Smart Seek and Likely Ads
How repeated-audio evidence informs skips, optional automatic skipping, undo, exact-file safety, and detection limits.
Coming soon. Passage has not been released. This guide previews the current development version; controls and availability may change before launch.
A more informed skip
Smart Seek makes a forward jump aware of likely ad boundaries in eligible downloaded podcast audio. If a boundary is closer than your normal skip interval, a normal forward skip can stop there instead of jumping past it. Skip Likely Ad is a separate action for a longer jump when the current evidence supports one.
Without usable analysis, forward seeking falls back to the configured interval. Imported audiobooks do not become ad-skipping targets simply because they contain repeated passages.
How Passage finds evidence
Passage compares audio repeated across episodes of a show and groups supported matches. Analysis runs locally; listening does not require uploading your audio to a Snake Johns analysis service. Repeated openings, endings, credits, and other show elements need different treatment from recurring ad creative.
Candidates with insufficient support can be held back. A repeated range is evidence of repetition, not a semantic understanding of every sentence. Unique sponsor reads, newly changed ads, and ads with different music or editing may not match existing evidence.
The playback range is associated with the exact downloaded audio. Dynamic ad insertion can change timestamps even when the episode title or filename stays the same. Passage checks audio identity before reusing timing evidence rather than assuming an older map fits a replacement download.
Optional automatic skipping
Skip Likely Ads Automatically is a separate opt-in and is off by default. It depends on Smart Seek. Start with manual smart jumps if you want to understand a show’s results before enabling automatic behavior.
The analysis and boundary quality are still being evaluated. Recurring program material can be mistaken for an ad; some ad audio can remain after a jump. Passage does not guarantee complete ad removal, perfect boundaries, or detection in every show. It does not edit the original audio files.
Undo a smart jump
Shortly after a smart jump, Skip Back can return to the position before that jump. The current implementation provides a short window near the landing point, rather than a permanent history of skipped ranges. The undo applies to the most recent smart jump in the current playback session.
Undo is playback control. It does not label the recording as an ad, train a shared model, or upload a correction. If you have moved away from the recent jump, Skip Back resumes its ordinary configured interval behavior.
Tones and preferences
Supported automatic skips can be silent or use a selected notification tone. A tone is feedback that a skip happened, not proof that the detected material was an advertisement. Show-specific playback overrides can change Smart Seek and automatic skipping independently of your global default.
Report an incorrect result
Include the public show/feed, episode title and date, source choice, approximate position before/after the jump, and whether it was manual or automatic. Mention whether the file was redownloaded. Do not send a private feed token or a complete copyrighted recording unless support has arranged an appropriate way to investigate.