Bard
Get the app

Bard is a podcast player for fiction podcasts.

Download on the App Store Or listen in your browser

Free on iOS and the web. Android later.

Bard's Listen screen: cover art for Edge of the Forgotten fading into the app background, a large play control, the episode title, one labelled promoted show, and a continue-listening row below.

Swipe right to binge

Discovery is really, really hard, but Bard surfaces well-tailored audio fiction you'd never find on your own.

  • A discovery engine made by a librarian

    Recommendations are tailored from what you actually play, shelve, and rate: genre, game system, tone, and the shows you passed on. The deck gets sharper the more you listen, and every card still names the shows that earned it.

  • Critical darlings

    You'll find the biggies and the award winners, but the most popular shows don't need the help, so new series and smaller darlings get a nudge.

  • Verifiably human

    The limelight is reserved for stories performed by people. When verifiable, AI productions are flagged and suppressed.

You can't listen to Joe Rogan

Bard only curates fiction. Full stop. No chat shows, no news, no true crime.

Michael Schofield

Made with love

Bard is made by just one librarian on the weekends, with love. You can reach out to Michael Schofield any time.

Support

Free

The whole player is free. Unlimited subscriptions, the shelf, sync across devices, discovery. The works. This is supported by small, unobtrusive visual ads that promote only fiction podcasts.

Bard Pro

Download episodes to play when there's no connection, no ads in the app, and other quality-of-life features. Monthly or discounted annual through the App Store.

Patreon

Stay close to Bard's making through Patreon, which unlocks Bard Pro with the added bonus of supporting Michael's own shows, like The Thief and Lady In Waiting.

Ads inside episodes come from the shows themselves, so those aren't affected either way.

Get Bard

Bard is free on the App Store. The same player runs in your browser, with your shows and your place in them synced between the two. Android later.

Download on the App Store Open the web player