How to look up a word without pausing the podcast
Updated September 2026. iPhone, iOS 26 or later.
Most people do the same thing: stop the episode, unlock the phone, switch app, type an approximation of a word they only half heard, read three wrong results, go back. That is forty seconds gone and the thread of the episode with it.
There is a shorter way. Unpack is a podcast player that answers the question in place, out loud, without your hands.
The three ways, shortest first
1. Shake your head
With AirPods on, shake your head. The player ducks, reads out the terms it heard in the last few seconds, and you nod at the one you want. It reads the definition. Shake again to cancel. You can be driving, cooking or running.
Works with AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, AirPods 3 and AirPods 4, which report head motion to the phone. This is a premium feature.
2. Ask Siri
Say "Hey Siri, define that in Unpack." The screen can stay off and the phone can stay in your pocket. Unpack holds the playback position while Siri talks, so the definition does not play over the episode.
3. Tap the transcript
If the phone is already in your hand, open the episode and tap the term in the live transcript. This is the fastest way when you are reading along.
Whichever you use, playback rewinds a few seconds afterwards. You hear the sentence again, this time knowing what the word meant.
Why it picks the right word
Unpack knows exactly where you are in the episode down to the word, because it lines up playback position with word-level timing in the transcript and corrects for your playback speed. At 1.5x, a naive app would offer you words from thirty seconds ago.
It then removes everyday words, contractions and ordinary verb forms, and keeps acronyms, proper nouns and technical terms. That is why the spoken list is two or three candidates and not twenty.
Why it gives the right meaning
The definition is built from the transcript around the moment you asked, not from a dictionary entry. "Tapering" in an economics episode is about central banks. "UGC" in a marketing episode is user generated content, not a country code.
The answer is generated on the device first, using Apple's on-device model, so in that path nothing about what you listen to leaves the phone.
What if the show has no transcript?
Unpack uses the transcript published in the RSS feed when there is one, and transcribes the audio on the phone when there is not. Transcription runs ahead of your playback position, so the terms are ready before you reach them. This is why the app requires iOS 26 or later.
Honest limits
- The head gesture needs AirPods that report head motion, and it is a premium feature. Siri and the tap work for everyone.
- iPhone only, iOS 26 or later. No iPad, Mac, Watch or CarPlay app.
- Free accounts get ten lookups a day and one review quiz session a day. Premium removes both limits.
- The app interface is in English. Definitions and spoken readback follow the podcast's language for English, Spanish, German and French.
Questions people ask
Does this work on any podcast?
Yes, for any show you can subscribe to by RSS, which is nearly all of them. Import your existing subscriptions with an OPML file from Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro or Apple Podcasts.
Does it interrupt the episode?
The audio ducks or pauses for the spoken answer, then resumes with a short rewind. It never leaves you at a random point in the episode.
Is the head gesture reliable while walking?
It looks for a deliberate side to side shake, not any head movement, and the threshold was tuned on real AirPods in real use. Walking and normal head turns do not set it off.
Can I see the words again later?
Every lookup is saved to a personal glossary with the episode it came from, and comes back later as a short quiz so it sticks.
Free to download. Ten lookups a day at no cost.
AirPods and Siri are trademarks of Apple Inc. Overcast, Pocket Casts and Castro are trademarks of their respective owners. Unpack is an independent app and is not affiliated with any of them.