BuddyPress 2.5.0 Beta 1 is available for testing. You can download the 2.5.0-beta1 zip or get a copy via our Subversion repository. We’d love to have your feedback and testing help.

NB: If you are still using WordPress 3.8, we remind you that BuddyPress 2.5.0 will require at least WordPress 3.9.

A detailed changelog will be part of our official release notes, but, until then, here’s a list of some of our favorite changes. (Check out this report on Trac for the full list.)

  • The BP Email API: a new API to manage and customize the content & layout of emails generated by BuddyPress (#6592).
  • Post Type Comments tracking (#6482, Codex Page).
  • A new companion stylesheet: Twenty Twelve (#6766).
  • Emoji support in activity updates, private messages and group descriptions.(#6529)
  • New interface that allows administrators to disable the xprofile feature that causes certain words and phrases to be linked to member directory searches (#787).
  • A11y: we’ve made great accessibility improvements in our Administration screens.
  • Many activity stream improvements and fixes. (#6720, #6793, #6834)
  • Tons of under-the-hood & performance improvements. (E.g. #6870)
  • Continued coverage of inline code documentation, actions, & filters.

2.5.0 is almost ready, but please do not run it in a production environment just yet. Let us know of any issues you find in the support forums and/or on our development tracker.

Thanks everyone for all your contributions so far; please help us test and polish the 2.5.0 release so it can be as perfect as possible!