Sleep Cast: User Manual

Welcome to Sleep Cast!

While our name might suggest a focus on nighttime listening, Sleep Cast is a powerful and versatile podcast player designed for all your listening needs, day or night. This manual will guide you through its rich features, helping you discover, organize, and enjoy your favorite podcasts like never before.

1. Getting Started

• Navigating the App (Tabs):
  Sleep Cast uses a tab bar at the bottom of the screen for easy navigation:

  • Add Podcasts (+🔍): Search, discover, and manage your podcast subscriptions.

  • Inbox (📥): See the latest episodes from your subscribed podcasts.

  • Player (▶️): The main playback screen with controls and your current queue.

  • Bookmarks (🔖): Access your saved bookmarks and audio fragments.

  • Settings (⚙️): Customize app behavior, manage data, and more.

• First Launch:
  When you first open Sleep Cast:

  • Your Inbox and Subscribed Podcasts list will likely be empty.

  • The Player will show a placeholder until you start playing an episode.

  • Head to the "Add Podcasts" tab to start finding and subscribing to shows!

2. The Player View: Your Listening Hub

This is where you control playback and manage what's up next.

• Understanding the Interface:

  • Cover Art: Displays the artwork of the currently playing episode.

  • Episode Title & Podcast Title: Clearly shown below the artwork or integrated into the controls area.

  • Playback Slider: Shows current progress. Drag to seek within the episode.

  • Time Stamps: Current time elapsed and remaining time (or total duration).

  • Controls: Buttons for play/pause, skip, next/previous, sleep timer, and bookmarking.

• Playback Controls:

  • Play/Pause (▶️/❚❚): Start or pause playback.

  • Skip Forward/Backward (↪️ /↩️): Jump forward or backward by the interval set in Settings.

  • Next/Previous Episode (⏭️/⏮️):

    • Next: Plays the next episode in your current queue/sequence.

    • Previous: If more than a few seconds into an episode, restarts the current episode. If near the beginning, plays the previous episode in the queue/sequence.

  • Sleep Timer (🌙): Tap to enable/disable the sleep timer. A countdown will appear if active. (See "Settings View" for duration).

  • Bookmark (🔖): Tap to save the current playback position as a bookmark. A confirmation will briefly appear.

• Playback Modes: Playlist vs. Binge
  You can switch between two main listening modes using the segmented picker at the top of the queue list:

  • Playlist Mode:

    • Purpose: For a curated list of episodes from various podcasts.

    • Queue: Episodes you manually add.

    • Sorting: You can sort the playlist by "Manual" (your added order), "Date (Newest)", or "Date (Oldest)" using the sort picker next to the mode selector. Manual sorting allows drag-and-drop reordering.

  • Binge Mode:

    • Purpose: Listen to episodes from a single subscribed podcast sequentially.

    • Selection: Pick a subscribed podcast using the "Podcast" picker that appears in Binge Mode.

    • Sorting: Episodes are automatically fetched and can be sorted by "Oldest First" or "Newest First" using the sort picker.

• Managing the Queue (Visible below controls):

  • Tap an Episode: Starts playing that episode.

  • Playlist Mode Actions:

    • Add: Episodes are added to the Playlist from the Inbox or Episode Detail views.

    • Remove (Swipe Right-to-Left): Reveals a "Trash" button to remove the episode from the playlist.

    • Move to Top (Swipe Left-to-Right, if Manual Sort): Reveals a "Move to Top" button.

    • Reorder (if Manual Sort): Press and hold the "Edit" or "Reorder" button (if available, or look for standard list reorder controls) then drag episodes to change their order. Note: The provided code suggests sorting options; if manual reordering is enabled, it's typically via an Edit button or drag handles.

  • Binge Mode Actions:

    • The queue is automatically generated based on your selected podcast and sort order. You cannot manually reorder or remove individual episodes from the Binge sequence directly in the player view; change the podcast or sort order instead.

  • Common Swipe Actions (Both Modes):

    • Mark Unplayed (Swipe Right-to-Left): Reveals an orange "Mark Unplayed" button, resetting its progress.

  • Episode Info (ℹ️): Tap the info icon next to an episode in the queue to navigate to its detailed view.

3. Inbox View: Your Latest Episodes

• What is the Inbox?
  The Inbox automatically displays the most recent episodes from all your subscribed podcasts, making it easy to see what's new. The number of episodes shown per podcast can be configured in Settings.

• Refreshing and Interacting:

  • Pull to Refresh: Drag the list down to check for new episodes. A progress indicator will show if a refresh is in progress.

  • Tap an Episode: Navigates to the Episode Detail view.

  • Swipe Actions:

    • Add to Queue (Swipe Left-to-Right): Adds the episode to your Playlist queue.

    • Mark Unplayed (Swipe Right-to-Left): Resets the episode's progress.

    • Remove from Inbox (Swipe Right-to-Left): Reveals a "Delete" button to remove the episode from the Inbox view only. It does not delete the episode from the podcast or your subscription.

4. Add Podcasts View: Discover & Subscribe

This is your hub for finding new shows and managing your subscriptions.

• Searching for Podcasts:

  • Use the search bar at the top to search the iTunes podcast directory by title, author, or keyword.

  • Search results appear as you type. Tap a result to see its Podcast Detail View.

• Discovering Top Charts:

  • Tap "Discover Podcasts" or "Discover Episodes" to see top charts.

  • Use the Country Picker at the top of these discovery views to see charts for different regions.

  • Tap any podcast or episode in the discovery lists to view its details.

• Managing Subscriptions:

  • Subscribe:

    • From Search Results/Discovery: Tap the + (plus) icon next to a podcast.

    • From Podcast Detail View: Tap the "Subscribe" button.

  • Unsubscribe:

    • From Subscribed List: Swipe left on a podcast and tap "Delete", or use the Edit button for multi-select delete.

    • From Podcast Detail View: Tap the "Unsubscribe" button.

  • Viewing Subscribed Podcasts: When the search bar is empty, this view lists all your subscribed podcasts. You can sort them by Title or Date Added. Tap any subscribed podcast to go to its Podcast Detail View.

• OPML Import & Export:

  • Import: Tap "Import from OPML File" to select an OPML file from your device. Sleep Cast will add the podcasts from the file to your subscriptions.

  • Export: Tap "Export Subscriptions to OPML" to create an OPML file of your current subscriptions, which you can then share or save.

5. Bookmarks View: Save & Revisit Moments

Never lose your place or a memorable segment again.

• Creating Bookmarks:

  • Player Button: Tap the bookmark icon (🔖) on the Player View.

  • Shake-to-Bookmark (if enabled in Settings): Physically shake your device.

  • Volume Gesture Bookmark (if enabled in Settings, Experimental):Quickly press volume down, then volume up on your headphones.

  • Note: Bookmarks save your current playback time, potentially rewound by a few seconds (configurable in Settings).

• Viewing and Managing Bookmarks:

  • The Bookmarks tab lists all your saved bookmarks, sorted by date created (newest first).

  • Tap a Bookmark: Opens the Bookmark Detail View.

  • Delete a Bookmark (Swipe Right-to-Left): Reveals a "Delete" button. This also deletes any associated audio fragment.

• Bookmark Detail View:

  • Information: Shows episode title, podcast title, and the saved timestamp.

  • Cover Art: Displays the episode's cover art.

  • "Go to Episode at Timestamp": Tap this to load the full episode in the Player View and seek to the bookmarked time. This will switch your active tab to the Player.

  • Audio Fragment Player (if fragment was saved):

    • If "Save Audio Fragment" is enabled in Settings and the episode was downloaded, a short audio clip (duration configurable in Settings) around the bookmark time is saved.

    • Use the mini-player controls (play/pause, slider, skip) to listen to just this fragment.

  • Notes:

    • A text editor is provided to add or edit notes associated with the bookmark.

    • Notes are saved automatically when you leave the field or the view.

  • Share Button (if fragment exists): Allows you to share the audio fragment file and/or your notes.

  • Delete Bookmark: A button to delete the current bookmark and its fragment.

6. Settings View: Customize Your Experience

Tailor Sleep Cast to your preferences.

• Manage Subscriptions:

  • Links to OPML Import/Export.

  • "Remove All Subscriptions": Deletes all your podcast subscriptions and their downloaded data. Use with caution!

• Sleep Timer Settings:

  • Enable Sleep Timer: Master toggle for the sleep timer.

  • Duration: Set how long the timer runs before pausing playback (1-120 minutes).

  • Auto-Restart Timer on Play: If enabled, resuming playback resets the timer to its full duration. If disabled, resuming playback continues the timer from where it left off (or stays off if it had completed).

• Sleep Detection (Experimental, HealthKit):

  • Pause Playback on Sleep: If enabled, the app attempts to use HealthKit sleep data to detect when you fall asleep and automatically pause playback and create a bookmark.

  • Authorize HealthKit: If the feature is enabled but not authorized, a button will appear to guide you through granting HealthKit permission for "Sleep Analysis."

  • Sleep Relevance Window: (Appears if enabled & authorized) How recently a sleep sample must have ended to be considered relevant for pausing (e.g., within the last 60 minutes).

• Bookmarks Settings:

  • Bookmark Rewind: Automatically rewinds the saved bookmark time by this amount (0 seconds means no rewind).

  • Fragment Duration: Sets the length of the audio fragment saved with a bookmark (if enabled).

  • Save Audio Fragment: Toggle whether to save a short audio clip with each bookmark (requires the episode to be downloaded).

  • Volume Gesture Bookmark: Enable/disable the experimental volume down-then-up gesture for bookmarking.

• Downloads & Player Settings:

  • Download Episodes: Master toggle for automatic episode downloading. If disabled, episodes are streamed. Disabling cancels ongoing downloads.

  • Download only on Wi-Fi: (Appears if downloads are enabled) Restricts downloads to Wi-Fi connections.

  • Skip Interval: Set the duration for the forward/backward skip buttons in the player.

  • Clear Playlist: Removes all episodes from the current Playlist queue.

  • Clear Episode Cache: Deletes all downloaded episode audio files to free up storage.

• Queue Behavior Settings:

  • Move played episode to end: If enabled, finished episodes in the Playlist queue are moved to the bottom.

  • Remove played episode from queue: If enabled, finished episodes are removed from the Playlist queue. (These two settings are mutually exclusive).

• Inbox Settings:

  • Episodes per Podcast: Set the maximum number of recent episodes to show per podcast in the Inbox (0 for unlimited).

• About: Displays app version information.

7. Advanced Features

• Understanding Downloads & Caching:

  • When "Download Episodes" is enabled, Sleep Cast attempts to download episodes in your Playlist Queue for offline playback.

  • Binge Mode episodes are generally streamed unless they happen to be in your (potentially inactive) Playlist Queue and are downloaded due to that.

  • Cover art is also cached for faster loading.

  • The cache can be cleared in Settings if you need to free up space.

• Shake-to-Bookmark & Volume Gesture:

  • Shake: A quick, firm shake of your device (if enabled) will create a bookmark at the current playback position.

  • Volume Gesture: If enabled, quickly pressing volume down then volume up on your connected headphones (physical buttons) will create a bookmark. This is experimental and may depend on your headphones.

• Background App Refresh:
  Sleep Cast will attempt to periodically refresh your podcast feeds in the background to update your Inbox. The frequency is managed by iOS to optimize battery life.

Enjoy your enhanced podcast experience with Sleep Cast! If you have any issues or feedback, please [mention where users can provide feedback, e.g., a support email or website, if applicable].