Today is a day I've been waiting for, for over four years.
I'm extraordinarily excited to announce our newest app; Unite will be available December 4. This is our first new app since launching Coherence in 2013, and I promise the wait won't be as long next time.
Unite has a straightforward premise, turn websites into apps. Now that may sound familiar. Unite creates these apps with a custom built, web-kit browser, whereas Coherence does so with Google Chrome as a backend.
Why did we do this? Well, when we began to work on Coherence, our advantage against competition was our Chrome integration. Many of our competitors used sub-par custom browsers to get the job done. Every year since launching Coherence, we've slowly made it more and more powerful, and we are now at a point that Coherence apps are just as good and if not better then our competitor's tools for turning websites into apps on the Mac.
However, we don't make Google Chrome, and therefore the possibilities for adding new features are more limited. While we still think there's plenty of head-room for expanding Coherence, about a year ago we asked ourselves "Why not cover both sides of the spectrum"? So that's what we did.
Unite has been in development for well over a year and features a custom-built web-kit based browser. This browser features support for all modern web technologies while being optimized for Unite apps. While Coherence apps could typically get into the 100s of MB, Unite apps usually are at or under 10mb.
And, as we said, using our browser grants us greater freedom to add features, so we focused on 3 for our inaugural release:
1) Apps Anywhere: Unite apps feature deep customization to allow you to use your apps in any scenario. You can change the opacity of Unite windows, activate a 'floating' mode so you can have them open alongside other work, and a 'desktop' mode to turn your Unite app into your Mac's wallpaper.
2) Status Bar Apps: Unite apps can live in your Mac's status bar, allowing you to quickly check information without always having an app opened in your menu bar. This could be particularly useful for messaging and email.
3) Badges and Notifications: Unite apps can show notifications and badges for supported websites. At launch, Gmail and Facebook will be supported, but users can suggest websites for the feature and we will be adding dozens through the year.
Unite also feature a beautiful new app creation tool, as well as some smaller tricks and changes. We're super excited for users to try it, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
And, just to reiterate, Coherence development remains in full swing. As a matter a fact, we've already begun the early planning stages for what is undoubtedly the most significant Coherence release we've ever done in 2018.
Unite for macOS will be available December 4 for $4.99. Additionally, Family Licenses will be available for $24.99. For the first time, we are excited to offer bulk and distribution licenses with Unite, contact us for more info. Users of Coherence will be able to purchase Unite at just $3.99 for a limited time.
For more info about Unite and for Press Inquiries, please contact bzg@bzgapps.com