Magpie: Reading and Listening

Magpie is a podcast and article player that can be controlled by voice. Podcasts, blogs, and newsletters are organised in a single library. Podcast episodes play as standard audio. Written articles are read aloud using the Apple system voice you choose, with standard playback controls including lock-screen and headphone support, adjustable speed, a sleep timer, and saved listening positions. You do not need screen-reader gestures or a separate reading mode to listen to an article. You can make requests by tapping the microphone or through Siri, such as: “play the latest In Our Time”, “subscribe to Astral Codex Ten”, or “play the one about Agincourt”. An AI model interprets your request so you can search by topic, title, show, guest, or position instead of remembering exact names. • Find, follow, and play shows by voice, in the app or through Siri • Ask by topic, title, show, guest, or position • Pause, resume, skip, change speed, and set a sleep timer by voice • Hear articles read in the system voice you choose • Save articles from Safari or add a link to read and listen later • Follow email newsletters with a newsletter address of your own • Keep one playback speed for podcasts and another for articles • Continue playback from where you stopped on another device • Use lock-screen and headphone controls • Browse and play everything on screen if you prefer Newsletters that only exist as email can be followed too. Magpie gives you a newsletter address of your own to hand over instead of your inbox, or signs you up itself when you paste in a newsletter's web address. The first time a sender writes, Magpie asks whether to follow it. Follow one and each issue is read aloud like any article, without the unsubscribe links and footers that emails carry, and Latest lists the issues alongside your podcasts and blog posts. Magpie supports open podcast and RSS feeds, and every article includes a direct link to the original web page. The app can be used entirely without looking at the screen. It is designed for blind and partially sighted users, as well as sighted users. It uses native controls, supports VoiceOver and Dynamic Type, and provides spoken or non-visual feedback when an action completes. Speech is converted to text on your device. Magpie never receives or stores audio recordings of your voice. Before any spoken request or explicit AI web search is sent to an AI provider, the app explains what data will be shared and asks for your permission. You can withdraw this permission at any time. Sign in with Apple or Google to sync your library and listening positions across devices. Connect both in Settings → Sign-in Methods to use either with the same library. You can delete your account and its data from Settings.