What's new in Open Verdict, what we fixed, and what we're building next. Every release note here is the same one you'll find in the app under What's New.
What's in the game now, what we're making next, and what's planned after that. We'd rather ship it right than ship it late, so the bigger things have no dates yet.
Live now
Harvest 2026: three new Major Cases, from a cranberry bog in Wisconsin to a salt mine that floods at six. The event runs until December 3; the cases stay after it ends.
Next-day letters: the morning after you close a case, a letter about it arrives. Catch the killer and they write to you from their cell. Charge the wrong person and the real killer writes instead.
Days on duty: do something real on a case each day and the count grows, with plaque titles at 7, 14 and 30 days.
Coming next
The first manhunt: one big case you work over several days. New crime scenes open as you go, witnesses point you to new people, and the list of suspects narrows until you make the call.
Seasons: each manhunt runs for a season, with its own board and a plaque for the detectives who crack it.
Planned
Cases set around the world, not only in the US and the UK.
A new set of event cases every year: see the calendar below.
The year at the Bureau
Every event brings three new cases that stay in the game for good. The event's look and music last a few weeks; the cases don't go anywhere. Between events, the manhunt seasons run.
NovemberHarvest 2026 LIVEFamily gatherings and the last of the crop.
December – JanuaryMidnight Files 2026New Year's Eve, the countdown, and the last night of the year.
FebruaryCrimes of Passion 2027Love, jealousy and broken hearts, for Valentine's season.
JulyHoliday Files 2027Resorts, road trips and getaways that go wrong.
OctoberGothic Case Files 2027Three new Halloween cases, and the night desk returns.
IMPROVEDthe training case, The Last Screening, is easier to read. Times are written as numbers, and the hard words are gone. It is newly recorded in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Thank you to everyone who sends us feedback from the game. This change came from a player’s note, and we read every one.
NEWthe Store has a fresh look, with each pack shown on its own case file.
NEWwhen a pack comes in two editions, text and voices are shown one above the other, each saying how suspects answer and what it costs, so you always know which one you are buying.
NEWevery plaque frame has new art. Brass, oak, silver, marble, iron and the podium are now proper presentation plates with engraved borders. The frame you picked stays yours.
NEWa case you have finished now says whether replaying it brings a new killer or the same one, in Files and when you start the replay. It never says who.
NEWabandon a case from the exit button on any case screen, or from its row in Files. The warning says plainly that questions you've used in the case don't come back.
NEWwhen you start a case that needs questions, it shows how many most detectives use on it.
NEWFiles can filter by length and by Major Case, and remembers your choices.
FIXEDthe tabs and filters in Files no longer contradict each other, and eras are listed in order.
FIXEDif your phone closed the game in the background, Resume could open the case without your conversations. Your case now comes back exactly as you left it.
NEWat the end of Help, our other games: Laneworks and SC Ship Database.
NEWthe day after you close a case, a letter arrives about it. Catch the killer and they write to you from their cell. Charge the wrong person and the real killer writes to you instead.
NEWDays on duty. Do something real on a case each day (start one, ask questions, reach a verdict) and the count grows. From 3 days it shows on your desk. One missed day a week is forgiven.
NEWplaque titles for 7, 14 and 30 days on duty in a row.
NEWif your days on duty would end tonight, you get one reminder in the evening. Only from 3 days, and never more than one notification from us a day.
NEWthree Major Cases for the harvest season: a cranberry bog in Wisconsin, a rice farm in 1920s Australia, and a mushroom farm in a salt mine that floods at six.
NEWMajor Cases have more people to question, witnesses as well as suspects, and your accusation counts only what your notes back up.
NEWCaptain Reeves introduces each event when you open the app. Skip him, or turn it off for the event.
NEWharvest music on the desk while the event runs.
FIXEDcases with five suspects fit every face on the file.
NEWthe case file opens on the story of the case in a few lines. The facts, the briefing, the police report and the coroner’s notes are one tap away, under Case details and More in the file.
NEWsuspects show their full names on the case file.
NEWthe crime scene says it plainly: tap each clue to examine it, and question the suspects whenever you like.
NEWEnd tutorial, on Captain Reeves’ card, closes the training case. You can replay it any time from Files.
FIXEDcoming back to the training case could open the accusation on the wrong step, with nothing you could tap.
FIXEDCaptain Reeves kept talking after you left the training case.
FIXEDtext overlapped the name on the Consult card at the crime scene.
NEWin Portuguese, every case is voiced in Portuguese: briefings, evidence, the coroner, the verdicts, Captain Reeves’ training case and the Bureau’s introductions.
Spoken answers from suspects are in Portuguese too, for players who have voiced cases.
CHANGEDthere are no free or paid cases. Your questions open every case. Cases marked No questions required can also be played with prepared lines, at no cost.
NEWin a live interrogation, the top of the screen shows how many questions you have, and every suggested question shows it uses 1. Typed or tapped, each live answer uses one question.
NEWwhen you open a case marked No questions required, you choose: play live with your questions, or play scripted with prepared lines.
When you ask your own questions in a free case, every suspect now knows the same basic facts about the night: who was there, when, and in what order. Their answers line up with the case file.
More small fixes across the free cases, found by a new check that questions every suspect in every version before it reaches you.
Live questions in Seance at Ashcroft didn’t work properly: the suspects hadn’t been told their own story. They have now, and live questions in that case work as they should.
If you asked live questions in that case, every question you spent there has been returned to your balance.
Another round of small fixes across the free cases.
Six free cases can now be played again with a different killer: The Last Watch at Cape Hadley, Tide at Dunmore, The Erasmus Palette, Lockdown on Floor 38, After Hours at Meridian and Blizzard at the Heron’s Nest.
Solve one, open it again, and someone else may have done it, with their own motive, their own lies and their own trail of evidence.
We fixed clues that pointed the wrong way, including the ledger in The Last Watch at Cape Hadley and the timeline in Lockdown on Floor 38.
On the desk: a new Halloween ribbon, with a pumpkin and a black cat.
NEWin Spanish, every case is voiced in Spanish: briefings, evidence, the coroner, the verdicts, Captain Reeves’ training case and the Bureau’s introductions.
Spoken answers from suspects are in Spanish too, for players who have voiced cases.
NEW60 new portraits. Every heritage group now has young, middle-aged and older detectives, in three looks each.
NEWthe portrait picker fits on one screen. Pick a group, then choose from its nine faces.
NEWinterrogation style. Choose how you work a room in Profile: By the Book, Hard-boiled, Charmer or Quiet Observer. Suspects react to your manner, but it never changes what they know.
NEWearn a nickname. Once you have solved three cases, the squad names you for how you play. It shows in Career.
NEWforgot your password? Tap "Forgot password?" on the sign-in screen and we email you a code to set a new one.
NEWProfile → Ways to sign in. Add Apple, Google or email to your account, so you always have a second way back in.
NEWwe email you when your password or your ways to sign in change, so you know if anyone else tried.
CHANGEDwhen you sign up with email, we send a code to confirm the address.
CHANGEDour privacy policy now covers these account emails, sent through our email provider Resend, and the records we keep of failed sign-in attempts for 30 days. Read it at openverdict.app/privacy.
CHANGEDevery evidence picture in every case has been redrawn in one style. Each now shows the item where it was found, and the detail that matters: the stain, the empty slot, the print.
CHANGEDa few names in the case files have changed, so no character shares a name with a real person or brand. The recorded narration has been updated to match.
NEWthe ✕ at the top right of every case screen, the interview included, takes you back to your desk. It asks first. Closing does not abandon the case: everything you have found, asked and noted is kept, and Resume picks it up.
CHANGEDthe cards that open now show a larger arrow, so it is clear they can be tapped.
NEWthe training case sits at the top of the Files. Start it, resume it or replay it any time.
FIXEDin the training case, the opening and Captain Reeves no longer talk over each other. He starts when the opening ends.
NEWeach case opens with a short film while the Captain reads the briefing: the scene, the victim, two pieces of evidence and the suspects. Pause, replay or skip it. It plays once per case; replay it any time from the case file.
CHANGEDthe case file starts with a summary: the scene, the victim, when, how and where. The briefing, police report, victim, coroner’s notes and suspects each fold to one line. Tap to open them.
CHANGEDthe crime scene is an evidence board. Open an item and its narration plays. Opening another stops the first.
CHANGEDthe scene shows how much evidence you have not opened yet. Only evidence you have opened can be shown to a suspect.
NEWthe suspect you are questioning sits under a spotlight at the top of the interview.
NEWFile, Scene, Suspects and Accuse along the top of a case show where you are.
CHANGEDthe home screen fits on one page: your next step, two shortcuts, and tabs along the bottom for your Desk, the Files, your Career and the Store. Profile, What’s New, The Bureau, Help and Report are under your portrait.
CHANGEDthe case files are a compact list, with tabs for Open, Unplayed, Free and All.
CHANGEDthe Store shows every pack on one page. Tap a pack to see what is in it.
CHANGEDCareer has tabs for your Record, Medals, Rogues and Cabinet. Rankings is the button at the top of Career, and shows your own rank first.
CHANGEDHelp and the Detective’s Handbook are now one page, starting with a case in four steps.
CHANGEDSettings, Profile and The Bureau each fit on one page. Change your portrait from Profile.
NEWplay a solved case again and the killer may be someone else. 46 of the 48 Bureau Archive cases now have more than one killer, each with their own motive, clues and lies. You meet every killer in turn before any repeats.
NEWthe Case Cabinet in your Career shows how many of a case’s killers you’ve caught.
NEWchoose your difficulty. Guided marks the page when a suspect slips (half points in the rankings). Standard plays a sound when a suspect slips (full points). Hard-boiled gives no help at all (one and a half times the points).
NEWa Settings screen for difficulty, sound, reminders and tips, on the home screen and in your Profile.
NEWCaptain Reeves reads the solution to every new killer aloud, and in the tutorial Nadia and Colin speak their answers.
CHANGEDthe home screen has a second row of buttons: What’s New, Settings, Report and Help.
CHANGEDsome Coroner reports narrowed the field to a single suspect before you had asked anything. They now narrow it without giving the killer away.
FIXEDBack did nothing on some screens when there was nowhere to go back to.
FIXEDif you left the tutorial partway and then opened another case, buttons such as Examine the Scene and Interrogate could do nothing until you restarted the app.
FIXEDin the same situation, a free case could show no prepared questions.
Your tutorial progress is kept. Open the tutorial again any time to pick up where you left off.
NEWevery pack now costs about half as much and holds far more questions. Quiet Desk: 400 questions plus no ads. Starter Pack: 800. Detective’s Edition: 2,200. Bureau Premium: 2,000 every month.
Note: the new prices reach the App Store and Google Play over about a day. If checkout still shows an old price, wait a few hours and look again.
NEWevery detective gets 50 free questions, up from 20. If you already had your 20, the other 30 have been added.
NEWif you bought a pack before today, it has been upgraded to its new size, free.
CHANGEDsuspects now answer a little faster.
Removed: Bureau Insider (playing on your own AI key) is no longer sold.
NEWthe Store now sells questions. Each live answer from a suspect, Captain Reeves, Forensics or the Coroner uses one question, whether you type it, pick it from Suggestions, or present evidence. Opening a case is free.
NEWwhat each pack holds. Quiet Desk: no ads plus 80 questions. Starter Pack: 125. Detective’s Edition: 455. Bureau Premium: 440 questions every month. Prices have not changed, and every paid purchase still turns off ads.
NEWquestions from packs never expire. Bureau Premium’s monthly questions refresh each time it renews.
NEWevery detective gets 20 free questions, to ask anything on any case, including the Bureau Archive.
NEWif you run out of questions partway through a case, you get 10 extra questions to finish it.
CHANGEDif you bought a pack before today, its questions have been added to your account. If you had an unused reward for solving your first case, it is now 15 questions.
CHANGEDsolving your first case now earns 15 questions instead of a Bureau File.
CHANGEDfree cases are now marked Free to Play. You can always play them with prepared questions at no cost. They no longer include a free live run; asking anything uses your questions. A live run you had already started stays free until you finish it.
CHANGEDthe Store shows each pack’s case file, and your question count is shown in the top bar.
CHANGEDour Privacy Policy now covers all our games in one place. Read it at digitalhorizonsoftware.com/privacy.
FIXEDsuspects sometimes got the facts of their own story wrong, like the time they went to bed, their age, or a name. They now keep to what they know.
FIXEDa line could be saved as a clue when the suspect had only hinted at it or repeated an earlier answer. A clue now only counts when the suspect actually says it.
CHANGEDthere is no longer a limit on how many cases you can have open at once. Before, two open cases blocked you from starting a third until you abandoned one.
FIXEDthe Begin Interrogations button on the crime scene was at the very bottom, below every piece of evidence. It now stays pinned to the bottom of the screen so you can always see the way forward.
FIXEDpopups — replaying a case, presenting evidence, cross-referencing, suggestions, filters, rankings and confirmations — only scrolled if your finger started on a button. They now scroll from anywhere, and show "More" at the bottom when there is more to read.
NEWwhen you play with prepared questions, Captain Reeves now speaks up if a line you save to your notebook is worth holding on to.
NEWan announcements button on your desk — the sealed envelope at the top of the screen — for news from the Bureau. Important news also appears once when you open the game.
FIXEDscreen readers like TalkBack and VoiceOver can now read every button, tab and case card, buttons are easier to hit, and buttons now show when they are pressed.
FIXEDlong suspect names are no longer cut off.
FIXEDthe phone back button on the opening screens went nowhere. It now goes back a page.
FIXEDcase files now show their real case number.
CHANGEDin the training case, the button Captain Reeves wants you to press is now clearly marked.
CHANGEDthe guided training case no longer opens by itself when you first start playing. It sits at the top of your desk under Training, and you can run it whenever you like — including again later, which replays the whole guided walkthrough. Most players were being walked into it before they had picked anything, and it was getting in the way of the case they actually came for.
FIXEDleaving the training case with your phone back button now saves your place properly instead of going unrecorded.
FIXEDon Bureau File cases, a note you saved only counted if the suspect happened to answer in English. Ask your questions in another language and the suspect replies in that language — and then almost none of your saved notes counted toward the verdict, with nothing on screen to say so. About half the ways to back up an accusation were unreachable. They now count whatever language you play in.
CHANGEDon free cases, the Captain, Forensics and the Coroner no longer take follow-up questions — those come with the Bureau Files. The case file, the crime scene and both suspects are unchanged, and the walkthrough still lets you ask a question in your own words.
CHANGEDthe rankings screen now shows your position whether or not you are in the top twenty. The board itself still lists the top twenty.
CHANGEDtwo detectives can no longer take the same name. Names already in use are untouched.
FIXEDthe Captain, Forensics and Coroner headings ran off the side of the screen on some cases.
CHANGEDCaptain Reeves field notes are shorter. Tap one to read the rest.
FIXEDsaving your profile could fail with a message that looked like a connection problem when the real reason was something you could fix, like a name already being taken.
FIXEDif a screen breaks, you now get a card and a way back to your desk instead of a blank screen.
CHANGEDyour rank now counts how many different mysteries you have solved, not how many times you have played. Replaying a case you already solved no longer adds to it, so if your solved count has dropped, that is why. Replaying a case that gives you a different killer does still count, because that is a different mystery.
CHANGEDthe tutorial no longer counts toward your rank, your solved count or your accuracy. It walks you to every answer, so it was never a fair measure of your own detective work.
FIXEDon cases where the killer changes between plays, coming back on another device or after reinstalling could grade you against the wrong suspect. You could name the right person and be told you were wrong.
FIXEDin one case, saving the coroner findings capped your grade at Lucky Guess however well you had reasoned.
FIXEDsuspects sometimes gave a blank response — "The suspect pauses, looks past you, and says nothing." A check meant to stop them breaking character was also rejecting ordinary answers, so a perfectly good reply was thrown away and you got silence instead. This affected paid cases and had been happening for a while.
NEWthe tutorial now lets you type one question of your own to a suspect, in your own words, instead of only picking from prepared lines. That is what an open interrogation is, and it is what a Bureau File unlocks for every paid case.
NEWthe tutorial opens by itself the first time you play. You can leave it whenever you like, and it will not take up one of your three open case slots.
FIXEDthe tutorial could leave a case slot occupied that you could never see or clear, so the game refused to start a new case while only showing you two.
FIXEDCaptain Reeves field notes no longer appear during the tutorial, where he is already talking you through every screen. They still show up in normal cases.
FIXEDthe tutorial walkthrough could appear on top of a different case you were playing.
NEWa guided tutorial case. Captain Reeves walks you through a full investigation from start to finish — reading the file, working the scene, questioning both suspects, and filing the accusation. It is free, it does not use a Bureau File, and it does not count toward rankings.
NEWthe tutorial has its own Training row on your desk, separate from your caseload. Your place in it is saved, so you can leave and pick up where you left off, or start it again whenever you want.
FIXEDleaving a case while a suspect was still answering could leave that question stuck forever. The question was used up, the answer never arrived, and there was no way to ask it again. Those answers now appear when you come back, including on cases this already happened to.
FIXEDverdicts sometimes did not appear after filing an accusation. The case was recorded, but you never saw the result. Your verdict now loads even if the connection drops.
FIXEDon free cases, every note counted as evidence. Only notes that actually point at something count now.
FIXEDthe grade preview said your notes corroborated your accusation even when you named the wrong suspect.
FIXEDreopening a finished case restarted it immediately and cleared the result. It asks first now.
FIXEDSign Out did nothing on the web version.
FIXEDthe HOME button did not always go home.
FIXEDsome text was too faint to read, especially on case files.
NEWthe accusation screen now shows the best grade your accusation can earn before you file it.
Open a case tonight.
Type any question and the suspects answer in character. Free to play on iOS and Android.