If you logged into your dashboard this week and thought you were on the wrong website, you aren’t alone. The purple castle is gone.

As of January 2026, Podcastle has officially rebranded to Async.

According to the official announcement, this is an “evolution.” But if you’ve been in the creator space long enough, you know that “evolution” usually means “we want corporate clients.” Here is the unfiltered breakdown of why they did it, what “Async Intelligence” actually does, and—most importantly—if you need to worry about your legacy files.

Check out the new Async pricing tiers here

The Short Version: What Changed?

• The Name: Podcastle is now Async.
• The URL: You will be redirected to async.com (though podcastle.ai still works for now).
• The Login: Your old credentials work. You do not need a new account.
• The Files: All your old projects are safe. Nothing was deleted.

Why the Name Change? (The Real Reason)

The company says they changed the name because they “outgrew” podcasting. And honestly? They are right.

For the last year, they have been aggressively pushing video features, AI voice skins, and corporate recording tools. The word “Pod” in their name was a ceiling. It signaled “amateur audio hobbyist” to their big potential clients (Enterprise businesses).

By switching to Async, they are positioning themselves to compete directly with giants like Descript, Loom, and even ElevenLabs. They don’t just want to be your podcast editor; they want to be the engine behind every corporate training video and developer voice bot.

New Feature: What is “Async Intelligence”?

The rebrand came with a new toy called Async Intelligence. This is their new “Engagement Engine,” and it’s arguably the biggest update to the platform since Magic Dust.

Instead of just cleaning up noise, this AI analyzes your video for boredom.

• Retention Audit: It scans your footage and predicts where viewers will click off.
• Auto-Pacing: It can automatically tighten gaps to keep the energy up (similar to “Gap Removal” but smarter).
• The Verdict: If you make YouTube clips or TikToks, this is huge. If you make a slow-burn narrative audio podcast, it’s probably overkill.

The Community Reaction: Is This “Bloat”?

Reaction from the OG user base has been mixed. A quick look at Reddit shows two camps:

1. The Optimists: Love that they are finally getting “Descript-killer” video features like gaze correction and retention editing.
2. The Purists: Fear that the simple, easy audio tool they loved is getting bloated with heavy AI features they didn’t ask for.

“I just want to record a WAV file with my co-host. I don’t need an Engagement Engine,” wrote one user.

Should You Stay or Switch?

If you are already on the Essentials (Storyteller) plan, stay put. You are “grandfathered” into the current pricing for now, and you get the new AI tools for free.

However, if you are a pure audio podcaster who hates AI, this might be the moment to look at simpler alternatives like Riverside. But if you are a creator who does everything—video, social clips, and audio—Async just became a much more powerful weapon in your arsenal.

Check out the new Async pricing tiers here