opencast 2026.10.1 adds playlists (including smart ones that fill themselves) and keeps remote transcription going while your phone is locked. • playlists: make your own, add any episode, then play or shuffle. episodes stay in the playlist after you listen • smart playlists fill themselves from a rule you pick, like unplayed episodes under 30 minutes, and keep up with new episodes on their own • play your playlists with siri, shortcuts and carplay • make a playlist (beta, on devices with apple intelligence) drafts playlists from one show's episodes. ask for something like "civil war episodes" and keep the ones you like • transcribe remotely and the cloud ad-free pass keep going when you leave the app or lock your phone, and you get a notification when a transcript is ready • group by podcast in the inbox filter menu shows one row per show. hide up next now hides the playing episode too • new tap to play switch in settings: turn it off and tapping an episode opens it instead of playing it • new liquid glass app icons by derek passen (@dpassen) replace the classic set • airplay to a mac or apple tv stays audio, so voice boost, speed and skips keep working • fixes: refreshing offline no longer marks every feed as failed, share works while an episode plays, and launch no longer waits on a slow icloud check thanks to @NCbeebs, @gonzaloflirt and derek passen (@dpassen) for the requests, reports and code in this release. full release notes: https://github.com/connlark/opencast/releases/tag/2026.10.1

opencast 2026.9.3 shares an episode as a link that plays in any browser, turns the library into a cover art grid, and lets up next start from the launch screen. • share an episode as a link that plays in any browser, with an optional start time. find share episode in episode actions, the touch and hold menu on any episode, and more actions in now playing. in messages the link shows the artwork with a play button. nothing is stored on a server and nothing about you or your library is in the link • the library can show a list or a cover art grid, sort by title or by recent episodes, and badge shows with new episodes you have not finished. turn the badges off in settings, new episode badges • filter the inbox to unplayed, in progress, played, or downloaded, and hide episodes that are already in up next. your choice sticks between launches, and the title says what is hidden • when nothing is playing and up next has episodes, the mini player spot shows the next one with a play button, and tapping it opens the queue • stop playback from the more menu in now playing. the sleep timer sheet shows the active timer, the time remaining, and add 15 minutes. press play within five minutes of a sleep timer stopping and the same timer arms again, and the sleep button drains as a ring (thanks to gonzaloflirt) • remote transcription no longer cancels a paid job or buys a second one when the connection drops or the phone hits a local error. the card says still running on the server and offers resume, and local failures offer try again • ad detection stops rejecting correct results on shows with heavy inserted ads. opencast now tells the server the feed's declared runtime so the extra minutes are budgeted as ads • carplay fetches new episodes on its own when you open it without the phone app • push notifications register again on every launch, so an installation whose token had expired gets its episode alerts back without toggling anything thanks to zottlbaer, somaryaqub, l3uddz, dpassen, and gonzaloflirt for the requests, reports, and pull requests behind this release. full release notes: https://github.com/connlark/opencast/releases/tag/2026.9.3

opencast 2026.9.2 requires iOS 27 and brings recap and ask to transcripts, siri actions and a resume widget, twelve app icons, and a rebuilt settings tab. • recap any episode that has a transcript: the last five minutes, or everything so far, as a few bullets with times you can tap to jump there. it runs on apple intelligence, so transcript passages go to apple's private cloud compute and never to opencast, your audio is never sent, results stay on your device, and it doesn't cost transcription minutes • ask about an episode and get answers drawn only from its transcript, each with tappable citations. if the transcript does not cover your question, opencast says so instead of guessing • siri and shortcuts: resume playback, play an episode, play a show's latest unplayed episode, add an episode to up next, and search. a new small widget picks your current episode back up from the home screen • twelve app icons to choose from in settings, ember through abyss. your pick stays on this device and never syncs (thank you @dpassen!) • settings is now a hub of focused screens, and a new help section • remote transcripts no longer lose a stretch of speech after a pause or a musical interlude • voice boost no longer drops in volume when playback switches over to your finished download full release notes: https://github.com/connlark/opencast/releases/tag/2026.9.2

opencast 2026.9.1 reads the whole feed, jumps to the moment you tapped, and writes the chapters a show never did. • generate chapters and a summary for any episode with a transcript • shows with enormous back catalogs now load completely, up to 100,000 episodes, with full notes for every one • tap a timestamp in show notes to jump straight to that moment • playback prefers your downloaded copy and switches to it the instant a download finishes, without losing your place. automatic ad skips only apply when the audio matches the transcript they came from • find more shows: apple-ranked search with podcast index filling the gaps. when a show has two very different feeds, opencast recommends the fuller current one or lets you pick the archive • episode diagnostics replaces episode info: copy or share a full report, check whether the feed and audio urls respond, and share the audio file itself • **much** lower battery use while playing in the background • dozens of fixes: downloads, transcripts, ad analysis, and chapters stay attached when a show changes episode ids, purchases and billing recover from interruptions, rss dates and entities parse more reliably, and sync and data reset are safer full release notes: https://github.com/connlark/opencast/releases/tag/2026.9.1

opencast 2026.8.2 makes it easier to line up what you want to hear, find an episode, and skip the parts you always pass over. • add episodes with play next or play last, then open up next from now playing to play, reorder, remove, or clear them. the queue survives app relaunches and advances automatically when an episode finishes • browse your up next queue from carplay • find episodes faster with a new private, on-device search index. full text search now ranks titles, show notes, and local transcripts, recognizes partial words and many small typos, and shows better matching snippets • set automatic intro and outro skips for each podcast. enter exact times or adjust them in five-second steps; the settings sync with your subscription • when the final episode finishes, now playing shows a clear finished screen with replay and done actions • remote transcription now estimates remaining time earlier, handles overlapping source checks more reliably, and uses a more direct processing path for common mp3 files • finishing or dismissing playback is smoother full release notes: https://github.com/connlark/opencast/releases/tag/2026.8.2

opencast 2026.8.1 brings your podcasts to carplay and siri, with major improvements to feeds, listening history, transcripts, and reliability. • browse inbox, library, and downloads in carplay. start or resume an episode, change playback speed, and control voice boost from now playing • ask siri to play your subscribed podcasts in opencast • unsubscribing now keeps listening history by default, so played episodes and positions return if you subscribe again. you can still clear a show’s history during removal or clear history for all unfollowed shows from settings • transcript follow-along now verifies that playback matches the audio used for transcription. opencast can switch to the matching downloaded copy automatically and warns when timing cannot be trusted • smart resume rewinds a few seconds when you return to an episode, with more context after longer breaks • pull down on a podcast page to search its episodes. podcast discovery now uses your local itunes storefront when available • feed rows and podcast pages show clearer refresh health, including partial-feed recovery and new-episode notification polling issues • new-episode notifications can catch up with as many as three missed episodes per show this release also includes a refreshed app icon!!! full release notes: https://github.com/connlark/opencast/releases/tag/v2026.8.1

opencast 2026.7.2 adds optional remote transcription and more control over every podcast. • request a high-quality server-generated transcript from episode actions. remote transcription includes one complimentary hour, shows estimated usage before starting, and offers optional hour packs in Settings. • search within a podcast, sort episodes by date or length, filter by listening or download status, resume your most recent episode, mark all played, and manage a show’s downloads and automatic ad detection. • choose Apple transcription for new on-device transcripts on supported devices, with whisper as the fallback. • transcript highlighting now follows playback more accurately, especially around line changes. • voice Boost adds more robust on/off transitions, refined dynamics, true-peak protection, and more efficient processing. • ad detection is more reliable for long episodes and can resume after interruptions. • new-episode notifications now adapt to each show’s publishing schedule, alongside additional reliability and performance improvements throughout. on-device transcription stays on your device. optional remote transcription sends episode audio to opencast’s Cloudflare-hosted service only when you request it; temporary audio and transcript data are deleted under the retention terms in the privacy policy. ad detection sends transcript text—not episode audio—and the analysis service does not retain it. full release notes: https://github.com/connlark/opencast/releases/tag/v2026.7.2

This is opencast's biggest update yet. • Skip promos and ads: detect breaks, see them on the timeline and transcript, and automatically skip high-confidence zones with a quick undo. • On-device transcripts: generate a transcript, search it, tap any line to play from there, follow along as the episode plays, and improve it with Apple Speech. • A new Downloads tab: pause and resume downloads, retry failures, search and filter saved episodes, review storage use, and clean up played downloads when you choose. • A dedicated Search tab: search your Library's episodes and show notes, discover podcasts, add an RSS URL, and return to recent searches. • A redesigned Episode Detail screen brings playback, downloads, transcripts, ad detection, metadata, and show notes into one clearer flow. • Smoother iPhone and iPad navigation, a more native mini-player, richer notification artwork, and fixes across RSS parsing, streaming, Voice Boost, and background work. Transcription happens on your device. Ad detection sends transcript text—not episode audio—and the analysis service does not retain it.

what's new in 1.3.1: transcripts, on your device • generate full episode transcripts right on your iphone or ipad — private and offline. follow along as it plays, tap any word to jump straight there, and search for anything said inside an episode. one-tap ad-free playback • opencast can now detect ad and promo breaks and skip past them for you. grab an ad-free pass for an episode, let it prepare in the background, and you'll get a heads-up when it's ready. new-episode notifications • opt in to be notified the moment a show you follow posts a new episode — complete with cover art. a real downloads tab • save episodes for offline listening with a dedicated downloads screen: storage and per-podcast breakdowns, pause and resume, retry for failed downloads, multi-select cleanup, and automatic tidy-up of episodes you've finished. downloads keep working even if you unsubscribe from the show. faster search • a new search tab with your recent searches and quicker results. polish • smoother scrubbing with a redesigned progress bar and skip zones, a tidier mini-player that tucks into the tab bar, better airplay handling, and more reliable feed parsing. thanks for listening with opencast!

notifications are here! • new episode notifications for podcasts you follow • inbox is now the default starting point, with clearer loading and error states • improved iCloud sync restore visibility, including clearer activity states while subscriptions are imported or refreshed • better episode search loading behavior and more consistent results while searches update • episode rows now behave more directly: tapping can start playback, and long-press previews make episode details easier to inspect • now Playing and mini-player interactions are smoother, with improved swipe dismissal, seek handling, playback haptics, and AirPlay accessibility full release notes (and code) on github: https://github.com/connlark/opencast/releases/tag/v1.3.0

version 1.2 focuses on a smoother, faster playback experience. bug fixes: • fixed the audio source button on the Now Playing screen • fixed the Now Playing pill dismissal animation • made scrubbing smoother and more reliable improvements: • improved Now Playing entrance and dismissal animations • improved Now Playing responsiveness after returning to the app from the background • rebuilt the local library cache for better performance with very large podcast libraries • added long-press episode previews, so you can quickly peek at an episode description before opening it • added haptics throughout playback, refresh, speed changes, and episode actions much more to come!

OpenCast 1.1 focuses on a smoother, more reliable Now Playing experience. • Improved Now Playing layout for larger text sizes, with better scrolling and easier-to-reach controls (ty mom for finding this one) • Made swipe-to-dismiss less accidental while scrolling through the expanded player • Improved playback recovery after network timeouts and audio session interruptions, especially on cellular • Better preserves your episode position when retrying playback after a failure • Fixed a crash on macOS