What's new in June 2026

Shared by Emily • August 11, 2026

Chat overlay

Users can now access their messages without leaving their current page, opening chat from a launcher at the bottom of the page. This allows a conversation to take place without losing context of the content you're viewing.

Debit payment methods (Canada)

Portal admins with Canadian Dollar payments can now add a debit card as a payment method for experiences, alongside the existing credit card option (this option isn't available to individual company admins). Charges, payments, and emails across the platform now clearly show payment method type and realistic processing timelines - debit charges typically take 5-7 business days, compared to 2 days for credit card.

Sign up and onboarding updates

The sign up form has been simplified to email and password only. The onboarding wizard's first step now includes name and (for learners) date of birth. The first step of onboarding is now required for all users.

Two-step verification is here.

All users can now enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) from User Settings > Authentication. You can set up verification via SMS or an authenticator app, and will be prompted to enter your code each time you start a new session. If you ever lose access to your authentication method, there's an escalation path to reach support.

Team activity digest email — employer version

Employers can now receive a recurring digest email summarizing team activity across their matches, scoped per match rather than per experience. The email covers milestone progress, final deliverable status, and feedback — and begins sending once one or more teams exist and the project start date has passed. Employers can enable, adjust frequency (daily or weekly), or unsubscribe in User Settings > Notifications.

Improvements

Duplicate card prevention. Employers can no longer add a payment card that's already on file - they'll see a message letting them know
Deposit logic update. Deposit requirements for hourly projects now scale based on the number of concurrent paid learners a company has active.
Learner verification redirect. Learners are now sent back to the experience they were invited to after completing verification, instead of the dashboard.
Employer verification redirect. Employers completing two-step verification are now redirected to the remaining step (or their match request) instead of the dashboard, so it's always clear what's next.
Clearer experience proposal page for educators The experience proposal form now includes a subheader to help orient educators, and proposals in a pending state will show an info notice explaining that the Riipen team will follow up by email with next steps.
Project template fields now require edits before proceeding When creating a project from a template, employers must make at least one change to the project title, goal, and outcomes/deliverables fields before moving forward. This prevents template content from being published as-is.
Feedback status text now reflects learner context In the Benefits panel, the feedback section now displays different text depending on where a learner is in the feedback cycle: prompting them to give feedback, noting that employer feedback is pending, or linking to view completed feedback.
Survey question numbers now visible in template editor When editing survey templates, question numbers are now displayed in the editor, making it easier to navigate and edit longer surveys.
Clearer language on Total Learner Hours report The Total Learner Hours report has been updated with clearer language to reduce confusion in cases where the calculated hours show as zero.
Customizable terms now respect account language on app.riipen.com Users with their account language set to French will now see customizable terminology in French when on app.riipen.com. Previously, these terms were always shown in English regardless of language setting.
Bulk decline learner applications Employers can now decline all pending applications in bulk from the Applications table, without needing to action them one by one. This applies across all pending applications not yet accepted by the employer.
Automatic work log flagging for inactive learners Educators can now automatically flag learners who haven't submitted a work log within a set number of days (1–30), configured directly in the Learner Work Logs settings. Flagged learners appear with a "Flagged" badge in the Team Tracker, and educators can message the learner or close the flag from there. The flag can re-trigger after being closed if inactivity continues.
Saved searches UI improvements. The saved searches button on the marketplace has a new icon, updated text, and secondary styling. The save search modal no longer shows a mandatory asterisk on the optional notification checkbox. The empty state for the saved searches modal has been redesigned with clearer copy.
Survey responses now merge on account merge. When a user merges an old account into a new one, survey responses from the old account are now carried over.
Application wizard now shows the project nametag. Learners going through the application wizard will now see the project nametag on the introduction page alongside the employer nametag. The "Project admin" label has also been updated to "Project details" for clarity.
Task panel has a new look. The Task panel now shows the project or experience name in light gray, the due date on the same line, and simplified task text.
Learners now see a notice when a team is marked incomplete due to a missed deadline. A clear next-steps message is now shown to learners: "A deadline has passed and this project can no longer be completed. Contact your educator if you wish to reactivate the team."
Learners suspended from a team now receive an email. When a learner is suspended due to a missed binding deadline and expiry of the grace period, they will now receive an email explaining the reason and directing them to contact support or their experience administrator.
Learner limit warning when accepting applications. Employers will now see a yellow notice when accepting a learner application that would cause the per-match learner or team limit to be reached, with details on any pending applications that would be declined as a result.
Inviting project members now shows company users. Employers inviting members to a project can now select from a dropdown of existing company members, rather than entering an email address manually. Email invite is still available for anyone outside the company member list. (Requires company member permission to see the dropdown.)
Payment error on match acceptance resolved. An issue where employers saw a "Temporary authorization hold failed" error when attempting to accept a match — before even entering credit card details — has been addressed.
Portal switching behaviour for employers When an employer exits a portal, Riipen will now assume they should stay exited in most circumstances — notifications will no longer switch them to a different portal subdomain unless they already have a portal pass for it and are on a subdomain.
Learner language field Learners can now add the languages they speak to their profile, making it easier for employers to find candidates with the language skills they need.

Recommendation emails have been restructured. The existing recommendations email has been split into three separate emails for both educators and employers — one for project/experience recommendations, one for saved search matches, and (for employers) one for new portal opportunities. Each can be independently managed from User Settings > Notifications, and the old "Saved searches" section there has been removed since it's now covered by the new settings.

Bug fixes

Survey scale reverting fix. Survey questions were incorrectly reverting to a 1-5 scale after being edited; this is now fixed so admins can set custom scale values.
Phone number icon fix. The country selection icon in the phone number input, which wasn't displaying, has been fixed everywhere the input appears.
Learner sorting fix. On the experience Learners tab, incomplete profiles were incorrectly appearing above complete ones - this is now corrected.
Messages no longer marked as read on hover. Unread messages in the inbox were being marked as read when the cursor moved over them, without clicking. This has been fixed.
Date change requests with invalid dates can now be declined. It was previously impossible to decline a pending date change request when the proposed dates were invalid (e.g. exceeded a project's maximum duration). This has been resolved.
Screening question errors now display correctly in the match wizard. Required field errors on the optional screening questions step of the match wizard were not showing, leaving applicants stuck on a blank page. This has been fixed.
Manual payment settings no longer revert after saving. Updated payment amount, currency, split, and instructions will now persist correctly after submission.
Incorrect error notice for newly active teams fixed. Learners were seeing a red error notice saying their start date had passed even when their team was still active within the automatic 3-day grace period. The notice will now only appear when the team state actually prevents progress.
Experience timeline date fields no longer lock after a validation error. Triggering a validation error on the Experience > Settings > Timeline page (e.g. setting an end date before a start date) was causing both date fields to become disabled, requiring a full page reload to continue. This has been fixed.
Google sign-up fixed. Users were unable to sign up via Google integration. This has been resolved.