Features

Features & Capabilities

boxlore provides a comprehensive suite of podcast listening, organization, and discovery capabilities, built on modern Android standards and local-first architecture.

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1. Subscription Folders & Adaptive Layouts

boxlore features an advanced subscription management system that allows listeners to organize their subscribed podcasts into structured, customizable folders directly within the Subscriptions grid.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Subscriptions Grid (3 Columns)                              │
│                                                             │
│ ┌───────────────────────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐   │
│ │ Featured Folder (2×2)     │ │ Show Card │ │ Show Card │   │
│ │ ┌───────┐ ┌───────┐       │ └───────────┘ └───────────┘   │
│ │ │Show A │ │Show B │       │                               │
│ │ └───────┘ └───────┘       │ ┌───────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ ┌───────┐ ┌───────┐       │ │ Shelf Folder (3×1)        │ │
│ │ │Show C │ │ +4    │       │ │ ┌───────┐ ┌───────┐ ┌───┐ │ │
│ │ └───────┘ └───────┘       │ │ │Show D │ │Show E │ │…  │ │ │
│ └───────────────────────────┘ │ └───────┘ └───────┘ └───┘ │ │
│                               └───────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Adaptive Display Sizes (FolderDisplaySize):
  • COMPACT (1×1 tile): Minimalist folder tile. Can be rendered either as a single folder icon badge over blurred artwork or as a 2×2 mini-grid.
  • FEATURED (2×2 tile): High-visibility square card accommodating up to 4 shows.
  • SHELF (3×1 banner): Full-width horizontal strip spanning all 3 columns of the grid.
• Direct Show Playback:
  Unlike conventional folder implementations that require opening a container before interacting with contents, shows inside sized folders are directly clickable. Tapping an individual show cover immediately opens that podcast's details page without triggering the folder expansion sheet.
• Overflow Mini-Cluster (+N Badge):
  When a folder contains more shows than available slots, the final slot is rendered as a 2×2 mini-cluster overlay displaying a +N badge. Tapping the overflow badge or folder title smoothly expands the folder.
• Folder Expansion Sheet (FolderExpandedSheet):
  A modal bottom sheet that displays the full collection of shows inside the folder in a 3-column layout, complete with show count, folder editing shortcuts, and removal actions.
• Auto-Organize Library:
  A single-tap utility that analyzes subscribed podcasts, groups them into sensible genre folders, sets appropriate display sizes, and deduplicates memberships automatically.
• Multi-Level Ordering:
  Supports manual drag-and-drop ordering of root folders and shows, as well as independent intra-folder sorting.

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2. Custom Podcast Tags & Icons

Listeners can customize metadata for subscribed shows to personalize their library and filtering experience:

• Subscribed Shows Exclusivity:
  Custom tagging and icon customization are strictly scoped to subscribed podcasts. Non-subscribed shows always display canonical publisher metadata.
• Expressive Icon Palette:
  Users can choose from a curated palette of 30+ Material rounded icons (including microphone, headphones, music, film, gaming, code/tech, ideas, science, books, finance, fitness, and news).
• Live Chip Feedback:
  Assigned tags and icons immediately appear as interactive filter chips across the top of the Subscriptions view (SubscriptionsFilterRow), allowing instant filtering by custom tags.
• Auto-Reset Lifecycle Contract:
  If a podcast is unsubscribed, all custom tags and icon overrides are immediately pruned from the database, ensuring the catalog reverts to its clean publisher baseline.

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3. Podcasting 2.0 Compliance

boxlore natively implements modern Podcasting 2.0 namespace specifications:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Interactive Podcasting 2.0 Playback                         │
│                                                             │
│ [00:04:12] Chapter 2: The Quantum Architecture   [Skip >>]  │
│ ────────────────────────●────────────────────────────────── │
│                                                             │
│ Synced Transcript:                                          │
│ "In this segment, we explore how modern distributed systems │
│  handle real-time streaming audio and synchronized data     │
│  across edge networks."                                     │
│                                                             │
│ [Words highlight synchronously — click any word to seek]    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Interactive Audio Chapters:
  Parses structured chapter JSON and RSS chapter tags. Chapters display titles, segment artwork, and reference URLs. Users can skip between segments using notched scrubbers and chapter lists.
• Show-Note Timestamp Fallback:
  When an RSS feed lacks structured Podcasting 2.0 chapter metadata, boxlore runs a local heuristic regex parser on episode show notes (e.g., 00:14:32 - Architectural Decisions). It synthesizes interactive chapter markers on the fly so users can still jump directly to topics.
• Synchronized Transcripts & Word-Level Seek:
  Parses SRT, VTT, JSON, and WebVTT transcript feeds. The text automatically scrolls in sync with playback. Tapping any word or paragraph instantly seeks the audio playback to that exact millisecond.
• Offline Chapter & Transcript Caching:
  When an episode is downloaded, its associated chapter metadata and transcript files are downloaded and cached concurrently, ensuring full interactive functionality in airplane mode.
• Soundbites & Funding:
  Displays audio soundbite previews (<podcast:soundbite>) and direct creator donation links (<podcast:funding>).

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4. Audio & Video Playback Engine

Media playback is powered by AndroidX Media3 (ExoPlayer) wrapped in a persistent foreground service (BoxLorePlaybackService):

• Variable Speed & Pitch Correction:
  Continuous playback speed adjustment from 0.5x to 3.0x using Sonic audio processing with automatic pitch correction.
• Smart Silence Skipping & Volume Boost:
  Configurable audio DSP stages that trim silence intervals dynamically and normalize dialogue volume across uneven podcast masters.
• Configurable Skip Intervals:
  Independent forward and backward skip durations, accompanied by automated intro skipping (skip first $N$ seconds) and outro skipping.
• Sleep Timer:
  Configurable countdown timer with gentle volume fade-out and an option to stop at the end of the current episode.
• Audio Focus Management:
  Intelligent audio focus negotiation that automatically ducks volume for navigation cues and pauses for incoming voice calls.
• Video Podcast Playback:
  Detects video enclosures and renders them with hardware-accelerated surface views, supporting orientation locking and Picture-in-Picture (PiP).

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5. Smart Queue & Smart Downloads

Queue management and offline media preparation operate as coordinated background pipelines:

• Smart Queue Continuation:
  Owned strictly by BoxLorePlaybackService. When the active queue approaches empty, the service automatically queues:
  1. Upcoming unplayed episodes from the currently playing show.
  2. Partially played episodes from user listening history.
  3. Newly released episodes from subscribed podcasts.
  4. Contextual recommendations computed on-device.
• Smart Downloads (SmartDownloadWorker):
  An automated WorkManager background worker that evaluates the queue and downloads episodes ahead of time. Operates within user-defined storage budgets (e.g., maximum episodes, storage caps) and network constraints (Wi-Fi only, charging only).
• Automated Disk Space Reclamation (PurgeSmartDownloadsWorker):
  Periodically identifies episodes that have been marked completed and purges their local media files, preventing cache bloat.
• Batch Download Management:
  A multi-select management drawer allowing users to pause, resume, prioritize, or purge multiple downloads simultaneously.

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6. Discovery & On-Device Search

• Qdrant Concept Vector Search:
  Enables semantic search by conceptual topics (e.g., "unsolved deep ocean mysteries" or "how memories consolidate during sleep"). Matches are fetched from high-dimensional vector embeddings, and the top semantic hit is elevated as a featured card.
• Curiosity Cards ("Lore" Deck):
  An interactive, swipeable card deck on the Explore screen that surfaces curiosity-driven questions and narrative hooks that link directly to relevant podcast episodes.
• The Boxlore Brief:
  An optional, region-specific (US, UK, India, France) daily audio news briefing assembled with interactive chapter breakdown and source citations.

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7. External Ecosystem Integrations

• Google Cast:
  Integrated Google Cast SDK support enabling seamless media streaming to Chromecast devices, Google Nest smart speakers, and Android TVs with synchronized playback state.
• Android Auto:
  A complete Android Auto media service adhering to Google's MediaLibrarySession design patterns. Categorizes content into Recent, Subscriptions, and Queue. Includes disconnect/reconnect state recovery to ensure playback resumes smoothly when entering or exiting a vehicle.
• Home Screen Widgets (:feature:widgets):
  Native Android RemoteViews widgets:
  • Now Playing Widget: Interactive controls, cover art, track progress, and quick play/pause.
  • Subscriptions Widget: Grid view of subscribed shows.
  • New Episodes Widget: List of recently published releases from followed podcasts.

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8. Full Library Backup & Restore

boxlore provides a 100% fidelity export and restore engine utilizing a structured JSON schema (Version 6):

• What is Backed Up:
  • Complete subscription list and publisher metadata.
  • Custom podcast tags and selected Material icons.
  • Folder definitions, display sizes (1×1, 2×2, 3×1), and show memberships.
  • Root and intra-folder manual order pins.
  • Listening history, playback positions, and completion statuses.
  • Global preferences, theme settings, audio playback defaults, and smart download rules.
  • On-device adaptive ranking models and taste meters.
  • Direct RSS feed overrides and supplement opt-ins.
• Progress Reporting:
  The restore engine displays real-time animated progress bars and itemized show counters (e.g., "Restoring subscriptions (14/42)..."), preventing ambiguity during large restores.
• Standard OPML Support:
  Universal OPML file import and export to migrate subscriptions to and from other standard podcast applications.