What's New in YourPods
Every feature, fix, and improvement — documented for the detail-oriented.
Version 2.0.4
June 2026
P3 Privacy Mode
Strips 30+ tracking domains from episode URLs before playback. Enable globally or per-podcast. Green shield on Now Playing when active.
New Episode Notifications
Local push alerts with per-podcast controls. Stale episode delivery ensures you never miss an update. 100% local — no push servers.*
Background Sync Fixed
The toggle, interval, and re-scheduling all fixed. Reliable overnight sync and notification delivery — the way it should have always worked.
50+ Fixes
Incremental sync, 6× faster refresh, 95% less disk I/O, eliminated audio engine data races, and dozens of sync/stability improvements.
*Due to iOS background limitations, notifications might not always fire. Data never leaves your device.
New Features
9P3 (Privacy Preserving Playback)
Blocks 30+ tracking and ad-insertion domains before your episode even starts playing. Enable globally or per-podcast. Your P3 preference syncs across all devices. Green shield icon on Now Playing when active.
New Episode Notifications
Local push notifications when background refresh discovers new episodes. Per-podcast controls: notify for all or pick your favorites. Stale episode delivery ensures you never miss an episode, even when iOS skips a background refresh. 100% local — nothing sent to any push notification server.*
Hidden Episodes
Hide episodes to declutter your feed without affecting listening stats. "Hide Older Episodes" for batch cleanup on large back catalogs. Hidden state syncs across devices via YourPods Sync.
Clear Queue
One-tap clear from the Up Next overflow menu. "Clear Up Next" keeps the current episode playing, "Clear Everything" stops playback. Respects your queue removal preference.
Episode Activity
Chronological list of your played episodes with progress, timestamp, and device. Sort by Recent or By Podcast. Available for YourPods Sync users.
App Icon Badge
Show unplayed episode count on the app icon. Independent from notifications — configure each separately.
Custom gpodder.net Server Address
Point at your own gpodder.net-compatible instance. Self-host your sync with any server that speaks the gPodder protocol.
Download from Any Context Menu
Long-press episodes anywhere in the app to download. No need to navigate to the episode detail screen first.
watchOS: Recently Updated
The 10 most recent unplayed episodes right on your Apple Watch home screen. Tap to play directly on your wrist.
Sync & Reliability
9- Background refresh actually works now — respects your toggle, uses your refresh interval, re-schedules on every background entry
- Incremental sync — only fetches changes since your last sync, not the entire history
- Batched per-podcast settings sync — one HTTP call instead of one per podcast
- Fixed mark-as-played not syncing across devices
- Fixed episodes showing wrong position after cross-device sync
- Fixed subscription drift — podcasts deleted on another device are now properly removed
- Fixed replayed episodes finishing instantly
- AutoPilot global settings now sync to server
- Per-podcast settings (speed, skip, privacy) sync bidirectionally
Performance
4- 6× faster feed refresh (concurrent fetching with real-time progress display)
- 95% reduction in disk I/O during playback — progress, action map, and queue persistence all throttled and batched
- Faster initial playback on slow networks (10s buffer)
- Eliminated audio engine data races with compile-time MainActor isolation
Bug Fixes
8- Skip outro actually works during playback now
- Per-podcast speed no longer leaks between episodes during auto-advance
- Episode count now matches the actual RSS feed
- Fixed watchOS freezing, background crashes, and watchdog kills
- CarPlay: instant metadata display, offline artwork, network-aware recovery
- Eliminated multiple crash vectors — data races, SwiftData corruption, WAL checkpoints
- Stale episodes rotated out of RSS feeds are flagged and hidden from counts
- 50+ additional sync, stability, and crash fixes
Version 2.0.3
April 2026
Podcast Groups
Organize your library into named folders. Bulk-move shows, browse groups in CarPlay, and keep your growing collection tidy.
VoiceOver Excellence
Comprehensive VoiceOver support across the entire app — custom rotor actions, adjustable seek bars, and descriptive labels on every control.
Watch Background Audio
True background playback on Apple Watch — navigate freely while listening, with automatic episode auto-advance on your wrist.
6x Faster Sync
Feed refreshing is dramatically faster with real-time progress display. Plus new offline banners and one-tap retry for seamless connectivity.
New Features
12Podcast Groups
Tame your growing library. Organize your subscriptions into named folders (like "Tech" or "Comedy"), seamlessly bulk-move shows, and browse your groups right from your car dashboard in CarPlay.
VoiceOver Excellence
Comprehensive VoiceOver support across the entire app. Navigate episodes instantly using custom rotor actions, scrub through audio with adjustable seek bars, and hear dynamic, descriptive labels on all playback controls.
True Watch Background Audio
Play episodes directly from your Apple Watch and navigate the interface freely without your audio stopping. When an episode ends, your watch automatically advances to the next track.
Enriched OPML Export
When you export your subscriptions, your custom Podcast Groups and personalized Listening Profiles are now perfectly preserved.
Smarter Chapters
Expanded smart extraction engine recognizes even more timestamp formats from show notes, automatically generating chapters for you to navigate.
Redesigned Now Playing Card
The Now Playing card on your Home screen has been beautifully redesigned to feature larger artwork and clearer chapter displays.
Streamlined Onboarding
A brand-new welcome flow puts Vault Mode and gPodder Sync front and center, making it easier than ever for new users to get started.
Download Network Setting
Take total control of your data with the new Download Network setting. Choose exactly when AutoPilot is allowed to download new episodes: Wi-Fi Only, Cellular Only, or both.
Watch-Specific Data Saver
Toggle Wi-Fi-only downloads specifically for your Apple Watch, independent of your iPhone, to help preserve your watch's battery.
Intelligent Offline Feedback
Never guess your connection status. Beautiful new offline banners and one-tap retry buttons appear seamlessly when you lose your signal or a stream drops.
Vault to Sync Upgrade
Started local but ready for the cloud? You can now easily upgrade your local Vault Mode library to a gPodder sync server without losing a single subscription.
Lightning Fast Sync
Feed refreshing is now up to 6x faster, complete with a real-time progress display for massive libraries.
Polish & Performance
5- Added a preflight integrity check to gracefully recover from SQLite database corruption
- Fixed an issue that could cause a gray screen when opening episode details
- Fixed an issue where duplicate episodes could appear in your Up Next queue
- Resolved crashes related to large-library syncing and watchOS launches
- Removed legacy Flutter migration code to keep the app lightweight and purely native
Version 2.0.2
April 2026
Redesigned Home Screen
Discover your next listen faster. Condensed top bar and horizontally-scrollable "Recently Updated" rows put up to 12 episodes at your fingertips.
DriftOff Mode
Fall asleep to your favorite show without waking up to an empty queue. DriftOff Mode stops playback when the episode ends + Siri voice commands for hands-free control.
Watch Battery & Independence
Configurable sync intervals dramatically improve battery life. Playback resumes accurately between phone and watch — no more stalling.
Follow Along with Transcripts
Never miss a word. Read along and tap to jump exactly where you want to be — with full plain text and HTML transcript support.
Built for Podcast Enthusiasts
Seamless gPodder sync, password manager AutoFill, metadata badges, sharing, and deep respect for open podcasting standards.
New Features
19Sleep Timer "DriftOff Mode"
Choose DriftOff Mode to stop playback when the current episode finishes instead of auto-advancing to the next one — perfect for falling asleep to a single episode. Available alongside timed presets in the sleep timer sheet.
New Siri Commands
"Set sleep timer," "Cancel sleep timer," and "What's playing" — control your sleep timer and check what's playing hands-free from Siri, AirPods, or CarPlay.
Redesigned Home Screen
"YourPods" title condensed to a single inline bar with the app logo for more screen real estate. "Recently Updated" now shows two horizontally-scrollable rows of episodes (up to 12) instead of a fixed 2×3 grid.
Share Episodes & Podcasts
Share episodes, podcasts, or your current playback position from the episode detail screen or the mini player overflow menu — sends a formatted message with a link via any sharing method.
Transcript Support
Podcasts that provide text/plain or text/html transcripts (with [HH:MM:SS] timestamps) now display properly in the transcript viewer with tap-to-seek.
Configurable Apple Watch Sync Interval
Choose how often the watch sends playback progress to the phone during on-watch playback (10s, 15s, 30s, 1m, 2m). Defaults to 30 seconds for significantly improved battery life.
gPodder Session-Based Authentication
Supports gpodder.net-style session login with automatic fallback to Basic auth for Nextcloud compatibility.
Full Subscription List Import
Initial sync and re-install recovery now pull the complete subscription list from the server — not just changes since last sync.
Device Registration
The app now registers itself with gPodder-compatible servers, enabling device management and sync group visibility.
URL Rewrite Conflict Resolution
When the server rewrites feed URLs (update_urls), a conflict sheet shows old → new URLs with Accept or Keep Local buttons per-podcast.
Podcast Spec Metadata Badges
Explicit 🅴, category, complete ✓, serial, publisher, funding ❤️, Value 4 Value ⚡, and live 🔴 indicators on podcast and episode views.
Expanded Podcast Detail
Expandable description, website link, funding link, RSS feed link, language, and copyright — tap "Show More" to read the full description, and find all podcast links in one place.
Enhanced Search Results
Search results now show description previews and website links when available, with an updated search bar featuring a blue magnifying glass and visible border.
Podcast Preview Sheet
Now shows the full description and website from the RSS feed, even when the search API returns empty metadata.
AutoPilot Queue Labels
Renamed "Normal" to "Add to Queue" and "Priority" to "Play Next." Renamed "Default" to "Global Setting" in Listening Profile, with descriptive footer text.
Mark as Played from Mini Player
Tap the … menu on the Now Playing bar to mark the current episode as played and stop playback.
Password Manager Support
Password fields for sync profiles and protected feeds now trigger iOS AutoFill, so you can use 1Password, iCloud Keychain, or any password manager to fill credentials.
Remove All in Up Next
Tap the … menu in the queue to clear all upcoming episodes at once, with a confirmation dialog to prevent accidental clears.
Settings Layout Improved
About section moved to the bottom of the screen for a cleaner flow.
Bug Fixes
17- Fixed sync conflict resolution not applying the chosen position — the player now seeks to the selected position instead of continuing at the old playback point
- Fixed "Mark as Played" button on the episode detail sheet silently failing when the episode's podcast relationship wasn't loaded — now uses a 3-level fallback chain
- Fixed missing context menu and detail access on the currently playing episode in Up Next — Now Playing row now supports long press and tap to open detail sheet
- Fixed tab bar "Icon Only" display mode — previously rendered as text-only due to SwiftUI view type confusion
- Fixed Apple Watch not resuming at the correct playback position — episodes synced from iPhone now carry their play position
- Fixed auto-queue (AutoPilot) ignoring global default — podcasts with no per-podcast override were silently skipped instead of inheriting the global default
- Fixed non-square podcast artwork overflowing its frame in the full-screen player and episode detail sheet
- Fixed already-played and previously-dismissed episodes being auto-added to Up Next during feed refresh and background updates
- Fixed "Mark as Played" not removing episodes from the queue — now also removes from queue, and marking the currently-playing episode stops playback
- Fixed played episodes returning to the queue when starting a new episode
- Fixed background auto-advance stopping after an episode finishes — the app now requests background execution time from iOS before starting the next track
- Fixed auto-queue (AutoPilot) adding played/old episodes — now only queues the most recent unplayed episode per podcast
- Fixed Podcast Index search silently falling back to iTunes when API credentials are missing — now shows a clear error message
- Podcast Index API credentials are now stored securely in the iOS Keychain instead of plain UserDefaults — existing credentials migrated automatically
- Fixed live item start time not parsing from RSS feeds — dates with fractional seconds are now correctly parsed
- Fixed crash-on-launch when the local database becomes corrupted — the app now detects crash loops and automatically rebuilds the store
- Fixed Apple Watch "Now Playing" stalling when the episode is downloaded on-watch — now plays from the local file with position resumption, falls back to streaming
Version 2.0.1
March 2026
New Features
8Podcast Author on Bluetooth Displays
The "Artist" field on car dashboards, Bluetooth speakers, and headphones with displays now shows the podcast creator name (parsed from itunes:author in the RSS feed). The podcast name is shown as the "Album" field.
Password-Protected Feed Badge
Private feeds now show a padlock badge on their artwork in the Library and episode list, making protected feeds easy to identify at a glance.
Editable Feed Credentials
Feed credentials (username/password) can be edited from Podcast Settings for any protected feed. Credentials are stored securely on-device and never synced to any server.
Queue Removal Preference
Choose to just remove, remove and mark as played, or always ask when swiping to remove from Up Next. First-time removers are prompted to choose and remember their preference.
Long Press Context Menus
Context menus on episodes in the library (Play, Play Next, Add to Queue, Download, Mark as Played, Details) and on Up Next queue items (Play, Play Next, Remove from Queue, Mark as Played).
Pull-to-Refresh
Pull down on Library and Up Next views to refresh all podcast feeds for the latest episodes.
Customizable Headphone Controls
Choose what AirPods double-tap and triple-tap do: skip forward/back by your configured duration, jump to the next episode, or restart the current one.
Download Cleanup Policy
Choose when downloaded episodes are automatically deleted: once played, after 1 week, after 1 month, or never. Set a global default and override per-podcast.
Bug Fixes
17- Fix per-podcast AutoPilot setting silently overriding global default when opening Listening Profile sheet
- Fix per-podcast download cleanup policy silently overriding global default when opening Listening Profile sheet
- Fix downloads not being automatically removed when an episode finishes playing
- Fix sync conflict popup appearing every time an episode finishes playing
- Fix skip-outro putting the completed episode back in Up Next
- Fix skip-outro draining the entire queue — periodic time observer could call skipToNext() multiple times
- Migrate gPodder sync passwords from plain UserDefaults to iOS Keychain for secure storage
- Fix playback position reverting to an earlier point when quitting the app
- Wire the Conflict Resolution setting to actually control sync behavior
- Fix sync conflict wizard reappearing on every app launch
- Fix sync conflict wizard showing duplicate conflicts for the same episode
- Fix completed episodes triggering spurious sync conflicts
- Fix queue race condition where finishing an episode could mark all remaining queue episodes as "finished"
- Fix password-protected podcast feeds failing to authenticate
- Fix per-podcast skip intro/outro and playback speed settings (Listening Profile) not applying during auto-advance
- Fix priority AutoPilot episodes not always appearing at the top of Up Next
- Fix race condition where finishing one episode could auto-complete the entire Up Next queue
Improvements
13- Default all user-entered URLs to HTTPS when no scheme is specified
- Add conflict resolution UI when sync strategy is set to "Ask"
- Sync conflict wizard now shows episode name, podcast name, and album art
- Sync conflict resolution buttons redesigned with clear "Use Device" / "Use Server" labels
- Sync conflict wizard tracks recurring conflicts and shows "Seen X times" badge
- Episode downloads now use background URLSession — downloads continue when app is backgrounded
- URL resolution requests are now coalesced — multiple concurrent requests share a single network call
- CarPlay image cache now uses NSCache for automatic memory management
- Queue state is periodically persisted every 30 seconds as a safety net
- Queue persistence timer fires during UI scrolling, preventing stale state
- Background download completion events are now properly delivered to the app
- HTTPS is now the default for all server URLs
- Auth credentials are stripped from URL redirect chains when crossing domains or downgrading HTTPS
Version 2.0
Built from scratch in native Swift for iOS, watchOS, and CarPlay.
Faster, more reliable, and deeply integrated with the Apple ecosystem.
Core Features
New in 2.0
Siri Voice Commands
10Design & Polish
15- Per-podcast customization (Listening Profile): playback speed, skip intro/outro, AutoPilot, auto-download
- Sleep timer with DriftOff Mode for nighttime listening
- Listening stats: total time, episodes completed, per-podcast breakdowns
- OPML import & export for migration
- Flutter → Swift automatic migration for 1.x users
- Redesigned mini player with larger touch targets
- Interactive seek bar with expand-on-touch scrubbing
- Rich text episode descriptions (HTML stripped, dark mode aware)
- Library rows show unplayed counts with blue dot indicators
- Library filter pills: All, Downloaded, Unplayed, In Progress
- Drag-to-reorder podcasts with persistent sort order
- Context menus on episode cards for quick actions
- Tab bar display modes: Text Only, Icon Only, or Text & Icon
- Configurable start page (Home, Library, or Up Next)
- System, Light, and Dark appearance modes
Reliability
50+Over 50 reliability fixes addressing:
- Queue persistence across crashes, force quits, and cold starts
- Stream recovery with exponential backoff and retry limits
- Spurious completion detection to prevent episodes from being skipped or marked played incorrectly
- Thread-safe sync, download, and playback operations
- Correct position resume on lock screen, CarPlay, and Dynamic Island after cold launch
- Per-profile sync timestamps so multiple accounts don't interfere with each other
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YourPods is a one-time purchase. No subscriptions. No tracking.