Split-Flap TV Release History: Every Update and Feature, 2022 to 2026

Split-Flap TV turns any TV into a digital split flap display. It runs as an app on the screen and you change it from your phone or laptop. This page lists every major release since the 2022 launch, oldest first, so you can see how the app, the manager and the platform have grown, and that they’re still growing.

Latest release, September 2026: the apps were rebuilt from new code, with QR code pairing, screens that come back on by themselves after a power cut, and the whole board editable from your phone. Jump to it.

Jump to a year: 2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025 · 2026

2022

Public Launch (July 2022)

Split-Flap TV went public in July 2022, seven months after work on the idea started in December 2021. Unlike the software-only products INSYNCR and SignageTube, Split-Flap TV was launched as a full solution with hardware included. The goal was to help people who have questions or doubts about operating systems and package installations on smart TVs.

• The smart TV app was listed on the Google Play store and also available as an APK setup.
• The website and content management system were ready for end users.
• For markets where televisions would not be shipped, such as North America, the app could run on any television through a plug in streaming stick. A full package for the U.S. and Canada was announced as coming soon.
• Besides static messages, split-flap messages could include dynamic content such as real-time news and weather.

First Video of the App (July 2022)

A first recording showed Split-Flap TV in action: installing the app from the Play store, the device ID info, and a welcome message appearing after the device was registered on an account.

Split-Flap TV in the News (September 2022)

The launch drew media attention from the digital signage press.

• Sixteen:Nine, an online digital signage magazine, published the article “New Split-Flap TV Platform Emulates Electromechanical Mass Transport Displays, Without the Moving Parts.” It was also picked up by other channels, including Digital Signage Pulse.
• Digital Signage Today published the product release announcement “PresentationPoint releases Split-Flap TV Platform,” which was carried by many other news sites.

Real-Time News Feeds (October 2022)

Split-Flap TV boards can show real-time news from any website that publishes an RSS or ATOM feed, such as a news site, a company blog or your own company news. Use cases named include hotels, bars, restaurants, offices, shops and homes. Today that’s news and weather boards, and the news feed guide shows the setup.

• Find the URL of the RSS feed, for example the BBC news feed.
• Check that the URL is a valid RSS or ATOM feed with a feed validator.
• Add the feed to a board with a shortcode.

Digital Signage Today Interview (October 2022)

Digital Signage Today interviewed the founder of Split-Flap TV in an article titled “Building the future with nostalgia, power of story.”

Real-Time Weather (October 2022)

A weather shortcode shows current weather and forecasts for any location in the world. The syntax is #WEA#{Code}#{Location}#[OptionalArguments]#. For example, #WEA#AA#Brussels,BE#C# shows the current temperature in Brussels, Belgium, in Celsius. The weather guide lists every code.

• AA is the code for the current temperature; other codes cover forecasts beyond the current date.
• A location can be a city name, a city name plus country code, or a city plus state and country code (states work for the US only).
• All codes except the location must be uppercase. More than 30 languages are supported.

At the time, the app ran on Android based smart displays and HDMI stick players, supporting plain Android, Google TV OS and Android TV OS. Today it also runs on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad, and how it works covers every device.

Countdowns and Counters (November 2022)

Two shortcodes turn a board into a countdown timer or a counter. A countdown shows the time remaining until an event, such as a product launch, a sale or the New Year. A counter shows the time passed since an event, such as the founding of a business or days since the last accident at a factory. More on countdowns and counters.

• Counter: #CNT#{Code}#{Date}#. For example, #CNT#A#20220528:0000# shows the number of days since that date.
• Countdown: #CDN#{Code}#{Date}#. For example, #CDN#A#20230101:0000# shows the number of days until 1 January 2023.
• The code sets the unit (A is days; other letters cover hours and minutes). Dates use the YYYYMMDD:HHMM format with leading zeros and a 24-hour time from 0000 to 2359.

At the end of December 2022, a short post showed a real-time countdown to New Year 2023 running on a Split-Flap TV board.

2023

Facebook and Instagram Follower Counters (January 2023)

Social counters show the number of followers of a Facebook page or Instagram account in real time, with the flaps turning as the count changes. They are aimed at shops and offices that want in-store customers to follow their pages, and at reception areas and teams. See social counters for how it works now.

• No limit on the number of digits.
• Alternating texts and messages can be shown next to the number, such as a call to action, a website name or a thank-you message.
• Setup: click “Social” in the Split-Flap TV app, click the +Facebook Login button and run the connection wizard. Only pages you manage and have access to can be shown.
• Shortcodes: #FBF#{Page Name}# for Facebook and #IGF#{Page Name}# for Instagram. The number updates automatically every minute.

Quotes (February 2023)

Earlier versions of the app could only show quotes that were uploaded manually. This update added a database of almost 50,000 quotes across subjects such as equality, luck, love, hope and marriage, which can be shown at random with a shortcode. See quote boards.

• #QUO#{Hours}# shows a random quote from any category; #QUO#{Hours}#category1,category2,…# limits the choice to the listed categories.
• Hours sets how long a quote stays before a new one is chosen, calculated from midnight UTC. A value of 6 refreshes at 06:00, 12:00, 18:00 and 00:00 UTC.
• The platform returns a quote that fits the board’s dimensions.

Version 2.0 (September 2023)

In early September 2023, version 2.0 of the Split-Flap TV app was announced, promising more customization options to match a team’s branding, a better look, and more options in the web app for managing screens and messages. The release was rolled out in two phases: first the app itself, then the web application.

Phase one, the app:

• Support for iOS devices, next to Android
• Smoother animation
• Better performance, especially on boards with a large number of rows and columns

Phase two, the web application:

• A choice between 3 clicking sounds
• Custom background color for the board, plus a color for both parts of the split-flap module
• A configurable list of characters on the board, for example only A to Z and 0 to 9, to reduce the number of characters in the animation

Installations from Google Play updated automatically when automatic updates were enabled, or could be updated manually. Native APK installations needed a manual upgrade. After the update, a television’s device ID might change; in that case the device ID only had to be updated in the devices list, and the display continued showing its content in the new app.

iOS App on the Apple App Store (September 2023)

The Split-Flap TV App was published on the Apple App Store, bringing the split-flap display to Apple TV, iPhone and iPad. The Apple TV install guide walks through setup today.

• Color and font options to customize the look of messages
• Use cases named at launch: tailored messages, greetings, quotes, product information, and a desktop clock
• Designed for sharp, clear characters while keeping the flap motion

2024

Flipping Pictures (March 2024)

Split-Flap TV announced the upcoming Image Edition, which adds pictures to the split-flap animation. Besides texts and characters, boards can show pictures, logos, graphics and animations with the same flipping effect, for uses such as branded boards, menus and schedules. It’s now called picture flap.

Overlay Images on Text Messages (April 2024)

A new feature places an image on top of a text message, for example a company name, slogan or logo. See image overlays.

• Create a mostly transparent PNG with colored areas at the top, bottom, left or right for the branding.
• Upload the PNG to the Split-Flap TV media library.
• Create a text board, keeping in mind that the split-flap positions under the colored areas cannot be used.
• Enable the overlay image in the text board definition and schedule the board for playback.

Version 3.0 (May 2024)

Version 3.0 of the Split-Flap TV App brought four main changes:

• Improved clicking sounds: each panel flip plays a sound that replicates the click of mechanical displays.
• Picture flips: the board can flip pictures as well as text, for example to show photos or graphic designs.
• Bold font: text can be shown in bold for better legibility from a distance.
• Overlay images: users can create their own overlays on top of images or text, useful for branding or advertising.

Installations from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store received the update automatically, or could check for updates in the settings. APK installations needed a manual upgrade.

2025

New Manager Interface (October and November 2025)

In October 2025 a completely redesigned Split-Flap TV manager interface was introduced, first to a select group of users who applied to test it and then as a full launch. The redesign was based on user feedback that asked for faster updates (including from a phone), a way to see messages before sending them to the board, and advance scheduling for promotions. The design process went from whiteboard sketches to interactive prototypes tested with real users.

• Cleaner dashboard and navigation: a more modern layout, clear icons, updated fonts and color schemes, and a reorganized menu that groups playlist creation, scheduling and device management logically.
• New board editor with real-time preview: a WYSIWYG editor that simulates how the message will look on the display, including character spacing and line breaks, with previews of boards in the browser before publishing.
• Playlist management: drag-and-drop reordering, custom durations per message, and duplicating playlists for different occasions.
• Scheduling: a calendar view to schedule playlists for specific dates and times.
• Cross-device access: a fully responsive interface for desktop, tablet and smartphone.
• Performance and scale: a modern technology stack for faster load times, and a more robust, scalable architecture for grouping displays and managing playlists and schedules across multiple locations from one dashboard.

Split Function in the Manager App (November 2025)

The Split Function added a new way to align text next to left, center and right alignment. It divides a line into left-aligned text, such as item names, and right-aligned text, such as prices or numbers, which suits menu boards and price lists.

• Select the line, place the cursor at the split point (for example before a price) and click “Split.”
• Text before the cursor moves to the left, text after it moves to the right.
• “Apply to All” splits all lines at the same position in one go.

Extended Character Set with Accents and Punctuation (December 2025)

In reply to a customer question about French, Split-Flap TV explained how the character set can be extended. Uppercase is always forced, like on classic mechanical boards, but the list of characters on the split-flap drum can be changed.

• Default set: A to Z (uppercase), 0 to 9 and basic punctuation.
• Extended set: add accented uppercase letters such as À, Ç, É, È, Œ and Ü, and any special symbols needed.
• Result: languages that rely on accents, such as French, Spanish and German, can be displayed correctly.

2026

JSON & XML Table Support (January 2026)

Split-Flap TV always supported data from JSON and XML sources, but formatting it into a table took significant configuration. This update turns a JSON or XML feed into a table on the board with a single shortcode. You provide the data source URL and name the fields to show as columns. There are guides for JSON tables and XML tables, and live data covers what people build with it.

• Per column, you can set the alignment (left, right or center) and the width in characters.
• Suggested uses include corporate directories, event schedules, menus, financial data such as stock prices and exchange rates, and arrival and departure times, which is how flight and departure boards work.
• The feature was made available to all Split-Flap TV users.

Sneak Peek at a New Ecosystem (January 2026)

In January 2026 Split-Flap TV announced that it was preparing to launch a new ecosystem for its displays. The aim is to make managing a sign as easy as filling out a form, without IT bottlenecks or complex data integrations.

• The technical setup is handled for the user, so non-technical staff can manage content.
• Data entry can be handed off to colleagues without giving them admin access to the whole system.
• Designed to be plug-and-play and secure, with specific tools for uses such as anniversaries, appointments, queue management and room reservations.

That ecosystem became the App Marketplace, next.

App Marketplace (2026)

The ecosystem teased in January arrived as the App Marketplace, a library of ready made apps you add to a board. Menus, price lists, news, weather, flights and departures, clocks, countdowns and live data feeds flip into place without anybody touching an API. Pick an app in your dashboard, connect a source if it needs one, and put it on a screen. The how to use guide shows the whole thing with a menu board.

Rebuilt Apps for iPhone, iPad and Android (September 2026)

The app was rebuilt from new code, and the version that went out on 6 September 2026 is the first big release since 2024. What changed in the rebuild has the long version. The short one:

• Pair a screen with a QR code. The TV shows a code, you scan it with your phone, and it’s paired. No typing a password with a remote.
• Boards come back on by themselves. Switch on start after reboot and the app restarts when the power does, back on the board it was showing.
• See every screen from one place. Each screen checks in with a heartbeat, and you can ask any of them for a screenshot of what it’s showing right now. More on screen health.
• The whole board on your phone. Build and change boards from a phone, not a cut down version. See quick edit.
• A smoother flip. The animation was rewritten, which shows most on picture boards, and every board now keeps a flip count of every flap it’s turned.

On iPhone and iPad it’s an ordinary update, version 3.1.1. On Android it’s a new Split-Flap TV app on Google Play, released on 1 September 2026, so it won’t arrive on its own. Install it from the Play Store, then register the screen again with the QR code, since it gets a new device ID. The old player keeps running until you do. The Android TV and Chromecast guide covers it. The Apple TV build went to Apple for approval at the same time.

See the current version

This page gets a new entry every time something ships, so if you’re checking whether Split-Flap TV is still being built, the dates above are your answer. Want it on your own TV? Start a free trial, it takes about five minutes, or look through every feature first.