Seeking testers for my new iOS and MacOS Podcast App

By Ashley, 20 April, 2026

Forum

iOS and iPadOS

As a podcasting fan and enthusiast since its inception in the early 2000s, I've used a lot of podcasting apps. Most recently Downcast on MacOS and iOS. I loved the interface, the way that syncing between the Mac and the iPhone was flawless, and the configurability. However, unfortunately, it seems that Downcast is no-longer being actively maintained. There are bugs in the macOS version that make it impossible to get into the settings, iCloud syncing is broken, and there have been no updates for almost a year nor any communication from the developer.

I set about building a replacement. SOmething with the power, configurability and simplicity of Downcast, with a native MacOS and iOS interface. The app is written in Swift with platform-specific optimisation so the interface feels at home on MacOS and iOS, not like an iOS app that just happens to run on a Mac.

I'm looking for beta testers. I'm waiting for APple to approve the initial builds and I can then make TestFlight links available. I'm looking for both MacOS and iOS testers. Please note this is a first beta so there will be some bugs, but I have been using and enjoying the app daily for a few weeks. Any and all feedback will be appreciated. I am looking for Voiceover testers on both platforms, and feedback on the UI from those who are able. If you are interested, please post in the thread or eMail me via my Applevis profile. I will either invite people directly or provide public testflight links, though I am leaning towards the former for the first beta.

The app runs on iOS 17+ and macOS 14+. Here is an overview of some of its features:

Podcast Playback

Mini-player bar and expandable full-screen player
Skip back / forward with configurable durations (5 s – 120 s)
Chapter-aware skip - snap skip buttons to chapter boundaries instead of a fixed duration
Variable speed from 0.25× to 3.0× in 20 presets; tap to cycle common values
Per-episode speed memory - the rate you set is restored next time you open that episode
Swipe-to-scrub in two modes: Steps (fixed seconds per swipe) or Speed (proportional drag)
Catch-Up - rewinds a few seconds after a configurable pause so you don't lose context
Previous / next episode navigation; double-tap previous to restart the current episode

Sleep Timer

Preset durations: 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes
End of Episode - stops when the current episode finishes
End of Chapter - stops at the end of the currently playing chapter
Stop at a specific clock time, e.g. midnight
Custom duration - dial in any value from 5 to 480 minutes in 5-minute steps
Add 15 minutes to any running timer with one tap
Optional fade-out over the last N seconds before stopping

Queue

Drag-to-reorder queue inspector
Add episodes from any list view
Configurable auto-play strategy when the queue empties: next episode, in-progress, random unplayed, a specific radio station, or stop
10 strategies total including per-podcast random modes

Sharing

Share episode from any episode row or context menu - generates a share sheet with the audio URL, title, and a pre-written message
iOS swipe action for one-step share
Separate option to copy or send only the bare episode URL

Video Episodes

Full-screen video player
Auto-open full-screen when a video episode starts
Expandable video fill mode

Radio

Radio Browser API - hundreds of thousands of live stations searchable by name, country, language, genre, and bitrate
Paginated directory with configurable page size (20 / 50 / 100)
Top-stations chart; genre and country listings
Manual station URL entry for any HTTP/HLS stream
BBC station filter toggle
Radio stream cache with configurable validity (6 h – 144 h) and one-tap clear
Save stations to Favourites; organise into folders with custom name, icon, and colour
Smart folders - auto-populate by rules on name, country, genre, or bitrate; rules combine with AND / OR
Grid and list display modes
Recently Played carousel showing the last 15 stations - tap to resume instantly
Stop at a specific clock time during radio playback
Real-time ICY / Shoutcast metadata - track title and artist on the Lock Screen and mini-player
Configurable buffer duration (5 s – 120 s)
Continue Streaming on Pause - keeps the connection open for instant, gap-free resume

Library & Inbox

Podcast library in grid or list with configurable card density (Compact / Regular / Spacious)
Toggle card details: author, episode count, last-updated date
Sort by title, author, genre, subscription date, or most-recently played
Live text search across the full library
Per-podcast settings override any global default
Inbox aggregates new episodes from all subscribed podcasts
Continue Listening section surfaces in-progress episodes
Live Items - Podcast 2.0 live stream badges for currently broadcasting shows
Inbox filter: All / Unplayed / Downloaded / Partially Played / Marked for Streaming
Inbox sort: Newest, Oldest, Shortest, Longest, Top Podcasts
Global episode limit (configurable; default 100)
Per-podcast "Include in Inbox" toggle
Podcast detail: sticky header with artwork, subscribe, play, download-all, and settings
Episode list with search, three sort orders, and five filter modes
Bulk selection - tick episodes then Mark Played, Download, or Add to Queue in one action
Trailer badge; live item banner with join button
Podroll section linking to related shows
Cast & crew (Podcast 2.0 person tags)

Discovery

Apple Podcasts / iTunes Top Charts by region and genre
Configurable chart size (up to 100 entries)
For You - on-device personalised recommendations based on your most-listened genres; no account required
Full-text search via iTunes Search API and Podcast Index
Scope filter: All / Title / Author; language filter

Playlists

Manual playlists with drag-to-reorder
14 sort orders: manual, date, duration, podcast name, author, genre, play count, and more
Played-episode strategy per playlist: Keep, Delete, or Move to another playlist
Hide-played toggle per playlist
Smart playlists with a rule engine (Match All or Match Any)
Rule targets: Title, Author, Podcast, Genre, Description, Duration, Publish Date, Download Status, Playback Status
Rules re-evaluate live - the playlist always reflects current library state
Auto-Feed Rules - nominate podcasts as sources; new episodes are added to the playlist automatically on sync

Audio Engine

Voice Boost

Dynamic range compression - raises quiet speech, tames loud peaks
Three strength levels: Light, Medium, Heavy
Per-podcast override; separate setting for radio streams

Graphic Equaliser

3 / 5 / 7 / 10 / 12-band EQ (band count configurable per context)
Built-in presets: Flat, Bass Boost, Vocal Boost, Treble Boost, Electronic, Classical, Pop
Custom band editor - drag sliders and save as a custom preset
Per-podcast override; separate setting for radio streams

Smart Speed (Silence Skipping)

Detects and shortens silence in real time
Configurable threshold (−60 dB to −20 dB) and maximum silence duration (0 – 1 s)

Streaming Effects

Voice Boost and EQ can optionally apply to streamed podcast content and radio stations

Downloads & Storage

Auto-download new episodes per podcast (global default + per-podcast override)
Configurable per-podcast episode limit (1 / 3 / 5 / unlimited)
Episodes to keep on device (5 / 10 / unlimited); older files pruned automatically
Delete-when-played - downloaded file removed after the episode completes
WiFi-only download option
Background URLSession keeps downloads running with the app in background
Live download size display (audio and image cache separately)
Max image cache size limit (100 MB / 500 MB / 1 GB / 5 GB)
One-tap clear for audio downloads or image cache (both require confirmation)
iCloud Drive download option - stores files in the app's iCloud container
Move podcast files to a custom folder before unsubscribing
Automatic iCloud backup on a configurable schedule (daily / weekly) - full Simulcast Package archives

Statistics & Insights

Total time listened and peak day summary for the selected range
Streak counter - consecutive days with any listening activity
Bar chart of daily listening: Last 7 Days / Last 30 Days / Last Year / All Time
Calendar heatmap - GitHub-style full-year grid with quartile shading
Top 5 podcasts by total time in the selected range
Weekly listening goal with a circular ring gauge; configurable target (30 min – 10 hours)
Year in Review - total hours, active days, longest streak, top podcast; shareable summary card

Notifications

Per-podcast notification opt-in (global default + per-podcast override)
Priority flag to break through a silenced global setting
Quick actions without opening the app: Play Now, Add to Queue, Mark Played
Live item alerts when a subscribed podcast goes live (Podcast 2.0)
Recommendation notifications when a podcast publishes new cross-show recommendations

Import & Export

Export

OPML - standard subscription list compatible with any podcast app
M3U / PLS - playlist or station collection
Simulcast Package (.simulcastpkg) - complete library: podcasts, episodes, playback state, stations, folders, smart playlist rules, and settings

Import

OPML - merge with existing library or replace entirely (iOS + macOS)
M3U / PLS - station import (iOS + macOS)
Simulcast Package - full library restore (iOS + macOS)
Downcast - subscriptions, play history, and downloaded files (macOS, not available on iOS due to sandbox restrictions))
Apple Podcasts - subscriptions, play history, and cached files via MTLibrary.sqlite (macOS; not available on iOS due to sandbox restrictions)

Duplicate Handling (for app-to-app imports)

Merge - keep existing podcasts; apply play history from the source
Keep Both - create a renamed copy alongside the existing podcast
Replace - delete existing then re-subscribe with play history from the source

Siri & Shortcuts

Six App Intents usable with Siri, the Shortcuts app, and Apple Intelligence:

Resume Podcast
Set Sleep Timer (with duration parameter)
Mark Played
Cycle Speed
Play Next Episode
Skip Forward

Keyboard Shortcuts

Full set of rebindable shortcuts for navigation, playback, library, inbox, and podcast detail
Active on both iOS (hardware keyboard) and macOS
Two-column editor in Settings - click any shortcut to record a new binding
Conflict detection; ⌘Q permanently reserved (macOS)
Export / import the full binding set as a JSON file
Reset to Defaults

Widgets

Home Screen, Lock Screen, StandBy, and Control Center widgets:

Now Playing - artwork, title, podcast name, progress bar, interactive play/pause and skip-forward
Now Playing + Up Next - currently playing plus queue; Large size shows first 3 items
Queue - numbered queue list with episode and podcast names
Progress - arc showing completion percentage of the current episode
Inbox - latest unplayed episodes
My Podcasts - recently played podcasts
Radio Stations - favourite or recently played stations
Sleep Timer - countdown ring for the active timer
Lock Screen inline / circular / rectangular - now-playing info on the iOS Lock Screen (iOS)
Sleep Timer Ring - Lock Screen countdown (iOS)
Control Center toggle - play/pause from Control Center (iOS 18+)

All widgets share state via an App Group and update on every play, pause, episode change, or queue change. Home screen widgets support interactive buttons powered by App Intents - no app launch required.

CarPlay (iOS)

Four-tab interface:

Now Playing - standard card with artwork and controls
Queue - live Up Next queue with currently-playing indicator
Library - Podcasts → Inbox → Playlists → Up Next → Recently Played → Chapters
Radio - Favourites (with folder hierarchy) → Top Stations → Genre → Country → Search

Actions: playback control, chapter jumping, mark as played/unplayed, add station to Favourites, sleep timer (15 min / 30 min / End of Episode), playback speed cycling. Podcast and radio station search.

macOS Menu Bar Player

Persistent menu bar extra accessible from any app:

Artwork thumbnail, episode title, podcast/station name
Play / Pause, Skip Back 15 s, Skip Forward 30 s
Real-time progress bar
Speed menu (0.75× – 2×)
Open Simulcast button
Menu bar icon switches between a headphones glyph (idle) and a waveform animation (playing)

Focus Filters

App Filter available in Settings → Focus:

Show Only Genre - filters the Inbox to episodes matching a chosen genre
Silence Notifications - suppresses new-episode notifications while the Focus is active

Transcripts

Live auto-scrolling transcript synced to playback position
Tap any segment to jump to that moment
In-transcript keyword search with next/previous navigation and result count
Auto-scroll toggle (persisted across sessions)
Supports SRT, WebVTT, Podcast 2.0 JSON, and plain-text formats
Global Transcript Search - find every episode and timestamp where a word or phrase was spoken; tap a result to start playback from that exact moment
Index built on-demand (up to 50 episodes per run) and cached in memory

Podcast 2.0

podcast:person - cast & crew with roles, groups, and profile images; person search
podcast:chapters - JSON chapters, chapter artwork, chapter URLs
podcast:transcript - SRT, VTT, JSON, plain text
podcast:soundbite - soundbite metadata parsing
podcast:value - streaming sats display
podcast:liveItem - live stream detection, Inbox badges, real-time notifications
podcast:funding - funding links on podcast detail
podcast:location - geographic metadata storage
podcast:locked - locked status stored and respected on import
podcast:guid - persistent podcast GUID
podcast:medium - medium type (podcast / music / audiobook / etc.)
podcast:license - license URL and slug
podcast:socialInteract - ActivityPub and cross-platform social links
podcast:alternateEnclosure - alternate bitrates and media types
podcast:txt - TXT verification tags
podcast:images - srcset artwork
podcast:gateway - fallback stream gateway
podcast:trailer - trailer episode display
podcast:recommendations - cross-show recommendations with notification support

Options

Comments

Downcast fan

Out of interest does this effectively have the same features as Downcast? I've used Downcast for well, since the start yet it's not updated anymore like you say. I've not found other apps to my liking as love the downcast interface, amount of settings etc - if you are basically bringing all it's goodness to your app i'm very interested - is there anything you don't yet do that Downcast does/did?

Re: Downcast Fan

Yes, it's Downcast and more. The only part of Downcast I didn't implement is the 'local' vs 'feed' distinction, because there's really no need to do so. You can still mark and filter episodes, just the interface is slightly different. Otherwise this app is more customisable than Downcast. I posted the beta link in a recent comment, feel free to give it a try and eMail me any feedback.

Another Downcast Holdout

Will check this out imminently.

Have you considered integration with AudioBookshelf, as an alternative/in addition to iCloud? Would make it even more attractive for hoarders, but it's not a top priority for me at the moment, I'd just love to see it.

Cheers for the work!

Re: Another Downcast Holdout

I am thinking about those integrations, it's something that others have asked for as well. I'll look into it.

Downcast fan

Great and thanks for the reply - I will grab that test link and check it out asap.

One more question - a feature request I sent Downcast ages ago which they said they would aim to implement and then no updates since and some time has gone past - a feature I liked from the BookPlayer book app and the Audible app, if playback speed set to increased speed the remaining listening time could be set to be shown based on that listening speed i.e. at 1x a book might show as 1hr listening time remaining but at 2x it would reflect real remaining listening time of 30mins (or what it is based on math by smart people) would be great to have something like this for podcast episodes or playlists etc

Re: Downcast fan

I hadn't thought about that, but great suggestion. It will be in the next build.

Stats

I've just downloaded the beta, are stats available yet? Or is this coming in the later versions of the app? If they are available, where can I find them?

Audio degradation at increased playback speeds

I'm a long-term podcast listener who typically gets through a couple of hours of episodes daily and has used most of the main iOS podcast apps over the years, always gravitating back to Overcast. This new app has a compelling set of features and an accessibility focus that could finally pull me away from Overcast.

I have noticed one issue that's making it difficult to transition to this app: audio quality degrades quite noticeably to my ear when increasing playback speed. I normally listen at 2× or above, and at those rates the audio is noticeably harder to bear in this app compared to Overcast or others I've used. I wondered whether my combination of the audio enhancement settings — Voice Boost, the EQ, or Smart Speed — might be interacting in a way that causes this, so I disabled all of these , but the degradation persists.

Has anyone else experienced similar quality issues at higher playback speeds? And does anyone have suggestions as to whether a particular combination of the available audio settings might be contributing to this?

Re: Audio degradation at increased playback speeds

I will look into this. I can't imagine it is settings-related, very likely the player implementation. expect some updates in the next build. If you find any other bugs or encounter any issues, you can report bugs directly to [email protected], I try to keep up with this thread but may miss things posted here. Thanks for the feedback!

Re: Stats

Stats are implemented and will be improved in upcoming builds. YOu can find them by tapping "library options" at the top of the podcast library and then "statistics" in the menu that appears.

please add custom voiceover actions

Please add custom rotor similar to what is found in Mona and Lire RSS reader.

Re: Audio degradation at increased playback speeds

Thanks for the speedy response, Ashley — really appreciated. I'm genuinely excited to see how the app develops.

One other thing I noticed while testing: on the player screen, the playback speed adjustment only goes up to 2.0×. Given that the app supports up to 3.0×, I wanted to flag it in case it's an unintentional omission rather than a deliberate design choice for that screen.

Re: Re: Audio degradation at increased playback speeds

Thank you, that too will be fixed in the next build. I've also just finished some work on the playback speed quality issue which is now much improved, and playback in general has a few optimisations. You'll see those improvements in the next build, released either today or tomorrow.

Feedback

I must say, after having a look at this app, I think I might have found a replacement for Pocket Casts, it does all the things I like and more, as I have not explored all the settings yet, but the app seems incredibly customizable. It also has live radio as mentioned, so might enable me to like it says there, use one app for both.

Re: please add custom voiceover actions

There are now more than 10 categories of fully customisable rotor actions in the next build.

Re: Feedback

Thank you! If you find you're missing any features, customisations, or encounter any bugs, do let me know.

please add custom voiceover actions

Wow I can't wait!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crashing

Hi,
I put this through test flight feedback, but I'll mention it here too.
I've had a few instances where the app would crash, these are:
Firstly when tapping on the create smart playlist button, this was on my iPhone 15 Pro running the latest iOs.
Second, for some reason, and this may be due to the fact it's running the beta on an iPad. The app worked rather slowly in some parts, and when I turned on iCloud to move my stuff across from the phone, the app was not responding very well, and crashed a few times.
Also on the iPad. I played an episode of the podcast, once the episode started playing, the app became unresponsive. I could not use VoiceOver ot navigate to find the player screen or anything. Once I managed to get to the home screen., and with effort close the app, it kept playing the audio for a few seconds, then stopped playback, and a dialog popped up about the app crashing.

Re: Crashing

Thanks for the feedback. I'm addressing these. There were unfortunately a few regressions in the latest build mainly due to the addition of the separate Voiceover actions rotor. I'm working through the crashes and will have a more stable build out ASAP.

Re: Crashing

I'm also encountering unresponsiveness. For me it happens consistently when expanding the player to full screen, but also in other situations — most notably when the app is refreshing my subscriptions, of which I have 50 or so. When it occurs, my iPhone 15 Pro becomes noticeably warm.

Because of this I haven't had much opportunity to properly evaluate the audio quality issue I mentioned in my earlier post, but what I have been able to hear unfortunately suggests it may still be present. I'd be curious whether anyone else has impressions on the audio quality, particularly at higher playback speeds.