Frequently asked questions

Earmark is a podcast player for iPhone and Mac, with CarPlay, built around playlists that follow shows and update themselves by rules. It also records optional voice memos when an episode ends, and syncs subscriptions, playlists, favorites, progress and memos through your own iCloud account. There is no account to create and no tracking.

An iPhone running iOS 26 or later, or a Mac running macOS 26 or later, and an internet connection. iCloud is optional and only needed for sync.

No. Episodes stream from the podcast's host, so you need an internet connection to listen. Playback position is remembered, so you can stop and resume anywhere.

A playlist follows the shows you choose and applies rules:

• Window: the past N days (the app default is 90), between two dates, or since the list was created.
• Direction: newest or oldest first.
• Show priority: when two followed shows publish on the same day, the ranked one is listed first.
• Keywords: only episodes mentioning certain words, or skipping them. If both apply, skip wins.

Pinned episodes sit at the top and always play first, in the order you set. To pin one, drag it above Up Next (tap Edit first on iPhone), swipe it, or long press it and choose Promote. Once a pinned episode is played it leaves every playlist and moves to Pinned History, and playback carries on with the rest of the list. Played episodes leave every playlist, pinned or not. When a followed show publishes, the list updates on its own and new episodes carry a New badge until you open it. On iPhone, tap Edit to select several episodes and mark them played or unplayed, favorite, pin or unpin them together; on the Mac, Command- or Shift-click to select, then use the Selected menu.

Tap the plus button (Cmd+N on the Mac) and search by name, which uses Apple's podcast directory. You can also paste an RSS feed URL, import an OPML file exported from another app, or on the Mac import the shows you follow in Apple Podcasts. Private or paid feeds that need a login are not supported.

On the Mac, choose Import from Apple Podcasts. Earmark opens a panel already pointed at the Apple Podcasts library folder; click Import and pick the shows you want. The read is one-way and read-only. Earmark never changes anything in Apple Podcasts, and it does not read your Apple Podcasts listening history. iPhone has no equivalent, so use OPML there.

By default each show keeps its last 90 days of episodes. Older ones are removed from the device on refresh unless they are played, favorited, in progress, pinned to a playlist or have a memo. You can change the window in Settings for the whole app, override it per show, or choose Everything to keep the full back catalog.

Every show has an Info button that shows the feed's own metadata: URL, language, categories, owner, website and refresh diagnostics. Useful when a feed misbehaves, and you can copy the URL from there.

Yes. Presets are 0.75x, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x and 2x, available in Settings, the mini player, Now Playing, the Mac Playback menu, the lock screen and CarPlay. The speed is shared across all shows and syncs between devices.

Yes. Long press any episode row, or use the toggle next to the heart on the episode page. Played episodes leave every playlist and can be marked unplayed at any time.

Yes. Earmark appears on the CarPlay home screen with three tabs: Playlists, Shows and Favorites. Now Playing shows artwork, play and pause, next episode, and a playback speed button. For safety, memo prompts do not appear in the car; the episode is listed under Memos to Record on your phone instead.

A voice memo is a short recording attached to an episode. Turn on the prompt in a playlist's settings and Earmark asks you to record one when each episode in that list ends; you can also record from any episode page. Each memo is transcribed on your device a few seconds after you save it, so you can read it, search all your memos by what you said, copy the text, or correct it. If no speech was detected, the row says so and you can still type a note into the transcript by hand. Memos are listed under Memos, grouped by show, and can be played, shared or saved as .m4a files.

Only to record memos, and only when you tap Record. If you decline, everything else works. You can change your mind later in Settings, Privacy, Microphone.

There is no Earmark account. If your iPhone and Mac are signed in to the same iCloud account, Earmark stores its data in your private iCloud database and each device picks up changes within a minute or two. Subscriptions, playlists, favorites, played state, playback position, settings and voice memos all sync. Without iCloud, Earmark works on one device and keeps everything local.

Nothing. Earmark has no servers of its own, no analytics and no ads. It connects only to podcast hosts for feeds and audio, to Apple's iTunes Search API when you search, and to your own iCloud for sync. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected. Details are in the privacy policy.

Delete the app to remove everything on the device. To remove the synced copy, open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, find Earmark in the apps using iCloud and delete its data. Individual shows, playlists and memos can be deleted inside the app and the deletion syncs.

Email info@mingjerlee.com. Include your device model, the iOS or macOS version, and the feed URL if a specific show is involved.