Support & User Guide

Getting Started

Finding and adding podcasts

Tap the + button in the top-right corner of the Subscriptions page to open Discover — a browsing page of Apple Podcasts charts, with Top-8 highlights, category rows, and a country picker. Tap a category chip such as News, Comedy, or Technology to open its Top 8 Episodes and Top 100 Shows for the selected country. Tap the search bar to search the catalogue by show name, author, or keyword — results appear automatically as you type.

Show results open the podcast page. Episode results open episode details; tap the linked podcast name to browse the show and subscribe. Tap an episode row to open its details; swipe to reveal playback actions.

When you're ready, tap Subscribe. The podcast is added to the top of your Priority Stack and Autohop begins checking it for new episodes immediately.

How the queue fills automatically

Once you have subscriptions and at least one downloaded episode, Autohop builds your queue automatically. You don't need to add episodes manually — the queue is drawn from downloaded, unplayed episodes across all your subscriptions, ordered by each podcast's priority rank. The Priority Stack section walks through this with an example.

Tap Play on any episode and Autohop advances through the queue without any further input from you.

Finding your way around

Priority Stack

The Priority Stack is the core of Autohop. It's a ranked list of your subscriptions that determines the order episodes play. Shows at the top of the list are heard first.

Reordering subscriptions

1. Tap Priority in the top toolbar to enter edit mode.
2. Drag the handle on the right side of any row to move it up or down.
3. Tap Done when finished. The queue updates immediately.

How priority affects playback

When an episode finishes, Autohop picks the next episode from the subscription with the highest priority rank that has a downloaded, unplayed episode available. If your top-ranked show has no downloaded episodes, Autohop moves to the next show, and so on.

Find a subscription

On Subscriptions, tap the magnifying glass beside +. Type to filter your existing shows. Clear removes the search text; Cancel closes search. Use + for Discover instead.

Refreshing feeds manually

Tap the ↺ refresh button in the toolbar to check all non-Inactive subscriptions for new episodes immediately. A spinner replaces the button while the refresh is in progress. Inactive shows can still be refreshed from their own podcast page.

Episode status pills

Each row shows a colour-coded pill indicating the status of the latest episode. An episode you listened to completion keeps its Played pill even after it is later archived:

• Unplayed
• Queued
• Paused
• Playing
• Played
• Archived
• Inactive

Up Next

The Up Next sheet shows all episodes that are ready to play, in the order Autohop will play them. Open it by tapping the Up Next button in the player toolbar.

Swipe actions

• Swipe Right: Play — Start this episode immediately
• Swipe Right: Play Next — Move to front of queue
• Swipe Left: Archive — Mark as done, remove from queue
• Swipe Left: Play Last — Push to end of queue

Pin badges

Episodes manually positioned in the queue show a pin badge above their duration:

• Blue pin — Play Next (promoted to front)
• Orange pin — Play Last (demoted to end)

Up Next indicator

The episode immediately after the currently playing one is labelled "Up Next" in the queue so you always know what's coming.

Player

The player has two or three swipeable panels depending on whether the current episode has chapter data. Swipe left and right to move between them.

Playback controls

• Skip back / Skip forward — Jumps by the number of seconds configured in Settings (default 15s back / 30s forward).
• Scrubber — Drag to seek to any position. Shows elapsed and remaining time.
• Audio controls button — Opens the Audio Controls sheet for speed, trim silence, and vocal boost.
• Sleep timer — Tap the moon icon to set a sleep timer.
• Up Next button — Opens the Up Next sheet.

Lock screen & Control Centre

Autohop integrates with iOS Now Playing controls. Play/pause, skip forward, skip back, and scrubbing all work from the Lock Screen, Control Centre, and CarPlay.

Returning to the Player

Playback continues as you browse. Tap the mini-player to return to the Player where it is shown. Use the back button to return to the previous page. Some editing and presentation states temporarily hide the mini-player.

Audio Controls

Tap the audio controls button in the player to open the Audio Controls sheet. Speed, Mono Audio, Trim Silence, and Vocal Boost apply to the current podcast and are saved permanently — they are not global settings. The one exception is Shared Listening, a global temporary override at the top of the sheet.

Mono Audio

Choose Mono when a podcast places one presenter mostly in the left channel and another mostly in the right. Autohop combines both channels and sends the centred result to both ears, retaining content from each side. Stereo remains the default. Mono Audio applies to audio episodes only.

Playback Speed

Tap − or + to adjust speed in 0.1× steps. Range: 1.0× to 2.5×. The default for new subscriptions is 1.6×.

Speed changes take effect immediately and persist for that podcast.

Trim Silence

Trim Silence shortens quiet gaps between speech. Higher levels remove more pauses; choose a lower level for shows where pauses are part of the experience.

Vocal Boost

Vocal Boost applies EQ enhancement to make speech clearer and more present — particularly useful at high speeds, in noisy environments, or with podcasts recorded on low-quality microphones.

Shared Listening

Shared Listening is built for the moments you're not listening alone — a car stereo with passengers, a kitchen speaker, a road trip. If your shows are set to 1.6× or 1.7× with Trim Silence on, that's perfect through headphones but uncomfortable for a group.

Flip the Shared Listening toggle at the top of the Audio Controls sheet and every podcast temporarily plays at a relaxed group speed with Trim Silence switched off. Your per-podcast settings are never altered — turn the toggle off and everything returns exactly as it was.

CarPlay

Autohop supports CarPlay as a focused audio playback surface. It uses the same playback, queue, subscriptions, downloads, speed, archive, and Shared Listening state as the iPhone app.

What appears in CarPlay

Downloads in CarPlay

Up Next only shows episodes already downloaded and playable from local files. Subscription episode pages mirror the podcast detail page by showing recent episodes, including played, archived, and not-yet-downloaded episodes. If you choose Play Now, Play Next, or Play Last for an episode not on device, CarPlay asks before downloading it and shows a downloading state while the file is saved.

CarPlay does not search, discover podcasts, refresh feeds, stream episodes, or manage subscriptions from the car interface.

Up Next actions

• Play Now — starts the selected downloaded episode immediately, or asks to download first from a subscription episode page.
• Play Next — moves the episode directly after the currently playing episode. If nothing is currently playing, Play Next starts the episode. Undownloaded subscription episodes ask to download first.
• Play Last — moves the episode to the end of the queue. Undownloaded subscription episodes ask to download first.
• Archive — removes the episode from the queue. Archiving the current episode advances to the next downloaded queue item when one is available.

Speed and Shared Listening

The speed button opens a simple slower/faster page using Autohop's existing preset speeds. It stays open while you adjust speed. Shared Listening controls the same global temporary override as the iPhone app, so turning it on or off in CarPlay updates the iPhone state too.

Chapters

If a podcast episode includes chapter data, a Chapters panel appears as the third tab in the player. It lists all chapters with their titles and timestamps.

Jumping to a chapter

Tap any chapter row to jump to that position in the episode immediately.

Disabling chapters

Tap any chapter row to toggle it between enabled and disabled. Disabled chapters are shown with a strikethrough and skipped automatically during playback — Autohop jumps past them without any input. This is useful for sponsor reads, recurring segments, or intros you've already heard many times.

Tap a disabled chapter row again to re-enable it. If you disable the chapter currently playing from the Player, Autohop immediately moves to the next enabled chapter; the podcast settings page protects the current row from accidental taps.

Downloads

On iPhone, iPad and the compatible Mac app, playback uses downloaded episodes. Apple TV Discover can stream episodes; see the Apple TV guide for its different workflow.

Downloading an episode

On a subscribed podcast's episode list, swipe an undownloaded episode and tap Download. Listening History offers the same state-aware action for episodes still available in your library. A progress bar appears in the episode row while downloading.

You can also open an episode’s detail page and tap Download when available.

Background downloads

Downloads can continue through iOS background transfers when you leave the app. Network availability and system restrictions can delay or interrupt them.

Pausing and cancelling

Open Menu → Downloads. Use Pause, Resume or Retry Now beside an active transfer. Swipe a resolved episode for Play, Play Next, Play Last or Archive. Archive removes the download; archived entries offer Re-download.

Cellular downloads

By default, Autohop downloads over both Wi-Fi and mobile data so the queue stays stocked. To restrict automatic downloads, go to Settings → Downloading and turn off Download over cellular, Download over WiFi, or both.

Storage

Downloaded episode files are stored in the app's private storage. Go to Settings → Storage to see how many episodes are currently downloaded. Episodes are automatically removed when archived (manually or by auto-archive policy).

Per-Podcast Settings

Every podcast has its own independent settings. To access them, tap any podcast row in the Subscriptions page to open its episode list, then tap the gear icon (⚙) in the top-right toolbar.

Playback settings

Auto-archive policy

Auto-archive has three independent rules that work together to keep your storage tidy. Each is set per podcast and works on its own — whichever one matches first sends the episode to the archive and frees its storage.

After Played — how soon a finished episode is archived and its file deleted:

After Inactive — how long an unplayed, untouched episode is kept before being archived. Options range from Never to 90 Days. Default: 1 Week. Useful for news or daily shows where old episodes become irrelevant quickly.

Episode Limit — retain the newest N automatic downloads and replace the oldest managed download when a newer episode arrives. Changing the limit does not download older episodes. Explicitly downloaded episodes and episodes you manually position with Play Next or Play Last are protected and may sit above the limit. Options: No Limit, 1 (default), 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 episodes.

Automatic downloading continues to honour this podcast's Download Feed Filters.

Play Instant

Enable Play Instant only for your absolute favourite content. If another episode is actively playing when a new, filter-eligible episode from this podcast finishes downloading automatically, Autohop sounds a clear warning, switches to the new arrival ahead of Up Next, then returns to the interrupted episode at the exact saved position.

If playback or its audio route is temporarily unavailable when the automatic download completes, the episode waits safely for up to 30 minutes and triggers when playback resumes. It never starts unexpectedly through the phone speaker; if playback does not resume in time, the episode simply keeps its normal Up Next position.

Play Instant does not trigger for manual downloads, older backlog episodes, or episodes excluded by Download Feed Filters. It also waits rather than interrupting when the current episode has 120 seconds or less remaining. If you pause, archive, choose another episode, or skip Next during an active Play Instant interruption, Autohop treats that as a deliberate choice and cancels the automatic return.

Podcast Replay — Version 1.7

Open the dedicated Podcast Replay section above Download Feed Filters. See Podcast Replay in this guide for schedules, Binge Mode, limits and sync.

Chapter Filter

When an episode contains chapters, toggle chapter positions that Autohop should skip for this podcast. The choices apply to future episodes with the same chapter positions and update active playback immediately. While this podcast is playing, its current chapter is protected from accidental changes on this settings page.

Download Feed Filters

Choose which new episodes download automatically using duration limits and title or description text rules. Filtered episodes remain visible and can still be downloaded or queued manually.

Episodes deliberately excluded by these filters do not train Release Radar and do not count as evidence in Shows You're Drifting From. Filter rules sync with your other per-podcast settings when iCloud Sync is enabled.

In Version 1.7, switch on only the filter groups you need. Add Include or Exclude rules for length, title or description. All rules requires every Include rule; Any rule requires one. Exclude always wins. Blank text rules are ignored. Changes save automatically; switching a group off keeps its saved rules.

Use Preview Matches to check recent entries without downloading media. Results update as rules change. Five results appear first; Show All reveals the rest. Preview eligibility does not override download limits.

Exclude from auto-refresh

Toggle this on to stop Autohop polling this podcast's RSS feed during automatic/feed-all refreshes. The podcast stays subscribed, moves to the bottom with the Inactive pill, keeps its downloaded episodes and queue eligibility, and can still be manually refreshed from its own podcast page. Turning the setting off restores its saved Priority Stack position.

Notifications

Toggle on to receive a notification when a new episode from this podcast is available. This podcast's choice is independent after subscription: changing the global New episode notifications default later does not alter or suppress it.

Sleep Timer

The sleep timer automatically pauses playback after a set duration, using a gradual 30-second fade so the ending is calm rather than abrupt. Tap the moon icon in the player toolbar to open the Sleep Timer sheet.

Setting a timer

Choose a duration — 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, or 1 hour — and tap to start immediately.

Or use End of Episode mode: set a count (1–10 episodes) using the stepper, then tap Set. Autohop pauses after that many episodes finish.

While a timer is active, the moon icon shows a countdown badge. Tap the moon again to see the active timer, extend it by +5 minutes, or cancel it.

Sleep Schedule

Sleep Schedule is a recurring, nightly sleep timer — set it up once and it works every night, no taps required at bedtime.

Setting it up

1. Open the Menu (☰) → Sleep Schedule.
2. Turn on the toggle and choose your Active Hours — for example 9:00pm to 6:00am. The window can cross midnight.
3. Choose how often Autohop should check in: 10, 15, 20, 40 or 60 minutes, or End of Episode to ask at each episode boundary.

How a night works

Start playing anything during your active hours and the schedule arms itself. After the chosen duration, a soft, meditative chime plays over your podcast — playback doesn't stop — asking, in effect, "are you still listening?"

• Still awake? Tap any control — play/pause on the lock screen, an earbud tap, skip forward or back, the on-screen button, or the "Still Listening" button on the lock-screen notification (no need to unlock your phone). Playback simply continues and the cycle restarts.
• Asleep? If you don't respond within a minute, playback fades smoothly over 30 seconds, pauses, and rewinds to the moment the chime began — so in the morning you resume from the last thing you actually heard.
• Active Hours ended? Autohop dismisses any pending check-in and its notification. Your podcast continues normally, but Sleep Schedule will not ask again outside the selected window.

Video Podcasts

Autohop supports both audio and video podcast feeds. Video episodes are detected automatically from the RSS feed.

Playback

Video episodes open in the native iOS video player embedded in the player view. Tap the full screen button to expand to landscape full-screen mode.

Landscape orientation

Autohop unlocks landscape rotation when a video episode is playing full-screen. Rotate your device to landscape and the video fills the screen. Rotating back to portrait returns to the standard player view.

Audio processing on video

Trim Silence and Vocal Boost are not applied to video episodes — video always uses the standard AVPlayer playback path. Playback speed and skip settings still apply to video.

Notifications

Autohop can notify you when new episodes from your subscriptions are downloaded and ready to play.

Enabling notifications

1. Go to Settings → Release Radar → Notification Settings. The New episode notifications switch chooses whether podcasts you subscribe to from then on start with alerts enabled.
2. Use each podcast's own toggle to change an existing subscription, or use Enable All / Disable All for the current list.
3. iOS will prompt for notification permission when you explicitly enable a notification option — tap Allow. If you previously denied permission, the page shows an Open iOS Settings shortcut.

Per-podcast control

On a fresh install, new subscriptions start with notifications enabled. The page lists every existing subscription with its own authoritative toggle. Changing the new-subscription default never rewrites or gates those existing choices.

Listening Recaps

Open Settings → Release Radar → Notification Settings → Listening Recaps. Choose weekly, monthly or yearly summaries. Recaps have their own controls and need notification permission; they do not change podcast alerts.

OPML Import & Export

OPML is a standard format for transferring podcast subscription lists between apps. Use it to migrate from another podcast player or to back up your subscriptions.

Importing from another app

1. Export your subscriptions as an OPML file from your current podcast app.
2. In Autohop, go to Settings → Subscriptions → Import OPML.
3. Select the OPML file from Files or your Downloads folder.
4. Autohop imports all feeds. Duplicates are skipped automatically.

Exporting your subscriptions

1. Go to Settings → Subscriptions → Export OPML.
2. Choose where to save the exported OPML file. You can then share that file using Files or your device’s sharing options.

iCloud Sync

iCloud Sync keeps your library and playback position aligned across compatible devices signed into the same iCloud account. Allow time for changes to upload and arrive on the other device.

It's on by default for new users so iPhone and Apple TV can stay in step without extra setup. Existing users keep their saved choice, and anyone can turn it off at any time.

Turning it on

1. Go to Settings → Sync.
2. Turn on iCloud Sync.
3. Do the same on your other devices, signed into the same iCloud account.

Starting on Apple TV

If Apple TV does not find an Autohop library during its first check, it shows a setup screen instead of waiting indefinitely. From there you can Check iCloud Again, open Discover, review Settings, or choose Explore Demo Library to try the main Apple TV experience without an account or an iPhone library.

Place Autohop in the top row of the Apple TV Home Screen to see Continue Listening and Up Next in Top Shelf. Select an episode to view its details, or press Play/Pause while it is focused to start or resume it. Until a personal library is available, Apple TV shows Autohop's static purple artwork instead.

What syncs

• Your subscriptions, and the order you ranked them in
• Each podcast's own settings (speed, Mono Audio, Trim Silence, Vocal Boost, skips, auto-archive rules, Download Feed Filters)
• Played, paused and archived state, and your exact position in each episode
• Your exact Up Next order
• Your listening history and your stats

What stays on each device

Downloaded episode files stay on each device. Each device fetches its own media using its network settings, which may use mobile data. Global app settings, such as your starting screen, also stay local.

Listening History

Autohop keeps a searchable record of every episode you've listened to. Access it from Menu (☰) → Listening History.

Only episodes with at least 1 minute of actual playback are shown — episodes that were archived or skipped before the 1-minute mark are excluded.

Stats header

The top of the page shows two summary stats: Listening Time (total audio time consumed across qualifying episodes) and Episodes (total count of played or archived episodes with at least 1 minute of playback).

History list

Episodes are grouped by date — Today, Yesterday, then older dates. Rows use the same compact artwork, title, podcast-name, status-pill and download-progress design as Autohop's other episode lists.

• Played — the episode was completed naturally or marked as played.
• Archived — the episode was manually or automatically archived.
• Paused — listening stopped before the episode was completed. If that same episode is currently playing, the pill changes to Playing.

The metadata records the historical event and its exact local date and time: Completed, Manually Archived, Auto Archived, or Last listened for older entries that predate event classification. This history label is preserved even if the episode's current library state changes later.

Search

Tap the search bar at the top to filter history by episode title or podcast name. Results update as you type.

Resolved library rows use the same swipe actions as podcast episode lists: Play Now and Play Next on the leading edge, plus Download, Archive or Unarchive and Play Last on the trailing edge. Actions download first when required, with an animated progress bar beneath the row.

Stats

Access your listening stats from the Menu (☰) → Stats.

Pick a time period at the top of the page — 7 Days, the displayed month, the displayed year, or Lifetime — and every chart below responds to it. A separate This/Last bar switches Week, Month, and Year between the current period and the previous completed one. Weeks run Monday to Sunday. Stats are computed locally and sync only through your private iCloud when you enable iCloud Sync.

What the page shows

Time Saved breakdown

The Total row sums all four categories. Time saved totals you accumulated in earlier versions of Autohop are preserved and included in the Lifetime view.

Home & Lock Screen Widgets

Add Now Playing & Up Next from the iPhone or iPad Home Screen widget gallery. Available sizes show the current episode and downloaded Up Next items. Lock Screen and StandBy options depend on your device.

Playing from a widget

Tap a purple play control to start that downloaded episode immediately. If it is already current, the same control toggles play and pause. Playback can begin without opening Autohop; a stale, archived, or no-longer-downloaded row is rejected safely.

Privacy and updates

Widget data is a small display-only cache stored locally in Autohop's private App Group. It contains titles, durations, status flags, stable episode identity, and prepared thumbnails — never audio URLs, local media paths, credentials, or the podcast database. The widget extension does not contact podcast or artwork servers.

Lock Screen episode text is marked privacy-sensitive so iOS can redact it while your device is locked. Remaining time is a checkpoint updated after meaningful playback events, not a second-by-second countdown. If the snapshot becomes old or unreadable, the widget asks you to open Autohop rather than showing misleading playback state.

App Settings

Access global settings via the hamburger menu (☰) on the Subscriptions page → Settings.

Startup

Release Radar

Autohop learns each podcast's release schedule and prioritises its feed when a new episode is expected. Refresh timing depends on whether Autohop is active and when iOS grants background execution, so Release Radar improves the chance of prompt discovery without promising an exact delivery time.

Auto-Archive

Downloading

Controls

Subscriptions

Default Playback

Sets the speed, Stereo/Mono Audio mode, Vocal Boost, Trim Silence, and start/end skip given to every new subscription, and used to play feeds you're only previewing. Stereo is the factory default. Changing these never affects podcasts you've already subscribed to — adjust those from each podcast's own settings.

Sync

iCloud Sync keeps subscriptions, per-podcast settings, played and archived state, playback positions, Up Next order, history, and stats in step through your private iCloud database across compatible devices. Downloaded media and global app settings remain local. It is on for new users and can be turned off at any time. See the iCloud Sync section for the full picture.

Storage

Shows the count of currently downloaded episodes and their total size on disk. To free storage, archive episodes from Up Next or adjust the Episode Limit in your per-podcast auto-archive settings.

About

Shows the app version number and a link to Open Source Acknowledgements.

Add RSS Feed — Version 1.7

1. Open Settings → Subscriptions → Add RSS Feed.
2. Paste or type the publisher’s RSS feed link. The example address is only a placeholder.
3. Preview Podcast appears once you enter text. Tap it and wait for the preview.
4. Check the show title and latest episode, then tap Subscribe.

Look for RSS on the publisher’s website. A normal web page or Apple Podcasts link is usually not a feed. Expand What is an RSS link? for help.

If preview fails, check the address and connection, then retry. Editing the link clears the old preview. Nothing is subscribed until you confirm; duplicate or save errors appear on the page.

Podcast Replay — Version 1.7

1. Open a podcast, tap its settings gear, then Set Up Podcast Replay.
2. Choose the earlier episode you want to start from.
3. Choose Daily, Weekdays or Choose Days, then add the release times you want. For a commute, add a morning and afternoon time.
4. Check the upcoming episodes and Episode Limit, then save the Replay setup.

Replay works through matching episodes in release order. Download Feed Filters still apply. While Replay is enabled, it replaces normal automatic new-episode downloading for this podcast. You can still choose episodes manually.

Binge Mode

Turn on Binge Mode to hide the calendar controls and prepare the next matching episode when playback starts. With Episode Limit 1, it can keep one upcoming episode in addition to the playing episode. Up Next still follows your existing priority order and manual choices; Binge Mode does not force this podcast to play next.

Make room for listening

Episode Limit is shared with this podcast’s Auto Archive settings. Changing it on either page updates both immediately. Replay waits when the limit is reached, then resumes when there is room and a release is due. The schedule itself is saved with the Replay save action.

Caught up or ready to stop

When you catch up, review the message in Replay and choose whether to keep the schedule for future episodes or turn Replay off. Enable the caught-up notification if wanted. Turning Replay off restores normal automatic new-episode downloads. To choose a different starting episode, turn it off and set it up again.

Devices and timing

Keep Autohop updated on all devices and use iCloud Sync for supported Replay settings and Up Next changes. The scheduling device remains responsible for preparing releases; automatic takeover by another device is not guaranteed. Keep that device available. Downloads can arrive late if the app cannot run or connect. The saved schedule’s time zone governs release times.

A Replay pill identifies enabled subscriptions. Replay episodes do not trigger Play Instant.

iPad, Mac and Apple TV

iPad uses adaptive layouts and supports Home Screen widgets. Wide settings windows offer section shortcuts. Narrow windows keep the single-column form.

On compatible Apple-silicon Macs, Autohop runs as the Designed-for-iPad app. It is not a separate native macOS build. Use the application menus and keyboard shortcuts; commands depend on the current page and playback state.

Apple TV uses its own interface and release schedule. Manage subscription membership on the iOS-family app. See the Apple TV guide for setup, playback, sync and Top Shelf troubleshooting.

Apple TV guide

Contact

Have a question, found a bug, or want to share some feedback? I'd love to hear from you — tap the button below to open the contact page.

Get in touch

Please include the app version/build, device, operating system, steps to reproduce, what you expected and what happened. Include the podcast and episode if relevant. Send diagnostics only when requested.