InteroCast vs Stacks

A calmer, more private way to listen - and to actually engage with what you hear. InteroCast is a complete podcast player that runs entirely on your device. Search and subscribe, build a queue, download for offline, and listen in a clean, editorial design. No account. No tracking. No server in the middle. THE BASICS, DONE WELL • Find shows by name, or add any podcast by RSS URL • "Up Next" queue you can reorder with a long-press • Variable speed, skip controls, and a sleep timer • Download episodes for offline listening • New-episode notifications for shows you follow • CarPlay support and a Home Screen widget • iCloud sync keeps your library across devices • Built for iPhone and iPad, with a landscape two-pane layout GO DEEPER WITH AI (OPTIONAL) Bring your own OpenAI or Anthropic key to unlock: • Transcripts that follow along as you listen — generate them with OpenAI Whisper, or free and entirely on-device with Apple Intelligence • Ask - a chat assistant that knows your exact position in the episode, so you can ask "what was just said?", "summarize so far," or "what's coming up?" • Voice mode — a hands-free, real-time conversation about whatever you're hearing SAVE THE GOOD PARTS • Long-press any transcript line to clip it • Turn clippings into shareable pull-quote cards PRIVACY BY DESIGN Your library, history, downloads, and preferences live only on your device. There's no InteroCast account and no analytics server. When you use an AI feature, the request goes straight from your device to OpenAI or Anthropic with your own key — it never passes through us. Apple Intelligence transcription happens fully on-device. InteroCast is free to use as a podcast player. The AI features use your own API key, so you pay the providers directly only for what you use. A quieter way to listen.

Stacks is a calm, fully offline reader for the newsletters, blogs, and podcasts you already follow. Add any Substack or RSS feed and Stacks downloads the full articles, images, and podcast episodes to your iPhone so you can read and listen anywhere, even with no signal. On a plane, on the subway, off the grid: nothing buffers, nothing reloads. WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT • Truly offline — full article text, images, and audio are stored on your device for reading and listening with no connection. • A clean, distraction-free reader with adjustable text size, light and dark themes, and a built-in podcast player. • Smart automatic downloading keeps your latest posts ready and manages storage for you. • Fast full-text search across everything you've saved. • Collapsible comment threads, when you want them. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Stacks has no servers of its own, no account, and no analytics. Everything it downloads stays on your device and goes nowhere else. No tracking, no ads. No account is required: just add a feed and pull to refresh. ——— Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Substack Inc.