Universal Apple PodCast app - Is it really this bad? Is it the worst Apple app?

[Tozovac]

I'm sorry but the Apple podcast app is so awful I'm "inspired" to gripe about it. And query if anyone else feels the same (or opposite) as me. And ask if this is the worst native Apple app.

With my new iPhone 16 Pro in March I wanted to "start clean" and limit the apps (vs. my iPhone 12 mini that was full of many apps I hadn't used in years). So instead of downloading the OverCast podcast app that I went to years ago after apple's podcast app went to utter ruination at the time I thought I'd try the Apple podcast app to see if it's been improved upon.

Nope.

There is nothing intuitive, easy, straightforward, or even fun-to-use about the Apple podcast app.

In fact, I dare say it's the opposite of fun-to-use and instead creates frustration and dissatisfaction from the guesswork to maneuver through it.

Does anyone who might have stuck with the native Apple podcast app know if Apple actually iterated/revised it over the past 5-10 years? Or did they let it fester in a pile of utter non-intuitive garbage, even if they tinkered with it here & there along the way?

How can this be, how can a native Apple app have lingered in awfulness this long?

And is there a worse native Apple app?

 

[hg.wells]

What would be great is if you could give some examples. I listen to podcasts on a regular basis and never have an issue with the app.

 

[Tozovac]

What would be great is if you could give some examples. I listen to podcasts on a regular basis and never have an issue with the app.

If I used it regularly, I would probably eventually figure out its navigation as well. Any examples are unlikely to make sense to you because you’re familiar with it. Like walking around your house in the middle of the night with no lights on. Works for you but wouldn’t work for me.

Upon jumping in after time away from the app, it’s still extremely unintuitive and inefficient to get around even after you figure out the basics. Lots of wasted space and its presentation of various podcasts.

 

[JBinPDX]

I'm sorry but the Apple podcast app is so awful I'm "inspired" to gripe about it. And query if anyone else feels the same (or opposite) as me. And ask if this is the worst native Apple app.

With my new iPhone 16 Pro in March I wanted to "start clean" and limit the apps (vs. my iPhone 12 mini that was full of many apps I hadn't used in years). So instead of downloading the OverCast podcast app that I went to years ago after apple's podcast app went to utter ruination at the time I thought I'd try the Apple podcast app to see if it's been improved upon.

Nope.

There is nothing intuitive, easy, straightforward, or even fun-to-use about the Apple podcast app.

In fact, I dare say it's the opposite of fun-to-use and instead creates frustration and dissatisfaction from the guesswork to maneuver through it.

Does anyone who might have stuck with the native Apple podcast app know if Apple actually iterated/revised it over the past 5-10 years? Or did they let it fester in a pile of utter non-intuitive garbage, even if they tinkered with it here & there along the way?

How can this be, how can a native Apple app have lingered in awfulness this long?

And is there a worse native Apple app?

I know this is from more than a week ago, but I am so frustrated with this app.

I've been locked into the Apple podcast app because a family member shares a subscription through it that's impossible to transfer to another app. I used to use Overcast and liked it a lot. This is how I had Overcast set up, and this seems to be impossible in the Apple podcast app:
- Follow a bunch of podcasts.
- Set up a queue of all followed podcasts.
- Default the queue sort order to oldest --> newest.
- There are a couple of podcasts I want to always listen to right away. Mark those as "pinned to top" which will make them automatically play next while the rest of the queue order remains unaltered.

Overcast took care of all of this automatically. All I had to do was start playing my queue. Apple podcasts makes this extremely manual and not easy to find in a very confusing interface. I can create a "station," but the app keeps defaulting to "Up Next." And that queue just seems to be a random group. Why is this so hard?

 

[Tozovac]

I know this is from more than a week ago, but I am so frustrated with this app.

I've been locked into the Apple podcast app because a family member shares a subscription through it that's impossible to transfer to another app. I used to use Overcast and liked it a lot. This is how I had Overcast set up, and this seems to be impossible in the Apple podcast app:
- Follow a bunch of podcasts.
- Set up a queue of all followed podcasts.
- Default the queue sort order to oldest --> newest.
- There are a couple of podcasts I want to always listen to right away. Mark those as "pinned to top" which will make them automatically play next while the rest of the queue order remains unaltered.

Overcast took care of all of this automatically. All I had to do was start playing my queue. Apple podcasts makes this extremely manual and not easy to find in a very confusing interface. I can create a "station," but the app keeps defaulting to "Up Next." And that queue just seems to be a random group. Why is this so hard?

Have you figured out this "lost" feature in Overcast? I lost this feature after Overcast's most recent "reworking" maybe 6-18 months ago (guesstimate)

When a podcast is over, I used to be able to tap/press/click my AirPods once and it would start playing another podcast.

But now when I do this, nothing happens.

With Overcast, I can click once to stop, once to start, twice to speed ahead, three times to jump back... Just lost the "restart" feature after a podcast ends.

 

[JBinPDX]

Have you figured out this "lost" feature in Overcast? I lost this feature after Overcast's most recent "reworking" maybe 6-18 months ago (guesstimate)

When a podcast is over, I used to be able to tap/press/click my AirPods once and it would start playing another podcast.

But now when I do this, nothing happens.

With Overcast, I can click once to stop, once to start, twice to speed ahead, three times to jump back... Just lost the "restart" feature after a podcast ends.

I've never had this problem. I have Overcast playing my defined queue. When one podcast ends it automatically starts the next one. All of the forward/back/next still works.

Maybe something changed in your settings?