_This is the first post of our new product newsletter aimed at providing regular
updates on the Firezone product. We'll use these posts going forward to announce
new features, major updates to existing features, and any other product-related
news._

Happy new year from the Firezone team!

After a long year of building, we're incredibly excited to announce 1.0 beta
testing for Apple and Android platforms. Firezone 1.0 is an entirely new product
with a brand new architecture that includes many of the features you've been
asking for. To summarize just a few:

- **Native clients for every major platform** (macOS, iOS, Android, Linux,
  Windows) that authenticate against your configured identity provider
- **Automatic firewall hole punching** with intelligent routing that ensures
  connections always pick the shortest path between clients and gateways
- **Highly available gateways** with support for automatic load balancing and
  failover
- **Group-based, granular access policies** for managing access to IPs, CIDR
  ranges, and even DNS-based resources like `gitlab.company.com`
- **Automatic user/group sync** (Google Workspace currently supported)

Our commitment to transparency remains the same: Firezone is still (and always
will be) a 100% open-source product. Anyone can audit the
[codebase](https://github.com/firezone/firezone) and verify that the product
works the way we claim it does.

## Firezone 1.0 beta testing on Apple and Android

If you're on a recent Apple or Android device, you're in luck! These platforms
are available for beta testing today. Apply for the closed beta
[here](/product/early-access), and we'll be in touch. We're currently
prioritizing teams and businesses at this time, but plan to roll out invites to
individuals and homelabbers along with Windows and Linux betas over the next few
weeks.

To beta test 1.0, you'll need one of the following:

- Apple silicon or Intel Mac running **macOS 12** or later
- iPhone or iPad running **iOS/iPadOS 15** or later
- Android phone, tablet, or ChromeOS device running **Android 11** or later

If you qualify for beta testing, we'll add you to a dedicated Slack channel for
feedback and support and provide further instructions for downloading clients
and accessing your account there.

Beta testers can enjoy unlimited usage of the product during the beta testing
period, after which point they'll need to switch to
[an appropriate plan](/pricing) to continue using Firezone. We expect the beta
period to end sometime towards the end of Q1 2024. As a thank you for being an
early tester and providing product feedback, **beta testers will receive a
discount** that will be applied when the beta period ends, and 1.0 enters
general availability.

## Firezone 0.7 is now EOL

Firezone 0.7 is now called "Firezone Legacy" and has reached end-of-life.
Existing Firezone Legacy instances will continue to function as before, but we
won't be issuing any further updates to Firezone legacy after **January 31st,
2024**.

Firezone Legacy will continue to live on indefinitely in the
[legacy branch of our main repository](https://github.com/firezone/firezone/blob/legacy).
We won't be supporting it past January 31st, but it's Apache 2.0 licensed, so
you're free to fork it, modify it, and continue to use it how you see fit.

Documentation for Firezone Legacy will continue to live at
[https://www.firezone.dev/docs](https://www.firezone.dev/docs).

---

Go [here](/product/early-access) to sign up for 1.0 beta testing, and we'll see
you in Slack!

That's all for now.
