What's new

Every version of Rain, From Below, newest first. Updated 23 September 2026.

The app is young and I am fixing things as people find them. If something is wrong, More → Report a problem inside the app sends me an email with your settings attached, and it will show up here when it is fixed.

1.2.2 · submitted 23 September 2026

Appears on the App Store once Apple has reviewed it. Build 8.

• Three ways in. Under Go under there are now three cards: Sleep tonight (8 hours, fades out), Study (3 hours in Focus) and Just watch (no timer). One tap sets it up and goes under. With Pro they also set the time of day, and Study turns the pomodoro on.
• No more banners after you've left. If you closed the app during a session with Notify on, a "Halfway" banner could still turn up later. The app now only hands iOS the next few minutes of banners at a time and clears them when it closes, so they stop when the session does.
• Redeem a code. More → Pro → Redeem a code (also on the unlock sheet) opens Apple's code sheet. Pro switches on by itself once the code is accepted, no Restore needed.
• Quick set-ups only change settings you can use. Kids and Calm night set the free parts for everyone. Storm, Surprise me and saved set-ups are marked Pro.
• Report a problem now emails the studio address, frombelowstudios@gmail.com.
• Tidied. An old one-page privacy note that was still packed inside the app is gone. The real policy is the one linked from the unlock sheet and this site.

1.2.1 · September 2026

Build 7.

• Notifications, if you want them. Session → Notify gives you a silent banner halfway through a session, at each pomodoro mark, and when the session ends. Session → Nudge sends one quiet "where have you been?" if the app sits unused for three days or a week. Both are off until you turn them on, and iOS asks you once.
• The Full button is gone on iPhone and iPad. The app is already full screen there; tapping it only produced a system banner with a large close button over the scene.
• Picture in picture is hidden by default on iPhone. iOS will not float the picture, so the button did nothing. Session → PiP brings it back for the devices that can.
• Clear of the Dynamic Island. On phones with the island the start card and the Tune sheet could sit under it, with the tabs half hidden. They now stop at the safe area, and the tab strip is solid and evenly spaced.
• The Session tab fits the screen on phones. The Programme rows were pushing it wider than the display and cutting off the right-hand side.

1.2.0 · 20 September 2026

The first App Store release. Build 5.

• Pro. Monthly, yearly or a one-off lifetime unlock, through the App Store. Pro adds time of day with the real moon, hail, snow and storms, waves and four kinds of water, the creatures, birds and insects, wake into dawn, auto-dim and pomodoro, the Reef, River and Pool scenes, saved set-ups and share links, and the physics overlay. The lake, the rain and the ten hours are free.
• It keeps time with the screen locked. The session clock, the ending, the programme and the pomodoro marks all run from the wall clock now, so a night counts down properly with the phone face down.
• The sound comes back on its own after a call, Siri or an alarm, and the picture rebuilds itself if iOS resets the graphics during a long night.
• Stay a while at the end of a session, instead of reloading.
• Screen setting. Stay on all night, or let the phone sleep after the dim while the sound continues.
• Phones on their side get the Tune sheet down the right-hand edge, with a Close button.
• Readout setting for the line at the top: scene only, everything, or hidden.
• Type. Fraunces and DM Mono throughout, bundled with the app.
• Store fixes. A Retry button when the store does not answer, plainer purchase messages with the store's code on the end, Restore, and the privacy policy and terms linked from the unlock sheet.
• Credits row in More listing the open-source fonts and libraries, and Report a problem now opens an email.

Before the App Store

Versions 1.0 to 1.1.3 never reached the App Store; they went to testers in the weeks before launch.

• 1.1.3. The Reef became coral colonies with their own shading, calmer reflections off the bed, a Spread setting (one patch of life in front of you, or along the whole bank), and fallen logs on every scene but the pool.
• 1.1.2. A floating Go under button while the settings scroll, tabs that no longer eat taps, better contrast in Showcase mode at night, staghorn coral, sea fans and anemones on the reef.
• 1.1.1. The Pool became a true 25 by 50 metre box with lane ropes; the River got roots, vines and a log; dropdowns and grouped settings.
• 1.1. Tonight, which starts the same set-up as last time; weather that follows the date; the first-night tour; Now Playing artwork and time left on the lock screen; haptics; the nightly reminder; larger text; quick set-ups; Lite mode for older phones; Report a problem. And the first Pro features: Pool, Reef and River, seasons, Match the sun, the mixer, the wake bird, stills and the programme.
• 1.0. The lake, the rain and the ten hours. Everything drawn and sounded on the device, nothing recorded.

What is being looked at

Picture in picture on iPhone that keeps running after you swipe home. iOS only allows that for a native video player, so it is a separate piece of work and is parked until there is time for it. If you want it, say so through Report a problem and it moves up the list.