Overcast

Still learning the new interface

Overcast has been my go-to for years, but recent updates have really hampered its usability. I typically stream episodes and the recent updates to the app have broken this feature. Episodes will frequently just skip to the next episode in the playlist without reason or will suddenly jump to the end of an episode. I don’t know why this keeps happening.

too many bugs

Works

プレイリストを使うことで、購読済みポッドキャストをテーマごとに分類したり、エピソードの再生順を自分好みに設定できる。Voice Boostをオンにすると音声が聞きやすくなり、Smart Speedは音声の空白部分を自動的にスキップして再生時間を短縮する。ただし、日本語の促音もスキップ対象となるため、やや不自然に聞こえることがある。 他にも、エピソードの冒頭・末尾を5秒刻みでスキップし、毎回聞かされる定型的なセリフをカットすることもできる。年1000円のプレミアム登録で、広告バナーを消したり、自前の音源ファイルを登録したりすることも可能。 ただし、iOSのポッドキャストアプリは、iOS 16.4の再生キュー導入により再生順序を好みにコントロールできるようになり、iOS 17.4以降では英語の文字起こしをサポートしており、英語ポッドキャスト聴取の強力な助っ人となっている。そのため、Overcastの優位性はかなり小さくなった。 Overcastはアプリのコードが複雑化したことでしばらく新機能追加が途絶えていたが、リリース10周年に合わせてリリースされたバージョン2024.7で、シンプルでモダンなコードに全面的に書き換え、改良が迅速に行えるようになったとのこと。今後の新機能に期待したい。

I have been using Overcast since day one. Still the very best podcast player out there. Congratulations Marco and cheers to another 10 years!

EDIT: custom sleep timer is back (along with lots of other great stuff) and so is my 5-star review. I will leave below what I wrote previously as proof that the developer cares about his users. Thanks Overcast! Especially the changes made to the sleep timer. Before it could be accessed directly from the main screen of an episode but now it's been needlessly pushed down into a submenu. Also, before users were able to choose the number of minutes on the timer freely but now we are left with only five choices. Why would you limit the customizability for users in this way? The fact that you let users do things their own way in the simplest and cleanest possible manner was the reason I always liked your app the most, now you are increasingly starting to look like other generic cluttery podcast apps with little to no user freedom. Very disappointing.

The redesigned app is snappier and overall a better UI than the previous version. I like that new podcast episodes are displayed at the top so I can just start a show that I like. I do wish, however, that playlists had more prominence. The playing screen is a big improvement, especially the chapters page. Minor nitpicks: I wish the sleep timer was fewer taps away. Also, when you tap the album artwork to get show notes it’s not obvious that the “i” icon in the bottom right will take you back.

Bloated with bad interface and gets confused and reloads old episodes- useless

It's really saddening to see how much the UX has degraded after the recent big overhaul. It's hard to find new unplayed episodes now, way less intuitive, everything takes longer to reach. Real shame, I hope the developer turns this around. It used to be an absolute marvel of usability.