Press kit

Starcast launches on the App Store on Tuesday, November 17, 2026. Pitches sent before launch are embargoed until 9:00 AM ET that day.

In one paragraph

Starcast is a new iPhone podcast player built around people instead of shows. Follow a comedian, an author or a scientist, and the shows they turn up on land in your feed, even ones you don’t subscribe to. You get an alert when they’re on something new. Starcast also reads what guests came on to promote, like a new book or a tour, puts it on a card, and lets you search a book to hear its author’s interviews. It has free synced transcripts, no ads and no account. It was built by Derek Roth, who isn’t a programmer, working alone with AI.

Fact sheet

App

Starcast: Podcasts & Guests

Platform

iPhone, iOS 26 or later. CarPlay and Home Screen widgets.

Launch

Tuesday, November 17, 2026, on the App Store

Price

Free. Starcast Pro is $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year, with a 2-week free trial.

Free includes

The full player, transcripts, and following as many hosts and guests as you like, with a daily digest.

Pro adds

Push alerts when anyone you follow is on a new episode of a show Starcast tracks (free covers three people you pin), and new episodes from your shows right away.

Features

Follow hosts and guests across shows · what guests are promoting · search by book to hear the author’s interviews · free synced transcripts · downloads, queue, per-show speed, sleep timer, chapters, CarPlay, widgets, OPML import, private feeds

Privacy

No account needed. No ads. No tracking. Your library and listening history stay on your phone and in your own iCloud. To fetch new episodes fast, Starcast’s server is told which public shows you subscribe to; private feeds never leave your phone. Anonymous counts of how people find shows can be switched off in Settings.

Made by

Derek Roth, solo founder, built with AI

Screenshots

Click a screenshot to open it full size, or save it. Free to use in coverage of Starcast.

Logo

Download the app icon (PNG, 1024×1024). Please show it as is: don’t recolour, crop or add effects.

About the founder

Derek Roth has a product background and a day job, and had never shipped code before Starcast. He built it alone by directing AI agents: he wrote plain-English specs, approved every decision, and had the agents measure before they built anything. When the AI got things wrong, as it did, his answer was more rules and tests, with every change measured across the whole catalogue before it ships.

Derek is happy to talk about how Starcast was made, including the mistakes, and can show the real decision logs on a call. A founder photo is available on request.

Contact