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Unusable after recent updates
Recent updates have made the app unusable. After exceptionally long initial sync the CarPlay doesn't seem to be working anymore (the play button doesn't change to pause and often doesn’t start playback). I’ve seen very weird things, like podcasts with 0-second lengths and broken progress timers (podcasts clearly starting from the beginning report 1 hour of progress, etc.). Apple Watch integration seems to be hopelessly broken too (it doesn’t start playback on a cellular watch if not close to the phone and just keeps spinning before crashing). I am used to listening to podcasts during my running workouts or in the car. This breaking release came as a surprise. I had to install Apple Podcasts to get working again. I’ve been an Overcast user since 2015, so this makes me sad. But now that I’ve moved my playlist to Apple Podcasts, I am unlikely to move back.Show lessmpe_
Further iterations….
UPDATE : Marco addressed the tap to play option on ATP this week, fair enough, although now am pleased to see it’s been added back in latest update. Thanks.
There’s still an issue with the bottom episode of a podcast series showing the menu hidden behind the now playing item but less of an issue for me personally now tap to play is back.
Not sure yet if issue (2) below has been fixed but not a major problem, more of an irritating niggle.
No problem with the new UI but couple of issues (1) No longer an option to choose to play immediately when episode tapped? (2) Current list not refreshing immediately (still shows the podcast but with no episodes) when last episode played and no more episodes left. In previous version the podcast would move immediately out of the current view into the “all” view. Maybe I’m missing something but both of these are a little annoying.Show lessFroswick
Baffling
I have been a long time Overcast user - Smart Speed has saved me 1969 hours beyond speed adjustments, for what it’s worth - but this may be the final straw for me. I adjusted to the last major update after several months but I never felt like it got back to being as good as it was before the last major revision. At that point I stopped subscribing, but I kept using it since it was still the best podcast app, even if it was worse than it was before and I had to fundamentally change how I used the app.
This update I’m actively looking at new podcast apps. It’s not just little things at this point - my queue doesn’t drop or delete episodes after they’ve finished or when I’ve clicked the checkmark to mark listened, and it looks like the “unplayed” view is just gone - or maybe it’s buried under six levels of menus and I haven’t found it yet, but in any case it’s lost all ability to tell what shows have a new episode. I can’t easily add episodes into my queues or rearrange them, I’m not sure why, and “play next” seems to be totally broken. Previously played episodes get downloaded and played from the start with no explanation. I simply don’t understand how this is any way an improvement for anyone.
I hope against hope the clumsy UX changes will be fixed, but things are trending in the wrong direction, so you might just want to look at alternatives.Show lessKelly_M_
Update!
Update: Overcast just went back up to 5 stars with latest patch update. Clearly Marco has been working hard to fix issues and restore some functionality quickly.
Previous Review: The new update looks good. But... it's really quite the downgrade for those that don't download all their podcasts. Removing the swipe right to download is a huge loss. I don't mind that streaming is gone if it had a quick way to download the podcasts like before. But now things are further buried in menus and take more taps to get to. It's very Apple like, and not in the good ways. It's less efficient where the swiping over was so much better to change playback speed quick when you are doing chores. It's an odd choice for someone that seemed to be in tune with making things quick. The good news is that I have faith in Marco. I imagine some of these pain points will be noisy enough that he'll find a way to mitigate them. And change is always difficult, so some friction might be temporary. It's still a great app and does most of the things it did before. And his blog update already acknowledges that changes are coming and former functionality will be restored. So I'm optimistic, but. I really wish I had waited to update it. I hate that you can't go back to a previous version, but that's an Apple issue. Until we get it back to useful, I'll be using an old iPhone that runs iOS 16 to use overcast more often than not (iOS 17 is required for latest version).Show less8 bit snow
THE Podcast app
One of my favourite apps to manage and listen to podcasts on, developed by a sole indie developer, and I’m happy to be a premium subscriber to. The modern rewrite of the app in July 2024 from the ground up (using modern frameworks like SwiftUI and more I presume) works better than ever before. Get your pod on with Overcast!Show lessAnthlis
I loved this app
It was great, and absolutely a 5-star before. I absolutely understand that you spent the last 18 months overhauling the code - loads of work and it’s just you working on it. But with no streaming, I’m having loads of trouble. One podcast I listen (and relisten) to constantly is taking upwards of half an hour to download, despite my fairly good wifi (second fastest speed my ISP offers). Please bring back streaming, or add a feature to automatically download the next one or two episodes in a playlist - I don’t have the space on my phone to download 600 episodes of the one podcast, plus the others that I listen to on top of that.
Also, unless I’ve missed it, the option to rate/review podcasts would be cool.Show lesssilentbrad
Bring Streaming Back
Really like the new revamp but am a bit disappointed that streaming isn’t supported any longer. I understand the rationale behind not wanting to support this feature due to complexity/maintainability but, this was a feature that I used quite frequently and it’s a major annoyance.
I often use streaming when a new episode of a podcast I listen to has been released, but I haven’t been on wifi since that has happened (i.e. most often with news podcasts). It’s incredibly annoying to hop in my car and hope I can start listening to something but its silent in my car for a good minute or two before something starts playing. Keep in mind that with smart speed and playback multipliers this 2 minutes could actually be worth double that time for listening to podcasts!
I know Marco mentioned he had some ideas on how to make the loss of this feature less troublesome for users. If he’s not planning to bring back streaming, let me add to his feature requests the ability to specify on a per-podcast level whether or not to use cellular data.Show lesskyleromero98
missing functionality/too many taps
The new update looks good. But... it's really quite the downgrade for those that don't download all their podcasts. Removing the swipe right to download is a huge loss. I don't mind that streaming is gone if it had a quick way to download the podcasts like before. But now things are further buried in menus and take more taps to get to. It's very Apple like, and not in the good ways. It's less efficient where the swiping over was so much better to change playback speed quick when you are doing chores. It's an odd choice for someone that seemed to be in tune with making things quick. The good news is that I have faith in Marco. I imagine some of these pain points will be noisy enough that he'll find a way to mitigate them. And change is always difficult, so some friction might be temporary. It's still a great app and does most of the things it did before. And his blog update already acknowledges that changes are coming and former functionality will be restored. So I'm optimistic, but. I really wish I had waited to update it. I hate that you can't go back to a previous version, but that's an Apple issue. Until we get it back to useful, I'll be using an old iPhone that runs iOS 16 to use overcast more often than not (iOS 17 is required for latest version).Show lessWas amazing till the update
This was an incredible app and has been for many years. The volume boost and smart speed being two of the main reasons I loved this app, and also the incredibly quick way to access the sleep timer. Most podcast apps hide that away and require multiple button presses to find and access it. However, this app has just been updated to a completely new design and as part of that it has now ruined what I found to be a brilliant app. Episodes no longer play with one touch, instead opening up a menu that requires an extra touch to play. But, worst of all, all the east to access features I loved - smart speed, volume boost and sleep - have all now been hidden away in a button that requires extra faffing about to access. I hope the app designer reads these reviews because I adored your app, but now it’s gone down the list and I won’t be using it while it’s just the same as other ones that I find have better overall features. Please either take it back to the simplistic design we had before that was a stalwart for years, or please bring back the ease of functionality.Show lessJazrich1981
Fix queue and download system please
I’ve used this app for years. It’s great in so many ways but there are a couple things, that are just kind of timelessly annoying about it.
Firstly: the queue system. If I want to fall asleep to a podcast or two and not burn through a whole feed overnight, there’s no way to do that. Either I set “stop after each episode” and have to repeatedly go find a new episode, or I use the kinda hard-to-use queue system (or I use sleep I guess?) Perhaps make the queue easier to use/accessible on every screen? Either way it’s a very frustrating system.
Secondly: what’s with the download system? Why are there like 100 things in the queue all the time? If I’m about to go on a flight with no wifi, why do I have to fight the app to download a single episode so I can have it to listen to on that flight? Making a decision on a per-episode basis about whether to “stream when played” versus downloading is frankly insane. These are not sane defaults. If a download is forced via a swipe on an episode: could that be force downloaded immediately, rather than putting into download queue purgatory?Show lessDampfen
