Franco (Castamatic)

Developer of Castamatic Podcast Player for iOS. Founder, host and producer at https://digitalia.fm tech show. Sailor. Doctor in the spare time.

Public Key

npub1axu0t2tm3y8c5n0wuakepwggcz7sgadpw5c060azlfp4tchd9u0qejzjl7

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswnw8449acjru2fhhwwmvshyyvp0gywksh2v8a87305s64utkj78spz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qz9thwden5te0wfjkccte9ekk7um5wgh8qatznj5j72

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub1axu0t2tm3y8c5n0wuakepwggcz7sgadpw5c060azlfp4tchd9u0qejzjl7

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-10-28 15:17:46 GMT

Castamatic 14 is out. Very proud of this: sharing as video clips, chapters selection, undo. Also a lot of fixes: it might be the most stable version of the app ever. A big thank you to everyone who sent bug reports and suggestions.
https://castamatic.com/blog/2026/10/22/castamatic-14/

2026-08-06 09:57:14 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…636u @nprofile…x5pc @nprofile…cn7u @nprofile…kdmg @nprofile…zv63 Castamatic resolves both channels just fine, custom domains included. I just verified [email protected] returns both lnurlp and keysend. No Alby/Fountain hardcoding.
When an address offers both I go with LNURL-pay: when the push was to move past keysend (P2.0 show: ”not deprecated, but effectively so"), the direction from the Fountain/Alby folks was to prioritize the address lookup: https://github.com/Podcastindex-org/podcast-namespace/discussions/576#discussioncomment-7787922

2026-07-31 10:38:38 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…td70 Great. I'll study it during my vacations, I'd like to integrate it into Castaping service.

2026-07-13 18:40:54 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc are you sending sats via lightning or stablecoins?

2026-07-13 17:45:38 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc Spark/Breez is neat and self-custodial, but there's a V4V blocker: a native Spark transfer carries no metadata: just address + amount + token id. No memo/comment field in the protocol or the Breez SDK, so nowhere for a boostagram (or a link to one), and no in-band id to match off-chain metadata. Lightning has the keysend TLV 7629169 and LNURL comment for this; Spark has neither. Spark is alpha, we as a interest group should push for a payer-note field before native-Spark V4V makes sense.

2026-06-04 17:10:44 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…cyex @nprofile…td70 @nprofile…w0mx What puzzles me most is how anyone can think it’s reasonable to lump together under the same “podcasting” label formats with completely different consumption patterns, and therefore completely different CPMs, especially when the stated goal is to unify the advertising market around them.
“Put your ads here, it’s a podcast, $60 CPM. Or put them over there, it’s also a podcast, $4 CPM”. WTF?

2026-05-10 08:47:43 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…jnjt @nprofile…cyex Ciao Alberto, on my show we have a recurring segment “This Week in Piracy Shield”… 😄
https://cdn.masto.host/podcastindexsocial/media_attachments/files/116/549/409/791/300/142/original/6159b9217676da18.mp3

2026-05-09 13:54:28 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc @nprofile…d65z @nprofile…ax8n thank you

2026-05-07 10:30:46 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc @nprofile…d65z @nprofile…ax8n bug confirmed. Fixing it now, I hope it will be in the store in a few days.

2026-05-06 20:03:58 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc thank you chad, that would be great

2026-05-06 15:56:08 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc @nprofile…ax8n Hello Eric. It should already be there, or at least it was. Maybe a bug. Are you sending LnURLp or keysend?

2026-04-20 09:34:41 GMT

Castamatic 13 with AI-generated transcripts and chapters is live on the store. Chapter generation requires a device that supports Apple Intelligence. Transcript generation also works on some older devices.
https://castamatic.com/blog/2026/04/20/castamatic-13/

2026-04-11 13:49:43 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…nh7l yes, the memory leak was pretty bad on older device because if memory constraints. Now it's fixed, so it should improve a lot. Also chapters generation is based on Apple Intelligence, so I have no way to make it work on older phones.

2026-03-26 16:32:38 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc 100% agree - run to the newest device is good only for Apple's bank account

2026-03-26 12:21:43 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc yes, that means your device doesn’t support Apple’s libraries for AI

2026-03-25 15:33:55 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…nh7l If you're on iOS 26 and "Generate Magic Chapters" isn't showing up here's what to check:
The episode needs to be fully downloaded — streaming won't work
Your device needs to support Apple Intelligence (iPhone 16+, etc.)
The on-device language model needs to be downloaded and ready — check Settings → Apple Intelligence
If a transcript is currently being generated, the option will appear once it's done

2026-03-25 15:05:58 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc It's possible that speech recognition is not available on iPhone 11. Apple doesn't publish a list of supported device models. https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/802863
I’ll post a new version that should give more info about the error.

2026-03-25 14:08:48 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…574t @nprofile…7epg following that logic you could sue every podcast app with a skip forward button.

2026-03-25 14:06:51 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…nh7l thank you Brian. I’ll look into it. The option to generate magic chapters is in the player menu (three dot icon)

2026-03-25 14:05:47 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc well that's what beta are for 😄 Can you enable verbose logging, then send me the log file to info AT castamatic DOT com ?

2026-03-24 22:29:33 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…574t I don’t know if we can consider transcribing as altering. But I was rude, sorry. You make a good point. I will have to think about this all.

2026-03-24 21:28:07 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…574t But now that you mention it, I could consider reading some rss tag from a podcaster that doesn't want his work to be transcribed and put some label on the app like “this podcaster is so ashamed of his own words that doesn't want them to be transcribed” 😄

2026-03-24 21:26:09 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…574t what if the listener downloads Leo’s mp3 and puts it into chatGPT or Claude? Would Leo sue ChatGPT? Or the listener?

2026-03-24 21:20:50 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…574t I'm not chaptering any podcaster’s audio file. Listeners are. On their own devices. Like they could do with pencil and paper.

2026-03-24 18:46:45 GMT

We don't need no stinking MacMinis. Castamatic gives you Magic Transcript and Magic Chapters.
Locally generated using CoreLM and the Speech framework.
Available now in beta on TestFlight.
https://castamatic.com/beta

2026-03-10 13:24:52 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…td70 @nprofile…w0mx I had the same idea, only then I remembered photosynthesis doesn't work by night 😄

2026-03-10 11:29:53 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…w0mx can’t you just sleep in the open, like all proper australians do? 🐍🐊🕷️🔪 😆
https://cdn.masto.host/podcastindexsocial/media_attachments/files/116/204/646/482/853/359/original/6c889dc73a5a0fe3.jpeg

2026-02-27 16:18:38 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc yes it does.When network is down it might signal not reachable, but when the connection is restored it should reconnect automatically.

2026-02-24 17:02:12 GMT

Castamatic 12.5 is out
- NWC wallets
- BoostBox API
- Automatic and manual backup
https://castamatic.com/jekyll/2026/02/21/nwc/

2026-02-24 13:59:16 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…zv63 @nprofile…x5pc Hi Steven I agree with you 100%, but at this point the number of hosting services that offer wallet + metadata is 0. We are trying to set things in motion.

2026-02-24 12:16:25 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc if we can have a common server, maybe hosted by podcast index, it would be great for me. I’m not too confortable on hosting users messages. I think I'll put an expiration date so messages are purged after 1 month.

2026-02-20 10:52:51 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…ax8n @nprofile…w0mx @nprofile…7fxa @nprofile…k8p7 Current Castamatic beta supports NWC. https://castamatic.com/beta - if your alby wallet is connected, just disconnect and ask to connect to a new wallet and you'll have the NWC option.
https://cdn.masto.host/podcastindexsocial/media_attachments/files/116/102/579/064/566/788/original/688105f82fb855d9.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/podcastindexsocial/media_attachments/files/116/102/579/341/365/059/original/66521e264a157bb0.jpeg

2026-02-15 17:05:35 GMT

- reply

Inappropriate indeed!
Dear Podcast Addict, don't you think that if the podcaster wanted to associate images to his own chapters, he would specify them himself?
https://cdn.masto.host/podcastindexsocial/media_attachments/files/116/075/733/383/708/823/original/c0be390bdf2bdb92.png

2026-02-09 15:58:40 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc when connecting to a wallet that doesn't support keysend, Castamatic alerts the user only LnAddress will be used.

2026-02-09 15:40:31 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc thank you Chad. I don't know why I thought Strike supported NWC.

2026-02-08 17:26:23 GMT

The new Castamatic beta includes, among many other new features, the ability to use NWC wallets. I’ve already tested a few different services with mixed results. AlbyHub works very well. Primal works fine for LNURLp but does not support keysend. I’m not able to test with Strike because it’s not available in my country. If anyone wants to try it out and share feedback, that would be great:
https://castamatic.com/beta

2026-02-08 13:49:41 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc thank you Chad. Disconnect your wallet and ask to reconnect, you will have the option to pick an Alby account or any NWC compatible wallet.

2026-01-31 12:38:16 GMT

What NWC enabled wallets are currently in operation and available in Europe/Italy? CoinOS is currently not working.

2026-01-30 17:21:40 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc @nprofile…vfcp I love Alby! They rock 🤟

2026-01-30 16:48:57 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…td70 indeed I am! 😁 and there is more coming…

2026-01-27 19:48:15 GMT

Native Instruments GmbH is in preliminary insolvency (also parent co of iZotope, Plugin Alliance and Brainworx).
https://cdm.link/ni-insolvency/

2026-01-27 19:35:29 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…7epg showbusiness for ugly voices

2026-01-26 08:24:57 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…w0mx @nprofile…td70 I'm every day more convinced each feed should specify its own canonical feed url in the xml.

2026-01-15 17:54:49 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…x5pc thank you, I'll have to check. Not an easy task to reproduce, it usually switches with no issues. Is it possible you had bad network when one podcast ended and the other began playing?

2026-01-14 12:18:44 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…8t76 @nprofile…k8p7 I'm doing tests using https://api.getalby.com/lnurl/lightning-address-details When I get both LnUrl and keysend info I used to prioritize keysend for reasons, but for some addresses payments fail. eg. [email protected] -

2026-01-10 09:59:46 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…zwqe Got it now! I’m so used to reading bug reports and feature requests that I didn’t realize you were just happily using it. Glad it felt good 🤙

2026-01-05 14:55:35 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…zwqe you mean unsubscribe didn't remove the shows?

2025-12-30 16:01:27 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…myyh @nprofile…4vsz I think for the time being I will put an expiration date and purge payments data older than a couple of months. If the podcaster is interested in collecting them I'm sure he will do it sooner.

2025-12-30 15:55:07 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…myyh @nprofile…4vsz thank you. I was a little worried about record number explosion for streaming payments + multiple splits in the small server I'm running on. But maybe it's just useless premature optimization.

2025-12-30 15:47:59 GMT

@nprofile…4vsz @nprofile…myyh I’m working on a BoostBox API implementation for Castamatic and I have a quick question. When sending multiple splits for a single payment, do you post a single metadata object to the BoostBox API server and reference it in the comment of each split transaction, or do you create multiple entries, one for each split transaction?

2025-12-23 11:22:21 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…wqpy is PCID expressed on the rss feed?

2025-12-23 10:56:32 GMT

The latest two episodes of Podcasting 2.0, from the point of view of an app developer 😅
https://cdn.masto.host/podcastindexsocial/media_attachments/files/115/768/517/520/738/459/original/9f723b04ef6c25c0.jpeg

2025-12-21 17:20:37 GMT

@nprofile…wsp3 @nprofile…y5nd Dies Natalis Solis Invictis was the pagan holiday happening on Dec 25th. Literally “the day the sun is born after not being defeated" (by winter darkness). Basically they celebrated the winter solstice. So "Bonus dies Natalis..." means Merry Christmas for pre-christian pagans.

2025-12-15 17:50:44 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…y5nd do you know if the chapter generation is performed on device or server side?

2025-12-11 10:42:04 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp Hello Chad. The new version 12.0.1 is live now on the store. It should fix the issue you reported. Thank you.

2025-12-07 17:32:40 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp Hello Chad. I cannot reproduce the problem. Can you point me to some podcast/episode with many chapter artworks where you experience the bug?

2025-12-06 20:41:07 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp thank you, I’will investigate the issue

2025-12-06 19:03:51 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp Hello chad, does it happen for just one podcast or for all podcasts with chapters?

2025-11-24 15:18:05 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…60s3 @nprofile…5yxp @nprofile…y5nd @nprofile…sxxr @nprofile…wsp3 @nprofile…lgy5 Podcast Index 2.0 latest episode - timestamp 00:28:17 - Dave says their account on Alby was deactivated for too much load. Streaming payments while playing episodes issues too many invoice requests.

2025-11-24 12:21:50 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…y5nd @nprofile…60s3 @nprofile…sxxr @nprofile…wsp3 It’s worth understanding how much traffic hosted nodes on Alby and other wallet services can actually handle. If we all shift to LNURL, will bigger shows eventually need to run their own node? How big are we talking?

2025-11-19 08:07:09 GMT

Castamatic 12 is out, with Liquid Glass UI, adaptive player color, new animations, new sleep timer UI, and many bug fixes. https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/castamatic-podcast-player/id966632553?mt=8

2025-11-13 21:07:07 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp sharing episodes should be working now. Thank you for the head up

2025-11-13 17:20:18 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp thank you Chad, looking into it after work.

2025-11-07 13:02:00 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp thanks, I'll have to study a way to work around that

2025-11-07 12:59:55 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp Ok, I'll have to test it out.

2025-11-07 12:41:46 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp Thank you Chad. I wanted to make the app a little more visually interesting with changing player colors. As for the cut artwork, are you running iOS26 with some reduced transparency setting on?

2025-11-06 22:02:07 GMT

Castamatic is almost ready for the new iOS look, plus many bug fixes and improvements. Beta available on TestFlight: http://castamatic.com/beta

2025-11-06 16:46:56 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…amf2 never thought about that, great idea!

2025-10-31 23:25:03 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…y5nd Alby Hub is quite an amazing piece of software

2025-10-30 12:20:29 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…ge5x @nprofile…myyh @nprofile…2q02 @nprofile…r5z7 correct, I was thinking about DNS and wrote VPN. Thank you

2025-10-30 12:11:17 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…myyh @nprofile…2q02 @nprofile…ge5x @nprofile…r5z7 what kind of ad blocker are you testing with? VPN based like Pi-hole or system plugins?

2025-10-27 16:10:33 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…wsp3 @nprofile…ge5x how noisy a modern house generator is? Can you record a show while the generator is running if your studio is not soundproof?

2025-10-23 15:43:27 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…60s3 @nprofile…5yxp @nprofile…vwpk @nprofile…25h2 @nprofile…k6ng @nprofile…2q02 well, I have three Alby accounts for my podcast, for Castamatic and for personal stuff, so sometimes I have to logout and switch between those. I understand for normal users it is a once a month login, but even then, compared to logging in to other services that just need unlocking the password manager with touch id or face id, it appears cumbersome.

2025-10-23 15:08:01 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…60s3 @nprofile…5yxp @nprofile…vwpk @nprofile…25h2 @nprofile…k6ng @nprofile…2q02 as a user I must say it's really annoying having to go back and forth between the browser and the email client to login. Two factor authentication with a time based code managed with modern password managers is much faster and has good security.

2025-10-16 11:31:46 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp as a workaround try pausing the episode before turning the car off. That should put the player in a state where the audiosession interruptions can't disrupt the position saving process.

2025-10-16 11:08:56 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…5yxp thank you chad, at every iOS release they change and screw up the audio unit api / notifications. I'll have a look.

2025-10-15 20:04:33 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…9ap7 thank you John for all your work

2025-10-15 15:02:14 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…amf2 @nprofile…k6ng @nprofile…5yxp nope, I run a refresh task that loads all the transactions a couple hours before my show goes live, and auto-generate a report for all the donations for the episode. Also integrates donations from Paypal and Satispay using the relative APIs.

2025-10-15 10:56:15 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…9ap7 thank you 🙏

2025-10-15 09:18:48 GMT

@nprofile…9ap7 Hello John, podpings not coming, I think the server needs your magic touch

2025-10-15 09:12:39 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…k6ng @nprofile…amf2 @nprofile…5yxp I don't use Helipad, I have my own thingie that queries all transactions from Alby API and combines multiple streaming transactions from a single listener/episode into one database entry.

2025-10-11 15:09:11 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…6746 I've been studying it, but haven’t written any code yet. NWC means users will connect wallets that don’t support keysend, get a lot of errors when trying to boost the shows they love, and write bad reviews and ask me for support.

2025-09-11 20:55:59 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…2d4u @nprofile…6746 @nprofile…pvn3 the article is interesting, thank you very much, but it’s a very bad advertisement for nostr and nostr clients capabilities to communicate to human beings. We have html escaping since 1991 😄
https://cdn.masto.host/podcastindexsocial/media_attachments/files/115/187/656/655/883/465/original/c56924d125c2be93.png

2025-09-11 20:44:40 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…6746 This is quite strange, never happened to me. Is there a way to reproduce it?

2025-09-11 09:52:23 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…h82d your words really touched a chord, we are all in this together.

2025-09-08 10:10:53 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…ywdy ❤️

2025-09-08 08:46:07 GMT

@nprofile…ywdy Hello John, Castamatic saw no podping coming in the last 4 hours. It looks like the service needs some kickstart

2025-09-07 15:07:38 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…6746 annoying! Shownotes appearing from behind the transport controls is a cool feature, but it's so difficult to make all the autolayout constraints work an all devices. Back to the drawing board…

2025-09-06 19:43:54 GMT

Castamatic 11.0.6 is out now with support for Lightning Address and LNURL-pay.
If the LNAddress provides keysend data, Castamatic will use it as the primary method to send payments along with metadata.
If only LNURL-pay data is available, the app will still send the payment, but without metadata.

2025-08-19 17:50:43 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…2802 @nprofile…6746 @nprofile…mp2c I think that might be a good solution. What format will you use to transmit metadata at that link? The plain bLIP10 json?

2025-08-16 08:43:15 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…yqzt @nprofile…xy55 Thank you, the SSL certificate expired and somehow didn't auto-renew

2025-08-13 09:41:41 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…6746 thank you

2025-08-13 09:16:40 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…6746 Hi Chad. Working on LNAddress + LNUrl support for Castamatic. I just sent a test boostagram to your 2nd episode.

2025-07-19 15:29:21 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…6746 Maybe you should get some kind of authorization from the Alby guys? @nprofile…0z88

2025-07-07 17:50:10 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…7y5m ❤️

2025-07-07 16:08:55 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…zn42 it did, I received feature requests and bug reports telling me they subscribed to Castamatic premium because they heard about it on No Agenda.

2025-07-06 09:11:59 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…pvn3 @nprofile…h82d @nprofile…2802 @nprofile…6746 @nprofile…ye27 @nprofile…wuyh @nprofile…zn42 I think the common format should simply be the bLIP10 TLV record itself as defined in the specs. It's easy to send and receive that as a json object.

2025-06-25 20:51:45 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…6746 @nprofile…cguj uhm, they used to work before last update, it looks like they need some work. Thank you for the heads up

2025-06-23 11:08:31 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…ywdy Now podpings are coming. Thank you John.

2025-06-23 10:16:34 GMT

@nprofile…ywdy Hi John, looks like something’s stuck, no podpings are coming through on the websocket.