Overcast Podcast App Gains Standalone Apple Watch Playback Feature

[JTravers]

Any word yet? It's the same issue I'm having. No transfer, asked to pair headphones. Frustrating because I like the app. I also tried WatchCast and it worked great once. Once. Now today it just keeps crashing every time I open it on the Apple Watch.

Try HardCast and see if that works better for you.

 

[crawdad62]

I'll give HardCast a shot. It amazes me we have to jump through hoops to get something as basic as PodCasts on the Apple Watch.

 

[happydude]

Any word yet? It's the same issue I'm having. No transfer, asked to pair headphones. Frustrating because I like the app. I also tried WatchCast and it worked great once. Once. Now today it just keeps crashing every time I open it on the Apple Watch.

same issues. watch cast synced one podcast episode, but can't do anything after that - just crashes. no word from overcast guy.

 

[SteveW928]

sigh. i emailed the developer and hopefully others have as well. also thanks for the watchcast rec, giving that a shot now.

I have on a couple of things as well. But, the website states that he doesn't provide support, so I'm not sure if we can expect to hear back.

Overcast is also the most hyped podcast player out there. The UI has always been just ok and the options slim but more functional than basic players.

I think it's pretty great actually. I guess the UI can be debated (I'm not really a fan of all the flat baloney from any company, including Apple), but the feature set is pretty good, especially compared to Apple's app.

Aside from the audio, the other big feature for me has been that it pulls new episode info from Overcast servers, not by having to scan each podcast RSS feed. Since I'm subscribed to over 50 podcasts, that means instead of minutes of scanning, it's a second or two and then it's downloading anything new. (Also, that should take a LOT less data if you're worried about that).

The problem has been that one of the podcasts has stopped updating (i.e.: Overcast's servers are out of sync with the RSS feed of that podcast). Without support, I'm not sure how to get that resolved, so a nice feature is kind of ruined. I'll have to use a different app for that podcast, I guess.

The CarPlay integration has been embarrassing.

And, even then, how many cars have CarPlay? I'd say Apple's whole efforts of iPhone use in cars has been embarrassing. We keep hearing about deaths caused by texting while driving, and the iPhone can't even do something simple like answer a call hands-free or properly route audio. It's kind of a bad joke.

Oh, and as to the main topic of the article... if this works well enough, I may have finally found my first reason to take a look at the Apple Watch.

 

[happydude]

curious on this, has anyone commenting on this article been able to get the watch app from overcast to work? if no, the article should be updated: "overcast podcast app tried to gain standalone apple watch playback, but failed."

 

[SteveW928]

curious on this, has anyone commenting on this article been able to get the watch app from overcast to work? if no, the article should be updated: "overcast podcast app tried to gain standalone apple watch playback, but failed."

Don't have a Watch, but there was a new version this morning/last night. Maybe that helped?

 

[happydude]

Don't have a Watch, but there was a new version this morning/last night. Maybe that helped?

hey, good news. the update works. earphones are recognized and podcasts successfully load and play. glad to finally have a solution!