{"id":2954888,"date":"2026-01-29T08:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2954888"},"modified":"2026-01-28T14:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T22:13:16","slug":"whats-new-in-the-arcgis-storymaps-briefings-app-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/story-maps\/announcements\/whats-new-in-the-arcgis-storymaps-briefings-app-january-2026","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s new in the ArcGIS StoryMaps Briefings App (January 2026)"},"author":8162,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[37101],"tags":[398132,778252,771102,780950,778242],"industry":[],"product":[36611],"class_list":["post-2954888","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","tag-arcgis-storymaps","tag-arcgis-storymaps-briefings","tag-briefings","tag-ios-android-windows","tag-local-briefings","product-story-maps"],"acf":{"authors":[{"ID":8162,"user_firstname":"Nakul","user_lastname":"Manocha","nickname":"Nakul Manocha","user_nicename":"nmanocha","display_name":"Nakul Manocha","user_email":"NManocha@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-07-03 21:43:08","user_description":"Lead Product Engineer working with AppStudio for ArcGIS + ArcGIS Companion. Has been working with Esri for 10+ years. Enjoys working with ArcGIS Runtime and Mobile app development while working on real world GIS & spatial challenges.","user_avatar":""}],"short_description":"Check out these new enhancements in the Briefings App 2.1 release for iOS\/Android phones and tablets, Windows and tablets.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The\u00a0ArcGIS StoryMaps Briefings App <\/a>takes seamless presentation delivery to the next level, offering greater flexibility and streamlined workflows. Compatible with\u00a0iOS<\/a>, Android <\/a>and\u00a0Windows <\/a>computers and tablets, and now \u2014 in beta \u2014 on your phones, this companion app lets you integrate interactive maps, rich media, and branded themes directly into your briefings. You can confidently present anywhere \u2014 whether connected online, working offline, or switching between the two \u2014 while showcasing valuable insights from your spatial data in a dynamic, engaging format<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

What’s new in Release 2.1?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Support for configured footers:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Briefings app now supports footers within the briefing slides. The footer may include the configured logo image and a single line of text at the bottom of the slide. The footer shows on all slides if configured, except on cover and section media layouts. Here is an example showing a sample slide with a footer.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2954890,"id":2954890,"title":"IMG_0032-landscape","filename":"IMG_0032-landscape-scaled.png","filesize":356118,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-scaled.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/story-maps\/announcements\/whats-new-in-the-arcgis-storymaps-briefings-app-january-2026\/img_0032-landscape","alt":"Showing a briefing slide with a footer at the bottom","author":"8162","description":"","caption":"","name":"img_0032-landscape","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2954888,"date":"2026-01-28 00:43:14","modified":"2026-01-28 22:11:55","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1299,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-scaled.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":235,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-scaled.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":390,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-scaled.png","large-width":1920,"large-height":974,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-1536x780.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":780,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-2048x1039.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1039,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-826x419.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":419,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0032-landscape-1920x974.png","wide_image-width":1920,"wide_image-height":974}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Added background color support for the “Full” cover page:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The\u00a0background of the \u201cFull\u201d page cover can be configured with an image or\u00a0a background\u00a0color. The native app already supported the background image. In this release,\u00a0we are also adding support for\u00a0a\u00a0configured background color on the cover page.\u00a0Shown\u00a0below\u00a0is\u00a0one such configuration.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2954893,"id":2954893,"title":"Screenshot 2026-01-27 at 11.16.50\u202fAM-landscape","filename":"Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-scaled.png","filesize":142955,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-scaled.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/story-maps\/announcements\/whats-new-in-the-arcgis-storymaps-briefings-app-january-2026\/screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11-16-50-am-landscape","alt":"Showing full cover with a background color configuration","author":"8162","description":"","caption":"","name":"screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11-16-50-am-landscape","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2954888,"date":"2026-01-28 00:49:38","modified":"2026-01-28 00:50:24","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1299,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-scaled.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":235,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-scaled.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":390,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-scaled.png","large-width":1920,"large-height":974,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-1536x780.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":780,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-2048x1039.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1039,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-826x419.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":419,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-27-at-11.16.50-AM-landscape-1920x974.png","wide_image-width":1920,"wide_image-height":974}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Reintroducing auto-play option for briefing slides:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Auto-play is a great way to automatically navigate through your briefing content in a repeat mode with a fixed interval. Prior to the 2.0 release (the previous release), the app supported the auto-play option (in beta at the time) for briefing slide content. We are now adding back the option to auto-play slides, both online and offline briefing. The option is available in the briefing header’s options menu, as shown below. The online briefing auto-play will work the same way as the online\u00a0 web app, allowing users to change the speed or pause auto-play. For offline briefings, auto-play runs at a fixed interval of 15 seconds. To stop auto-play, you must either turn off the auto-play option or tap the slide area to exit the process. Please provide your feedback if you like us to add the option to configure the interval for offline briefings. Here are couple of screen recordings showing the auto-play option in online and offline briefings respectively.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_5sibhw64","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_v6nb7w7t","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Added the \u201cReplace media\u201d option in editing mode for the full cover page of local briefings on Windows:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Local briefings<\/a> (which is supported on Windows only) have a useful edit mode which allows users to locally edit media content such as images, videos, as well as offline maps. If the briefing cover includes media, such as an image or video. The user can locally edit the existing media by replacing one of their own. This option was previously available for \u201cside-by-side\u201d cover layout. We are now adding support for the \u201cfull\u201d cover layout as well. A sample video demonstrates the workflow below<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_ght58bze","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Note:- Edited media can be reset using the reset option.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Bug Fixes for a More Reliable Experience:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve addressed multiple issues in this release to improve accuracy, stability and performance especially for phones. We will continue to improve the phone experience in the future releases as well. Some of the notable ones are listed below<\/p>\n