Steadcast

Privacy Policy

Effective March 30, 2026

Steadcast does not have accounts, does not track you, and does not sell data. Your podcast library lives on your Mac. That is the whole story, but here are the details.

Local Data Storage

All podcast subscriptions, episodes, playback state, bookmarks, notes, and queue data are stored locally on your Mac using SwiftData. This data never leaves your device unless you explicitly export it (e.g., OPML export). Steadcast does not operate any cloud sync service.

Anonymous Usage Signals

Steadcast offers an optional, opt-in usage signal program to help us improve the app. This is disabled by default. You can enable it via Settings → Help Improve Steadcast.

When enabled, Steadcast sends minimal, anonymous signals to our Supabase backend. Each signal contains:

  • Event type (e.g., “played episode,” “subscribed to podcast”)
  • Podcast iTunes ID (to understand content trends)
  • App version and macOS version
  • Interest categories (e.g., “Technology,” “News”)

Signals explicitly do not contain:

  • User ID or account identifier
  • Device ID, serial number, or hardware identifier
  • Session ID or any cross-session tracking token
  • IP address (not stored server-side)
  • Episode listening history or playback position

These signals are stateless and cannot be linked to an individual user or device.

On-Device Transcription & Summaries (Mac)

Steadcast for Mac uses the macOS 26 Speech framework to transcribe podcast episodes on your Mac. Apple Intelligence is used separately to generate summaries from those transcripts. All processing happens entirely on your device. No audio or transcript data is sent to any server.

Steadcast for iPhone

The iPhone app works differently: instead of transcribing on your device, it reads transcripts, highlights, and summaries that the Steadcast Library has already prepared for shows in our catalog. Those requests are anonymous — the app has no accounts, sends no user or device identifier, and contains no analytics or tracking of any kind.

  • What the app requests from our servers: catalog listings, transcripts, and editorial content. Requests carry only a public API key — never anything about you.
  • What never reaches our servers: what you listen to, your subscriptions, your playback positions, your memories, and your chosen interests. Personalization is computed on your phone.
  • iCloud sync:your library, positions, queue, and memories sync between your devices through your own private iCloud account, using Apple's infrastructure. Steadcast's servers never see this data.
  • Audio:episodes stream directly from each show's publisher, as in any podcast app. Publishers and their hosting providers may observe standard connection metadata such as your IP address.

Third-Party Services

Steadcast connects to the following external services during normal operation:

  • Supabase — Hosts editorial content (curated collections, featured episodes) and receives anonymous usage signals if opted in. Supabase Privacy Policy
  • Podcast Index — Used for podcast search and discovery, accessed through a server-side proxy. No user-identifying information is sent. Podcast Index Privacy Policy
  • iTunes Search API — Used to resolve podcast artwork. Requests contain only podcast identifiers.
  • RSS Feed Hosts— When you subscribe to a podcast, Steadcast fetches the RSS feed directly from the podcast publisher’s server. These requests include your IP address (as with any HTTP request) but no other identifying information.

No Accounts, No Tracking, No Advertising

Steadcast does not require or offer user accounts. There is no sign-in, no email collection, and no user profile. The app contains no analytics SDKs, no advertising frameworks, and no third-party trackers.

Opt-Out

If you have enabled usage signals and wish to stop, go to Settings → Help Improve Steadcast and toggle it off. Signal collection stops immediately. Previously sent signals cannot be attributed to you since they contain no identifying information.

Children’s Privacy

Steadcast does not knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of 13. Since the app does not collect personal information from any user, no special provisions are necessary.

Changes to This Policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and note the changes within the app.

Contact

Questions about this privacy policy can be directed to privacy@steadcast.co.

Steadcast is built by AA Battery.