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Apple Offers New Dedicated Podcast App for iOS

It doesn't allow you to select to download over 'wifi only' which is very important to me given the 256MB download limit each month.
 
I'm a big Downcast user (it finally allowed me to cut the cord - I rarely sync with iTunes now).

Downloading podcasts without syncing to iTunes? Welcome to the 21st century, Apple.

I downloaded the app. The UI is weird. But then I discovered that it appears to only allow podcasts from iTunes. Meh. So I uninstalled it. If I hear a future version is improved, I'll take a 2nd look.

But for now I'm sticking with Downcast.
 
kendo88 said:
Anybody know how to get syncing to work? I subscribed to a few on my iPad, but they do not appear on my iPhone.
Click to expand...

My suspicion is that subscriptions and downloads do not sync between devices. Only the playback state of individual episodes.

Can anyone confirm that playback state does sync using iCloud?
 
I tested one video podcast that I streamed on my iPhone and iPad and it did not remember the play position.

There is no iCloud file showing up in documents in the cloud like the one for Trailers, (not sure if this is needed to sync play times though).
 
Something this doesn't address as well as, say, Pocket Casts by shiftyjelly is blind operation. Pocket Cast's skip back/forward 'buttons' are the entire left and right of the 'now playing' screen. I can skip while not taking my eyes off of the road or in a dark bedroom, all by touch. The skip buttons on the new Apple app are tiny.
Sounds like a small thing, but its critical for me, so I'll be staying with Pocket Casts.
 
I guess I'm fortunate that none of this stuff means very much to me. It's all just disposable media. So I just blew away all the podcasts on my iPhone and Mac, turned off podcast syncing in iTunes, and then used this app to grab some podcasts. And I guess the idea is that this app stands on its own - it does not need to sync with a Mac. Fine for me, though there seems to be no button to "get all" from a podcast.

I do wonder if at some point I'll simply no longer use a Mac and just use iOS devices + cloud (Google mail, apps, iCloud, etc.). But yesterday I had to FTP into someone's web site, edit some files using changes emailed to me. Flipping back and forth between applications (mail, FTP, textedit/Word) was a lot easier on a Mac.
 
BaldiMac said:
My suspicion is that subscriptions and downloads do not sync between devices. Only the playback state of individual episodes.

Can anyone confirm that playback state does sync using iCloud?
Click to expand...


I can confirm that it works 1 out of 10 tries.
 
Doesn't look like it's iCloud doing the syncing as strange as that seems. Here's what I'm seeing (or not).

No new data is showing up in neither ~/Library/Mobile Documents/ on OS X which is where iCloud data goes nor in the Manage Storage settings pane in iOS.

Subscriptions haven't synced for me yet from iPhone to iPad though and I'm still noodling with this thing. So iCloud could kick in for me at some point I guess. OR Apple has this marked this app to have a special iCloud storage setting that will not go against our 5GB storage allotment (just like iTunes purchases) That'd be nice of them.

Just want to rule out Downcast if possible if only for the advantage of having iTunes pickup my episode last-played locations over iCloud syncing since Downcast doesn't have a desktop option yet.
 
From Apple's support pages...

Note: Subscribing to a podcast using your device will not subscribe you to that podcast on your computer or other iOS devices.

Playback Sync automatically allows you to sync your playback position to all of your iOS devices with the Podcasts app installed, using your Apple ID. In order for Playback Sync to sync your playback position, you must be signed in to the iTunes Store using the same Apple ID on your iOS devices.

A useful feature missing which Downcast now handles very well.
 
leerichards1 said:
From Apple's support pages...

Note: Subscribing to a podcast using your device will not subscribe you to that podcast on your computer or other iOS devices.

Playback Sync automatically allows you to sync your playback position to all of your iOS devices with the Podcasts app installed, using your Apple ID. In order for Playback Sync to sync your playback position, you must be signed in to the iTunes Store using the same Apple ID on your iOS devices.

A useful feature missing which Downcast now handles very well.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, can you provide the link?
 
Is there a way to add podcasts that are outside of the Apple ecosystem (similar to Pocket Cast's "Advanced Import" function where you can enter a feed URL)?
 
blow45 said:
Thanks for the reply and opening up this discussion with me. There are 100,000 though ways to rationalise some solution as being superior to the other, with very plausible arguments too. And I think you are doing just that, rationalising.

No, a new user will soon forget even the existence of the app as opposed to having it inside iTunes, and real estate isn't an issue with the iPad, even on the iPhone, uttmg it down there means an extra touch, having it separate will mean some users will never check and like I said eventually forget about it. Apple alone has what, 20 apps of their own that come preinstalled, on average a user has at least another 50, and that's minimum.

You know how many apps I have that I d love to use, but I forget about? Apple should be integrating instead of separating here. And find creative ways to integrate.

Btw no one told apple to change the name to music, and yeas it was moronic to call music an app with audiobooks and podcasts. Two wrongs don't make a right, that's not an argument. If I rename my tea and coffee shop instead of Joel's healthy drinks to Joel's coffee house, then I have to get the tea out cause no one expects it there...
Click to expand...

Rationalising? Nope, sorry. This is something I genuinely believe after a decade+ of creating and supporting bespoke software for non-technical people to use. The more you can simplify things the more likely they are to discover features for themselves. It's an approach that's clearly visible throughout iOS, especially on the iPhone. Apps tend to do one main task and that's it. Heck they've had Music and Video split for a long time now so this isn't really anything new at all.

You're talking about integration and finding 'creative ways' to do that... this is EXACTLY what Apple just did! They are approaching this from the point of view (rightly IMO although that is of course just my opinion) that the homescreen is the first level of any application. They've effectively moved Podcasts two levels up and allowing users to find it far more easily than the old location in the 'more' menu within music. Hell, if you want to group it with music put it in a folder, Podcasts are no further away in terms of taps than they would be on one of the four shortcut options within the music app itself!

Ultimately, and a quick read through this thread tends to support this theory, I'd expect the geeks to not like this change as they are used to information dense software that they can customise and tweak to their precise needs. That's fine, nothing wrong with that at all, but they're not the primary audience for this change. That's the vast number of non-technical users on iOS and I suspect that they will ultimately benefit from this change.
 
smiddlehurst said:
I'd expect the geeks to not like this change as they are used to information dense software that they can customise and tweak to their precise needs.
Click to expand...

Ironically, its these very same people who gripe that iTunes has gotten too bloated.
 
T-Will said:
Is there a way to add podcasts that are outside of the Apple ecosystem (similar to Pocket Cast's "Advanced Import" function where you can enter a feed URL)?
Click to expand...

I just realized if you copy and paste a podcast feed URL (that's outside of iTunes) into the "Search" box, it will ask if you want to subscribe to the feed. :)
 
I think this is great! Call them idiots for beeing late to the party, but "Subscription" and "Auto Download"??? Finally! To all the whiners, just stick with your 3.rd party.:)
 
T-Will said:
I just realized if you copy and paste a podcast feed URL (that's outside of iTunes) into the "Search" box, it will ask if you want to subscribe to the feed. :)
Click to expand...

Thank you for figuring that out now all we need is to figure out how to get syncing across devices working
 
T-Will said:
I just realized if you copy and paste a podcast feed URL (that's outside of iTunes) into the "Search" box, it will ask if you want to subscribe to the feed. :)
Click to expand...

Doesn't work with a URL from Audible's podcasts. Wonder if the URL has to match something in the iTunes store to come up in "Search"?
 
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