Researched, written and produced while you wait
Type a topic, a question or a place. Undertold reads real sources, writes a script with chapters, and produces it with narrators, music and sound. You approve the plan, and the first chapter starts playing within a few minutes, while the rest is still being made.
Undertold Originals, produced the same way yours will be. Start one here and keep browsing while it plays.
Undertold Original
The Camera Kodak Couldn't Afford
Undertold Original
The Water in the Yard
Undertold Original
The Tulip Panic That Wasn't
Undertold Original
The Summer London Couldn't Breathe
Undertold Original
The Ship Nobody Stopped
Undertold Original
The Last Message from Richmond Station
Undertold Original
The Day the Vault Was Opened
Undertold Original
Valvet vid Norrmalmstorg
Undertold Original
Ötzi: The Man in the Ice
No prompts to engineer and no settings to learn. You talk to it like you'd talk to a producer.
A topic, a question, a person, a place. Choose a length from 5 to 40 minutes, a format and a narrator, or leave the defaults.
About a minute later you get a proposal: title, angle and chapters. Edit any chapter or ask for a different take. Planning costs no minutes.
Around 1 to 2 minutesApprove it and production starts. Chapter one plays as soon as it's mixed, while the later chapters are still being written and recorded.
First chapter in a few minutesEvery episode is built in layers, the way a radio documentary is: research, a script written for the ear, direction for every line, separate voices, an original score, ambience, and a final mix.
The transcript follows the narrator word by word. Factual lines carry numbered citations, and the people, places and events in the story are tappable.
Tap a number to see the source behind that sentence: publisher, year and a working link.
Names, places and events open a short card with context, and a button to make a new documentary about them.
When someone is quoted, it's verbatim from a source, read by a distinct voice. Nothing is put in anyone's mouth.
On the twenty-sixth of December 1900, the relief vessel Hesperus reached Eilean Mòr.1 No flag was flying. No one came down to the landing. The relief keeper, Joseph Moore, climbed the steps alone.2
Inside, the clocks had stopped. The three men he had come to relieve were gone.3
Sources in this chapter
Ask about anything you just heard, at the moment you heard it. Or turn the ending into the next episode.
Was the lighthouse ever staffed again after 1900?Asked at 14:05
Yes. Keepers ran the light for another seventy years, until it was converted to automatic operation in 1971.1
Answered from the episode's sources in about ten seconds.
Nearby looks at the places around you and finds the ones with a story: the bridge, the old factory, the church with the strange tower. Pick one and it becomes a short documentary.
Format, angle, length, language and narrator all change the result. Two people asking about the same thing hear the episode they each wanted.
TopicThe warship Vasa
For a ten-minute commute
Why a warship built to impress Europe sank in Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage in 1628, before she'd sailed much more than a kilometre.
For a long evening walk
Berättelsen om skeppet som försvann i hamnen, och om mannen som hittade det 1956, fem år innan Vasa lyftes ur vattnet.
Four narrators, in English and Swedish. Quotes are read by other, distinct voices.
You're charged the actual length of each finished episode. Planning and research cost nothing, and a failed production is refunded automatically.
Something else? Write to hello@undertold.app.
An app that makes an audio documentary about whatever you ask. It researches the topic from real sources, plans the chapters with you, writes a script for the ear, and produces it with narration, quoted voices, an original score and ambience. You listen in the browser, read along, check sources and ask follow-up questions.
Yes, and we say so plainly. AI helps with research, writes and directs the script, and produces the voices, music and cover art. The facts, quotes and sources are not invented: every factual line links to where it came from. What's AI and what isn't.
Research happens before writing, and the script may only use what the research found. Each factual line carries citations you can open, quotes are verbatim from a source, and where sources disagree the narration says so. If something is still wrong, every player has a “Report a problem” button. Sources and trust.
Almost. History, science, places, people, ideas, events, your hometown. We don't make content that is hateful, sexual, encourages harm or gives dangerous instructions. Stories about living people stick to documented facts and treat allegations as allegations.
The plan arrives in a minute or two. Once you approve it, the first chapter is usually playing within a few minutes (often much sooner), and the rest is produced while you listen. If you ever catch up with production, the player says so and carries on by itself when the next chapter is ready.
Documentaries can be made in English or Swedish, with the same narrators and the same production in both. Pick the language when you ask.
Free includes 15 minutes a month and Premium 200. You're charged the real length of each finished episode, not the length you picked. Proposals, revisions and research are free, failed productions are refunded automatically, and top-up minutes never expire. See pricing.
Yes, on Premium. You get a private podcast feed that works in Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Overcast and any app that accepts an RSS link. New episodes appear there automatically, and you can download any episode as an MP3.
Yes. Every episode has a share link that plays in any browser, no account needed. Episodes stay private until you share them.
The web app works on your phone today. Native apps are on the way. Leave your email and we'll write once, when they're out.
Your first 15 minutes are free every month. No card needed.
Start free