Overcast 3 Update Brings Redesigned UI to Podcast Player App

[MacRumors]

Popular podcast player Overcast has reached its long-awaited third iteration on the iOS App Store, with improvements to episode management and a slew of other UI enhancements.

Designed by Instapaper developer Marco Arment, Overcast 3's most obvious change is that it adopts the design language of iOS 10, such as the use of stacked views which Apple introduced in Apple Music, so screens including Now Playing, settings, downloads, and recommendations, now appear as stacks that slide up from the bottom of the interface. There's also a redesigned Now Playing view, in which users swipe right to adjust audio settings, and swipe left to view episode information.

A new episode action tray features in the app, grouping actions that were previously hidden behind swipe gestures or other menus. Tapping an episode in a list now displays buttons to share, star, play, add to queue, and delete the selected podcast episode.

Elsewhere, Peek and Pop 3D Touch gestures are now supported in episode list screens, allowing users to quickly preview episode contents and access play and delete shortcuts by sliding up the Peek card. An Overcast 3 widget for the home screen has also been developed, which allows users to see what's playing, resume playback, and see upcoming episodes in their Up Next queue.

Also included in Overcast 3 is a redesign of its Apple Watch component, with the ability to view upcoming episodes from the wrist.

Overcast 3 is available as a free ad-supported app, while an optional $9.99 in-app purchase gets users a premium ad-free version. Overcast 3 is available for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Overcast 3 Update Brings Redesigned UI to Podcast Player App

 

[Chaginxin]

I don't know if its my favorite app, but it certainly my most used one. Nice to see the update to match iOS10. Still wish I could download episodes to my watch so that I could listen while i run without having to take my phone with me

 

[Floris]

Great Apple news

 

[Ludatyk]

Still wish I could download episodes to my watch so that I could listen while i run without having to take my phone with me

Yeah, same here. So far, I have been using Watch Cast & WatchPlayer in the meantime.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I don't know if its my favorite app, but it certainly my most used one. Nice to see the update to match iOS10. Still wish I could download episodes to my watch so that I could listen while i run without having to take my phone with me

Gosh does it still not?? I was hoping that watchOS 3 support would included downloading podcasts. Ideally full syncing with iPhone, but since I understood for storage and complexity reasons very difficult to execute. So I'd love a "watch" playlist that is managed on the iPhone but is only playable from the watch and only allows up to say 500mb of storage.

 

[gforce216]

Anyone have any luck with CarPlay working with this version? I tried today and it was stuck on the Now Playing screen but wouldn't play the podcast. I am going to try to "forget" the car in the CarPlay settings tonight, but I wanted to see if anyone here had any luck with it working as Overcast 2 didn't work.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Anyone have any luck with CarPlay working with this version? I tried today and it was stuck on the Now Playing screen but wouldn't play the podcast. I am going to try to "forget" the car in the CarPlay settings tonight, but I wanted to see if anyone here had any luck with it working as Overcast 2 didn't work.

I haven't tried in v3 but v2 was definitely unuseable in CarPlay. I switched to another podcast player and have been very happy with the CarPlay UI and iOS UI. Don't miss Overcast at all.

 

[alandanziger]

I really like the updates, with one caveat and one continued feature request. I wish you could double-tap on a podcast to start it playing, instead of tap on the podcast then find and tap the play button. And I really wish you could set a _playlist_ to "Play continuously" -- I normally want to stop after every episode and decide what to listen to next, but on a long car ride it would be nice to set it & forget it. (Maybe I'm the only one with tons of episodes queued up?)

 

[dwman]

I wish he included video podcasts as an option. I could ditch my video podcasting app.

 

[adamjackson]

This is too iOS 10 forward. Cards look weird and it pains me to use the Music application on iOS 10. I think cards just don't make sense. Why did they get rid of the back button? It wastes screen real estate to have a floating card w/ a large bezel around the top.

People didn't know slide to delete? It's everywhere in the OS. Like pull to refresh, it's just something everyone knows and having to click play twice just because people didn't know how to delete episodes is frustrating.

I liked the episode notes pop-over. Shame that's gone as well

Moving effects to another pane makes sense but I don't think the now playing UI needed cleaning up. I miss one-touch effects changes without having to slide over to another screen.

No mention at all on CarPlay issues which is the only problem I had with Overcast. It doesn't work in CarPlay. I have to initiate playback of an episode on my phone which is the main reason CarPlay exists, to not have to use your phone. Clicking an episode on my CarPlay screen does nothing but to a blank now playing window.

when Marco finally said he had access to a CarPlay enabled car and then an update came out saying the issues were fixed, nothing changed. The Carplay experience is crap on Overcast.

I feel like Marco spent a ton of time making the application more mainstream and fixing issues that didn't need fixing. There are a lot of casual podcasting applications. I thought Ovecast was for geeks who knew how to actually use their phones.

 

[macsplusmacs]

wait.

so if you have a playlist and you are playing your podcasts in a row, like you are driving or something, this app does auto play the next podcast after you complete one?

i am missing something right?

 

[dotnet]

I wish he included video podcasts as an option. I could ditch my video podcasting app.

Indeed. I'm currently using Downcast for that reason.

 

[Diiiiips]

wait.

so if you have a playlist and you are playing your podcasts in a row, like you are driving or something, this app does auto play the next podcast after you complete one?

i am missing something right?

I've been a Overcast user for a year or so now and I used the playlist feature for the first time this morning. I thought I must have done something wrong when the next podcast didn't start playing after the first one on the playlist finished.

Why does it not do this?! Strange

 

[macsplusmacs]

I've been a Overcast user for a year or so now and I used the playlist feature for the first time this morning. I thought I must have done something wrong when the next podcast didn't start playing after the first one on the playlist finished.

Why does it not do this?! Strange

I did a quick test where i was listening to a podcast in a playlist, i manually moved it to about 30 seconds from end. it play that part then stopped.

it makes the app a non starter for me.

oh well, i am happy with apple podcasts, have tried them all but for me, it works for me the best.

 

[odditie]

I've been a Overcast user for a year or so now and I used the playlist feature for the first time this morning. I thought I must have done something wrong when the next podcast didn't start playing after the first one on the playlist finished.

Why does it not do this?! Strange

I did a quick test where i was listening to a podcast in a playlist, i manually moved it to about 30 seconds from end. it play that part then stopped.

it makes the app a non starter for me.

oh well, i am happy with apple podcasts, have tried them all but for me, it works for me the best.

Do you have "continuous playback" toggled on or off under settings?

 

[macsplusmacs]

Do you have "continuous playback" toggled on or off under settings?

Yup.

just checked again.

 

[JNGold]

Do you have "continuous playback" toggled on or off under settings?

I have that toggled on and I have found that something I mark to "play next" doesn't play at all unless you are in the Queue playlist. This functionality is terrible and I'm not sure how this got past a beta. Like most apps, including Apple's (which actually does it well), Play next should auto play the marked episode regardless of what playlist you're in. I hope this gets corrected ASAP.

I have been an Apple Podcast app user for a long time and EOD it just works. It's simple and does what I need and includes video podcasts as well. Also, because it's Apple's app, it works great with Siri (more important now that I am using AirPods), and CarPlay is rock solid. I'm not holding much hope for Overcast staying on my iDevices for long.

Update: This app is a buggy mess. A couple of crashes so far this morning, Widget doesn't show currently playing podcast. Overcast started out as with clean and simple UI and was FAST. Over time, it has become an unreliable and inconsistent performer and I am not sold on Arment's design choices and beta testing capability.

 

[Cougarcat]

It's an improvement but I still prefer Instacast's UI. It's a pity it's in maintenance mode. I know I'll have to move on eventually...

 

[ck2875]

Overcast 3 is available as a free ad-supported app, while an optional $9.99 in-app purchase gets users a premium ad-free version. Overcast 3 is available for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Unfortunately it is a $9.99/year subscription.

I would happily pay $10 to unlock the full version even if it meant paying another $10 next year for version 4, but I'm unwilling to be perpetually held hostage with a subscription for certain app categories when there's no guarantee that the developer will do anything with the fees I pay. If the developer doesn't do much with the app over the course of a year, I don't want have substantially the same app in a year but be stuck paying a fee to not see ads.

I suggest everyone check out either Castro or PocketCasts if you're in the market for a non-subscription model podcast app.

 

[dave2010]

Unfortunately it is a $9.99/year subscription.

I would happily pay $10 to unlock the full version even if it meant paying another $10 next year for version 4, but I'm unwilling to be perpetually held hostage with a subscription for certain app categories when there's no guarantee that the developer will do anything with the fees I pay. .

This developer has a bad past with respect to that, Accepting a payment for a permanent ad free version, then putting the ads back in a while later, seems misleading. He keeps changing the model to try and monetise more. I think he's just a bit too greedy when you consider what the competition; pocketcasts, downcast can do for a single payment.

I use the iOS podcast app myself, after trying all the rest, because it finally works reliably and I prefer the design. $10 a year actually gets you very little extra when you look at what the free app does.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Overcast also has an online backend, which would be part of where the $9.99 a year would be going towards.

 

[Hikerdave]

The problem I have is that it plays the podcasts newest to oldest. It use to have a setting to sort the podcast oldest to newest, but it disappeared some time ago. It is a pain to have to remember to stop what you are listening to, go into the app and manually select the next episode. Or maybe I am just missing this feature somewhere. I keep asking for this feature to be returned, but I never get an answer. And yes, I do feel a bit taken advantage of for paying for the app in the past and then it was changed to a subscription model and it does not recognize that I already paid (before it was a subscription).

 

[Cougarcat]

The problem I have is that it plays the podcasts newest to oldest. It use to have a setting to sort the podcast oldest to newest, but it disappeared some time ago. It is a pain to have to remember to stop what you are listening to, go into the app and manually select the next episode. Or maybe I am just missing this feature somewhere. I keep asking for this feature to be returned, but I never get an answer. And yes, I do feel a bit taken advantage of for paying for the app in the past and then it was changed to a subscription model and it does not recognize that I already paid (before it was a subscription).

In 3.0 it's under settings for the individual podcast, or you can tap unplayed or all to reverse the order.

According to Marco's blog, if you paid the IAP in the past this is how it should work:

Buyers of the old $4.99 unlock from year one: Restore Purchases from the Premium screen, and you won’t see the normal ads, but you may see occasional promos for Premium to support further development.

 

[Hikerdave]

Great, thank you! I did not see the settings button in the podcasts themselves, I was looking in the general settings.

 

[John.B]

Overall I'm liking the changes, although the auto-speed in version 3.0 plays a bit fast on my iPhone 7, esp. compared to 2.x.