PodsnapPodsnap How it works
How Podsnap finds and skips podcast ads
Updated
Podsnap is a podcast player that skips the ads for you. It doesn't guess from the audio's volume or rely on the show to mark its breaks: it reads what is said.
1. Every episode is transcribed
When an episode comes out, Podsnap's server turns it into a timed transcript, word by word. That transcript is what you see in the app's Transcript tab, following along as you listen. It is also what the ad finder reads.
2. The ad breaks are found in the transcript
An ad break reads differently from the show around it: a host starts a sponsor read, a different voice reads an inserted spot, a promo code and a web address go by, and the show comes back. Podsnap looks for those breaks in the transcript and marks where each one starts and ends. It also keeps a library of ad reads it has heard before, so an ad that runs across many shows is recognized wherever it turns up.
Three kinds of break get marked:
- Sponsor reads, where a host reads an ad for a sponsor.
- Inserted ads, the spots a podcast network drops into an episode, often different for each listener.
- Cross-promos, a show promoting another show or its own extras.
3. The app skips them while you listen
When the playhead reaches a marked break, Podsnap jumps to its end. The timeline shows each break as a colored mark, and a short receipt, such as "Skipped a 2:12 ad", tells you what was skipped. A skip ends at the ad's last word, so the show's own intro music still plays.
When Podsnap isn't sure a stretch is an ad, it doesn't skip on its own. The break is highlighted instead, and one tap skips it. If a skip ever lands wrong, Undo takes you straight back.
When a show inserts different ads for different listeners
Many podcasts insert ads per listener, so your copy of an episode may hold different ads, at different times, from someone else's. Podsnap checks the breaks against the copy you download before it skips, and it doesn't skip a break it can't place in your copy.
What you need
- An iPhone or an Android phone.
- Shows with a feed: search for them, paste a feed link or an Apple Podcasts link, or bring your list over from another app as an OPML file. Shows that are only on Spotify have no feed, so Podsnap can't play them.
- Ads skip on their own in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian episodes. In other languages, only the breaks Podsnap is sure of skip on their own.
Your first 30 episodes come with ad-skipping for free, then one episode a day. Podsnap Plus lifts the limit for $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year (US prices).