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Overcast for iOS Gets Major Redesign and Several Much-Requested New Features
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I tried them for a while a few years ago. Good (better than Apple's Podcast app), but somehow I did not find it as logical and intuitive to use as Overcast. Of course, that's just my experience.
It also helps that the free version (no IAP) is perfectly functional if you don’t want watch syncing and playback support of your own files and feels like you aren’t using a hamstrung app. The ads for the pro upgrade are buried in the settings, fit in with the design, and show up when you go to use a function you haven’t paid for. It doesn’t nag; I appreciate that. Pocket Casts has been so solid for so many years I’d pay to use it, I just don’t need that functionality.
I appreciate Overcasts for innovating trimming silence, intelligent playback speed, etc. and love listening to the dev (Marco Arment) and his friends on ATP. I just don’t like the UI personally and the CarPlay support was horrendous. Hopefully this update fixes those issues.
Podcast Addict is the best Android client. I’m assuming you mean shouldn’t have switched to Android.
This is actually one of the areas of improvement lately. There was a while there where it was buggy with my watch. Arment complained about it on one of his podcasts, how hard Apple makes it to do it right. Seems to work correctly now though.
I bought it across all platforms as well. I mostly stick to the Apple Podcasts app now.
Yeah maybe I should have stayed with Apple. I don't regret switching though and things work the way they should. I do like Podcast addict.
I use default apps for nearly everything. Overcast is my one (and I guess only) exception to that. I was so tired of Apple Podcast not staying in sync. One day my smart playlist is fine, the next day I have 80 episodes from a year ago show up and have to mark them all as played. No matter what I signed in and out of or even fresh installed, I could never keep it all in sync.
I switched to Overcast (took a while, listen to around 30-40 podcast I guess). Most of them are talk (sermons, news clips, talk shows) and in the settings it says that I have saved 24 hours of listening time using the smart silence feature (this is in about 3-4 months or so). the voice boost and the smart speed silence thing... between those two (plus stuff staying perfectly synced) I doubt id ever switch back to using the default Podcast app. It also has lots of fine tune for the speed. I can listen to most things at 1.75 or 2x. If it is a slow talker or I am just wanted to quick skim listen and catch the overall points of the audio I can even get it up to 2.375 or the 3x.
The only feature in a podcast app I have yet to see that I would love is to sort playlist by episode length. This would allow me to listen to the 1 minute quick shows, then move up to the 5 minute podcasts, then the 30min+ podcasts would be there last. I could knock out several podcast on the way to work, then a few more while getting settled in my office, then the longer shows would be ready for my lunch break or ride home.
I switched to Overcast (took a while, listen to around 30-40 podcast I guess). Most of them are talk (sermons, news clips, talk shows) and in the settings it says that I have saved 24 hours of listening time using the smart silence feature (this is in about 3-4 months or so). the voice boost and the smart speed silence thing... between those two (plus stuff staying perfectly synced) I doubt id ever switch back to using the default Podcast app. It also has lots of fine tune for the speed. I can listen to most things at 1.75 or 2x. If it is a slow talker or I am just wanted to quick skim listen and catch the overall points of the audio I can even get it up to 2.375 or the 3x.
The only feature in a podcast app I have yet to see that I would love is to sort playlist by episode length. This would allow me to listen to the 1 minute quick shows, then move up to the 5 minute podcasts, then the 30min+ podcasts would be there last. I could knock out several podcast on the way to work, then a few more while getting settled in my office, then the longer shows would be ready for my lunch break or ride home.
It’s much much better now, not turning back to overcast for this guy. The new version is just OK
It did get 10x better after Marco redesigned the watch app to download podcast independently vs having the phone send the episodes to the watch. I’d say my podcast are on my watch 99% of the time, and will download quickly if they aren’t there. Only issue is once in awhile the start and stop won’t synch and a podcast I paused on the watch will start over on the phone.
Actually, it's your web browser that supplies the algorithm to speed up audio playback, not the website. My personal experience (on mac, at least) has been:
* Safari: Not great
* Chrome: Good
* Firefox: Excellent
If playing back YouTube at high speed is important to you, I would recommend switching to Firefox. (And it's handy to remember the YouTube keyboard shortcuts of shift-comma and shift-period to change the playback speed.)
100% agree.
I really enjoy Overcast also, happily pay for the premium membership, and listen to a megaton of podcasts via it every day while working out.
My few friction points with Overcast would be solved if it somehow could be easier to learn about features by discovery vs needing to Google for the answer or try Help.
Edit: Speaking of which, a few questions...:
1) What is the difference between adding a "Check" vs a "Star" to a podcast?
2) Is it possible to add a completely new podcast to a group from the context of being in the podcast group and clicking "+". I believe that's still not possible right? (I think I need to first click +, then subscribe, then add it to a group. Right?)
3) What is the best way to get User :: User help on Overcast (for dumb questions like this) without bothering Marco via Twitter?
4) Is it possible to make the new color topic separators narrower? i.e., to take less vertical screen real estate?
Especially enjoy the pod ATP Accidental Tech Podcast with Marco, John Siracusa, and Casey Liss. The tech content is interesting and easy to listen to. From a "how it makes me feel" standpoint (always important to consider) - Marco has a great laugh, John Siracusa's rants are fun, and Casey Liss is adorable. It's especially fun when John picks on Casey. Even though I typically will logically agree with John, I then want Casey to be triumphant somehow and win the argument ;-).
I think I first heard about Overcast and ATP when Marco was on The New Disruptors with Glenn Fleishman. However, I heard them reference it as "ADP". So I searched for podcasts titled ADP, couldn't find it, and wondered why the heck would anyone would title a podcast after a security company :-D. Gah. A year or so later I heard the acronym defined on a different pod and have been listening ever since.
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I haven’t seen any lag. Perhaps something is eating cycles and that is why your queue isn’t working?
If I play from the queue and choose play next. It doesn’t.
It also doesn’t always have the option of play next.
I subscribe to some podcasts but others I only listen to if it has an interesting subject. (A little like watching This is Your Life if it was someone you liked. )
The single feature I most used in Overcast was the
"Play [this podcast episode] Next" function,
but now I don't know how to do that anymore.
Can someone tell me if it's even possible?
I know I can "star" a podcast, but that's just for if I want to make a separate Starred playlist, right?
And I know I can add to my "queue", but I feel like I have hundreds in my queue and there are times when a new podcast downloads about something topical and I'm like...
"Ooh, my current podcast episode ends in 9 minutes
but I definitely want to listen to this just-released topical podcast episode next!",
...not only after dozens of episodes that I had added to my queue days/weeks/months ago.
Also, add my two cents as someone who never needs a separate "mark as played" button
—I wish this were a preference to turn off and put the Play Next back in it's place—
I would just either delete the episode with some minutes left, or just slide the progress slider to the right to end the podcast (and then Overcast would auto delete it).
"Play [this podcast episode] Next" function,
but now I don't know how to do that anymore.
Can someone tell me if it's even possible?
I know I can "star" a podcast, but that's just for if I want to make a separate Starred playlist, right?
And I know I can add to my "queue", but I feel like I have hundreds in my queue and there are times when a new podcast downloads about something topical and I'm like...
"Ooh, my current podcast episode ends in 9 minutes
but I definitely want to listen to this just-released topical podcast episode next!",
...not only after dozens of episodes that I had added to my queue days/weeks/months ago.
Also, add my two cents as someone who never needs a separate "mark as played" button
—I wish this were a preference to turn off and put the Play Next back in it's place—
I would just either delete the episode with some minutes left, or just slide the progress slider to the right to end the podcast (and then Overcast would auto delete it).
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This just highlights how differently each of us approaches listening to podcasts. I'm not even sure what some of the controls you mention are. I don't use playlists but go to each podcast and listen to individual episodes. Others seem to only use playlists.
I do know that Marko recently mentioned he had not yet changed the Now Playing screen. I think he has only changed the lists of podcasts, so far. If they feature you want was there before, it should still be there.