diff --git a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/App/Views/Home/HomeFeedViewIOS.swift b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/App/Views/Home/HomeFeedViewIOS.swift
index 35eb891ab..b18c1c177 100644
--- a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/App/Views/Home/HomeFeedViewIOS.swift
+++ b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/App/Views/Home/HomeFeedViewIOS.swift
@@ -137,6 +137,35 @@ import Views
           }
         }
       }
+      .sheet(isPresented: $viewModel.showAudioInfoAlert) {
+        VStack {
+          Text("Welcome to the Omnivore text to speech beta.")
+            .font(.appTitle)
+
+          Spacer()
+
+          Text(
+            """
+            This build introduces offline text to speech files. Normally these files will\
+            be downloaded in the background and made available offline.
+
+            During the beta these files can be manually downloaded by long pressing on an item and\
+            choosing Download Audio, or by tapping the play button. When you first tap the\
+            play button, the audio will be generated and downloaded. This can take some time.
+
+            Future versions will do this in the background.
+            """)
+          Text("")
+
+          Spacer()
+
+          Button(
+            action: { viewModel.dismissAudioInfoAlert() },
+            label: { Text("Dismiss").frame(maxWidth: .infinity) }
+          )
+          .buttonStyle(RoundedRectButtonStyle())
+        }.padding(24)
+      }
       .task {
         if viewModel.items.isEmpty {
           loadItems(isRefresh: true)
@@ -223,6 +252,8 @@ import Views
 
   struct HomeFeedListView: View {
     @EnvironmentObject var dataService: DataService
+    @EnvironmentObject var audioSession: AudioSession
+
     @Binding var prefersListLayout: Bool
 
     @State private var itemToRemove: LinkedItem?
@@ -276,6 +307,10 @@ import Views
                   Label { Text("Snooze") } icon: { Image.moon }
                 }
               }
+              Button(
+                action: { viewModel.downloadAudio(audioSession: audioSession, item: item) },
+                label: { Label("Download Audio", systemImage: "icloud.and.arrow.down") }
+              )
             }
             .swipeActions(edge: .trailing, allowsFullSwipe: true) {
               if !item.isArchived {
@@ -360,6 +395,8 @@ import Views
         viewModel.itemUnderLabelEdit = item
       case .editTitle:
         viewModel.itemUnderTitleEdit = item
+      case .downloadAudio:
+        viewModel.downloadAudio(audioSession: audioSession, item: item)
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/App/Views/Home/HomeFeedViewModel.swift b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/App/Views/Home/HomeFeedViewModel.swift
index 755e3e979..12e199f99 100644
--- a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/App/Views/Home/HomeFeedViewModel.swift
+++ b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/App/Views/Home/HomeFeedViewModel.swift
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import Views
   @Published var linkRequest: LinkRequest?
   @Published var showLoadingBar = false
   @Published var appliedSort = LinkedItemSort.newest.rawValue
+  @AppStorage(UserDefaultKey.audioInfoAlertShown.rawValue) var showAudioInfoAlert = false
 
   @AppStorage(UserDefaultKey.lastSelectedLinkedItemFilter.rawValue) var appliedFilter = LinkedItemFilter.inbox.rawValue
 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ import Views
     items.insert(item, at: 0)
   }
 
-  func loadItems(dataService: DataService, audioSession _: AudioSession, isRefresh: Bool) async {
+  func loadItems(dataService: DataService, audioSession: AudioSession, isRefresh: Bool) async {
     let syncStartTime = Date()
     let thisSearchIdx = searchIdx
     searchIdx += 1
@@ -123,7 +124,13 @@ import Views
       cursor = queryResult.cursor
       if let username = dataService.currentViewer?.username {
         await dataService.prefetchPages(itemIDs: newItems.map(\.unwrappedID), username: username)
-        // await audioSession.preload(itemIDs: newItems.map(\.unwrappedID))
+        // Only preload the first item in the list. We are doing this during the beta
+        // because it will kick off the user's future items being automatically transcribed.
+        // This happens because when an article is saved, we check if the user has a recent
+        // listen. If they do, we will automatically transcribe their message.
+        if let first = newItems.first?.id {
+          _ = await audioSession.preload(itemIDs: [first])
+        }
       }
     } else {
       updateFetchController(dataService: dataService)
@@ -133,6 +140,19 @@ import Views
     showLoadingBar = false
   }
 
+  func dismissAudioInfoAlert() {
+    UserDefaults.standard.set(true, forKey: UserDefaultKey.audioInfoAlertShown.rawValue)
+    showAudioInfoAlert = false
+  }
+
+  func downloadAudio(audioSession: AudioSession, item: LinkedItem) {
+    Snackbar.show(message: "Downloading Offline Audio")
+    Task {
+      let downloaded = await audioSession.preload(itemIDs: [item.unwrappedID])
+      Snackbar.show(message: downloaded ? "Audio file downloaded" : "Error downloading audio")
+    }
+  }
+
   private var fetchRequest: NSFetchRequest<Models.LinkedItem> {
     let fetchRequest: NSFetchRequest<Models.LinkedItem> = LinkedItem.fetchRequest()
 
diff --git a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Services/AudioSession/AudioSession.swift b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Services/AudioSession/AudioSession.swift
index abf47ab3d..9c87efa6c 100644
--- a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Services/AudioSession/AudioSession.swift
+++ b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Services/AudioSession/AudioSession.swift
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ public class AudioSession: NSObject, ObservableObject, AVAudioPlayerDelegate {
     downloadTask?.cancel()
   }
 
-  public func preload(itemIDs: [String], retryCount: Int = 0) async {
+  public func preload(itemIDs: [String], retryCount: Int = 0) async -> Bool {
     var pendingList = [String]()
 
     for pageId in itemIDs {
@@ -96,23 +96,25 @@ public class AudioSession: NSObject, ObservableObject, AVAudioPlayerDelegate {
       if let result = result, result.pending {
         print("audio file is pending download: ", pageId)
         pendingList.append(pageId)
+      } else {
+        print("audio file is downloaded: ", pageId)
       }
     }
 
     print("audio files pending download: ", pendingList)
     if pendingList.isEmpty {
-      return
+      return true
     }
 
     if retryCount > 5 {
       print("reached max preload depth, stopping preloading")
-      return
+      return false
     }
 
     let retryDelayInNanoSeconds = UInt64(retryCount * 2 * 1_000_000_000)
     try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: retryDelayInNanoSeconds)
 
-    await preload(itemIDs: pendingList, retryCount: retryCount + 1)
+    return await preload(itemIDs: pendingList, retryCount: retryCount + 1)
   }
 
   public var localAudioUrl: URL? {
diff --git a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Utils/UserDefaultKeys.swift b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Utils/UserDefaultKeys.swift
index deab520db..85707344d 100644
--- a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Utils/UserDefaultKeys.swift
+++ b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Utils/UserDefaultKeys.swift
@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@ public enum UserDefaultKey: String {
   case lastUsedAppVersion
   case lastUsedAppBuildNumber
   case lastItemSyncTime
+  case audioInfoAlertShown
 }
diff --git a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Views/FeedItem/GridCard.swift b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Views/FeedItem/GridCard.swift
index 2cb04ca89..d3f1707e8 100644
--- a/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Views/FeedItem/GridCard.swift
+++ b/apple/OmnivoreKit/Sources/Views/FeedItem/GridCard.swift
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ public enum GridCardAction {
   case delete
   case editLabels
   case editTitle
+  case downloadAudio
 }
 
 public struct GridCard: View {
@@ -65,6 +66,10 @@ public struct GridCard: View {
         action: { menuActionHandler(.delete) },
         label: { Label("Delete", systemImage: "trash") }
       )
+      Button(
+        action: { menuActionHandler(.downloadAudio) },
+        label: { Label("Download Audio", systemImage: "icloud.and.arrow.down") }
+      )
     }
   }