CastKeeper For Podcasts vs MuteCast
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CastKeeper For Podcasts
This app offers a comprehensive podcast listening experience with advanced playback features, organization, and permanent archiving. It allows users to discover new shows, manage their queues, and even turn audio content into actionable knowledge through note-taking and learning tools.
- Advanced audio/video playback
- Permanent episode archiving
- Timestamped note-taking
- AI-powered search and summaries
- Cross-device sync
- Podcast discovery and organization
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YOUR PODCASTS. YOUR PLAYER. YOURS FOREVER. CastKeeper brings listening, watching, discovery, organization, permanent archiving, and podcast learning together in one complete app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Follow your favorite shows, build your queue, and enjoy every episode your way. Then go further: preserve the episodes you love in storage you control and turn what you hear into knowledge you can revisit. Free to download. No subscription ever. Podcasts Over Profits. Always. A COMPLETE PODCAST PLAYER Built by people who love podcasts, for people who love podcasts. • Full audio and video playback, with Picture in Picture and audio-only mode. • Spatial Audio, EQ, and Adaptive Dialogue Focus to bring speech forward. • Playback speed controls, Silence Trimming, and Loudness Normalization. • Up Next and Queue management, with direct drag-to-reorder on iOS 27. • CarPlay, Siri voice controls, and Shortcuts for listening on the go. • A sleep timer for winding down. • Private sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. • Discover new shows, organize your library, and find your next favorite episode. KEEP WHAT YOU LOVE Feeds get pruned. Shows get pulled. Back catalogs disappear. Your collection doesn’t have to. Archive episodes independently of the original feed, along with transcripts, chapters, artwork, notes, and metadata. Free users can preserve up to 10 episodes in iCloud Drive. CastKeeper Unlimited unlocks unlimited archiving and additional destinations, including Google Drive, pCloud, Dropbox, external drives, and S3-compatible storage such as Cloudflare R2 and Backblaze B2—even your own server. Let SmartKeep automatically archive your favorite shows. Lock the episodes that matter and build a collection you control. TURN LISTENING INTO LEARNING CastKeeper Knowledge brings your notes and episode learning tools into one focused workspace. • Capture ideas with timestamped notes and revisit the moment that inspired them. • Explore Key Facts and a glossary drawn from the episode transcript. • Revisit Notable Quotes, see why they matter, and jump directly to hear them. • Practice with animated flashcards and quizzes that explain the correct answers. • Generate each learning section when you need it, with richer material for longer episodes. • Keep your learning material synced across devices, including for archived episodes. Knowledge is included with CastKeeper Unlimited. FIND MORE. UNDERSTAND MORE. Search in plain language with Siri AI. Find episodes by topic, explore searchable transcripts, navigate Smart Chapters, and get a Smart Summary before you press Play. With CastKeeper Unlimited, get deeper summaries and Catch Up recaps that remind you what was happening before you resume. Supported AI features use Apple’s Private Cloud Compute when available, with on-device Apple Intelligence as a fallback. YOUR LISTENING IS YOUR BUSINESS No advertising in the app. No listening analytics. No account required to listen. Tracking Prevention helps reduce podcast tracking requests, while your archives stay in storage you control. CASTKEEPER FOR EDUCATION Eligible students and educators can verify their school email to unlock CastKeeper Unlimited for $0.99. School not listed? Submit it for review. PODCASTS ARE FOR EVERYONE VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, Live Captions, a dyslexia-friendly font, high-contrast options, mono audio, and keyboard navigation help make CastKeeper work your way. FREE TO START. YOURS TO KEEP. Enjoy a complete podcast player for free. Unlock more with a one-time CastKeeper Unlimited purchase, with Family Sharing support and no recurring charges. AI features require compatible hardware and software. Siri AI requires iOS 27 or later. Availability varies by device and settings. Your podcasts. Yours forever.
MuteCast
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ADS OUT. PODCASTS ON. Listen for the conversations, stories and ideas. MuteCast combines a podcast player with transparent on-device segment detection and Auto-Skip. AUTO-SKIP—YOU DECIDE MuteCast detects likely ads, self-promotion, introductions and endings on your device. Choose which types may be skipped for each podcast. Donation appeals count as self-promotion. Detection uses available transcripts, chapters, show notes, known patterns and audio cues. The four marking buttons follow your settings and require a readable timed transcript. Refined detection covers sponsor partnerships and consecutive ads. Better-bounded skips help preserve the conversation when the ad break ends. SEE WHAT WAS SKIPPED The timeline shows detected segments and confidence. Skip History records automatic skips with reasons and lets you return to the original position later. Review the transcript and correct a label; corrections inform future analysis for that podcast. OPTIONALLY SHORTEN PAUSES Silence Reduction shortens longer speech pauses in podcasts. It is off by default, with global and per-podcast controls. Time Saved reports the shortened seconds separately. Music is not affected. LISTEN, ORGANIZE AND FIND • Subscribe to and refresh RSS podcasts; stream or listen offline • View downloaded episodes with artwork in My Lists and drag them into a saved order • Control your queue, chapters, speed and sleep timer • Search available transcripts across your library, jump to a match and share text quotes • Follow download, transcription and analysis progress NEW EPISODES, YOUR RULES After a feed refresh, eligible episodes from the last seven days are automatically queued when your download and network settings allow. New downloads can be prepared for transcription and analysis. Choose local notifications for new episodes, finished downloads and completed analyses per podcast. Delivery depends on permissions and background activity. ACROSS YOUR APPLE DEVICES Use MuteCast on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Control playback, volume, chapters and queue from Apple Watch. CarPlay offers podcast and music browsing plus playback controls. Subscriptions, playback positions, queue and analysis data sync through your private iCloud database, when iCloud sync is enabled. YOUR MUSIC LIBRARY, TOO Browse your Apple Music library with artwork, an album queue, shuffle and repeat. Music and podcasts retain separate listening positions. Title and timeline are updated together, including when returning to the app. iCloud shows the last shared title and listening position on iPhone, iPad and Mac; another device takes over audio only after you press Play. Music must be available in both libraries. Access depends on Apple permissions; some content requires an Apple Music subscription. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Analysis happens on your device. No MuteCast account, analytics, tracking SDKs, server-side analysis or in-app ads. PAY ONCE. NO MUTECAST SUBSCRIPTION. A podcast player with Auto-Skip, without a recurring MuteCast fee.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: CastKeeper For Podcasts at Free against MuteCast's $3.99. MuteCast's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and chart position (#135 vs unranked). On update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
CastKeeper For Podcasts is free to download; MuteCast costs $3.99 up front. CastKeeper For Podcasts sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MuteCast asks for nothing beyond the download.
CastKeeper For Podcasts ships an update every 2 weeks, MuteCast weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CastKeeper For Podcasts | MuteCast |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | — | #135 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 91 MB | 50 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | 121 Gigawatz | Thomas Erwin Stange |
In-app purchases
CastKeeper For Podcasts
- CastKeeper Unlimited$1.99
MuteCast
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is CastKeeper For Podcasts free?
Is MuteCast free?
Do CastKeeper For Podcasts or MuteCast have ads?
Which is updated more often, CastKeeper For Podcasts or MuteCast?
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