Overcast Podcast Player Update Brings Overhauled Apple Watch App, Improved Siri Support

[stevet]

So you begrudge someone for having a conscience about possibly hurting the ability of others to make a living at the expense of his own potential income and then immediately infer than no one should purchase his other app because he ‘doesn’t need the money’. Sounds like you’ve ground that axe of yours to nub by now...

Except it wasn’t his conscience. It was the outcry from his friends who would be effected by it. I don’t care anything
about his financial situation.

 

[HoiPiet]

I'm a long time Overcast user. I like the design a lot. I really appreciate the free version and consider the presentation of ads a benefit really. Can't say that about many other things. I like the ATP crew, but all of them, especially Marco, can go on some epic rants.

What I really want is a way to archive some podcasts I've downloaded. I have some cognitive challenges that make complex solutions difficult and also give value to the ability to save some podcasts. Does Overcast have a guide or a FAQ hidden somewhere? My email inquiry went unanswered.

I didn't care for the Apple app and struggled with it although its been awhile since I tried it.

Is there an iOS podcast app that would let me save some podcasts to my Mac?

 

[ukbootlegs]

I don’t understand the new ui at all. I’ve got about 40 subscribed to on my phone. But how do I download them to my watch to listen to when I’m running? Or even better. Stream when I’m running?

I can’t figure it out at all.

getting to the point where I think I need to look at other players as overcast keeps either breaking, or I just don’t understand it anymore

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

I don’t understand the new ui at all. I’ve got about 40 subscribed to on my phone. But how do I download them to my watch to listen to when I’m running? Or even better. Stream when I’m running?

I can’t figure it out at all.

getting to the point where I think I need to look at other players as overcast keeps either breaking, or I just don’t understand it anymore

I've recently switched to Pocketcasts instead and have absolutely no regrets. I liked Overcast for a long time and supported it, but was having problems with it on my Watch. Pocketcasts has no issues there, I can browse and download and stream podcasts directly onto my Watch, it's so much more customisable, and contains the features that I for some reason thought were unique to Overcast like the silence remover and voice boost.

Would recommend it. A yearly sub is only £1 a year more than Overcast I think and for that you get a much more fully-featured player.

 

[ukbootlegs]

I've recently switched to Pocketcasts instead and have absolutely no regrets. I liked Overcast for a long time and supported it, but was having problems with it on my Watch. Pocketcasts has no issues there, I can browse and download and stream podcasts directly onto my Watch, it's so much more customisable, and contains the features that I for some reason thought were unique to Overcast like the silence remover and voice boost.

Would recommend it. A yearly sub is only £1 a year more than Overcast I think and for that you get a much more fully-featured player.

I may have to look into it. I don’t pay for overcast anyway. Never noticed adverts. But I just can’t understand how to get episodes on the watch anymore

 

[sjsharksfan12]

Everytime I look at overcasts, I just hate the user interface. There's no customization, everything is vertical, and the app just feels boring. Pocketcasts is better, even if it isn't perfect. I still am really confused about watch integration though. I've tried it once and everything just feels so slow. I can look at the user guide, but I don't think it helps very much.

 

[Abazigal]

The watch app isn’t working for me again. For someone who made such a huge deal about not releasing an Apple TV and Mac app and about he rewrote the watch app from scratch, I am not really seeing the improvement.

 

[yegon]

Long time Overcast user, my premium sub ends next week. Giving Pocketcasts a go, if I like it I will sub for the Watch app.

The look and usage of the Overcast UI never bothered me to be honest, but already I appreciate how much easier it is in Pocketcasts to add eps to the now playing playlist.

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

The look and usage of the Overcast UI never bothered me to be honest, but already I appreciate how much easier it is in Pocketcasts to add eps to the now playing playlist.

Yeah I was similar. Never really had problem with using Overcast, in some ways I still prefer the more minimal look and feel of it over Pocketcasts which can be quite overwhelming even with the relatively small number of pods I listen to compared to some.

But even within a couple of minutes of using it I was convinced to replace Overcast. Just little things like being able to toggle auto download settings for individual shows, whereas as far as I can tell in Overcast you're either subscribed or you're not. There are a few shows where I want to be aware there's a new episode but I don't necessarily listen to every single one so I don't want it to download automatically. Marc Maron is good example, I only listen when he's got a guest who interests me, but on Overcast I'd have to remember to manually check who was on, and would always forget to, and then end up with months worth of eps backed up. On Pocketcasts it pushes the latest ep to the top and I can just swipe it into archive or download it if it's good.

 

[mrsmith1]

I got fed up with Apple podcast app some while back. Numerous problems with it. Looked around and Overcast was by far the best for me. Loved the simple design plus the voice boost & smart speed add ons plus the easily accessible show notes.

 

[yegon]

I’ve shifted over to Pocketcasts now. Watch app is reliable and usable, unlike Overcast, and as I mentioned above, the now playing playlist is handled better in Pocketcasts. No fiddling in menus adding “additional” single episodes etc.

I think the audio engine is slightly better in Overcast, I find the voice boost equivalent in Pocketcasts distorts the audio a little.

Having said all that, I’ve a long history with Overcast, great app, may go back to it someday.

 

[ukbootlegs]

I've recently switched to Pocketcasts instead and have absolutely no regrets.

wow!

I switched today. The interface is much better than overcast. took me a while to get used to it on the phone.

importing the opml file and once I change sort order to oldest first it shows me all episodes. It doesn’t retain the “played” info. That’s annoying

but. whats amazing is files. I’ve not listened to a podcast yet as I’ve been listening to a book i threw up into the cloud

no regrets so far

thx for the recommendation

 

[ukbootlegs]

I’ve shifted over to Pocketcasts now. Watch app is reliable and usable, unlike Overcast, and as I mentioned above, the now playing playlist is handled better in Pocketcasts. No fiddling in menus adding “additional” single episodes etc.

I think the audio engine is slightly better in Overcast, I find the voice boost equivalent in Pocketcasts distorts the audio a little.

Having said all that, I’ve a long history with Overcast, great app, may go back to it someday.

Agree with the “may go back” point. Depends how I get on with pocket. But so far. So good

I still can’t work out how to get my episodes on the watch with overcast. It’s bewildering.

 

[yegon]

Agree with the “may go back” point. Depends how I get on with pocket. But so far. So good

I still can’t work out how to get my episodes on the watch with overcast. It’s bewildering.

I know how to do it in theory, but it was so incredibly flakey I quit even trying.

 

[ukbootlegs]

I know how to do it in theory, but it was so incredibly flakey I quit even trying.

It just kept showing me episodes for a single podcast