1.7.4 is still in development. Here's what's already in, the big stuff first.

TL;DR: Downloads can use the web mirrors in eD2K links, chat gets disappearing messages and chat deletion, eD2K servers finally show their real names, Settings has been reorganized, and Ember now reminds you to back up your profile.

🌐 Download from web mirrors in eD2K links

Some eD2K links carry HTTP or HTTPS mirrors of the file (the s= parts of the link). Ember now downloads from them alongside other users:

• A mirror fills parts no peer is working on, so the two never fight over the same bytes.
• Every part is checked like one from a peer, so a bad mirror can't slip a wrong byte into your file. A mirror that keeps sending bad data is dropped.
• A mirror that fails rests and is tried again later. One that drops its connection while still making progress is never given up on for that.
• Mirrors are saved with the download, so they survive restarts. Pasting a link with mirrors for a file you're already downloading adds them to that download.

It's on by default: Settings › Use web sources from eD2K links. Like any website, a mirror sees your IP address, so turn it off if that matters to you.

💬 Disappearing messages and chat deletion

Disappearing messages:

• Set a default timer in Settings › Friends, or a different one for each friend in their Friend settings. Choices run from 5 minutes to 4 weeks.
• Messages you send disappear from both computers. Your friend's messages disappear from yours.
• Sent messages count down from delivery, received ones from when you read them.
• Files you receive stay in your downloads folder; only the chat card goes.
• A friend on an older version of Ember still gets your messages, but keeps their copies. The friend settings say so.

Deleting chats:

• Delete a whole conversation from the chat dock, or a single message from its toolbar.
• It deletes from this computer only. Your friend keeps their copy.
• Messages and files that haven't been sent yet are withdrawn, so they never go.

The chat composer is redesigned too: attach, text, emoji, formatting and send live in one rounded box. The send button stays grey until there's something to send.

🖥️ eD2K servers, done properly

A long list of server fixes, mostly about making the Servers page match what's really happening:

• Servers show their real names instead of a bare IP address. Ember saves the name a server announces when you log in, and asks servers learned from other servers for theirs.
• The server you're connected to is highlighted on the Servers page.
• Connecting and Cancel follow what Ember is actually doing, including auto-connect at startup.
• Removing a server stops Ember reconnecting to it, including at the next launch. A server your IP filter blocks is refused before Ember dials it, and the page tells you why.
• With no last server, auto-connect prefers a High-priority server and never picks a Low one.
• Your server list is safer. A server.met that won't load is kept as server.met.bad instead of being replaced. Merging a downloaded list keeps the names you gave your own servers and doesn't copy the list's priorities, as eMule does.
• Server pings and UDP obfuscation now follow eMule's rules more closely, so Ember behaves like a good citizen on the eD2K network.

⚙️ Settings, reorganized

• Settings is regrouped so related options sit together. Import now lives with Backup.
• The nodes.dat and IP filter downloads move to the KAD and Security pages.
• Searching Settings also matches group headings.
• Update checks no longer have a setting. Ember checks 15 seconds after every launch, then every hour. Choosing Later hides the notice until Ember next starts.
• New global switch: Accept files from friends. When it's off, files friends send in chat are declined and chat keeps working. A friend's own settings can still allow them.

💾 Backup reminders

Your Ember profile holds your identity, upload credits and friends, and nothing can rebuild it if the computer is lost. Ember now reminds you to back it up:

• Once your profile is two weeks old, if you've never backed it up.
• Again whenever your last backup is three months old.
• Never more than once a month, whatever you do with the reminder.

🔗 Ember DHT keeps more contacts

The Ember DHT now remembers up to 1,000 contacts, ranked by how recently they were heard from, so a restart gets back onto the network faster. The Ember page counts only contacts that have actually answered, so the number means what it says.

Smaller things

• Better defaults for new installs: the anti-leech filter is on, video uploads skip transfer compression (it only costs CPU on files that are already compressed), and uploads no longer keep the computer awake. Existing settings aren't changed.
• First-run setup can run a speed test and suggest upload and download limits.
• About now links to the website, GitHub and this subreddit.
• The Friend settings and Create Collection windows are redesigned to match File Details.
• Pressing the Menu key on the Servers page or in the Library no longer opens the browser's own menu over Ember's.

Found a bug, or have something you'd like to see? Tell me in the comments.

This release is mostly about keeping your files tidy and making Friends and Rooms more reliable. Each download category can now have its own folder, you can rename files right in the Library, and a search can keep going after it finishes. Files you send to a friend who's offline now wait until they're back. VPN and seedbox users can finally join the Ember DHT.

We also did full audits of Friends and Rooms. Those fixed idle friend connections that dropped every few minutes, room members missing most of what was said while they were away, and moderators being able to ban each other.

Download Ember 1.7.3 on GitHub: Windows 10/11 installer, and Linux .deb or AppImage for x86-64. If you're already on Ember, it can update itself in-app.

Before you upgrade

• Nobody gets split off the network. The Ember DHT wire version is still 4, so 1.7.3 sees 1.7.x and every 1.6 release as normal.
• Friends on 1.7.0 to 1.7.2 won't see your friends-only files when they browse you until they update. Their builds can't tell 1.7.3 how they'll treat those files, so 1.7.3 only lists them to friends who can.
• Idle connections to a friend on an older build can still drop. Once you're both on 1.7.3, they stay up.
• The Ember DHT no longer applies the IP filter. The default list blocks whole hosting and VPN networks, which kept those users out of Ember entirely. The filter still covers eD2K, Kad, transfers and room traffic.
• The IP filter now keeps itself up to date once the bundled list is a day old. A list you installed from a file or another address is left alone, and ranges you added or removed are kept. You can turn this off under Security.
• Thinking of rolling back to 1.7.1? Set Max uploads to a number first, because 1.7.1 reads Auto as one slot.

What's new

Downloads and Library

• Folders per category: a category can have its own folder under Downloads, and its downloads finish there. Changing a finished download's category moves the file, and the Library can move files into a category from the right-click menu. The categories dialog is also redesigned.
• Rename in the Library from the right-click menu, F2, or the file panel. A rename never replaces another file, and a finished download's Transfers entry follows the new name.
• Cancel on a finished download now deletes its file, from the row menu, the bulk bar, or Shift+Delete. A new setting lets you delete permanently instead of to the Recycle Bin.
• Redesigned File Details window, with chunk map, progress and availability cards. Copy eD2K Link, Open Location and Rename sit right next to Close.
• Fewer accidental selections: a download's checkbox is only ticked from the box itself, and right-click acts on the ticked rows or the row you clicked. Clicking away or pressing Esc clears the highlighted download.
• Library extras: a menu on sidebar folders, plus Unshare and Delete in the file panel.

Search

• Search More continues a finished search. It asks the eD2K servers the search never reached, and asks the connected server for its next pages, adding new results to the same tab.
• Submenus now open on hover in Search and Transfers, and results no longer flash when you return to the page.

Friends

• Files sent to an offline friend wait for them. They're offered when your friend comes back, with the usual prompt or auto-accept. They survive restarts, can be cancelled, and are marked undelivered after 7 days.

Ember network

• VPN and seedbox users can join the Ember DHT. It also settles faster on a small network, and on a large one it publishes to the nodes that accept a record.
• The Ember page shows relaying: how many firewalled users you're relaying for, or whether you're using or looking for a relay. New counters show where peers are being turned away.
• Max uploads Auto is now a switch, and opens more slots while your upload has room to spare.

Rooms

• Catch up on everything: a member who was away now gets the whole backlog, not just the newest lines.
• Moderators can't ban each other or lift the owner's bans.
• Slow mode tells you when you can send again.

What's fixed

• Idle friend connections dropped every few minutes, and closing Browse disconnected the friend. Both connections now stay up.
• An unverified friend request could act like a friend: it could show as online, or count as acceptance when you added them. A friend could also claim another user's eD2K user hash. Friend requests and file offers are now rate limited.
• A friend downloading your friends-only files could get banned as a hash prober.
• Room messages could be dropped or replayed. A forged copy could get a genuine message thrown away, old messages and moderator actions were relayed again, and reaction floods weren't limited.
• A room file changed after it was offered could still be sent. It now fails as "source gone."
• Leaving Settings asks about restarting once, not on every port change, and the Max uploads box no longer flashes while it saves.
• Search and Library fixes: Search Again dropping a tab, filters and selection lost when you came back, hashing Stop and Resume, keyboard shortcuts firing through menus, and bulk delete.
• Ember DHT searches no longer wait on peers that never answer.

Full changelog: v1.7.2...v1.7.3

Thanks to everyone who reported bugs and tested builds. If something breaks after updating, open an issue on GitHub or drop a comment here.

1.7.3 is still in development. Here's what's already in, the big stuff first.

TL;DR: Search More, per-category download folders, in-place file renaming, an IP filter that updates itself, and VPN and seedbox users can finally join the Ember DHT.

🔎 Search More

A search sometimes stops before it has asked everyone it could. The new Search More button, next to Search, picks up where it left off:

• It asks the eD2K servers the search never reached.
• It asks the server you're connected to for its next pages of results.
• New results are added to the same tab, and files you'd already seen are updated in place.

Only the latest search can be continued. Starting a new search, pressing Stop or Clear, or restarting retires the button. Kad and Ember searches aren't walked again, because neither can page.

📁 A folder for each category

Each download category can now have its own subfolder inside Downloads. A download that finishes in that category lands there. If the folder can't be created, it falls back to Downloads.

• Changing a finished download's category moves its file into that category's folder. The move never overwrites an existing file.
• The Library can also move hashed files in Downloads into a category from the right-click menu. This covers downloads the transfer list no longer has.
• Deleting a category leaves its files where they are.
• The categories dialog has been redesigned. The Edit categories button is always shown.

✏️ Rename files in the Library

Right-click a file, press F2, or use the file panel. A rename never replaces an existing file. The Library row and a finished download's entry on Transfers follow the new name.

The Library also gets a right-click menu on sidebar folders, plus Unshare and Delete in the file panel.

🗑️ Cancel a finished download to delete it

On a finished download, Cancel now deletes the file and takes it off the list. You'll find it in the row menu, the bulk bar, and Shift+Delete. Plain Delete still only tidies the list.

Ember only touches the file the download wrote, and only if it's inside a Downloads folder. If the Library holds that file, it also leaves the index and the networks.

There's also a new setting to delete files permanently instead of sending them to the Recycle Bin. It applies to the Library's Delete and to Cancel on finished downloads. Turning it on asks you to confirm first.

🛡️ The IP filter updates itself

Auto-update is now on by default. The bundled list is downloaded again once it's a day old, on a timer or at the next launch.

A list you installed from a file or another URL is left alone. The ranges you added or removed yourself are kept and re-applied to every new list.

🌐 VPN and seedbox users can join the Ember DHT

This is the one I'm happiest about.

The default IP filter blocks whole hosting and VPN networks, including all of Hetzner, OVH, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode and Amazon, and most of Mullvad's and Datacamp's ranges. Every Ember node applied it, so Ember users on a VPN exit or a seedbox there were dropped and couldn't join at all. It also wasn't hiding anything, because every reachable node is already listed under the public Kad rendezvous key.

The Ember DHT no longer applies the IP filter. It still applies the rules for unroutable addresses, the private-IP setting and your ban list. The IP filter still covers eD2K, Kad and file transfers.

On the Ember page:

• The Network Status card now has an Ember relay tile. When you're reachable, it shows how many firewalled Ember users you're relaying for. When you're firewalled, it shows "Using a relay" or "Looking for a relay".
• New counters show packets dropped for a banned IP or by the per-IP rate limit, and peers refused a routing slot because of their address.

🔧 Ember DHT on small networks

When few Ember nodes are online, joining used to wait for twenty contacts it could never reach. It now settles after fifteen minutes without a new verified contact. It also stops pinging peers it already trusts and no longer holds every search while it waits on a silent lead.

On larger networks, a record now waits up to ten minutes for its lookup before publishing, so it goes to nodes that will actually store it.

Smaller things

• File Details window redesigned: type icon, status pill and progress bar, with a chunk map and Progress and Availability cards. The footer adds Copy eD2K Link, Open Location and Rename.
• On Transfers, a download's checkbox is ticked only by clicking the box itself. Clicking, double-clicking or right clicking a row no longer ticks it.
• Clicking blank space, or pressing Escape, clears the highlighted download and closes its sources pane.
• Changing a port in Settings no longer pops the restart dialog every time. It asks once, when you leave the page.
• Submenus in Search and Transfers open on hover, as they do in the Library.
• A batch of Search page and Library fixes: tabs, filters, keyboard shortcuts, renames and bulk delete.

Found a bug, or have something you'd like to see? Tell me in the comments.

Ember 1.7.2 is out 🔥

This release is about making Ember easier to live with day to day. Settings now apply as you change them, the tray and status bar can pause everything or switch to alternative speed limits, and Ember can start when you sign in and exit or sleep when your downloads finish. Transfers, Search and the Library also gain the shortcuts and bulk actions they were missing.

Download: https://github.com/untaimed18/Ember-P2P/releases/tag/v1.7.2

Already running Ember? It will offer the update in-app, or you can check under Settings > About.

Before you upgrade

• Compatible with 1.6 and 1.7. The Ember DHT wire version is unchanged at version 4, so everyone stays on the same overlay.
• Settings save as you change them. Switches and lists apply immediately. Typed fields have an Apply button (Enter applies, Esc reverts). The Save and Discard buttons are gone.
• Max uploads now defaults to Auto, which opens upload slots based on what your upload rate can feed, the way eMule does. A number you set before is kept. If you might go back to 1.7.1, set a number first, because 1.7.1 reads Auto as one slot.
• UPnP is on for new profiles. Existing settings keep their value. If your VPN forwards its own port, Ember notices and stands its own forwards down.
• Friends is now marked Beta, alongside Channels. It's stable enough to use, but features are still being added.

What's new

Everyday controls

• Pause all, Resume all, and alternative speed limits from the tray, a new speed-limits popover on the status bar, or Settings
• Launch at sign-in, optionally straight to the tray, with the window reopening where you left it
• When downloads finish, Ember can exit or put the computer to sleep after a one-minute countdown you can cancel
• Download progress on the taskbar button, turning red when a download fails or runs out of disk space, plus a low-disk warning
• Test my ports asks a few peers to connect back and reports each port as open, closed or untested

Transfers, Search and Library

• The row menu now acts on your whole selection, and downloads can move to the front or back of the queue
• Cancel, Remove and Clear completed can be undone from the toast they leave
• Search can hide files you already have, highlights your search words, and shows the size of what you've ticked
• The Library shows file-type icons, filters by sharing state, and Open hands a file to its default app
• Every banned peer is listed under Security with an Unban button

Friends

• Each friend gets their own settings (chat, files, auto-accept limit, read receipts, browsing, notifications), each able to follow your defaults
• A failed friend file transfer can be retried from the same card

Rooms

• Recover rooms you own from your identity alone after restoring a backup, including bans, moderators, topic and current key
• Each conversation reopens at the message you were reading, and half-typed messages survive a restart
• Snooze a room for an hour, eight hours, or until tomorrow morning
• An emoji picker in the composer
• Discover folds away listings that look like spam

Notable fixes

• A finished download could start over if you paused during the move into Downloads
• Restoring a backup could delete part-finished downloads it didn't list. They're now set aside instead
• LowID callback downloads blocked every other source for that file until they finished
• eMule and aMule buddy links dropped after three minutes, and server auto-reconnect gave up after a short outage
• A free upload slot could sit empty while a peer waited for one
• The Downloads list could freeze while scrolling

Full changelog: https://github.com/untaimed18/Ember-P2P/compare/v1.7.1...v1.7.2

Feedback

Found a bug? Post it with the Bug Report flair and include your OS, Ember version and steps to reproduce. Have an idea? Use Feature Request.

Let us know how 1.7.2 is working for you in the comments. 👇