# Overcast Podcast App — Podcast player

> A feature-rich, user-friendly podcast player with advanced audio enhancement tools. (iPhone/iPad app by Overcast Radio, LLC.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/overcast-podcast-app/id888422857 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Overcast Radio, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/888422860)
- Category: News, Entertainment
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.50/5 from 47,578 App Store ratings · 2,080 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 56 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2014-07-16
- Data updated: 2026-08-29
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/overcast-podcast-app/id888422857/reviews.md

## What is Overcast Podcast App?

A powerful, simple, award-winning podcast player. Featured by the App Store as Editor's Choice and critically acclaimed by The Verge, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, AppAdvice, and more.

No big company or VC funding here — Overcast is the only major podcast app written by a single person.

The Verge: “The best podcast app for the iPhone”
9to5Mac: "Overcast is the best podcast app that I’ve ever used”
AppAdvice: "Our favorite podcast client"
Six Colors: "My podcast player of choice"
The Sweet Setup: “Overcast is our favorite”
Cult of Mac: “It’s the best podcast app out there”
TIME: “Overcast lives up to its lofty claims”
iMore: "My personal favorite"
TechCrunch: “There is no reason why you should still be using the Podcasts app over Overcast”

Overcast is a modern, fully featured audio podcast app with many useful features in a simple, intuitive interface:

- Smart Speed saves time without distorting the audio or sounding unnatural.
- Voice Boost makes every podcast the same volume with a broadcast-quality remastering engine.
- Download podcasts for playing anytime, even offline.
- Search and browse for new podcasts, plus get personalized recommendations.
- Create custom Playlists with smart filters and per-podcast priorities, and rearrange the list whenever you want.
- Receive optional notifications when new episodes arrive.
- Subscribe to a podcast, or just add an episode: try new shows without committing.
- Sleep timer automatically stops playback after any time interval you set.
- Apple Watch app with standalone playback and cellular streaming.
- CarPlay support.

And Overcast has world-class privacy, with no third-party analytics, ad services, or tracking code.

Overcast is funded by ads that promote other podcasts. If you choose to purchase Overcast Premium to hide these ads, payment will be charged to your iTunes account, and your account will be charged for renewal 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase.

Privacy policy: https://overcast.fm/privacy
Terms of use: https://overcast.fm/terms

Proudly made in New York.

## Key features

- Smart Speed for time saving
- Voice Boost for consistent volume
- Offline playback
- Podcast discovery and recommendations
- Customizable playlists
- Sleep timer
- Apple Watch and CarPlay support

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Overcast Premium | $14.99 | per year |
| Overcast Premium | $29.99 | per year |
| Overcast Premium | $29.99 | per year |
| Overcast Premium | $29.99 | per year |
| Overcast Premium | $19.99 | per year |
| Overcast Premium | $39.99 | per year |


## Chart rankings

- #82 in Top Free · News (US App Store)
- #46 in Top Grossing · News (US App Store)

## What do users think of Overcast Podcast App?

Overall sentiment: neutral

**Pros**

- 🚀 Excellent audio quality
- 🔒 Respects user privacy
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- 🚀 Smart Speed feature saves time
- 👍 Customizable playback options
- 🚀 Seamless cross-device sync

**Cons**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔋 High storage usage
- 👎 Cluttered and unintuitive UI after recent update
- 👎 Removal of useful features like 'play next'
- 👎 Streaming no longer supported
- 👎 Apple Watch integration issues

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Inconsistent episode downloads and playback
- Syncing issues between iPhone and Apple Watch
- Randomly resets playback progress

**Most requested features**

- Ability to easily mark episodes as played
- Improved podcast discovery and recommendation system
- More customization options for playlists and episode sorting
- Easier access to sleep timer and other frequently used controls

## Recent user reviews (10 of 2,080)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/overcast-podcast-app/id888422857/reviews.md

### 2/5 — What happened???

*2026-08-23, version 2026.8*

This app was the best for years and has been ruined by the latest update. It’s glitchy, it freezes, it won’t scroll easily, and is just overall FRUSTRATING! But what really pisses me ofc is that I just paid for another year before the update and now I’m stuck with this garbage. FIX IT!!!

### 3/5 — An unfortunate update

*2026-08-23, version 2026.8*

This is simply a buggier app after the redesign. It just feels like everything needed more time to bake.

### 5/5 — Best podcast app period

*2026-08-23, version 2026.8*

I’ve been using this app for many, many years and it’s consistently one of the highest quality, most consistent apps I interact with. Can’t recommend it highly enough.  I listen to well over a thousand hours of podcasts every year and I have never had a single complaint about this app.

### 5/5 — Excellent Podcast Control Options

*2026-08-23, version 2026.8*

I’ve been using Overcast for years. It offers excellent options for customizing podcast playback such as listening speed, custom playlists, voice boost, Apple Watch support. Very reliable and an app I use every day.

### 1/5 — New design is not user friendly

*2026-08-23, version 2026.8*

Raising the prices while making the app buggy? Stop trying to stuff new features in just because it’s faster to develop now with AI. 

Good app but the new UI is confusing and takes a lot more clicks to do the same actions, compared to the old UI

### 2/5 — Great app, questionable direction

*2026-08-22, version 2026.8*

It had taken me a while to get to grips with the redesign. I'd finally made my peace with it and created a number of playlists. It was working okay, and then they move the goalposts again with this new hard episode limit...

It makes no sense, the previous logic was actually smarter: you decide on the limit for automatic downloads, and if you want to add more, you can. You're in control. With the new logic, whatever you set as the limit is hardcoded, and if you want to download another episode you can't unless you disable the limit entirely, which breaks automatic downloads for that episode unless you fiddle with the (already super fiddly) settings for every individual podcast before and after downloading.

Who does this help? Who thought this was a good idea? If there really is a use case, why not make it an optional setting rather than breaking everybody's playlists?

### 5/5 — Great Podcast App

*2026-08-22, version 2026.8*

This app is easy to use, constantly updated and extremely reliable! You won’t be disappointed with the intuitive interface and wonderful set of features!

### 1/5 — Locks up on spotty WiFi

*2026-08-22, version 2026.8*

This release does not fix an ongoing problem where the app locks up and will not continue playing if you are on spotty WiFi. It will look for new episodes, even on a plane with message-only WiFi, but will hang until it (never) finishes d/l-ing. Image proof posted to Reddit and Mastodon

### 3/5 — Good but getting slow and bloated

*2026-08-21, version 2026.8*

I was very happy with this app for years but after several upgrades it became unbearably slow (second and a half to start scrolling) and the interface lost coherence. With impending price increases, I'm switching back to Apple's app, which is an interface fiasco but it is free and responsive.

### 1/5 — Downloads Don’t Work

*2026-08-21, version 2026.8*

There’s so much to love about this app, but ultimately, the downloads don’t work and never have. Every time I’ve gotten a new phone, I’ve had to suffer through the process of redownloading my episodes as they refuse to do so in the background. I have to keep the screen on and stay on the download queue while they take hours to download. Then the final straw this week: one of my podcasts refuses to fetch new episodes. It took a full 20 hours to be recognized in Overcast when it was available everywhere else. I tried some troubleshooting tips, including switching Sync Profiles to see if the episode showed up there (it did not) and now I’m in download hell. The app deleted all my downloads and now absolutely refuses to process the download queue no matter what I do. The only thing that works is tapping each episode individually. That is unacceptable. No amount of fancy features makes up for broken basic functionality.

## Frequently asked questions about Overcast Podcast App

### What does this podcast app do?

This app is a powerful and simple podcast player designed to enhance your listening experience. It offers features like Smart Speed to save time without distorting audio and Voice Boost to ensure consistent volume across all podcasts. You can also download episodes for offline listening and discover new shows through personalized recommendations.

### What are the key features of this podcast app?

Key features include Smart Speed for time-saving playback, Voice Boost for broadcast-quality audio, offline episode downloads, personalized podcast recommendations, and the ability to create custom playlists with smart filters. It also supports Apple Watch and CarPlay for on-the-go listening.

### How is this podcast app monetized?

The app is free to use and is funded by ads that promote other podcasts. Users have the option to purchase Overcast Premium to hide these ads. Payment for the premium version is charged to your iTunes account, with auto-renewal options available.

### What devices is this podcast app compatible with?

The app is designed for mobile devices and offers specific features for the Apple Watch and CarPlay. This allows for a seamless listening experience across different Apple ecosystems.

### Who would benefit from using this podcast app?

This app is ideal for anyone who regularly listens to podcasts and wants a more advanced and customizable experience. It's particularly beneficial for users who want to save time, improve audio quality, and easily manage their podcast subscriptions and listening queue.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2026.8.1 — 2026-08-24

Everyone hated the new episode-limit strictness, so it's gone!

You can now also set all limits at once in the main settings screen, and manually toggle whether specific episodes are included in or ignored by the limits you set.

### 2026.8 — 2026-08-11

- Episode Limit is now strictly enforced so it can consistently match everyone's expectations. On first run, episodes beyond the limits you've set will be deleted!
- Replay Podcast: Re-listen to a podcast from the beginning
- Smart Complete (Premium): Marks episodes complete with less than 5 minutes left if you haven't listened in 48 hours. (In Delete settings)
- Chapter preselection (Premium)
- Premium audio effects: Mono audio, parametric EQ, volume normalization, background-noise reduction, and a de-esser!
- Sleep Timer now fades out at the end
- Playlists can now be sorted by episode duration
- New "keep oldest" mode for Episode Limit
- Find text in the current transcript
- Added transcript viewing to episode-info screens (if the episode and transcript are downloaded)
- Re-Transcribe to fix any broken transcripts or language mis-detections
- Export transcripts as SRT files
- Fixed certain transcription errors
- Fixed incorrect tracking of some listening stats and history entries
- Fixed missing artwork in clip-sharing and stalls while exporting clips
- Fixed potential performance issues

### 2026.7.1 — 2026-07-23

- Added new playback speeds up to 5X
- Apple Watch downloaded playback now supports Smart Speed and Voice Boost
- Fixed AirPlay bugs
- Fixed sync bugs
- Fixed streaming bugs
- Reduced storage usage
- Improved performance, especially with large collections
- Overcast should now be suggested more often when you connect AirPods

### 2026.7 — 2026-07-11

- Fixed incorrect ordering of new episodes in playlists with priority settings
- Fixed sync sometimes resetting your changes shortly after you make them
- Fixed excessive storage usage in certain error conditions
- Fixed episode progress resetting to 0:00 in certain error conditions
- Fixed incorrect durations on certain MP3 files

### 2026.5 — 2026-06-01

- Text can now be selected in transcripts
- Improved transcript timing
- Improved responsiveness when bringing up the now-playing screen

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## More apps by Overcast Radio, LLC

- [Unforgetful: Never Lose a Task](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/unforgetful-never-lose-a-task/id6785630295)

All apps by Overcast Radio, LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/888422860

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-29.*