An Update on Recent Next Gen Disruptions and What We’re Doing About Them

Announcements
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Hello,

I want to personally acknowledge and address the issues some of you experienced recently related to Next Gen app availability and UI behavior. I know how disruptive it can be when access is inconsistent or when core workflows do not behave as expected, and I appreciate your patience while we worked through these issues.

Below is a clear overview of what happened, what has already been resolved, and how we are improving both our systems and our process going forward.

What happened

Over the past several days, a subset of accounts experienced intermittent access issues when working in the Builder area or attempting to access the Live App area. In parallel, some customers encountered usability regressions related to table column widths and text wrapping in Live Apps.

The access issue stemmed from a third-party vendor we were using to determine whether an account should have Classic, Next Gen, or mixed access. That vendor deployed the same breaking configuration change twice in two days, which caused some accounts to be incorrectly flagged and temporarily lose expected access.

Separately, a recent Next Gen UI release introduced unintended regressions in how table columns rendered and how text wrapped within cells.

What was not affected

To be explicit:

  • No customer data was lost or corrupted

  • No permissions, records, or underlying app data were modified

  • This was not a security incident

  • The issue was limited to access determination logic and UI rendering behavior

Our response

Once the issue was identified, we took the following actions:

  • Immediate mitigation
    We implemented a fallback mechanism so that if the third-party service returns an invalid or missing response, accounts default to appropriate access rather than losing it. This prevents incorrect access states from occurring.

  • Vendor removal
    We have escalated internally and are actively removing this third-party vendor from this critical decision path altogether. This logic will be fully owned and controlled by Knack moving forward.

  • UI fixes deployed
    The text wrapping issue affecting table cells in Next Gen Live Apps was fully resolved on January 22 at approximately 6:30pm ET. Details are available here:
    https://forums.knack.com/t/update-next-gen-column-width-issues/20172
    Additional improvements to default column widths and table behavior are being finalized to ensure more readable and predictable layouts by default.

How we ship changes

Most Knack improvements are delivered as part of our weekly Tuesday release cadence. Each release is accompanied by detailed public release notes so you can clearly see what has changed, what was fixed, and what is new.

You can always review the latest updates here:
https://product.knack.com/changelog

When issues require faster action, as in this case, we will continue to deploy targeted hotfixes outside the normal release cycle and communicate clearly when we do so.

What we are changing going forward

This incident reinforced several important lessons, and we are taking concrete steps as a result:

  • Removing external dependencies from core access and entitlement logic

  • Strengthening pre-release validation for Next Gen UI changes

  • Adding safeguards so degraded vendor responses cannot cascade into customer-facing issues

  • Improving proactive communication when issues arise, even while fixes are still in progress

Reliability, trust, and transparency are foundational to Knack. When we fall short of that bar, we believe it is important to explain what happened plainly, own the outcome, and clearly articulate how we are improving.

Looking ahead

While addressing stability and reliability is our top priority, we are also continuing to invest heavily in meaningful Next Gen capabilities, including:

  • Data-layer access controls, enabling permissions to be enforced at the data level rather than page-by-page

  • Payments in Next Gen apps, unlocking more end-to-end workflows directly within Knack

  • Advanced SSO for Next Gen, bringing enterprise-grade authentication and access management forward from Classic

  • Scheduling and appointment booking, supporting time-based workflows natively

  • Expanded access and improvements to our AI Builder, helping accelerate app creation and iteration

We look forward to sharing more as these features move closer to release.

Staying in touch

If you encounter an urgent issue, submitting an emergency support ticket remains the fastest path to resolution. In rare cases where access is blocked, our support and leadership teams remain reachable and responsive via email at support@knack.com.

Thank you for your continued trust in Knack and for building with us.

Sincerely,
John Karas
Head of Product, Knack

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