Raven

A local-first audiobook player for iOS. Import folders of audio files, listen with background playback and lock screen controls, track progress per book and chapter, and generate on-device transcripts with Whisper.

Features

• Local library — Drop audiobook folders in Files (On My iPhone → Raven) or use Add Folder in the app
• Automatic import — Scans your library folder on launch and when returning to the app
• Playback — Play/pause, skip ±15s/±30s, speed control (0.75×–2×), sleep timer
• Progress — Saves chapter index and timestamp; resumes where you left off
• Background audio — Lock screen and AirPods controls with artwork
• Mini player — Persistent bar when navigating away from the player
• Transcripts — On-device transcription via WhisperKit with search and SRT/VTT export

Requirements

• iOS 18+
• Xcode 16+
• Swift 5

Getting started

1. Clone the repository
2. Open Raven.xcodeproj in Xcode
3. Select your device or simulator
4. Build and run (Cmd + R)

Adding audiobooks

Option A — Files app

1. Open Files → Browse → On My iPhone → Raven
2. Create a folder for each book (e.g. My Audiobook/)
3. Add audio files inside (mp3, m4a, m4b, aac, wav, flac)
4. Open Raven — books appear automatically

Option B — In app

1. Tap Add Folder in the library
2. Pick a folder from Files — it is copied into your Raven library

Architecture

Raven/
├── Models/           SwiftData (Book, Chapter, TranscriptSegment)
├── Services/         Audio, import, library sync, transcription
├── ViewModels/       Library and player state
├── Views/            SwiftUI screens and components
└── Utilities/        Shared helpers

• MVVM with @Observable view models
• SwiftData for persistence
• AVFoundation for playback
• WhisperKit for on-device speech-to-text

Transcription

The first transcript download pulls the Whisper tiny model (~75 MB). Transcripts are stored locally per chapter and reused on later playback.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.