Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Users Despair at Apple Podcasts App After iOS 14.5 Update

Apple is good at ruining their media apps. As much as I dislike iTunes, the successor apps on Catalina and Big Slur are terrible.

On iOS, the Music app was great until they made it all about Apple Music and gave customers that store local music a back seat.
The TV app on iOS ruined the ability to navigate movies and instructional content by chapter. Now the chapter picker is gone and they badger you about Apple TV+
 
  • Like
Reactions: Falhófnir, josehill, peanuts_of_pathos and 3 others
I'm experiencing all of these problems. The thing which has annoyed me the most is that apple has made it slightly harder to see which podcasts have updated recently. Going to library shows a list of recently followed, then I have to tap on "Shows" which shows me a list which can be organised based upon how recently the podcast has been updated. When I tap on library whilst in the episode list for an actual podcast, it takes me back to the library main page rather than the list of shows. This is annoying.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
The most infuriating part of all of this, to me, is that they wasted all of this development effort to make Podcasts on iOS/iPadOS a completely new -- albeit worse -- experience...yet, I've been asking for and waiting for years for the Apple TV Podcasts app to simply get 1.5x and 2x playback support like the iOS and macOS apps have had for years.

There is still no playback speed option in Podcasts on tvOS 14.5. All this wasted effort to make the iOS app worse, but they couldn't bring one simple, useful feature to the tvOS app.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
I’ve always used pocket cast but was really looking forward to this update since I generally like first party apps and their search and browse section better.

I’ve given up hope on Apple making a good podcast app. Why does it not sync properly between my devices? Why is is showing played items in my up next? Why after I listen to one and have no new ones it pulls an old listened to one up next in the payer? Why does it take some podcasts 24 hours to show up when others have it immediately? Why when on 1.5x speed after pausing and then resuming it says it’s playing but no audio and requires going forward and back 15 seconds multiple times to get any audio. Delayed notifications.

And on top of all that you can do cool stuff Pocket Casts can like custom playback speed per podcast, custom skips per show, trim silence, Apple Watch app tells me a number of how many minutes are left.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos, V.K., SirAnthonyHopkins and 2 others
Lounge vibes 05 said:
What were they thinking?
First of all, in the library tab, there are two options for downloaded and saved.
What is the difference? Why are there two tabs that are basically the same thing.
Click to expand...
This is one change that makes a asylum that was already there easier to use. Saved episodes will not be deleted. Downloaded episodes will be deleted after they have been listened to.
 
Would it not have been easier (and more effective) for Apple to have just bought out one of the other Apps and started from there? At least they would have had a solid base to build from, as well as developers who are focused on that one app.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos and ukbootlegs
Every time something like this happens, I say “This would NEVER happen if Steve were still running things.” Why would they seemingly DESTROY a well-functioning app this badly? Just imagine the harangue that would ensue if this kind of ruination were proposed!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ukbootlegs and furou
There is something fundamentally wrong with the teams who build Apple’s media apps.

AppleTV is buggy and core functionality, like the Library tab, doesn’t work
Podcasts is still buggy, as this article spells out
And Apple Music. Oh, Apple Music. One of the worst combinations of design errors and massive bugginess. Looks like software Microsoft and Sony put out in the 1990’s. Simply terrible software.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lpc2, peanuts_of_pathos and UltimaKilo
I guess I am in the minority. I've read through the comments and I can honestly say I didn't have any of the issues everyone is having. My largest complaint is the fact that (even after changing the settings) I have to manually delete a played podcast...which was the biggest thing I hated about the Spotify player (for downloaded podcasts).

Personally, the height of the Apple Podcast app was around 2014-2016/2017. It was simple and barebones which is really all people want when it comes to podcast listening.

It may be important to note that I listen to podcasts for about 10-12 hours a day, so I think I've gotten quite a bit of use of of this new app.
 
  • Like
Reactions: szw-mapple fan
Apple has ruined the Podcasts app, making it worse than it already was and bringing it in-line with the crap that is Apple Music. I sent them a message and hope you all do too.

What happened to the Apple of simplicity and ease of use? Who thought this (and Apple Music) was a good idea? Fire them.
 
Lounge vibes 05 said:
And while you’re at it, please turn the messages icon blue.
Click to expand...
But not all text messages are iMessage. It should be treated like a mini pie chart. If half of your text conversations are iMessages, it should be 50% blue and 50% green. If you have 9 conversations, and only 3 of them are iMessages, then it should be 33.3333...% blue and 66.666...% green.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos and SirAnthonyHopkins
This app is horrible. I hate how I have to mark episodes as “unplayed, played, and then unplayed, then played again” for it to finally disappear.

Also, Why do you put my podcasts on ONE ROW in listen now, and devote rest of page to recommendations? If I wanted a new podcast I would find it. I already have 25 + … let me listen to THose
 
  • Like
Reactions: MiniApple, Shifts, V.K. and 2 others
Uln4321 said:
I’ve always used pocket cast but was really looking forward to this update since I generally like first party apps and their search and browse section better.

I’ve given up hope on Apple making a good podcast app. Why does it not sync properly between my devices? Why is is showing played items in my up next? Why after I listen to one and have no new ones it pulls an old listened to one up next in the payer? Why does it take some podcasts 24 hours to show up when others have it immediately? Why when on 1.5x speed after pausing and then resuming it says it’s playing but no audio and requires going forward and back 15 seconds multiple times to get any audio. Delayed notifications.

And on top of all that you can do cool stuff Pocket Casts can like custom playback speed per podcast, custom skips per show, trim silence, Apple Watch app tells me a number of how many minutes are left.
Click to expand...
to be honest I’m now in a place where I expect Apple to make good hardware with great inter-device integration, solid if unspectacular operating systems, and borderline unusable individual apps. The only one I use with any regularity on any platform is Music and that’s only because Spotify and the other alternatives are worse, imo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xpxp2002
I use Overcast and you should too, if you accept the limitations of no desktop/TV app (web though) and audio only podcasts.
 
The Don Onez said:
Can some recommend a good podcast app. This is just terrible.
Click to expand...
If only there was some website that tracked Apple news and apps on Apple devices and could post an article listing a variety of Podcast choices other than Apple's.

I'm thinking a bunch of people would click the s#!% out of such an article right now. Alas, there's no good Apple-centric websites like that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Don Onez
Whatever it is, the new Apple Podcasts app is such a drastic change that for the podcasts I get from the iHeartMedia, I am now using iHeartRadio's own app to download and listen offline. Sheesh. 😒
 
As always in these forums people complain and say that Apple‘s software sucks. Especially people that compare it to Microsoft‘s software quality I cannot understand at all. All software has issues. Apple is on a very good level and of course there are things that can be better. As the Podcasts App concerns, it does what it is supposed to do. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back