Two Bark releases in two days...we hope you'll understand given the emerging security environment in bitcoin. 0.6.0 has some breaking changes you're going to want to pay attention to: it's required to continue support for refreshes and Lightning payments, so please get updated asap. We know this may be a disruptive update, so let us know if we can help. And thanks to Philipp Hoenisch of Lendasat for the report behind a fix.

Full changelog: https://second.tech/docs/changelog

Bark 0.5.0 is out, and it delivers one of our most requested features. A wallet's full off-chain balance can now be restored from its mnemonic alone, retrieved from the server. Lightning receives can now land on external Ark addresses, unlocking non-custodial Lightning address servers (thanks to Ben Carman for this work), and delegated refreshes can be scheduled ahead of time, when they're cheaper. Note that boarding now requires bark 0.5.0, so upgrade your clients to keep boarding.

Full changelog: https://second.tech/docs/changelog

@Christoph Ono has put together a walkthrough of how he presents emergency exits to users ("forced move") in Arké.

He's a master of user-friendly bitcoin UX, so there are valuable tips for anyone building Bark into their app.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxW574iolr4

We've been doing some research on client-side Lightning pathfinding for Bark wallet apps. Instead of the Ark server working out the best payment route on the user's behalf, the wallet app builds the route and the payment onion itself, so the destination is not shared with the server and potentially eliminating minimum fees on Lightning transactions.

Full findings, link to proof of concept, and areas for further research: https://blog.second.tech/bark-client-side-pathfinding/

Bark 0.4.0 is out, and receiving just got simpler: one BIP 321 payment request covers Ark, Lightning, and on-chain, built in a single barkd call or straight from the SDK. Also in this release: fee quotes for on-chain payments before you send, wallet notifications without a websocket, control over exactly which VTXOs a payment spends, and crash safety across every payment operation.

Full changelog: https://second.tech/docs/changelog

Since launching on mainnet, we've been hard at work refining Bark's DX and UX, guided by all the feedback we've been getting from early integrators and users.

Some of the highlights from releases 0.2.3 to 0.3.0: Bark now pays LNURL links anywhere it accepts a Lightning address, you can run barkd as a containerized web app to back browser-based wallets, and wallet setup is simpler with one consistent flow and per-platform storage defaults.

Your bitcoin also stays liquid mid-exit: an Ark balance can be spent right up until your emergency exit's leaf transaction is confirmed on-chain (spending quietly cancels the ongoing exit).

Lots more changes at: https://second.tech/docs/changelog

Bark is now a Lightning backend option in Alby Hub—enabling self-custodial Lightning payments for all your connected wallets with no Lightning node, channels, or liquidity to manage. The integration enables Bark across all NWC-enabled apps like Alby Go, Zeus, and Damus, and even agents like Claude and GPT.

More details: https://blog.second.tech/bark-powers-alby-hub/

Bark added in the latest Alby Hub release. Possibly the simplest way to add self-custodial Lightning to all your NWC-connected apps.

Bark Wallet is now on the Umbrel app store. It's a simple, self-custodial bitcoin wallet covering the complete Bark experience: send and receive over Ark, Lightning, and on-chain, with automated refreshes, an emergency exit, and no channel and liquidity management.

It's also open source, a great foundation for your next wallet app project!

Learn more about what Bark Wallet can do and how it was built: https://blog.second.tech/bark-wallet-now-on-umbrel/

Bark went live with wallet apps ready to go on day one, built by bitcoiners who'd been working alongside us since long before launch.

Noah, from the team behind Blixt, is the Ark wallet you'd expect from self-custodial wallet veterans, including some fancy Ark-infused Lightning addresses for static, free, offline payments. iOS and Android.

Arké, from Christoph Ono, leverages years of the Bitcoin Design Community's open-source UX work, and pioneers brand-new UX for Ark. iOS only.

Both apps are open source and available today. Full write-up: https://blog.second.tech/introducing-noah-and-arke/