Overcast for iOS Gets Major Redesign and Several Much-Requested New Features

[MacRumors]

Developer Marco Arment's popular third-party podcast player Overcast received an update today that brings the largest redesign in the app's near eight-year history, with frequently requested features added and many under-the-hood improvements made.

Firing up the updated app, regular users will first notice the overhauled home screen, with new customizable visual identities for playlists (which can now be manually ordered with drag-and-drop).

For quicker access, users can now opt to see recently played and newly published podcast episodes on the home screen, similar to the Overcast widget and CarPlay experience, while podcasts can now be pinned to the top of the home screen list.

Elsewhere, the "Podcasts" and "Played Podcasts" sections now have a toggle at the top that can be used to switch the interface to list podcasts with current episodes, all followed podcasts, and inactive podcasts (those not followed or which haven't published a new episode in a long time).

Top of the much-requested features category is a new Mark as Played checkmark button on episode rows, which is also a left-side swipe action. There is also now a way to view all starred episodes, with special playlist options for Starred, Downloaded, and In Progress.

Amongst other improvements and bug fixes: The light and dark themes now each have a customizable tint color from the modern iOS UI-color palette, notifications and background downloads are much more reliable, episode downloads can now be individually deleted or re-downloaded, links can be opened in Safari, and performance has been enhanced when dealing with very large playlists and collections.

Overcast 2022.2 is available for ‌iPhone‌ and iPad from the App Store in the form of an ad-supported free version or $9.99 per year ad-free. [Direct Link]


Article Link: Overcast for iOS Gets Major Redesign and Several Much-Requested New Features

 

[siddavis]

Love me some Overcast, so I can’t wait to check out the improvements. I hope some CarPlay enhancements are in there too.

 

[ignatius345]

This has been my go to podcast app for a few years now. Glad to see this cool UI facelift!

 

[Starflyer]

Love Overcast and the CarPlay experience.

 

[crawdad62]

I loved Overcast but I could never get it to sync to my Apple Watch correctly. That was a deal breaker since I listen to Podcasts while I run. I really miss it because besides that it was a wonderful Podcast app. Has the sync gotten better or was I the only one that couldn't get it to work?

 

[Dwalls90]

Great app and definitely worth it to anyone that loves podcasts.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

When I had an Iphone, Overcast was my go to app, but it had gotten a bit boring. I switched to Android and use Podcast Addict now, but it seems like maybe I shouldn't have switched.

 

[Deguello]

Overcast is my second favorite iOS app. Off to update.

 

[techno-Zen]

I'll try it out, but I recently switched to Pocket Casts, best desktop app and mobile app integration imo - Apple watch functionality etc. I was a LOOOONG time Overcast user of 5+ years.

 

[boss.king]

I loved Overcast but I could never get it to sync to my Apple Watch correctly. That was a deal breaker since I listen to Podcasts while I run. I really miss it because besides that it was a wonderful Podcast app. Has the sync gotten better or was I the only one that couldn't get it to work?

It’s gotten a lot better over time. I still occasionally have to download an episode before I head out, but for the most part I have just make a playlist of podcasts I like to run to and it will automatically sync over new episodes as they’re available.

 

[FloatingBones]

Overcast 2022.2 is available for ‌iPhone‌ and iPad from the App Store in the form of an ad-supported free version or $9.99 per year ad-free.

It also runs quite well under MacOS on M1 Macs. Thanks, Marco.

 

[macintologist]

OK great but can I subscribe to a podcast and immediately put it in a playlist? Currently you have to subscribe then back out, edit the playlist, find the new podcast (if you remember its exact name) and then add it.

 

[knassar]

I loved Overcast but I could never get it to sync to my Apple Watch correctly. That was a deal breaker since I listen to Podcasts while I run. I really miss it because besides that it was a wonderful Podcast app. Has the sync gotten better or was I the only one that couldn't get it to work?

I don't want to sound like too much of a fanboy but I love Overcast and use it all the time, and often exactly in that same situation: while out running, on my wifi-only apple watch 6, without my phone.

I don't know how the feature worked in the beginning, but it seems to work almost flawlessly now. I occasionally lose 10s of playback here and there, but overall things seem to be synced really well.

 

[_Spinn_]

I still prefer iCatcher. It it super customizable and then only podcast app that seems to fit my workflow.

 

[Icewarm]

can anyone tell me if it supports a library on a NAS?

 

[Der Keyser]

There should be ample room for recruiting customers. Apples podcast app is the worst piece of cr** I haver EVER used - makes no sense, buggy as hell, and apple watch sync is about as random as it gets. I cannot FATHOM how apple can sign off on that - and show no interest in fixing it

 

[Localcelebrity]

Can’t speak to the usability but man that is an ugly looking UI.

 

[hamburg040]

Why not acquire a game development company and produce some arcade games?

 

[wanha]

Overcast is one of the best iOS apps I've ever used - clear, fast and logical UI, just a joy to use.

 

[FelineTech]

Overcast is a great Podcast app. First of all, it manages it's download cache well (it doesn't use up a ton of storage). It's also very easy to choose subscriptions, star your favorite episodes, and manage queues.

I think it originally got noticed because of all of the "speed up" features that would automatically sense gaps and help improve playback for presenters that were a bit too slow.....

 

[Chaos215bar2]

When I had an Iphone, Overcast was my go to app, but it had gotten a bit boring. I switched to Android and use Podcast Addict now, but it seems like maybe I shouldn't have switched.

I have to say, I'm a bit confounded by the idea that someone would switch Podcast apps because the UI was boring. Boring and predictably functional is exactly what I want, personally, in an app where I'm rarely going to look at the UI for more than a few seconds at a time.

 

[rwright]

Overcast is great. The high speed playback is so much better than anything else I've tried. The sped up dialog still sounds like the presenters, just faster. Wish YouTube would figure out how to make higher speed audio sound better.

 

[tbayrgs]

I'll try it out, but I recently switched to Pocket Casts, best desktop app and mobile app integration imo - Apple watch functionality etc. I was a LOOOONG time Overcast user of 5+ years.

Same. Watch syncing was buggy as hell and since switching back to Pocket Casts, autosyncing to my watch has been seamless. And while most of my hardware is from Apple, not all of it is and lack of cross platform versions makes Pocket Casts a better option for anyone not exclusively using Apple gear.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I have to say, I'm a bit confounded by the idea that someone would switch Podcast apps because the UI was boring. Boring and predictably functional is exactly what I want, personally, in an app where I'm rarely going to look at the UI for more than a few seconds at a time.

Overcast is not on Android. I switched to Android from Apple mainly because when I had Apple, Car Play didn't work. I also do like the Samsung phone. If I was on Apple, I would still use Overcast, and be excited by this massive update.

 

[Ludatyk]

I recently switched to Pocket Casts, best desktop app and mobile app integration imo - Apple watch functionality etc. I was a LOOOONG time Overcast user of 5+ years.

I use Pocket Casts because of Android and iOS crossplatform, in addition to that... I like the UI.

And, couple years back when they switched to subscription model... they took care of the people who already paid for the app. They gave me lifetime membership, so... I doubt I'll be switching to any podcast apps.