What's New

Hey everyone, Patina Project is back online! I also have some news about where Patina Project is headed.

For a while now, we've been sitting on a long list of ideas we want to bring to the heritage wear community. We’ve had ideas that have been on our list for years that we've always felt Patina Project should incorporate. The system that I started building in 2021 as a hobby project can no longer get us there. Kind of like a pair of boots that don’t fit quite right, it needed to be rebuilt on a new last. So we made a decision this summer to rebuild Patina Project from the ground up.

Today marks completing that first step, with the rebuild finished. Now that nothing is holding us back, we'll be able to ship new features much faster with a higher quality bar than we ever could before.

And that's where the real work begins. We’re going on a journey to realign the app with how we own, live with, and care for heritage goods in the real world. Whether it’s welted footwear from small bootmakers or vintage denim jackets, we will have you covered. We'll bring features you've voted for to life, alongside the ones we've always felt were missing from Patina Project.

We're building the online home for the heritage wear community, and we're in this for the long haul. This is the first of several conversations we'll be having with you over the coming months about where Patina Project is headed. We're grateful you're here for it, and we hope you'll stick around to see where it goes.

Now on to what’s new…

Thunderdome registration is open

Registration for the Stitchdown Patina Thunderdome is now open! The first submission window opens October 1. For more details, visit the Thunderdome page.

Find your Dome

Not sure which category enter? Try the new Find your Dome page.

Patina Project is now passwordless

For better security, Patina Project is now passwordless. Enter your email, tap the link we send, and you're in. Nothing to remember, reset, or store. The link opens the app directly and drops you back where you left off. Each link works once, so any old ones sitting in your inbox are already expired.

Connect multiple sign-in options to one account

You can now connect your Google, Facebook, and Apple sign-in methods to one Patina Project account. You can manage your sign-in methods from the Email & sign-in screen.

If you attempted to sign in using different methods to the same Patina Project account in the past (a common problem people encountered our old system), we linked Google and Apple sign-in methods your account, if their email matches.

Facebook accounts will require manual linking, since the email tied to Facebook does not guarantee the owner of the email address. If you signed up using Facebook, you will need to sign in with that method first. Then, you will be able to verify your email address for sign-in links and add Google and Apple sign-in methods if desired.

Change your email address

You can now change the email address tied to your Patina Project account.

Thanks 5solas_1Ti2.56 for the request!

Version 18 - September 17, 2026

New

• Sign in with a link sent to your email

• For better security, Patina Project is now passwordless.

• Link or unlink Apple, Google, and Facebook sign-in methods in Settings.

• Add or change the email address you use to sign in.

• Explore the new Thunderdome hub, with current contests, past years, and winners.

• Use “Find your Dome” to find a category that suits your item and how you wear it.

Improved

• A redesigned Thunderdome registration flow helps you select an item from your collection and check its eligibility.

• Updated the maintenance notice to explain the extended downtime and how it affects Thunderdome registration.

Fixed

• Photo upload progress works again on iOS.

Found a bug? Let us know at feedback.patinaproject.com.

-Ted

While we are working on getting Patina Project back online, here’s a recap of everything we did this summer.

I haven’t been great at posting updates regularly, so here’s everything at once. I will make it my goal to share more regular progress on the project.

Version 14 - July 3, 2026

Behind the scenes, we made major architectural upgrades to the iOS and Android apps.

Improved

• Settings opens over the tabs, so the tab bar stays out of your way.

• Sign-in takes you back to where you left off.

• Comments scroll to the right spot when you open them, tap a notification, or reply.

• We hid generated articles from maker, model, leather, and spec pages. They didn’t meet our quality bar. Thanks willisca for the report!

• Notification counts above 99 now display as 99+.

• Reporting something tells you whether the report went through.

• The feed shows a loading indicator while content loads.

• Tapping Home again takes you to the feed and scrolls to the top.

• If your session cannot refresh, the app shows a re-authentication message and a “Sign back in” option instead of an unexplained loading screen.

• Signing out resets the Profile tab, so the next user does not inherit the previous user’s navigation history.

• Photo action menus have a consistent Cancel button.

• Notifications wait for sign-in to finish before starting their live connection.

• Category directories exclude topics without a published page.

• Profile links use the correct identifier to open the matching profile.

• We corrected photo counts affected by stale search entries for deleted photos.

Fixed

• Your Profile tab works right after you create a profile, with no restart.

• After a username change, the Profile tab and back navigation use your new username.

• Your collection updates after you successfully add your first item.

• New public boards appear on your profile without relaunching the app.

• Archiving a boot takes you back to your profile, and your collection count updates to reflect it.

• Pinch to zoom works again on iOS and Android.

• Photo loading and error states reset when you move between photos. A photo that fails to load shows an error instead of an endless spinner.

• The comment input rejects messages that contain only spaces.

• Reaction buttons reset after a failed reaction, so you can try again.

• You can see what you type when commenting on Android.

• Best-of-year photo results keep their ranking when product suggestions are mixed in.

Version 15 - July 13, 2026

We rebuilt patinaproject.com in a new framework and moved the public website to Cloudflare.

The updates below arrived in Version 15 patches between July 16 and July 22.

Improved

• The website renders the first page on the server and handles later navigation in the browser. Improved in v15.0.10 on July 22.

Fixed

• We fixed album loading that left photos appearing one at a time. Fixed in v15.0.4 on July 16.

• Opening the reaction list from a notification now loads the profiles. Thanks Lemon Curry for the report! Fixed in v15.0.4 on July 16.

• Opening a photo from an album no longer flashes white. Fixed in v15.0.4 on July 16.

• Live notifications arrive without reopening the app. Fixed in v15.0.5 on July 16.

• Invalid months in Best-page links show a not-found page instead of a server error. Fixed in v15.0.5 on July 16.

• Your scroll position comes back when you use the browser back button. Fixed in v15.0.6 on July 18.

• Links to articles and outside pages render on the website. Fixed in v15.0.7 on July 18.

• Horizontal carousels stay within the browser window. Fixed in v15.0.9 on July 20.

• We fixed similar-product cards appearing without a usable photo. Fixed in v15.0.9 on July 20.

• Accessory reviews appear in search results. Fixed in v15.0.10 on July 22.

• Sending a photo comment works on the first tap while the keyboard is open. Fixed in v15.0.10 on July 22.

• Deleting a photo returns you to the correct screen. Fixed in v15.0.10 on July 22.

Version 16 - August 12, 2026

Behind the scenes, we prepared the mobile app for the platform rewrite.

New

• A banner on your feed links to new changelog entries. New in v16.2.0 on August 20.

Improved

• The app recognizes older shared links and routes supported links to the matching screen.

• Brands that aren’t a great fit, such as Nike and Adidas, stay out of product search results.

If you made it this far, say hello to us on Discord!

-Ted

New

• Thunderdome 5 winners are on the home screen – We added a dismissible announcement on the home feed that links to the Patina Thunderdome Year 5 Winners, covering the Open, Work, Pre-Worn, and Leather Goods editions.

• Contest results split into Winners, Finishers, and Participants – Contest pages now group entries into three sections so winners and finishers are easier to find.

• Best tab on the home screen – We added a Best tab to the home feed so you can jump straight to top items.

Improved

• Awards show on the header – Earned awards now appear directly on the header so you can see them at a glance, including the newly tagged Thunderdome 5 placements.