I come from Android, i used Antennapod which was a really solid and intuitive open source podcast app. Ideally id like to find something similar.
I find Apple Podcasts app to have pretty poor ui/ux, too cluttered, too many taps to get to where I want to be.
I’ve been using pocket casts for years. First on android now on my iphone. Still works great. It also has smart speed, but it’s just called trim silence