Tag: artificial-intelligence

FrostWire 7.0.2 Released: Enhanced Privacy with VPN-Drop Protection & Smarter Search

~ gubatron ~ Leave a comment

We are excited to announce the release of FrostWire 7.0.2 (Stable) for Windows, macOS, and Linux. This update is a significant milestone for user privacy and search efficiency, introducing a robust “VPN-Drop Protection” system to keep your identity safe while downloading.

Windows
frostwire-7.0.2.windows.exe

MacOS
frostwire-7.0.2-x86_64.pkg (Intel)
frostwire-7.0.2-arm64.pkg (Apple Silicon)

Linux
frostwire-7.0.2.x86_64.tar.gz
frostwire-7.0.2.arm64.tar.gz

Whether you are a casual downloader or a power user, 7.0.2 brings a more responsive, cleaner, and safer experience to your desktop.

🛡️ Stay Protected: New improved VPN-Drop Protection

Screenshot 2025-12-28 at 2 15 16 PM

The headline feature of this release is the VPN-Drop Protection. In the world of BitTorrent, maintaining a secure connection is paramount. We’ve added a fail-safe to ensure your real IP address is never accidentally exposed.

Quick Toggle: You’ll notice a new checkbox in the status bar. This allows you to instantly enable or disable VPN-Drop Protection.

Automatic Pausing: If this setting is on and your VPN disconnects, FrostWire will automatically pause all BitTorrent transfers.

Smart Alerts: FrostWire now checks for an active VPN connection when you start a new download, open a .torrent file, or paste a magnet link. If you aren’t protected, a dialog will alert you before the transfer begins.

Performance First: We’ve optimized the logic behind the scenes (using a new VPNDropGuard system) to ensure that checking your VPN status won’t lag your computer or freeze the interface.

🔍 Better Search, Faster Results

We’ve overhauled how FrostWire sorts your search results to help you find the highest quality files in less time.

Relevance First: Search results are now prioritized by keyword matches first, followed by seed counts and popularity. This ensures that the most relevant and “healthy” files stay at the top of your list.

Bug Fix: We’ve squashed a bug where seed counts were occasionally disappearing from the search UI. You’ll now have full visibility into the health of every file before you click download.

🎨 Clean & Compact UI

We believe a powerful tool should also be a beautiful one. FrostWire 7.0.2 features a more compact status bar layout. By reducing spacing and using a smaller font for the VPN indicators, we’ve freed up screen real estate while still keeping your vital connection stats front and center.

There is even a handy, clickable “VPN” link in the status bar that takes you directly to information on how to better protect your privacy.

Changelog Highlights:

Improved: Search result sorting (Keyword relevance > Seeds/Popularity).

New: VPN-Drop protection checkbox in the status bar.

New: VPN status checks when starting downloads or opening magnet links.

Fix: Resolved issue with disappearing seed counts in search results.

Optimization: All VPN-related logic moved to background threads to prevent UI blocking.

UI: Minimalist spacing for VPN and status indicators.

Download FrostWire

FrostWire for Android 3.0.14: Critical Stability Fixes & Engine Optimization

~ gubatron ~ Leave a comment

Just in time for the new year, we are rolling out a vital update for our Android users. FrostWire 3.0.14 (build 768) is now available, and it addresses several critical “day-one” issues introduced with our recent V2 architecture overhaul.

This release focuses on making sure the app starts correctly, downloads reliably, and accurately reports the status of your transfers.

What’s Fixed in Build 768?

🛠 Fixing the “Error” Status Bug

Many users reported that newly started torrents would immediately show an “Error” status even when the download was healthy. We found that the app was occasionally reading from an outdated status cache. We’ve implemented a fix to invalidate that cache immediately upon starting a transfer, ensuring you see the actual download progress instead of a false error.

⚡ Solving Initialization Crashes

We’ve eliminated two major race conditions that occurred during the app’s startup sequence:

  • Port 0 Binding Failure: Previously, the BitTorrent engine (BTEngine) would sometimes try to start before your settings were loaded, causing it to fail by trying to connect to “Port 0.”
  • Session Initialization: We’ve ensured the ConfigurationManager now blocks and finishes loading preferences before the engine starts, preventing session-related crashes.

🔍 Restoring Search-to-Download Functionality

Following our recent search architecture consolidation, some results from popular sources (like TPB, 1337X, and MagnetDL) weren’t being recognized as torrents.

  • We have added support for the new CompositeFileSearchResult interface.
  • This ensures that when you click a search result, the download starts immediately as intended.

📈 Maintenance & Core Updates

We have refreshed our core dependencies to ensure maximum compatibility with the latest Android devices:

  • yt-dlp Updated to 2025.12.08: Essential for high-speed cloud video downloads.
  • Gradle Plugin 8.13.2: Optimized build performance.
  • Library Updates: Updated Firebase BOM (v34.7.0), AndroidX ExifInterface (v1.4.2), and SwipeRefreshLayout (v1.2.0).

How to Update

  • Direct Download: Visit FrostWire.com to download the latest APK directly.

If you’ve been having trouble with downloads not starting or seeing unexpected errors in your transfer list, this update is highly recommended. Thank you for helping us make FrostWire better by reporting these issues!

Happy New Year and Happy Downloading!
— The FrostWire Team