Guide — PodMelody

Build your first mix

PodMelody builds a continuous queue from the podcast and music sources you select. You choose the ingredients; PodMelody handles the sequence.

The first time you open PodMelody, its welcome tour starts by asking you to choose a look: System or Editorial, both free. You can switch any time in Settings → Appearance.

Open Podcasts and follow at least one show, import your Apple Podcasts library, or create a Podcast Station.
If you want music in the mix, open Music, allow Apple Music access, and load your playlists or Apple Music stations.
Return to Home and tap the podcast and music source cards you want to include. Selected cards stay selected for future mixes.
Set Songs between pods to choose how many songs should play between podcast episodes.
Tap Start Mix. PodMelody builds the queue and begins playback.

PodMelody's Home screen in the System look: the cloud status symbol at top left, a card of counters for selected sources, songs between pods and fresh episodes, a lit Start Mix plate, and rows of podcast and music source tiles — Home, shown with four selected sources, which fit within a Free mix. The cloud symbol at top left opens Device Activity; the counters show how many sources are selected, tap **Between pods** to set the size of each music break, and the tiles below are your podcast and music sources.Home, shown with four selected sources, which fit within a Free mix. The Slip Angle Dynamics mark at top left opens Device Activity; the counters show how many sources are selected, **Songs between pods** sets the size of each music break, and the tiles below are your podcast and music sources.

PodMelody's Home screen in the Editorial look: the Slip Angle Dynamics mark at top left, selected-source counts, a songs-between-pods control, a Start Mix bar, and grids of podcast and music source tiles — Home, shown with four selected sources, which fit within a Free mix. The cloud symbol at top left opens Device Activity; the counters show how many sources are selected, tap **Between pods** to set the size of each music break, and the tiles below are your podcast and music sources.Home, shown with four selected sources, which fit within a Free mix. The Slip Angle Dynamics mark at top left opens Device Activity; the counters show how many sources are selected, **Songs between pods** sets the size of each music break, and the tiles below are your podcast and music sources.

The Slip Angle Dynamics (SAD) mark is also the Device Activity button. In Editorial, tap the two-line SAD mark at the top left of Home; in System, tap the status symbol in the same corner. Either opens Device Activity, with:

Library Sync — whether iCloud is ready, setting up, importing or exporting changes, waiting for a connection, or needs attention.
This Device — how many podcast episodes are downloaded here, how many have been pre-processed and are ready, and how many still need work.
Pre-processing — whether preparation is idle, waiting for the charger or sound analysis, actively preparing, processing, compacting or finalising, or was paused. When work is available, the sheet offers Start pre-processing or Resume pre-processing. While a pass is running, it offers Continue in background, which asks iOS to keep the work going after you leave PodMelody.

At a glance, in Editorial, the plain SAD mark means Library Sync is ready. A ring filling around it shows a pre-processing pass running right now; an open arrow ring means episodes are ready to process or a paused pass can be resumed. Every pass appears here, including the ones PodMelody starts on its own. While iCloud or downloads are active, or if sync needs attention, the mark changes to the relevant progress, cloud, download or warning symbol.

In System, the symbol shows iCloud and download status only. A cloud with a tick means Library Sync is ready; a plain cloud, or one with an arrow, means PodMelody is syncing with iCloud; circling arrows mean it is checking for new episodes; a download arrow means episodes are downloading; and a crossed-out cloud or a warning sign means sync is waiting or needs attention. The System symbol never shows pre-processing: open Device Activity to see a pass running, or to start or resume one.

In either look, opening Device Activity does not start anything by itself; work begins when you tap Start pre-processing or Resume pre-processing.

PodMelody's iCloud status symbol in the System look: a cloud with a tick — **Up to date**Cloud with a tick

Plain Slip Angle Dynamics mark — **Ready**Plain mark

Slip Angle Dynamics mark with a partly filled progress ring — **Processing**Ring fills

Slip Angle Dynamics mark surrounded by an open arrow ring — **Start or resume**Open ring

Apple Music is optional. You can build and play a podcast-only mix without Apple Music access or a subscription.

Add podcast sources

PodMelody supports two kinds of podcast source:

Shows are individual RSS podcast subscriptions. Search for a show, follow it, then select it on Home when you want its unplayed episodes in the mix. A show found in search lists its newest episodes, so you can play one or add it to Up Next before you follow.
Podcast Stations are groups of shows that you create. Use one when several shows belong together and you want to select the whole group as a single source.

You can import subscriptions from Apple Podcasts or from an OPML file under Settings → Import & export. Episode lists provide search, sort, and playback-state filters; shows with a feed problem are identified so they can be checked or repaired.

Add Apple Music sources

Open Music and switch between Playlists and Stations. The first time you use music, allow PodMelody to access Apple Music. Music and Podcasts share one search and filter row: its menu can show only what is queued and set the playback order. On an opened iPhone Duo, or an iPad turned sideways, both looks show Music and Podcasts side by side as one spread.

Playlists are finite sources. PodMelody draws tracks from the selected playlists, optionally shuffles them, and places those tracks between podcasts.
Apple Music stations are open-ended recommendation sources. They do not have a fixed track list. Apple chooses a track when the station's queue slot begins.

For a station slot, PodMelody lets Apple Music choose one track, then stops the station from automatically continuing and returns control to the PodMelody queue. That is how the selected number of songs between podcasts remains predictable.

Music playback requires Apple Music permission and an active Apple Music subscription. Station choices can vary between runs and devices.

Choose how the mix is built

The controls on Home cover the essentials. For more control, open Settings → Mix:

Songs between podcasts sets the size of each music break.
Rotate between podcast sources alternates episodes across the selected shows and Podcast Stations.
Prioritise ready episodes favours episodes that are already available to play.
Podcast first chooses whether a new mix begins with a podcast or music.
Shuffle music randomises tracks drawn from playlists.
Music rotation can change music source after each song or keep one source for the whole break.
Visible queue items controls how much of the continuing mix is shown and preloaded.

PodMelody's Settings screen in the System look with the Mix section expanded, showing steppers for songs between podcasts and visible queue items, switches for source rotation, ready episodes, podcast first and shuffle, and the music rotation choice — Settings → Mix, shown on Free with ten visible queue items. The cloud marker beside **Mix** means these settings sync through iCloud to your other devices.Settings → Mix, shown on Free with ten visible queue items. The iCloud marker on **Listening** means these settings sync through iCloud to your other devices.

PodMelody's Settings screen in the Editorial look with the Mix section expanded, showing steppers for songs between podcasts and visible queue items, switches for source rotation, ready episodes, podcast first and shuffle, and the music rotation choice — Settings → Mix, shown on Free with ten visible queue items. The cloud marker beside **Mix** means these settings sync through iCloud to your other devices.Settings → Mix, shown on Free with ten visible queue items. The iCloud marker on **Listening** means these settings sync through iCloud to your other devices.

Use the queue and play now

Start Mix builds from your selected sources. To hear something else without losing that mix, tap an episode or a song: it plays straight away, slipped in ahead of Up Next, and the mix carries on afterwards. An episode you interrupt goes back to the top of Up Next and picks up where it stopped. To queue something without interrupting, long-press an episode or song and choose Play Next or Play Last.

Play On Its Own, from a source's long-press menu on Home, is different: it replaces the queue with that one show, station or playlist and leaves your saved mix selections alone, so Start Mix brings the mix back.

Open the Queue from Home or Now Playing to see the current item and what is coming next. You can reorder or remove visible items, or clear the queue. The visible list is a rolling window, not necessarily the full mix; PodMelody keeps extending it from the selected sources as playback continues.

The end of PodMelody's queue in the System look: songs and podcast episodes taking turns, two songs to each episode, then a footer reading 10 of 10 slots filled and a card offering a longer queue with PodMelody Plus — The queue, with **Songs between podcasts** set to two. The footer is the rolling window at work — ten slots filled here on Free, with the rest of the mix still to be drawn from your sources.

PodMelody's queue in the Editorial look: an Up Next list alternating between rows labelled SONG and rows labelled PODCAST, two songs to each episode, with a footer showing 10 / 10 slots filled — The queue, with **Songs between podcasts** set to two. The footer is the rolling window at work — ten slots filled here on Free, with the rest of the mix still to be drawn from your sources.

Use Now Playing

Tap the mini player to open the full Now Playing screen. The controls change to suit the current item:

Scrub through an episode, adjust podcast speed, and use chapter markers when the publisher supplies chapters.
Above 1.0×, see how long the episode will really take. Editorial shows two rows under the scrubber at once: the episode position, and the wall-clock time at your speed. System shows one at a time, starting with the time at your speed; tap it to switch to the episode's own time, and tap again to switch back.
Open show notes, add or view bookmarks, share an episode, or set a sleep timer. Episode details keep Chapters, Notes and Transcript in tabs; Now takes you back to what's playing. In System, open them with the episode details button on the player; in Editorial, tap the cover to turn it over, then tap Read full notes.
Press Next with two minutes or less to go and the episode is marked played; earlier, it is marked skipped. Hold Next for more choices.
Choose AirPlay, headphones, speakers, or another available system audio output.
Use voice enhancement, volume levelling, silence compression, and the other Plus audio tools when they are enabled for podcast playback. In Editorial they are the Voice, Level and Silence switches below the player's controls (its Processing section on iPad or sideways); in System, they are in the player's Audio menu.
For supported Apple Music tracks, mark a favourite or choose Suggest Less Like This.

Turn an iPhone sideways and Now Playing spreads into two panes — the cover on one side, the timeline and Up Next on the other. In Editorial the timeline draws the episode as a waveform, with episode and wall-clock time side by side; in System, tap Timeline to see the episode's length, the time at your speed and the time it saves, above its chapters. On iPad the player takes the whole screen, with the queue and episode details beside it: Editorial shows Up Next there while a song plays and the episode's timeline while an episode plays; in System you choose the queue, the episode details or the timeline, and PodMelody remembers your choice. The X at the top-left closes the player.

On iPhone Duo, the mix and its player work on the cover screen; open the phone and the player carries on full size, with the queue and episode details beside it. In Editorial, half-fold it and Now Playing splits at the fold, with the controls kept clear of the hinge.

PodMelody's Now Playing screen for a podcast in the System look: a large cover, the episode title and show, a scrubber with the time at 1.8× beneath it, and glossy skip-back, play, skip-forward and next controls — Now Playing, on an episode. The time under the scrubber shows how long the episode will actually take at your current speed; tap it to switch to the episode's own time, and tap again to switch back.Now Playing, on an episode. The two rows under the scrubber are the episode position and the wall-clock time it will actually take at your current speed.

PodMelody's Now Playing screen for a podcast in the Editorial look: framed artwork, show name, episode title, a scrubber with episode and wall-clock rows beneath it and a 1.8× speed chip, and skip-back, play, skip-forward and next controls — Now Playing, on an episode. The time under the scrubber shows how long the episode will actually take at your current speed; tap it to switch to the episode's own time, and tap again to switch back.Now Playing, on an episode. The two rows under the scrubber are the episode position and the wall-clock time it will actually take at your current speed.

Downloads and pre-processing

Every episode in your queue downloads automatically, free, so it is ready to play without a connection. To download any other episode, swipe left on it in an episode list and tap Download. Under Settings → Downloads, turn off Download over mobile data to download over Wi-Fi only; the same section shows storage use and can delete downloaded files.

PodMelody Plus keeps your whole library ready. Set Episodes per station to the number of unplayed episodes to retain, give individual shows their own download limit, and tap Sync downloads to bring the device up to date. Without Plus, the section offers Keep shows ready automatically in their place.

This section manages podcast audio. Apple Music controls whether playlist tracks are available offline, and Apple Music stations require a connection.

Pre-processing is separate from downloading, and free; it works on downloaded episodes, including every episode in your queue. With Plus, pre-processed episodes also carry Voice Enhancement and Volume Levelling. It prepares downloaded episodes ahead of playback so some audio work needs less processing in real time. To use it:

Download the episodes you want PodMelody to prepare.
Set a podcast playback speed above 1.0×.
Open Settings → Audio processing and enable Pre-process episodes.
Optionally enable Only when charging or Continue during playback to control when preparation runs.

Pre-processing runs on this device. If iOS pauses background work, PodMelody saves its progress and resumes later. To keep a pass going as you leave the app, open Device Activity while it is running and tap Continue in background, which asks iOS for the time to finish.

Downloaded and pre-processed audio files remain on the device that created them; they are not uploaded to iCloud.

Sync, Handoff, and device-local files

PodMelody uses several different Apple features to continue your listening. They serve different purposes:

iCloud sync keeps subscriptions, Podcast Stations, synced settings, played state, bookmarks, history, and episode positions in step across your Apple devices.
Settings scope is shown inside Settings. Items marked iCloud sync; items marked This Device, including download, processing, and auto-continue preferences, remain on that device.
Cloud queue continuation saves the PodMelody queue so another device can offer to continue it. Under Settings → Handoff, Auto-continue queues from other devices can accept an idle-device queue automatically; active playback still asks before switching.
Apple Handoff is the nearby-device system feature. While a podcast is playing, it advertises that episode and position so you can open it on a nearby iPhone, iPad, or the iPad version of PodMelody running on an Apple Silicon Mac.
Device-local files include downloaded and pre-processed audio. Each device downloads and prepares its own copies.

CarPlay

PodMelody includes an enhanced Now Playing interface with glanceable playback controls. PodMelody Plus unlocks the expanded Mix, Queue and Browse surfaces, along with a separate CarPlay podcast speed under Settings → Playback.

Ask Siri

On iOS 27, PodMelody's shows, podcast stations, episodes, and Apple Music playlists and stations are things Siri can play by name. End each request with "in PodMelody"; that is how every phrase below was checked, on an iPhone running iOS 27. The first time you use one, iOS asks whether to turn on PodMelody's shortcuts with Siri.

Play something

"Play show in PodMelody" plays a show you follow: the queue becomes that show's unplayed episodes, the way Play On Its Own does. For a show you don't follow yet, follow it in PodMelody first.
"Play podcast station in PodMelody" starts the station. A large station takes a moment to assemble; one with 80 shows took about half a minute.
"Play playlist in PodMelody" or "Play Apple Music station in PodMelody" plays that source on its own, as a music-only queue, and leaves your saved mix alone. Playlists must be in your Apple Music library, live radio isn't supported, and PodMelody needs to be connected to Apple Music already.
"Play the episode full title in PodMelody" starts that episode now and keeps the rest of the queue behind it.
"Start my mix in PodMelody" does what the Start Mix button does, and says nothing when it succeeds.

While you listen

"Skip back in PodMelody" goes back 15 seconds and keeps playing. "Next in PodMelody" moves to the next item. "Pause PodMelody" and "Resume PodMelody" do as they say.
"What's playing?" needs no app name. For a private or subscriber feed Siri names the show only, not the episode.
"Play more of this show in PodMelody", with a podcast playing, fills the queue with that show's unplayed episodes.
"Set the speed in PodMelody". Siri asks "What speed?", and anything from 0.5 to 3.0 works; this sets the podcast speed in Settings. A show with its own speed keeps it, and Siri tells you so. If you hold the side button for Siri, answering the follow-up question may need a second hold.
"Set sleep timer in PodMelody" sets a sleep timer. "Cancel sleep timer in PodMelody" clears it.

Phrasings that don't work

"Play my Favourites station". Siri answers that itself and never asks PodMelody. Drop "my" and "station": "Play Favourites in PodMelody".
"Skip" on its own. Siri keeps that word for itself and says "Done" while nothing happens. Say "Next in PodMelody", or "Skip back in PodMelody" to go back.
"Play episode next" plays it now; Siri drops the "next". To queue it instead, long-press the episode in PodMelody and choose Play Next.
Say the exact, full title. A short show name that also appears inside many episode titles can confuse Siri, and a partial episode title falls back to the show. When a show and an episode match equally, the show wins.

Spotlight

Your followed shows, your podcast stations and the newest episodes of each public show appear in Spotlight search. A show you have just followed appears within a few seconds, and one you unfollow is gone within half a minute. Stations rank low in Spotlight, so they may sit behind "Show More". Tapping a result opens PodMelody. Private-feed episodes and Apple Music sources are not listed; Music already lists those.

On iOS 26

Playing by name needs iOS 27. On iOS 26, PodMelody's fixed phrases still work: "Start my mix in PodMelody", "Resume PodMelody", "Pause PodMelody", "Next in PodMelody", "Skip back in PodMelody", "Set the speed in PodMelody", "Set sleep timer in PodMelody" and "Cancel sleep timer in PodMelody".

Playing by name is English only in this release: the schema-based Siri has not reached German on iOS 27. With PodMelody in German, the fixed phrases above still work in their German forms, for example „Starte meinen Mix in PodMelody“.

Appearance, Plus, and import/export

PodMelody offers two free looks:

System is bold and glossy: a glass-domed cover that catches the light as you tilt your phone, glossy controls, a backdrop drawn from the artwork, and Start Mix as a lit glass plate over a wall of your covers.
Editorial is PodMelody's own look, and calm: typographic, built around the mix.

A new install asks you to choose one on first launch, with System pre-selected. If you were already listening, your look stays as it was.

Open Settings → Appearance to switch: Theme style switches between Editorial and System, and Appearance sets Light, Dark or Auto. Both looks are free, and so is App Icon: Vinyl, the default, or Periodic. PodMelody Plus adds Accent colour on the same screen: 28 accents for Editorial, and 18 of System's own; the default accent remains free. Appearance, theme style and accent colour sync through iCloud to your other devices; the app icon is saved only on the device where you choose it. If Plus access ends, PodMelody displays the default accent and keeps your saved colour for when Plus access returns. If you use PodMelody on more than one device, keep each of them up to date: an earlier version rewriting your synced settings resets the accent colour to the default.

PodMelody follows your device language and is available in English and German. To run it in a different language from the rest of the device, use iOS Settings → Apps → PodMelody → Language.

PodMelody's core podcast player, rolling mixes, both looks, queue downloads and transcripts are free. Free mixes support up to four selected sources and show up to ten upcoming queue items, and every episode in the queue downloads. Plus unlocks unlimited sources and bigger queues; pro audio (Voice EQ, Levelling and Silence Compression); Sound Analysis and laughter-aware speed; your whole library, kept ready; CarPlay browsing, queue control and default speed; and accent and station colours. When you tap a Plus feature, PodMelody explains the relevant upgrade rather than blocking the app at launch.

For moving data, OPML imports or exports podcast subscriptions and represents Podcast Stations as folders. A PodMelody backup is app-specific and can also include station details, icons, and playback history. Settings can also import shows from Apple Podcasts.

Troubleshooting

Apple Music is unavailable: confirm access is allowed in iOS Settings and that the signed-in account has an active Apple Music subscription. Podcasts continue to work without it.
A station has no track list: this is expected. Apple Music stations choose their next track only when playback reaches that station slot.
A playlist appears empty: open the playlist in Apple Music to confirm it contains playable tracks for the current account and region, then reopen Music in PodMelody.
Downloads do not start: check Download over mobile data under Settings → Downloads; with it off, episodes wait for Wi-Fi. Queue episodes download as the queue fills. With Plus, set Episodes per station above zero, then use Sync downloads for the rest of your library.
iCloud is still syncing: keep PodMelody open briefly with a working connection and confirm the device is signed into iCloud. Tap the SAD mark or status symbol in the top-left corner of Home to open Device Activity and see more detail.
CarPlay browsing is unavailable: the expanded Mix, Queue and Browse surfaces require PodMelody Plus. Confirm Plus is active, PodMelody is up to date, and PodMelody is enabled in the iPhone's CarPlay app list.
You want us to see what went wrong: open Settings → About and tap Share Logs. PodMelody drafts an email to podmelody@slipangledynamics.com with anonymised diagnostics attached — no account details, listening history or show names in readable form. Without Apple Mail set up, a share sheet offers the same file.

Everything, from the first mix on.