What are we working on?
Here’s a look at our main focus areas right now. It’s not quite a roadmap (they’re too rigid and create false expectations) but it’s our way of sharing what’s coming up.
Almost ready
We’re in the final stages here. If we’re testing in a beta or as an experimental feature, you’ll see details below.
We’ve just shipped a whole host of features that were on the roadmap. Take a look at what’s recently launched for more details.
Developing
We’re in active development with these — building, testing and iterating internally right now.
Auto layout
Bringing an auto layout/flexbox-like feature to the Mac app — making it faster and easier to create your work and scale it.
Paulo
Discuss it with @paulozoom on X
Flexible Text Styles
Introducing options to make alignment and text color independent of Text Styles — for more flexibility and smaller Libraries.
Jaime
Discuss it with @webjac on X
Text overrides formatting
Adding basic Markdown support to text overrides so you can quickly make specific text bold, italicised or underlined.
Jaime
Discuss it with @webjac on X
Comments panel in the Mac app
We’re working on a detachable panel that contains all comments and replies in a specific document, for easier navigation.
Jaime
Discuss it with @webjac on X
New ways to manage Symbols
In the Components view, you can choose whether to make a symbol available to insert as an instance, or use as an override.
Jaime
Discuss it with @webjac on X
Exploring
Everything here is in the early concept stage. We may not progress with all of this, or it may change along the way.
Private Cloud
Looking at how we could offer a private/isolated environment for Sketch for our customers with high security and privacy requirements.
Jaime
Discuss it with @webjac on X
Command Bar improvements
We’re exploring ways to make the Command Bar even more useful, starting with searching for and inserting Symbols.
Jaime
Discuss it with @webjac on X
Recently launched
Everything you see below is already out in the wild — enjoy!
Smart Animate
Smart Animate automatically animates changes between layers as you transition from one Artboard to another. Plus, you also get full control over its timing with duration and easing options.
Learn moreEasy Library swaps
You can now easily replace Libraries in your documents and choose if it affects all components, a specific type or just a selection.
Learn moreColor Variables in gradients
It’s been a long time coming, but you can now use Color Variables in gradients.
Learn moreA cleaner, fresher web app UI
Following our refresh of the document view in the web app, we’ve given the rest of the UI a redesign as well.
Learn moreExport any asset from the web app
Developers using the web app for handoff can now export any layer in a document without it needing to be set to export in the Mac app first.
Learn moreDi ‘hola’ a diseñar en español
You can now use the Mac app in Spanish and interact with the UI in a more familiar and intuitive way.
Learn moreFrequently asked questions
We often get asked these questions about our plans, direction and roadmap. Here’s what you need to know.
-
Why don’t you release a roadmap with release dates?
Our plans can change and sometimes ideas just don’t work out as we expected originally. We don’t want to give you false promises by telling you something will ship on a certain date, then let you down by missing that deadline. Nor do we want to put any pressure on our team with an artificial timeline that compromises quality. A ‘kind-of roadmap’ like this feels like a good compromise.
-
Is this all you’re working on? Nothing else?
We’ll try and be as open as we can here. This covers our biggest focuses and priorities, but this isn’t everything. There will be smaller things that aren’t so newsworthy and also things we have to keep a secret (who doesn’t like a surprise once in a while?). Don’t forget — we’re a small team, and we like to stay focused to get things right!
-
How can I test new features before you release them?
The best way is to download our beta app (sketch.com/beta) and keep it updated — if you have an active license or subscription you can use it. We run every new release through a period of beta testing before shipping it. Occasionally, we’ll make something an opt-in experimental feature, for wider/longer testing. The best way to find out about what’s in testing is to follow this page — and the community forum!
-
Why don’t you make a Windows app?
It’s just not our thing. We have a team of great Mac and web developers. That’s what we love working on and it’s where our expertise is. Creating an app for another platform like Windows would mean growing the team in an unsustainable way. We’re a small team and we want to stay focused and keep it that way, working on what we know and do best.
-
Why don’t you make a web app?
We do have a web app — but we keep it focused on viewing, commenting and developer handoff (which you can do for free, by the way). Much like building an app for another platform like Windows, bringing the full editor experience to the web app would require a huge team and for us to grow in a way we don’t feel comfortable with.
-
Will you offer real-time collaboration/coediting?
We already do (and have done for a few years now)! Two or more designers in the Mac app can work together on the same document in real-time. Better still, if you invite someone to edit your document from outside your Workspace and they already pay for Sketch elsewhere, we don’t charge you any extra for them. What we don’t offer is collaboration between designers across different platforms — we’ve explained in other answers why we won’t be building a Windows app or bringing our full editor experience to the web app.
-
What about an iPad app?
This one would be a lot of fun — and we’ve thought about it! But bringing the full editor experience to the iPad would be a lot of work, especially to make the UI make sense. Truthfully, we’ve never felt like the market for pro iPadOS apps makes enough sense for us to enter — and we don’t want to cut corners to make it happen, either.
Help shape the future of Sketch
We’re always looking to improve, and we value your feedback. Join our community to discuss new ideas or send us your feature requests directly.
Discuss new features with the team in our Community Forum
Have a great idea for Sketch? Share it via email
Start creating today
for free!
Whether you’re new to Sketch or back to see what’s new, we’ll have you set up and ready to do your best work in minutes.