Quality is slipping
Edit: I’ve increased a star because the latest update seems to have completely fixed all my crashing issues. I was almost ready to jump ship but it seems to be working well again now. Thanks team!
——
Original review:
For a while now the quality of this app seems to have been slipping, with (for me) pretty constant bugs relating to starting and stopping podcasts playing. As well as skipping. The latest update is the worst though, the app is now constantly crashing completely rather than occasionally freezing as it did before. It’s the worst its ever been. This is a real shame as this used to be one of my favourite apps. As a software developer myself I would urge the team to invest in more quality control checks, automated tests and focus on bug fixes over new features for a while. I’m really close to giving up and switching apps after using Pocketcasts daily for several years.
——
Original review:
For a while now the quality of this app seems to have been slipping, with (for me) pretty constant bugs relating to starting and stopping podcasts playing. As well as skipping. The latest update is the worst though, the app is now constantly crashing completely rather than occasionally freezing as it did before. It’s the worst its ever been. This is a real shame as this used to be one of my favourite apps. As a software developer myself I would urge the team to invest in more quality control checks, automated tests and focus on bug fixes over new features for a while. I’m really close to giving up and switching apps after using Pocketcasts daily for several years.
Show less
Response from developer
Thank you for the feedback! Please reach out through the Pocket Casts app via Profile > Help & Feedback > Get in touch to contact our support team. They'll be happy to troubleshoot these issues.
The * best *
Not often I write reviews, and I’m often a bit picky about apps … but this works so well it deserves the praise …
I’ve used four different podcast apps, now across two different iPads and an iPhone 11. It’s got more flexibility - than even one I previously bought.
Even a naff like me was able to import my playlist easily
Depending on what speed the podcast presenter talks at, how involved it is etc I like to adjust the speed up or down. This is the first speed adjustment I’ve come across where you can do that in increments of 10%
Just then I was listening to meditation podcast. Had a bit of spare time so slowed it down to 70% and the meditation never worked better
I love it!
I’ve used four different podcast apps, now across two different iPads and an iPhone 11. It’s got more flexibility - than even one I previously bought.
Even a naff like me was able to import my playlist easily
Depending on what speed the podcast presenter talks at, how involved it is etc I like to adjust the speed up or down. This is the first speed adjustment I’ve come across where you can do that in increments of 10%
Just then I was listening to meditation podcast. Had a bit of spare time so slowed it down to 70% and the meditation never worked better
I love it!
Show less
I saw someone saw No Longer Great!
iOS 17.3.1 iPhone 11 Pro Max / 7th March:
Agreed with title. Still my favourite for now but I’m going through my worst spell. This is in context of - I’m really too busy to leave reviews these days but here I am. Maybe I’m being hypercritical because this is by far and away my most used App. But it’s just not as reliable as it used to be. Not in a big way. In small ways. I keep reading about how this and that is fixed yet I’m having my worst experience these days. Basic things like touching the lower play bar to make it full screen and nothing happens. Sometimes it even freezes. What is going on? Please don’t loose focus on the basics and get this back on track.
I almost forgot to say.
Watch App: For multiple versions now I look at my watch to play/pause…..and have to wait what feels like a minute for it to update before I can do so!
This is on Watch Series 7 so not that shabby.
Yet way back in say 2016 I didn’t have this problem. How does that work!??
Agreed with title. Still my favourite for now but I’m going through my worst spell. This is in context of - I’m really too busy to leave reviews these days but here I am. Maybe I’m being hypercritical because this is by far and away my most used App. But it’s just not as reliable as it used to be. Not in a big way. In small ways. I keep reading about how this and that is fixed yet I’m having my worst experience these days. Basic things like touching the lower play bar to make it full screen and nothing happens. Sometimes it even freezes. What is going on? Please don’t loose focus on the basics and get this back on track.
I almost forgot to say.
Watch App: For multiple versions now I look at my watch to play/pause…..and have to wait what feels like a minute for it to update before I can do so!
This is on Watch Series 7 so not that shabby.
Yet way back in say 2016 I didn’t have this problem. How does that work!??
Show less
Response from developer
Hey there! I can imagine how frustrating this must be, and we're happy to investigate these matters further. If you contact us via https://support.pocketcasts.com/contact-us/, we will be able to check why this might be happening.
Re-review
Apparently my old 1-star review from before it went free was deleted so quickly. It functions mostly fine, but, there are a bunch of bugs that are infuriating. It also takes forever to add new episodes when they release on subscribed podcasts.
To name a few bugs, it constantly tells me the wrong progress through an episode, I might be 20 minutes into a podcast but it tells me I’m over an hour in. Sometimes when I skip back 10 seconds to rewind, I am instead skipped forwards multiple minutes and have to scroll back. It constantly removes episodes from my up next queue so I have to re-ad them.
To name a few bugs, it constantly tells me the wrong progress through an episode, I might be 20 minutes into a podcast but it tells me I’m over an hour in. Sometimes when I skip back 10 seconds to rewind, I am instead skipped forwards multiple minutes and have to scroll back. It constantly removes episodes from my up next queue so I have to re-ad them.
Show less
Response from developer
Hi! If you haven't already, please reach out to us so we can help you look into the issues happening on your device: https://support.pocketcasts.com/contact-us/ Please share as many details as you can. Thank you!
Solid podcast player
Pocket Casts was one of the best podcast apps out there for many years. It still functions very well for power users as well as less frequent listeners. PC is among the best podcast catchers because it offers several logical organizational structures for staying on top of subscriptions. The first being the Home view with a grid of show art—this can be sorted by release date, or custom set by users. Tapping a show icon brings you to the episode list. Further, this screen can be organized by sorting podcasts into folders as the user sees fit. There are additionally filter views, in which users can view new releases by episode, view downloaded or partially listened to episodes, and filters can be added to include various shows by whatever topic or criteria users wish to help them dive into episodes (filters are especially useful to power users who may subscribe to hundreds of podcasts).
The subscriptions for this app are pricy, but the free version accomplishes most of what’s needed for a podcast player.
The subscriptions for this app are pricy, but the free version accomplishes most of what’s needed for a podcast player.
Show less
Response from developer
Thanks for the review! If there's anything we can do to get more stars from you, please let us know: https://support.pocketcasts.com/contact-us/
Request: Click on podcast image to go to podcast
I really like this app. The one thing that annoys me is there is no easy way to get directly to the feed for an individual podcast to switch to a new episode from the same podcast you are listening to. I am constantly wanting to just click on the podcast logo/image while playing an episode to go to the main feed for that podcast. Annoyingly, when you do that it just enlarges the image. Adding this feature so when you are playing an episode you can easily get to the main feed for that podcast and switch to a new episode from that podcast would be awesome. Right now, you have to switch out of the currently playing view and go back to your main feed to find an episode, and open that, to find the link to the full list of episodes for an individual podcast, which is a lot of steps.
Show less
Plus Lifetime Member: Frustrating addition of monetization options
I love Pocket Casts. It’s a fantastic app, and even with small missteps I feel like they’ve managed to get things back on track.
My current criticism is that as a lifetime member I have paid for the app (on multiple occasions, across multiple stores) which means I’m not having to pay for the app monthly; which I greatly appreciate. However, I’m not a huge fan of seeing monetization opportunities as a permanent tab on every podcast. I understand that you need to try to make sales by adding value, but seeing the bookmarks tab on each podcast seems unnecessary. It would be nice to be able to disable that tab in the settings. I have no qualms with there being an option in the profile to upgrade, but adding the tab to every podcast regardless of whether I’m going to use the feature or not is kind of annoying.
That aside please keep up the good work. You’ve truly created the best podcast app on the market.
My current criticism is that as a lifetime member I have paid for the app (on multiple occasions, across multiple stores) which means I’m not having to pay for the app monthly; which I greatly appreciate. However, I’m not a huge fan of seeing monetization opportunities as a permanent tab on every podcast. I understand that you need to try to make sales by adding value, but seeing the bookmarks tab on each podcast seems unnecessary. It would be nice to be able to disable that tab in the settings. I have no qualms with there being an option in the profile to upgrade, but adding the tab to every podcast regardless of whether I’m going to use the feature or not is kind of annoying.
That aside please keep up the good work. You’ve truly created the best podcast app on the market.
Show less
Frustrating flaws in great packaging
Update: Spend less time writing cutesy release notes and more time fixing the non-existent notifications, now going on two weeks.
Update: November now and while notifications were back for about ten days they are completely gone again. Plus episodes are not available even upon opening the app for more than 30 minutes after they appear in other podcast apps. Recently returned to PocketCasts, which I used when it first came out, and have been generally enjoying it, especially appearance-wise. Lots of nice touches/color accents. What is baffling to me is its buggy sync and cloud support. As others have noted, don’t try to use this app on more than one device, as the sync is infrequent and only applies to parts of the app. Notifications weren’t working for about five days recently, then they all came in over about three hours. (Oddly starting shortly after I emailed support.) What is most annoying, however, is that about once a week my queue autopopulates with up to 20 episodes that I’ve either already listened to or already archived. For the amount users are paying for this app, that should NEVER happen. Also syncing between devices is table-stakes in 2023. Not sure if these are long-running issues with this app or not, but they’re making it hard to love.
Update: November now and while notifications were back for about ten days they are completely gone again. Plus episodes are not available even upon opening the app for more than 30 minutes after they appear in other podcast apps. Recently returned to PocketCasts, which I used when it first came out, and have been generally enjoying it, especially appearance-wise. Lots of nice touches/color accents. What is baffling to me is its buggy sync and cloud support. As others have noted, don’t try to use this app on more than one device, as the sync is infrequent and only applies to parts of the app. Notifications weren’t working for about five days recently, then they all came in over about three hours. (Oddly starting shortly after I emailed support.) What is most annoying, however, is that about once a week my queue autopopulates with up to 20 episodes that I’ve either already listened to or already archived. For the amount users are paying for this app, that should NEVER happen. Also syncing between devices is table-stakes in 2023. Not sure if these are long-running issues with this app or not, but they’re making it hard to love.
Show less
Response from developer
We appreciate your feedback. Our team is actively working on fixing the notification issue. While we can't provide an exact timeline, please know we're doing our best to resolve this. Your concern about this matter is greatly appreciated. As for your other concerns, such as sync and autopopulates episodes, we'd like to know more about them. It seems like you've already contacted our support team. If that's the case, we can carry on our conversation there. If not, we would appreciate it if you could reach out to us through the app. Providing us with your log would be extremely helpful in understanding what's happening. Thank you once again for your support towards Pocket Casts.
Frustrating flaws in great packaging
Update: November now and while notifications were back for about ten days they are completely gone again. Plus episodes are not available even upon opening the app for more than 30 minutes after they appear in other podcast apps.
Recently returned to PocketCasts, which I used when it first came out, and have been generally enjoying it, especially appearance-wise. Lots of nice touches/color accents. What is baffling to me is its buggy sync and cloud support. As others have noted, don’t try to use this app on more than one device, as the sync is infrequent and only applies to parts of the app. Notifications weren’t working for about five days recently, then they all came in over about three hours. (Oddly starting shortly after I emailed support.) What is most annoying, however, is that about once a week my queue autopopulates with up to 20 episodes that I’ve either already listened to or already archived. For the amount users are paying for this app, that should NEVER happen. Also syncing between devices is table-stakes in 2023. Not sure if these are long-running issues with this app or not, but they’re making it hard to love.
Recently returned to PocketCasts, which I used when it first came out, and have been generally enjoying it, especially appearance-wise. Lots of nice touches/color accents. What is baffling to me is its buggy sync and cloud support. As others have noted, don’t try to use this app on more than one device, as the sync is infrequent and only applies to parts of the app. Notifications weren’t working for about five days recently, then they all came in over about three hours. (Oddly starting shortly after I emailed support.) What is most annoying, however, is that about once a week my queue autopopulates with up to 20 episodes that I’ve either already listened to or already archived. For the amount users are paying for this app, that should NEVER happen. Also syncing between devices is table-stakes in 2023. Not sure if these are long-running issues with this app or not, but they’re making it hard to love.
Show less
Frustrating flaws in great packaging
Recently returned to PocketCasts, which I used when it first came out, and have been generally enjoying it, especially appearance-wise. Lots of nice touches/color accents. What is baffling to me is its buggy sync and cloud support. As others have noted, don’t try to use this app on more than one device, as the sync is infrequent and only applies to parts of the app. Notifications weren’t working for about five days recently, then they all came in over about three hours. (Oddly starting shortly after I emailed support.) What is most annoying, however, is that about once a week my queue autopopulates with up to 20 episodes that I’ve either already listened to or already archived. For the amount users are paying for this app, that should NEVER happen. Also syncing between devices is table-stakes in 2023. Not sure if these are long-running issues with this app or not, but they’re making it hard to love.
I was a long-time paying supporter of Castro until their developers dropped out of sight and communication for more than year. (Not a good way to treat paying users!) Switched to Overcast and never could adjust to that apps abysmal queue “system.” I really want to stick with PocketCasts, but not if I have to continually clean up after it loses track of what is going on.
I was a long-time paying supporter of Castro until their developers dropped out of sight and communication for more than year. (Not a good way to treat paying users!) Switched to Overcast and never could adjust to that apps abysmal queue “system.” I really want to stick with PocketCasts, but not if I have to continually clean up after it loses track of what is going on.
Show less
