Satiro

Satiro is one of the newer Podcasting 2.0-native podcast apps, cross-platform across iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux, published by element.fm. It's built around a self-custodial Lightning wallet and no advertising business model, and it's part of a small but active cohort of apps making the case that podcasts can be listener-funded through micropayments rather than sponsor-funded.

What it does

Satiro is a full RSS podcast player at its core, so you can subscribe to any open feed and it plays. The Podcasting 2.0 spec support is where the app spends its energy: chapters with clickable in-episode metadata, value tags for direct creator support, podcast:transcript where publishers ship them, and the enhanced artwork and metadata that comes with the newer namespace tags.

Value-for-value with a self-custodial wallet

The distinguishing decision is the wallet architecture. Satiro's built-in Bitcoin Lightning wallet is self-custodial: your keys stay on your device, and no third party (including Satiro or element.fm) can move your sats without your action. That's a different trade-off from custodial-wallet apps like Fountain, which are easier to onboard but require trusting the app's wallet service. Self-custody appeals to listeners who take custody seriously and want the same standards from a podcast app that they'd want from a crypto wallet.

Payments to creators split according to the publisher's RSS-declared split, and boostagrams (comments with a payment attached) work the standard Podcasting 2.0 way.

Business model

Satiro is 100% free with no subscriptions and no premium tier, and there's no in-app advertising. Development is funded by a 1% fee on boostagrams (not on streaming payments, only on the on-record message payments) plus voluntary support. It's the cleanest business model in this directory, but it depends on enough listeners actually sending boostagrams to sustain the app.

Where you get it

iOS App Store, Google Play, Mac App Store, Microsoft Store, and Linux distribution channels. Cross-platform, all free.

Current stance

Actively developed with visible product velocity, part of the Podcasting 2.0 industry conversation, and the pick for listeners who want value-for-value payments without a custodial wallet in the middle. If you want the same value-for-value story with a custodial wallet and a bigger existing user base, Fountain is the sibling. If you want the same self-custody principle from an open-source, older codebase, Podverse supports Alby-style external wallet integration.