How to useParasocial.

Open Library, then tap Import. It is also in Settings, under Import from Another App.

Coming from Spotify? Tap Export from Spotify. Spotify has no export of its own, so we built one. The page walks you through it and hands the app your shows in one go.

Coming from any other app? Tap Choose a File and pick the OPML file your old player exported. In Overcast that is Settings, then Export OPML (extended).

A dumb playlist is a list you build by hand. You add episodes with Add to Playlist and they stay in the order you put them in until you move them. Nothing arrives on its own.

A Smart Playlist follows shows instead of episodes. You pick the shows once and it fills itself: new episodes appear as they publish, and they leave once you have heard them.

To make one: open Library, tap the + beside Playlists, choose New Smart Playlist. Name it, set Membership, tap Choose Shows and pick them. Under Include episodes that are, leave Unplayed and In progress switched on.

When you finish an episode, you can set a delay before it removes itself. Episodes can be removed manually, automatically when you finish playing them, or after a day or two.

To change it: Settings, then Downloads and Storage, then Remove played downloads. The same setting decides when a finished episode gives up its downloaded file, which is why it lives under Downloads.

For one show only: open the show, tap the gear, and set Remove played downloads there. A show’s own choice beats the one in Settings.

A whole show at once. Open the show, tap the ... in the corner, choose Mark All as Played. Everything unheard is filed immediately and leaves your lists. It is undoable, and it never counts as listening, so it cannot skew your Superlatives.

One episode. Swipe it to the left to mark it played, or tap it and use Mark Played in the ... menu. Swipe the other way to put it in your queue instead.

Files rather than episodes. Settings, Downloads and Storage has Delete played downloads and Delete all downloads. Those remove audio from the device and change nothing else; every episode still streams on demand.

Every episode row has a cloud on the right, and the cloud tells you where the audio is. Tap an empty one to download that episode. Tap a full one and Parasocial offers to remove the file.

Library, then Downloads. Every file on the device, newest first, with the total size at the top.

To remove one: tap its filled cloud and confirm, swipe the row on that page, or use Remove Download in the episode’s ... menu. The episode stays in your library and streams when you play it.

To download automatically: Settings, Downloads and Storage, Download new episodes. Any show or playlist can override it from its own settings, and a playlist has Download All Episodes.

There are no stars in Parasocial. A bookmark is the one thing to reach for. If you came from an app that starred episodes, your stars arrive here as bookmarks.

To bookmark: swipe an episode to the right, or tap it and use the bookmark button. It stays for good, played or not, and nothing else on this page removes it.

Then tag it. The moment you bookmark something, Parasocial asks how to file it. Type a name, tap Add, tap Done. An episode can carry as many tags as you like, so one interview can sit under Interviews and under Money at once without a second copy of it existing anywhere.

Start playing anything, then tap the waveform in the player. Everything below is on that one sheet, and every change there applies to the episode you are listening to.

Trim Gaps shortens the quiet stretches it finds, which takes real minutes off a conversational show. Studio Sound lifts speech clarity without raising the peaks, so a quiet guest stops vanishing under a loud host. Playback speed runs from half to triple, with presets and a fine adjustment beside them.

To skip an intro or an outro: on the same sheet, under Beginning and end, set how many seconds to cut at each end. Set it on the show instead, through the gear on its page, and every episode of that show skips them.

To set it once for everything: Settings, Playback. An episode beats a show, a show beats a playlist, and a playlist beats those defaults. Wherever you have overridden something there is a Use Inherited Settings button to clear it again.

In the player, tap Sleep. Choose a number of minutes, or Stop at End of Episode to finish the one you are on. While a timer runs you can add ten minutes or cancel it, and starting a new one replaces the one already going.

What is the difference between a collection and a playlist? A playlist is private and it is for listening, so it empties as you work through it. A collection is public and it is for recommending, so it keeps everything in it whether or not you have heard it.

To make one: open the Curate tab, tap New Collection, and choose a collection of shows or a collection of episodes. Publishing needs a username, which you claim in Settings under Profile. Your library stays anonymous either way, and nothing you listen to is published by claiming one.

To share it: a listed collection sits on your public page for anyone to find. An unlisted one is a link you send, and it needs no username at all. Either can be embedded on a website.

Our little way of celebrating the small successes in life, like listening to a hundred episodes of your favorite podcaster. Open Library, then Superlatives. Each one is a card you can share if you feel like it, and ignore if you do not.

They come from listening you actually did, so marking a back catalog played never earns one.

First, check you are on the latest version of Parasocial. If something is broken there is a fair chance we hit it too and have already fixed it. Settings, About shows the version you are running, and the App Store will tell you whether there is a newer one.

Then: Settings, Help, Report a Bug. Say what happened and what you expected instead. Add your email if you would like a reply, and we do reply. Request a Feature sits right below it and goes to the same place.

About one episode or show? Use Report a Problem in that episode’s ... menu instead. It carries the show and the episode with it, so nobody has to ask which one you meant.