BetterCast

Podcast player for iPhone, iPad & Apple Watch

About the App

BetterCast is a fast, intuitive, and completely ad-free podcast player built for people who truly love podcasts. It is designed from the ground up to make every part of podcast listening smarter, smoother, and more enjoyable across Apple devices.


Support

Need help, have a question, or want to report a bug or request a feature? Reach out any time at khashabri@hotmail.com. We aim to respond within a few business days. When reporting an issue, please include your device model, iOS version, and a short description of the steps that led to the problem so we can help you faster.


Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 7, 2026

Introduction

BetterCast is a podcast player for iOS, developed and published by Khashayar Abryoghani as an individual developer. The app is free to download and contains no advertisements. Some optional features are available through a "Premium" subscription purchased through Apple's in-app purchase system; the developer never receives your payment information.

This Privacy Policy explains what information BetterCast handles and how it is handled. In this document, "the developer" refers to Khashayar Abryoghani, "the app" refers to BetterCast, and "you" refers to the person using the app.

Summary

BetterCast does not require an account, does not include analytics, advertising, or third-party tracking SDKs, and does not send your personal data to the developer. The developer does not operate any servers that receive data about you.

What the developer does not collect

The app does not collect, transmit, or store on developer-controlled systems any of the following:

  • Account information, names, or sign-in credentials.
  • Analytics, usage statistics, or telemetry.
  • Crash reports automatically uploaded to third-party services.
  • Advertising identifiers.
  • Location data.
  • Contacts, photos, or calendar data.
  • Microphone audio. The app does not request microphone access.

Data stored on your device

The app stores the following information locally on your device using Apple's SwiftData framework:

  • Your podcast subscriptions and feed URLs.
  • Episode metadata, including titles, descriptions, and artwork URLs.
  • Downloaded episode audio files and any audio files you import.
  • Playback progress, played and starred state, and listening history.
  • Playlists, queues, and per-podcast settings.
  • Transcripts generated on your device and any transcription rules you create.
  • App preferences such as playback speed, appearance, and storage limits.

This data remains on your device unless you choose to enable iCloud sync, described below. You can remove all locally stored data at any time using "Reset All Data" in Settings, or by uninstalling the app.

iCloud sync (Apple CloudKit)

If you have iCloud enabled on your device and you have not disabled BetterCast's iCloud access, the app uses Apple's CloudKit service to sync a subset of your library between your own devices. The data that may be synced includes your podcast subscriptions, playlists, per-podcast settings, and episode playback state.

This data is stored in your private CloudKit database, inside the iCloud container iCloud.com.khashabri.BetterCast. It is associated with your Apple ID and is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy. The developer cannot read, access, or export the contents of this private database.

You can disable iCloud sync at any time in iOS Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Apps Using iCloud → BetterCast.

Network requests the app makes

To function as a podcast player, the app makes network requests to the following parties. The developer does not receive copies of these requests.

Apple search and charts services

When you search for podcasts or browse charts, the app sends your search query and standard HTTP request metadata to Apple's iTunes Search API and to Apple's RSS Marketing Tools service. These requests are subject to Apple's Privacy Policy.

Podcast publishers

When you subscribe to or refresh a podcast, the app fetches that podcast's RSS feed directly from the URL provided by its publisher. When you stream or download an episode, the audio file and artwork are fetched directly from the publisher's hosting servers or content-delivery network. Those parties may see your IP address and standard HTTP metadata. The developer does not control their privacy practices, and you should review the privacy policy of any podcast you subscribe to.

Hugging Face (only if on-device transcription is enabled)

If you enable on-device transcription, the app uses the WhisperKit library, which downloads machine-learning model files from huggingface.co. Only model files are downloaded. No audio, transcript, or personal data is uploaded to Hugging Face. After the model is on your device, transcription runs entirely offline on your device.

Third-party services

  • Apple, Inc. — search, charts, CloudKit sync, in-app purchases, and standard iOS services.
  • Podcast publishers — provide the RSS feeds, audio, and artwork you choose to access.
  • Hugging Face, Inc. — hosts the speech-recognition model files used by WhisperKit, only when you enable on-device transcription.

Subscriptions and payments

BetterCast offers an optional "Premium" subscription that unlocks additional features. Subscriptions are sold and processed exclusively through Apple's in-app purchase system. When you start, manage, or cancel a subscription, that transaction takes place between you and Apple under Apple's Privacy Policy and Apple's Media Services Terms.

The developer does not receive or store your name, email address, payment-card details, or any other personally identifying billing information. To determine which features to unlock, the app reads your subscription status locally on your device using Apple's StoreKit framework. That subscription state is not transmitted to the developer.

Children's privacy

BetterCast is not directed to children under 13, and under 16 in the European Economic Area. The developer does not knowingly collect information from children. Podcast content is provided by third parties; parents and guardians are encouraged to supervise their children's listening.

Your choices

You can disable iCloud sync in iOS Settings as described above. You can delete all locally stored data using "Reset All Data" in Settings, or by uninstalling the app. Because the developer does not collect personal data, there is no developer-side account to delete.

Users in the EU, UK, and similar jurisdictions

Where data-protection laws such as the GDPR or UK GDPR apply, the developer holds no personal data about you that could be exported or erased on the developer's side. Any data synced through iCloud is controlled by you and Apple, and is subject to Apple's Privacy Policy. If you have questions about this, you can contact the developer at the address below.

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated as the app evolves. The "Last updated" date at the top of this section will reflect the most recent version. Significant changes will also be noted in the App Store release notes for the relevant version.

Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy can be sent to khashabri@hotmail.com.


Terms of Use

Last updated: May 7, 2026

Acceptance of these Terms

By downloading, installing, or using BetterCast (the "app"), you agree to these Terms of Use. If you do not agree, please do not use the app.

These Terms are entered into between you and Khashayar Abryoghani, an individual developer (the "developer").

About the app

BetterCast is a free podcast client for iOS. It allows you to discover, subscribe to, download, and play publicly available podcasts, organize them into playlists, and optionally generate transcripts on your device. The app does not produce or host the podcast content itself.

License

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, the developer grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the app on Apple-branded devices that you own or control, solely for your own non-commercial use.

Your use of the app is also governed by Apple's Media Services Terms and the Licensed Application End User License Agreement (the "Apple Standard EULA") that applies to apps distributed through the App Store. Where these Terms and the Apple Standard EULA conflict on any matter, the Apple Standard EULA controls only as required by Apple.

Acceptable use

You agree that you will not:

  • Use the app to infringe the intellectual-property rights or privacy of any third party.
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the app, except to the extent that applicable law expressly permits.
  • Use the app to perform automated bulk scraping or denial-of-service activity against podcast publishers or any third-party service.
  • Use the app in violation of any applicable law or regulation.

Third-party content

Podcasts, episode audio, artwork, show notes, and any other media accessible through the app are provided by independent podcast publishers and other third parties. They are the sole owners of, and responsible for, that content. BetterCast acts only as a player that lets you access publicly available RSS feeds.

The developer does not endorse, guarantee, or take responsibility for any third-party content. If you believe a podcast infringes your rights, please contact the publisher of that podcast directly.

Third-party services and open-source components

Your use of the app may also be subject to the terms and policies of Apple, Inc., individual podcast publishers, and Hugging Face, Inc. (used only when you enable on-device transcription).

BetterCast incorporates open-source software. The licenses applicable to that software are listed in the Attributions screen inside the app and form part of these Terms with respect to those components.

Disclaimers

The app is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE", without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including without limitation any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, uninterrupted or error-free operation, or accuracy or completeness of any third-party content or automatically generated transcripts.

The developer does not warrant that the app will be free of bugs or that any defects will be corrected.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the developer shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, revenue, goodwill, or business, arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use, the app.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the developer's total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the app or these Terms shall not exceed the amount you paid for the app, which for the avoidance of doubt is zero.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.

Termination

These Terms remain in effect while you use the app. Your license terminates automatically if you breach these Terms. You may terminate at any time by uninstalling the app. The disclaimers, limitation of liability, and any other provisions that by their nature should survive will survive termination.

Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles. Mandatory consumer-protection rights available to you under the law of your country of residence are not affected by this clause.

Changes to these Terms

These Terms may be updated as the app evolves. The "Last updated" date at the top of this section will reflect the most recent version. Continued use of the app after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to khashabri@hotmail.com.