Playback and Per-Show Settings
Speed, skip intervals, sleep timer, global defaults, show overrides, and preferred episode audio sources.
Coming soon. Passage has not been released. This guide previews the current development version; controls and availability may change before launch.
Choose comfortable defaults
Playback settings provide 18 speeds from 0.8× through 2.5× in 0.1× steps. The current selection controls speaking pace; Gap Reduction, when qualified and available, is a separate treatment of pauses.
Choose independent Seek Back and Seek Forward intervals from 5, 7, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, or 90 seconds. Smart Seek can alter the destination when eligible local analysis identifies a likely boundary. Turn Smart Seek off when you want fixed-interval behavior. Disable Lock Screen Seek controls whether the lock-screen seeking actions are exposed.
The sleep timer offers Off, 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Check the timer if playback stops at a repeatable interval. It is useful for a final chapter or an evening episode without leaving audio playing indefinitely.
Global settings and show customization
Global Defaults apply unless a show has an explicit override. Open the show’s playback settings and turn on Customize for This Show to give it a different profile. Return to Use Global, or turn customization off, to follow the global profile again.
This is useful when a softly recorded interview needs Voice Enhance but a carefully produced drama sounds best untreated, or when one show suits a slower speed. Once a show is customized, do not assume a later global change will overwrite its profile.
The shared profile includes speed, seek behavior, Gap Reduction choice, Volume Leveling, Voice Enhance, preferred audio source, and optional automatic ad skipping. Playback panels identify the active scope. Make sure you are changing the intended show or global default before adjusting a control.
Compare sound controls one at a time
Voice Enhance changes tonal character; Volume Leveling manages loudness variation. Compare each independently at the same playback position and a comfortable device volume. Mac’s app volume/mute is an additional local output control, not a replacement for either sound treatment.
Processing paths can differ between downloaded audio, streaming, and live sources. Gap Reduction is still undergoing qualification and is not available for downloaded episodes in ordinary Release builds. A visible setting does not establish that every source uses the same audio engine.
Choose among publisher-provided sources
Preferred Source offers Default, Standard, Smaller File, and Higher Quality for shows with Podcasting 2.0 alternate audio. Default follows the publisher’s advertised selection. Standard uses the ordinary enclosure. Smaller File and Higher Quality depend on the source descriptions the publisher provides.
An episode can expose an explicit source choice in its information view. A preference cannot manufacture a higher-quality version of a feed that publishes only one file. Download size and availability depend on the chosen source.