Frequently Asked Questions
Got questions? We have answers. If you can't find what you're looking for, feel free to open an issue on our GitHub.
Ohrbob is a multi-platform, open-source podcast player and syncing server. It lets you organize your podcasts into stations, configure how they play, and keeps your listening state synchronized across all your devices.
Yes! Ohrbob is entirely open-source and free to use. You can host your own server or use community-provided instances.
Currently, the Avalonia-based app runs on Android, Linux, and Windows. MacOS and iOS support are planned for the future. You can also listen directly in the web UI from any browser!
Yes, an account is required to save your station configurations and synchronize your playback state across devices.
Stations are groups of podcasts you curate. Instead of manually queuing episodes one by one, you create a "News" station or a "Comedy" station, and Ohrbob automatically compiles a playlist based on your rules.
Absolutely. You can import an OPML file exported from your previous podcast app directly into your profile, then assign those feeds to your stations.
When enabled, if your station runs out of new episodes to play, Endless Spin automatically reaches into the backlog of the feeds in that station and queues up older, unplayed episodes.
If you have one podcast that publishes daily and another that publishes weekly, the daily one might drown out the weekly one in your playlist. Host Pace intelligently spaces out episodes to maintain a balanced mix from all your feeds.
This setting automatically cleans up your playlist by dropping episodes that are older than a certain number of days, ensuring you're only presented with fresh content.
Yes. Your listening data is stored securely in the database of the server you are using. If you self-host, you retain 100% control over your data.
When editing a station, use the "Add via URL" feature. Simply paste your unique Patreon or premium RSS feed link, and Ohrbob will fetch and authenticate it securely.
Yes! You can mark a station as public/shareable, giving you a unique link. Anyone with the link can subscribe to that station and get exactly the same feed configuration.
No hard limits are enforced by default. You can create as many stations and profiles as you need to organize your listening habits.
The native apps download episodes for offline playback. The web UI streams directly from the podcast host. A dedicated streaming feature for the native apps is coming soon.
Yes, MacOS and iOS support are actively planned thanks to the cross-platform nature of Avalonia UI.
We provide a comprehensive Docker Compose setup. Check out our Self-Hosting Guide for step-by-step instructions.
Yes, to use the built-in search and discovery features, you need a free API key from PodcastIndex.org.
Please open an issue on our GitHub repository. Provide as much detail as possible to help us reproduce the problem.
We welcome contributions! Whether it's code, bug reports, documentation, or translations, head over to GitHub and open a pull request.
"Ohr" is the German word for ear, and "Bob" is... well, just Bob. It's your friendly digital ear companion!