[LAST UPDATED: 06/11 – 12:55 GMT]
Please note that Menu Entry Swapper is not working for some players and the issue needs to be coldfixed.Currently if you turn ON NPC Tags or Tap-to-Drop you will not be able see Menu Entry Swapper. For some players, turning those features off for now should have the Menu Entry Swapper button visible.

We can’t believe it’s been six whole years since the release of Old School on Mobile. Winter 2017 seems so long ago! But now we’re here, and we’re ready to party. We’re kicking off the festivities with some exciting new updates, as well as a quick run-down of all the awesome features you can already experience on Mobile.

Of course, our biggest announcement is that today the new Mobile UI is live for everyone! Improve your on-the-go adventures with fantastic new features, including Hotkeys.

Check out this video by FullyOSRS, a Mobile veteran. It’s got all you need to know about all things Mobile.

If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch.NEW MOBILE UI AND FEATURESToday’s update brings the long-awaited Mobile UI changes. We won’t waste any more time – let’s jump in!

Side Stones

If you can’t see the image above, click here.
The first and most obvious change with the new UI sees all your familiar stones on the right-hand side, in two separate columns. The first column contains panels you’ll use in high-intensity gameplay, while the second column holds all the features you use in more laid-back moments.

To prevent misclicks – and give you a bit more room – we’ve added a handy button to collapse and hide the second column, letting you truly focus on the task at hand. When collapsed, the click area of the side panels is wider than in the current UI, for more accurate tapping.

You’ll notice that the Logout button has moved to the top-left corner to make room for the new Collapse button.

Hotkeys

If you can’t see the image above, click here.
Most players would have used or at least seen the small ‘Function’ button on the current UI. While this had some very nifty features, we needed greater flexibility to achieve that parity we keep yapping about.

Instead, we’re using the free space from that button and the old Side Stones on the left-hand side to give you five custom Hotkeys which can be assigned to a vast array of settings and actions. They’re similar to the F-Keys you’ll find on your regular Desktop client, except with more configurable options that allows us to add more features in the future – woohoo!

Hotkeys can be set to open any panel (such as the Inventory) on either side of the screen, but you’ll need to enable the “Hotkeys open side panels on the left” option in the Settings menu, first. It’s off by default, as opening these interfaces could cause overlap issues with other elements on the left-hand side.

You can set up to five Hotkeys on this menu and aside from the Side Stone usages, most will work by enabling, disabling or customising the selected feature by either tapping on the button or via a long press (depending on the feature). Here’s a full list of features you can assign to Hotkeys:

 

Inventory	Combat	Stats	Friends	Tap-to-drop	Cure Poison	Entity Interactions
Equipment	Journal	Emotes	Account	Single tap	Quick Prayers	NPC Highlights
Prayer Tab	Logout	Music	Ground Items	Tile Highlighting	Run Mode
Spellbook	Settings	Socials	Edit Ground Items	Toggle Run	Special Attack

If you want to really up your game, you can create entire custom layouts, making it easy to swap between unique interfaces for PvM and Skilling… or any other activity you can imagine! You’ll be able to store up to three loadouts and make edits to the active set of hotkeys. We’ve also added long-tap options to the hotkey button which will let you swap between layouts with ease.

Popout Panel

Current Mobile players will be intimately familiar with the new Popout Panel already! Much like the RuneLite Panel, this nifty inclusion gives you loads of features and options, including XP Tracking, settings for Ground Item Indicators, and all the future additions we plan to make!

Unlike the current placement of the popout panel, which disrupts your use of the Inventory and other right-hand side panels, the new area sits in the bottom left-hand corner.

New Chat

If you can’t see the image above, click here.
The entire chat interface can now be collapsed using the brand-new toggle button, meaning you’ve got more space to play if you’re going it solo!

However, some of you might have noticed that the Chat Filters are no longer visible. Instead, to give you more space, you can long tap on the ‘Speech Bubble’ button to set which chat filter you have active!

We’ve also replaced the tiny speech bubble with a bigger and easier-to-use keyboard button and to compensate for the horizontal space taken up by the new buttons, the chat area itself has been made slightly narrower.

As for that glaring Report button, we’ve tucked it into a long-press option on the chat toggle, so it is not as much of a focus as it was before.

Menu Entry Swapper

If you can’t see the image above, click here.
For those unfamiliar with one of the biggest QoL features in recent years, we’re bringing Menu Entry Swapper to Mobile and the Official Client with this update! MES allows you to swap around the default right-click/single-tap options with any other available. So, for example, if you want to start your pickpocketing journey on the citizens of Lumbridge, you can simply swap the default ‘Attack’ option with the ‘Pickpocket’ option of the minimenu, allowing you to simply click/tap to pickpocket.

Not only are you able to swap around interactable elements of NPCs and other entities, but you can also remove menu options that aren’t used as much. This includes Examine, Use, Cancel, and more! Plus, you can expand the gap between options to give your fingers a bit more wiggle room.

HiScores

Finally, we know how important the HiScores are for most players, so we’re giving you the ability to look up players on the HiScores within the game client! While not as impactful as MES, it’ll be important for cross-checking players climbing past you on the Agility Shortcut of Mount Karuulm. This feature will be in the side panel just like the XP Tracker.

HOTKEY PROFILESIf you can’t see the image above, click here.
Hotkeys can save up to three profiles which you can easily switch between using a long-tap on the Hotkeys Button. If you don’t yet know the best set-ups for your Hotkeys, we have a few suggestions:

Big Bosses & Raids

Recommended loadout for Bossing
If you want to take on the toughest enemies in Gielinor, you’ll need as many features as possible at your disposal. While the Prayer and Spellbook menus are obvious choices, for more advanced bossing, Toggle Run and Special Attack are key.

This setup ensures that your Prayer and Spellbook hotkeys are lined up nicely with their right-side counterparts – perfect for training that muscle memory.

 

Hotkey #1	Hotkey #2	Hotkey #3	Hotkey #4	Hotkey #5
Toggle Run	Special Attack	Prayer	Spellbook	Quick Prayers

 

Prepared PvM

Recommended loadout for PvM
For more chilled-out experiences, Slayer Tasks, and everyday grinds, this layout provides everything you need in one handy package.

Although three of the options mimic the previous layout, you’ll also want quick access to turn off reoccurring drops you don’t care about, and quickly remove any unwanted drops from your Inventory!

 

Hotkey #1	Hotkey #2	Hotkey #3	Hotkey #4	Hotkey #5
Edit Ground Items	Special Attack	Prayer	Spellbook	Tap to Drop

 

Skill ‘n Chill

Recommended loadout for Shilling
Aah, nothing like a nice relaxing skilling session, is there? This layout prioritises your Inventory and the Tap to Drop feature. You also have access to Socials for chatting with friends, and your Spellbook so you can get around easily. Finally, we’ve included Edit Ground Items so you can keep your training area nice and tidy.

 

Hotkey #1	Hotkey #2	Hotkey #3	Hotkey #4	Hotkey #5
Inventory	Tap to Drop	Socials	Spellbook	Edit Ground Items

 

CURRENT FEATURESIf you’re new to Mobile, you might have missed out on some of the updates we’ve brought to the client over the years. No worries – here’s a handy list.

Combat & PvM Enhancements

                            

Feature	Description	Settings Area	Default
Attack Styles UI	Displays the current attack style on the UI (Defensive, Aggressive, etc.)	Interfaces	OFF
Buff Bar	Shows various buffs and debuffs and their time remaining (i.e. Ammo, Potion Effects)	Interfaces	ON
Cannon HUD	Displays number of cannonballs remaining in the cannon is shown above the cannon and decay timer. Notifications can be enabled when the cannon is getting low on balls.	Activities	ON / (Notifications OFF)
CoX Helper	Showcase information for the current Chambers of Xeric layout.	Activities	ON
Enemy Info	Displays a Health Bar and Name of NPC while in combat.	Activities	ON
Slayer Helper	When on a Slayer Task, the helper will indicate what you’re slaying, how many are left, and in which area (if applicable).	Activities	OFF
Stat Boosts	Up to six boosted or drained stats will be displayed on the screen.	Interfaces	ON

 

Visual Aids & UI Improvements

                      

Feature	Description	Settings Area	Default
Chat Timestamps	Displays the time a message was sent or received in the Chatbox.	Chat	ON
Collapsible Minimap	Ability to minimise the Minimap via a long tap. Other icons around the Minimap will still be shown.	–	–
Minimap Zoom	Players can zoom in or out on the Minimap. Zoom is reset upon logout.	Display	ON
Tile Indicators	Current and destination tiles will be highlighted to indicate which tile the player is on and where they are going. Colour can be customised.	Activities	OFF
Tile Markers	Once activated, the player can mark tiles in the world by tapping on them. Turn it off again to return to normal.	Activities	HOTKEY
View Distance	Allows the player to extend or reduce how much of the game world they can see.	Interfaces	MIN.

 

Quality of Life Tools

                                

Feature	Description	Settings Area	Default
F-Keys on External Keyboards	When using external keyboards with mobile, players can use the F-keys as they would on desktop. They should be the same for mobile and desktop logins.	Controls	–
Fishing Spot Indicators	Highlights Fishing spots and shows which fish live there. Can be always on, off or on if you have the correct Fishing tool for the spot.	Activities	ON (with correct tool)
Ground Item Indicators	Ability to hide and colour code the items dropping on the floor. Can adjust information in the Side Panel.	Popout	HOTKEY
Haptic Feedback	Have the phone create haptic feedback when you tap on the screen or open the long tap menu. The intensity of the vibration can be tweaked via Settings.	Controls	ON (Low Vibration)
Long Tap Delay	Adjust how long you need to hold your finger on the screen for a minimenu to open.	Controls	300 MS
Loot Tracker	Track the loot that you have earned from skilling or killing! Appears in the Side Panel.	Popout	ON
Ore Respawn Timer	When mining, if an ore is depleted then a timer will appear to indicate how long until it respawns.	Activities	ON (with Pickaxe)
Regeneration Indicator	After using a special attack or taking damage, a timer will appear to indicate the time until the next restore.	Activities	ON
XP Tracker	Track how much XP you’ve earned and get different insights on gathering XP and next-level insights. Appears in the Side Panel.	Popout	ON

 

Skill Helpers

                        

Feature	Description	Settings Area	Default
Agility Helper	Tracks your laps per hour, laps completed and XP to the next level.	Activities	ON
Agility Highlights	Highlights the clickzones for Agility obstacles, shortcuts and Marks of Grace.	Activities	OFF
Blast Furnace Helper	An infobox shows how many Coins are in the coffers, and highlights on clickable aspects of the conveyor belt, bar dispenser and broken parts.	Activities	ON
Clue Scroll Helper	When solving clues, the helper will show information on the current step. Puzzle steps are not showcased within this helper.	Activities	OFF
Herbiboar Helper	Starting location, hiding spots and the trail are highlighted when interacting with Herbi.	Activities	ON
Hunter Trap Timers	Timers display when using traps in Hunter. Timers turn green or red based on success or failure!	Activities	ON
Tears of Guthix Timers	Timers will display on each of the wells in either green or blue for the respective type of well.	Activities	ON

 

NPC and Environment Interactions

    

Feature	Description	Settings Area	Default
Entity Highlights	When interacting with something in the game world, a highlight will appear around it’s silhouette. NPCs – Yellow Environment asset – Blue Items and Loot – Orange Other players – White	Activities	OFF
NPC Highlights	Highlight NPCs across the game showcasing their name, their tile and their outline as well as all copies of them if there are multiple. Colour can be customised (not per NPC).	Activities	HOTKEY

 

Looking ForwardThank you everyone for your patience, we’ll be keeping an eye on all the feedback coming in for the Mobile Client over the next few weeks.

Updates to our mobile experience impact nearly every function across the Old School client and achieving a perfect launch is challenging without extensive player feedback over time. We’re committed to the long-term success of the mobile Old School client, ensuring a high quality user experience.

Don’t worry – we’re not stopping here, and we’re already planning the next batch of Official Client Features. We hope to update you on them all very soon. In the meantime, fill in the survey below so we can hear directly from you about the latest updates to Mobile and the Official Client.

If you can’t see the survey below or are having trouble completing it, click here to take part. 

 

You can also discuss this update on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

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The Old School Team.

We’re back to give you a proper in-depth look at the potential new UI for mobile! Let’s talk about our goals for this rework, and its potential to enhance the player experience – as well as make room for more features in future!

Before we begin, please note that the screenshots are taken from one specific mobile device. The spacing between different parts of the interface may vary depending on your device. 

Overview
During the Winter Summit at the end of last year, we posted our plans for a Mobile Top-Level Interface (TLI) Rework. After the blog came out, we received a lot of positive feedback about its potential – but also some understandable concerns.

It was clear that our blog had failed to really showcase the potential of the new layout, or properly justify our approach from a player perspective. For that, we can only apologise. Going into the holiday period at the end of last year, we didn’t give the time to explain our new design in detail or to address your feedback directly afterwards.

This time, we’re going to give you the FULL breakdown of the design. Not only that, but we’ll be visually showcasing its potential across areas of the game which will be familiar to all of you, from chilled-out activities like Fishing and Pickpocketing to more intensive activities such as The Gauntlet!

By far the most exciting update to this project is that we will have fully functioning Beta Worlds!

Although we had some unforeseen technical difficulties when releasing these worlds for Forestry: Part One, we’re confident in saying that these are in a better place than before!

The team has been able to create Betas as we saw with the recent Desert Treasure II ones, but we’ve never been able to port in content that we are currently working on without worrying about a potential impact on the rest of the game. Now we finally have the opportunity to safely test out things that we’re working on, from Forestry: Part Two to new bosses, and most importantly for this newspost, the new Mobile UI. In fact, this will be the very first thing we use to test out the new Beta Worlds!

You can try out the New Mobile UI Beta on Thursday, 17th August.

Before that happens, though, we want to visually demonstrate what the new Mobile UI can do. Further down in this newspost you can find a hands-on preview of The Gauntlet and some Skilling finger-tapping action! You can also expect a livestream on Monday, 21st August at 17:00 BST over on our Twitch channel, where we’ll be addressing FAQs once the Beta is live.

We know how important it is to get this right, especially for those of you that mainly play on mobile. We want to ensure that everyone can get their hands on the Beta – it’s going to take a little getting used to the new style and we’ll want to get your feedback as soon as possible.

We hope you can give us a second chance to unpack why we think this is a good thing for the platform and the future of the game. We want to make the best mobile experience possible!

Why ‘Out With The Old’?Before we jump into the shiny new interface features, let’s break down the current UI, so we’re all up to speed.

Along the left and right sides of the screen, you’ll see something very familiar – the classic OSRS stones. This is where you access all of your side panels, and it’s functionally identical to its desktop counterpart, including the ability to only have one open at a time, with the more important stones appearing higher up on the screen.

In the top-right you’ll find the Minimap, again, identical to the desktop UI, but with the added feature to minimise it via the World Map button, giving you more space. At the top left is the chat, a classic staple and again, very similar to desktop in how it works, but flipped vertically and positioned so that it won’t be obscured by the on-screen keyboard. This can also be minimised by tapping on the currently-selected filter, similar to the side panels. Tapping the speech bubble on the chat line will open up your device’s keyboard to type a message.

There are also a couple of handy utilities like tap-to-drop, which you can find in the function button above the left side stones. On the very right is the newly-added side panel, which functions the same as the Desktop Client – this isn’t enabled by default but contains an XP Tracker, Ground Item Indicator options and the Loot Tracker, with more to come in future.

An Opportunity For MoreThe current UI has lasted four years and arguably worked well enough. But when it comes to adding features that enhance the user experience, we don’t have much room for expansion. We’ve all enjoyed the extra features that third-party clients have provided us for years and we’ve been integrating some of the features into our own client as described above, but in many cases we’ve found the current mobile interface just doesn’t have space for them.

Chat

The chat buttons are pulled straight from the desktop interface. They’re pretty chunky on mobile and cover most of the top section of the screen, which blocks your thumb from tapping far into the distance. Meanwhile the big red ‘Report’ button sits front-and-center above your gameplay, demanding attention. To open the keyboard, you need to tap the tiny speech bubble on the chat line, which is not only unclear but also inconvenient when you accidentally tap it during your adventures.

Function Button

Just below the chat is the function button, which holds some very useful features (most notably, tap-to-drop). Unfortunately, the button isn’t very responsive, subject to that classic ‘lag’ that a lot of buttons in OSRS have, with no visual feedback. Its size also makes it harder to interact with. This would be an excellent place to put new features if we could fix the current issues!

Popout Panel

On the right side of the screen is one of our newest additions: the popout panel, a familiar concept borrowed from RuneLite and beloved by many! Unfortunately, its familiar position doesn’t translate particularly well to mobile, hence why it’s not enabled by default. It takes up the whole edge of the screen, and when open it entirely obscures the Minimap, Orbs and Inventory – arguably the most important features of the whole interface!

Overlays

When activity gets more complicated on screen, things start to go wrong. Imagine, say, you’re in Soul Wars and have opened a clue (just go with it). Our new Clue Helper will open up, but we also need to show you the Soul Wars overlay, your opponent’s HP, stat boosts, buffs, and debuffs. When you open your Prayer panel these overlays need to move out of the way, which means as you change prayers and eat food, these large overlays are jumping all over the place, and almost obscuring the very centre of your screen!

Room for New Features

It’s difficult finding room to add new features. Let’s say you have Ground Item Indicators on, but we want you to be able to toggle that during gameplay, as it can get very cluttered if there are lots of items on the ground. We could add that to the function button, but then we’re sacrificing tap-to-drop – or add it to the popout panel, but then it would require two taps (one of which obscures half the screen). We need a space to add new features, with room to grow in the future.

Visual Consistency

Looking at the whole interface, the visual style is somewhat inconsistent. Take for example the side stones becoming red when selected, while the chat stones invert or some buttons have black outlines such as side stones, while others don’t. The side panel has a rugged-looking border to it, while the Minimap has smooth metallic shading, and the popout panel has a solid rectangular background while the rest of the UI is translucent or appears to be floating. It’s confusing, and just not as sleek and user-friendly as it could be.

What’s New?With all the issues above in mind, we set to work on redesigning the interface. We know there are some pretty major changes here, but we can assure you that they’ve been made while carefully considering all different playstyles.

We’ve also given the UI a new lick of paint, which hopefully keeps the Old School feel while giving the UI consistency and making it more aesthetically pleasing, particularly for new players jumping in. We’d like to see what you think of the new UI design taking everything into account, so let us know how you feel!

Understandably this can be a bit overwhelming alongside that UI design changes, but we hope that we can find a good balance for everyone. With that out of the way, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of what’s changed and why we want to change it!