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Pugpig Bolt June 2026 updates: Vertical video, better third-party compatibility & a refreshed Android UI

This latest round of updates brings short-form vertical video into the app experience with Clips, alongside better third-party compatibility, cleaner second-level navigation on web and a refreshed Android interface.

17th June 2026

Welcome to the latest round of Pugpig Bolt updates. We’ve got a big one this time! Clips, Bolt’s short-form vertical video experience, is here, bringing a TikTok-style vertical video feed to your app. Plus some meaningful under-the-hood improvements and a couple of tidy UI updates across web and Android.

This edition covers:

Clips: a dedicated, full-screen vertical video feed for your app, separate from the main article timeline.
Better third-party compatibility, under the hood: improved handling of network requests means third-party scripts, ads and embeds work more reliably in your Bolt app.
Tidier second-level navigation on web: a cleaner, dropdown-based approach to sub-section navigation on your web reader.
A refreshed Android interface: subtle but meaningful UI improvements that bring Bolt in line with the wider Android ecosystem.

Read on for full details. And as always, if there are any features below you’d like to configure in your app, reach out to your Customer Success Manager. If you’re not a Pugpig customer, let us know if you’d like to arrange a demo of our mobile app platform.

You can also view the full Bolt release notes.

Pugpig Bolt release dates

New feature: Clips – short-form vertical video, now in Bolt

Useful for: Your product and editorial teams

Short-form, vertical video has become one of the defining formats of mobile content, thanks to platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Clips brings that experience directly to your Bolt app.

It gives your readers a dedicated, full-screen feed of short videos they can swipe through, completely separate from the main article timeline. Videos autoplay as users scroll, and the player supports pause/play, mute/unmute, descriptions, titles, auto-advance and looping. Read more on Clips in this doc.

Who’s affected: Publishers who want to add a vertical video feed to their app.

What you need to do: Reach out to your CSM to get set up. Full analytics require iOS 4.21.0 and Android 5.0.0.

Improvement: Better third-party compatibility, under the hood

Useful for: Your product and tech teams

We’ve made a significant change to how Bolt apps handle network requests on iOS and Android. Bolt now processes them the same way a standard mobile browser does, so third-party scripts, ads and embeds get the context they expect. If you’ve previously been told something can’t work in a Bolt app, it’s worth raising again.

One thing to be aware of – when users update to this version, any locally-stored data (such as puzzle progress) won’t carry over. This is a one-time occurrence. Anything saved after the update will be retained going forward. More info available in this doc.

Who’s affected: Publishers using third-party embeds or integrations that enforce domain-based whitelisting.

What you need to do: Update to iOS 4.22.5 and Android 5.1.4 via your standard app release process.

Improvement: tidier second-level navigation on web

Useful for: your product and design teams

If your web reader uses second-level navigation, it should now feel a lot cleaner.

Previously, sub-sections appeared as a permanent bar sitting below the main nav – always visible and taking up valuable screen space. Now they’re tucked neatly into a dropdown that appears when a reader clicks on the relevant section. The current selection stays clearly visible in the nav, so readers always know where they are.

Who’s affected: Web publishers who have second-level navigation configured.

What you need to do: No action required. Ships automatically.

Improvement: A refreshed Android interface

Useful for: Your product and design teams

Bolt Android 5.0.0 tidies up the look and feel of your Android app. It’s not quite the sweeping overhaul of Liquid Glass, but it brings several subtle improvements that bring Bolt firmly in line with the wider Android ecosystem.
Nothing needs changing from your end, it all blends in seamlessly.

Who’s affected: All Android publishers.

What you need to do: Update to Android 5.0.0 via your standard app release process.

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Join our Mobile Matters Slack community

If you’re not already part of Mobile Matters, now’s a great time to get involved. It’s a community built for publishers and media professionals to connect, share what’s working (and what isn’t), and stay on top of the latest trends in mobile. We’d love to see you in there! Click here to join.

And there we have it! Take a look at all Bolt product release notes for more details. And if you’re a customer, don’t forget to reach out to your Customer Success Manager if you’d like help implementing anything featured here. If you’d like a demo of our mobile app platform, you can reach out to our team. We also send these product updates out in an email newsletter – get in touch if you don’t receive it and would like to.