment that was waiting on you.
• A recovery pill in the header lets you reopen a guide you dismissed without hunting for it.
• The amount a recipient sees now consistently shows what they will actually receive after the 3.5% fee, across text, claim emails, and direct emails.

Recommendation links now route through a safe redirect that adds HayloFriend's Amazon Associates tag.

• Recommendation cards now open through a safe redirect that checks the destination and adds the HayloFriend Amazon tag where it applies.
• Other retailers are supported too, not just Amazon, so the same Recommendation flow works cleanly across stores.
• Public-page Recommendation buttons route through this path so the tag is preserved when someone clicks through.

Reliability work so the amounts you see in your activity and balance always agree and never show confusing internal rows.

• Tips claimed by text now record correctly so the right amount shows up.
• Your lifetime total and your balance now agree on the same number across your activity view and your dashboard.
• Internal bookkeeping rows for claimed tips no longer appear in your activity view.
• Connected creators can see their earned total before payouts begin, without changing what is actually withdrawable.

A cleaner public page, a sharper create studio, a stock photo library, and a steadier instant-payout flow.

• Your public page was rebuilt to feel more intentional on desktop and mobile, with a cleaner hero, better card rhythm, and images that no longer clip on phones.
• Public pages now generate correct share previews when posted.
• The create studio is clearer: the chat sits near the composer, the help cheat sheet appears right where you ask for it, and editing your lights feels smoother.
• A stock photo library is live in the studio, with a curated set and a search path for more images.
• Instant payouts work reliably again, with the 1.5% instant fee intact alongside the standard Friday batch.

The homepage teaches the product in clearer steps, the Help Center gets steadier, and creators get an early recurring-support setup.

• The homepage now explains HayloFriend in three clear steps: choose a thank-you link, create a light, and share it, using real examples.
• Shared homepage links now show HayloFriend's own branding instead of guessing an image from the page.
• The Help Center, docs, and About pages now carry consistent navigation so you can always get home or get started.
• The full Stripe setup walkthrough renders reliably whether you open it directly or through the Help Center.
• Creators got an early recurring-support setup in the studio for monthly support with an optional annual discount.

The create-to-publish flow got more reliable and the public page got cleaner.

• Studio commands like publish and republish now behave predictably, and command text no longer leaks into your published content.
• Republishing now updates your existing live item instead of creating duplicates.
• Recommendation links act as buttons, and items priced at zero clearly show as Free.
• Public pages got polish: consistent styling, clearer calls to action, and a cleaner create-to-page presentation.

A fix so the people you send to see your name instead of "a friend."

• When you send gratitude to someone who is not yet a member, your name now appears correctly instead of showing as "a friend."
• This was an identity-only fix, with no change to money, payments, or your records.

Reliability and correctness work so each tip is attributed to the right person and your records stay accurate and private.

• Member tips now consistently show the correct named supporter, while public and envelope tips stay anonymous by design.
• Guest claim emails that had been intermittently delayed are now delivered reliably.
• The fee that applies to each payment is now applied consistently and correctly.
• These were correctness and safety improvements; no money was moved, reversed, or changed.

A batch of reliability work across sign-in, the activity view, and how tips to non-members are handled.

• Sign-in got steadier, removing a brief "page not found" flicker some people saw.
• Your activity view now shows your lifetime impact and is easier to navigate, with keyboard shortcuts and a calmer full-screen view.
• A "Send Light" tipping issue was fixed so those payments create and complete reliably.
• Tips sent to someone who is not yet a member are now safely held and credited to the right person once they claim, without ever rewriting history.
• Your activity record stays accurate and private to you.

Foundational money-safety work and an extra check when withdrawing funds.

• Withdrawals now require a quick human-verification step before any money action, protecting your funds.
• Your balance now reflects Stripe accurately, with a clear separation between your withdrawable balance and Stripe's own balance.
• Payments are finalized safely and can never be double-counted, even if a network retry happens.
• Stripe remains the sole custodian of funds; HayloFriend mirrors and reports but never holds or pools your money.

Server-enforced money rules and reliability monitoring so payments stay safe and predictable.

• Tip amounts are now checked and enforced on our servers, between $1 and $3000, so the rules cannot be bypassed from a browser.
• Payments are finalized in one safe place, and duplicate charges are prevented even when payment networks retry.
• A safeguard blocks any mismatch between test and live payment settings, preventing payment errors.
• New behind-the-scenes monitoring watches for stuck or failed payments and email delivery problems so issues get caught early.

The first public version of HayloFriend, with public thank-you pages, one-click sign-in, and working payments.

• HayloFriend went live with public pages, a creator dashboard, and a single, reliable one-click Google sign-in.
• Public thank-you links work so supporters can send a tip, and the site handles web and "www" addresses cleanly.
• Sign-in was made loop-proof and protected, so your dashboard and creator pages stay private to you.
• Basic search-engine visibility and analytics were wired up for the public site.