Name: Overcast
Rating: 4.70531 (36812 reviews)

User Reviews for Overcast

4.71 out of 5

36.8K Ratings

2 years ago, 101Hundred

Many good features

Really like this app. First off, all podcasts sound good, really good, thank you. I appreciate the custom timer feature - not just set amounts to choose from. The tiny app size is nice, even though phone storage is getting huge. The view that shows which specific section (chapter) of the podcast is playing is really neat. Speed and voice control are good. Mark as played is helpful. Dark mode is nice, and is even a choice for the app icon (with a subscription). The privacy page for each show is nice (seems like some shows still need to make one). If possible, would like volume control on the lock screen (without having to use the control center). A "Pause all downloads" button or the like would be nice. It'd be more convenient for the Unplayed, and All pages of a podcast to stay pinned at the top of the podcast list when scrolling down, so that it'd be easier to get to the unplayed section, and then maybe even get back to the same scroll position on one of those pages after switching to the other. Would like to be able to use the widget to navigate to an episode's chapter, and adjust the sleep timer. Would like to have a convenient way to re-arrange playlists. The unplayed, active, and archive pages are good but, it's be nice to have a page that essentially makes a 'pinned' list combining all selected podcasts whether they're 'active' or not. Interested to see what improvements will be made. The app is worth the subscription.

8 months ago, SputNik2424

Fantastic. No regrets!

I made the switch to Overcast over a year ago after Apple overhauled their native Podcasts app in a way that I absolutely hated. I have never looked back. Overcast is superior in every regard. There are generous global settings you can fine tune, and you can alter any individual podcasts/series to differ from your global defaults. There are numerous ways to sort both shows and episodes. You can pin favorite shows to the top of the main list for quick access. A simple but clear little blue dot lets you know if a show has new/unplayed content. You don’t have to use playlists to listen to consecutive series episodes (either from oldest-to-newest or newest-to-oldest), but if you like making playlists Overcast has got you covered. There’s a basic main queue available as well as the ability to make endless custom playlists. You can also mark specific episodes with a star and then view all starred together in a single list. I use the star to keep track of episodes that are particularly hilarious, moving, shocking, and/or shareworthy. The bottom line from a prolific listener who consumes 3-10 hours of spoken audio daily: I’ve been using Overcast for well over a year now and couldn’t be happier with the experience. If you’re on the fence just stop the nonsense and get down from there before you fall and break something. There’s a better way to podcast, and this is it.

7 months ago, swendolla

Much better than Apple Podcasts

I used Apple’s podcast app religiously through several updates and switched to Overcast a few years ago. Apple finally got to the point where I could barely find the pods I was subscribed to - due to the entire app being geared around recommendations of what they are promoting. No thanks. I’m sure it’s gotten worse but I haven’t looked back. Overcast is the app you want in order to curate your own selections and design your own playlists by category or whatever you choose. Very customizable and the whole thing is geared around your subscriptions. The app has all the nice features for navigating, organizing playlists, searching, customizing your download preferences, playback speeds, sleep timers. There’s nothing else I would need other than possibly the ability to customize notifications per individual podcast. Took me awhile to finally start using the smart playlists feature but once I did - it was a game changer. Highly recommend setting up playlist categories using multiple smart playlists and combined with your episode retention settings - you no longer have to spend any time setting up a queue again. You can still do it for custom listening sessions or one-offs, but if you have a lot of subs or like to bounce around based on your mood, it’s an excellent feature.

3 years ago, SdKuAb

Nice alternative to Apple’s.

I’ve been well pleased so far. It isn’t always the most intuitive, but I’ve eventually figured out how to achieve most everything I’ve wanted to. The benefits of adding a show via RSS have become immediately clear. Being a subscriber to a show and getting early access episodes and bonus material right in my podcast manager makes it so easy to stay up with all my shows. The clip function has made it so much more effective to get friends interested in shows than years of recommending downloads ever did. The one thing that sticks out at me the most: sometimes I want to keep an episode for a while so I can go back and reference it later, however, although the episodes are marked as “played” the show doesn’t drop down to the “Played Podcasts” section. That doesn’t seem to happen until the episodes are deleted out of the library. This makes it difficult to know when a new episode is available; this show doesn’t release episodes according to a schedule, I have to randomly check to see if there’s anything new in the episode list. It feels nitpicky but it’s important to me. I listen to a lot of podcasts and I listen while I’m working. The less amount of time I have to spend poking around in menus, the better.

4 years ago, Brooke_92

Continuous Play? - UPDATED

EDIT - still couldn’t get Apple Podcast to work so I stuck with this awhile. I found out where continuous play is, and you have to add episodes to allow them to play or something? Still believe the app is not intuitive, and could really benefit from a touch-screen walkthrough when first installed and opened. It’s kind of ridiculous that this doesn’t already exist, given the amount of features this app seems to have. Robust application with some good features, but those features are lost to users without some kind of explainer. Original: I’m playing catch-up on a podcast I just started listening to that has been around for two years, so there is a lot of content to get through. I used to listen to it on Apple Podcasts, but for whatever reason that app has stopped working on my phone, and after looking at reviews for Overwatch I thought I’d give this a try. If Continuous Play exists, it’s not intuitive, nor does the app seem to have a feature where it will automatically pick up where the listener left off in a show. As soon as I downloaded the app I went to Settings and toggled ‘Continuous Play’ on, but it isn’t doing anything. I’ve tried playing the podcast from the episodes pages, creating playlists (the Smart Playlist is a joke), nothing works. The app just stops after it plays whatever episode your selected. Will be troubleshooting the issues with Apple Podcast and deleting this app immediately.

2 years ago, jlcollins310

The Best Podcast Player

Edit: The best just got better. Finally added a playlist for favorited/starred episodes. Adding more personalization choices was a bonus. I have had Overcast for a while and think it is the best podcast player on the market. The options available for creating custom playlists are what puts Overcast at the top of the list. The ability to include or exclude podcasts or just episodes of a podcast and being able to set priority podcasts are great options I didn’t know I needed. I definitely recommend Overcast to friends and family every chance I get. Once in a while I will try other podcasts apps but quickly come right back to Overcast. Other podcast players either don’t have the same features as Overcast or don’t do them as as well. Overcast’s smart speed and speed boost seem to work much better than the same features on other podcast apps. The only complaint I have is the handling of favorited episodes. When you tap the star button on an episode it will mark it but that is it. You still have to search through the entire catalog of a podcast to find that episode. I would like to see a category or playlist that favorited episodes automatically goes to.

4 days ago, GM in SC

Still Too Many Presses

September 1, 2024 Update The ability to export podcast to another app is no longer available. This makes it a little harder to try different apps. I will let you decide why Marco would remove this feature, but I tell you I’m not pleased because I believe it’s to make it more difficult to try other apps. I saved an OPML file when the feature was available so I can easily import my subscribed podcast to other apps and I have tried different apps. I am rethinking my loyalty and my premium subscription. Updated review. Marco has fixed many of the complaints! You all need to give the re write a chance as there’s nothing much better. I just became a premium user. I still think it takes too much effort to perform the task necessary to get the episodes I want in the queue. Here’s my new wish list. I want to be able to tell at a glance when looking at a podcast that the episode I am looking at is downloaded and in the play queue ( I do not want to open a menu to see this ). I would like to see badges on the home screen allowing me to select what to display (unplayed episodes etc) for each podcast. Add a one touch option to add to the play queue. Generally, simplify the options and make the most used functions easy to get to with fewer presses. The long menus could still be available.

8 months ago, Marathon1234

Love it. Happy to pay for subscription.

A friend recommended Outcast and I switched a couple of months ago. It is so much better than the Apple app. I listen to podcasts for about 90 minutes a day on average. The speed up and optimizing features are great. I have no idea who created Outcast, but I know It takes a lot of work to make a highly functional app with an elegant user interface and keep it updated. Implicit in many of the recent reviews is the belief that it should just be free forever - no cost and no ads. That's delusional. Good user reviews and feelings of accomplishment don't pay the bills. If my clients told me they liked my work but didn't want to pay for it, I'd find other clients. So I'm actually glad there is now an option to subscribe so I can support something I enjoy using. $9.95 for a whole year is very reasonable. That's about what I paid for lunch today. Why? Because there's no such thing as a free lunch. On a related note, the banner ads were a little annoying like all ads, but they're so much less intrusive than many print media sites where the content is constantly playing a game of hide and seek. Bottom line: I'm a fan and please keep up the good work.

3 weeks ago, dfrobison

Great app - well not as great

I have used this app for years and have been pleased with its progression until now. The latest redesign has not been user friendly and there are bugs introduced that are very annoying. For the us particularly annoying is the Queue is no longer reliable at downloading podcasts. I use to be able to load up a bunch of podcasts and it would play the. One right after the other. That is no longer the case. It will randomly have a podcast that doesn’t download, and these are podcasts that I have listened to for years without any download issues. It’s now broken with the update. Once was what stable is very unstable now. Hopefully this can get fixed soon to restore this valuable feature. ————— I have used this app for quite a while and it has just gotten better over time. It’s easy to use and is responsive. On most occasions, I’ve never noticed a lag from when I select and episode to play and when it starts playing. Other apps of this type that I’ve used exhibit a noticeable delay. My one feature request is to provide a way to quickly find podcasts that I’ve started but have not yet finished. I have different podcast tiers. When a tier 1 pops up, I stop my tier 2 to listen to the new one. I would like to easily go back to the previous podcast.

6 years ago, YKeeg

So close to perfect!

I love this app. It’s sleek; I appreciate the typeface used on the interface. It looks modern and is a welcome change from the same old font Apple uses for everything. Organization is clean and relatively intuitive once you get used to it. Definitely a WORTHY replacement for the stock Podcasts app, which I used for years before I found this gem. My only problems with Overcast pertain to the Apple Watch app. There seems to be more of a delay when hitting pause or start, and sometimes the pause/start button doesn’t work at all, which is horrible when you need to have a conversation with someone, or you’re at a drive-thru, or when you need the sound to stop immediately for whatever reason. That button needs to work reliably. Second, it would be REALLY COOL if the Digital Crown could be used as a volume control, like in Apple’s “Now Playing” app. It’s really convenient, and would be the next best thing to a reliable pause control. All that said, Overcast is vastly superior to the stock Podcasts app, and can still be controlled from Now Playing, provided the Overcast app is deleted from the Watch. One thing the Overcast Watch app has going for it is it’s MUCH prettier than Now Playing. It can certainly use some improvement, and I’m confident that will happen, because this is a GREAT app!

2 weeks ago, mindgraffiti-

Too many taps

Takes too many unnecessary taps to get a specific task done. The usability is now quite poor. Overall issues: - streaming a podcast no longer exists - the top 2/3rds of my screen are now real estate taken up by controls I don’t use and don’t care about - for my use case, I play episodes oldest to newest and I barely use playlists Inside each podcast: - after useless real estate, only 2 podcasts are above the fold in the list - scroll to find podcast I want. Tap it. Delete the newest episode. Switch to All tab. Tap to expand more options for an episode. Tap again to download. Too many taps, all for want of an episode. - tap the episode to play - oh never mind - I have to tap the expanded menu’s button to play. Ugh. - expand the player, intending to read the episode description. Oh look. MORE tapping. Tap an info button instead of quickly swiping to access description. - setting a podcast to download from oldest to newest, at 5 episode limit, doesn’t automatically download the oldest episodes - when completing an episode, the old ones are deleted as they should be, but no new episodes download to replace them I could spend all day pointing out all the unnecessary new tapping, and the new bugs. I don’t want to. You were loved, Overcast 💔 Time to check out Pocket Casts.

3 years ago, creative_fartist

One Of A Kind?

This is the first and only podcast app I've seen with compression. At least, that's my interpretation of what "Voice Boost" is doing. My mind is blown by how few entities are even attempting to address this elephant in the room. Some of the best and top podcasters fail to produce listenable audio. It is extremely simple. You need to cut your lows and brick your waveform. To do that right you start with a hot preamp (with low cut enabled) into a limiter or compressor so that you always peak at a consistent level, whether you talk, yell, or whisper into the mic (looking at you, Bobby Lee). If I remember correctly, -0.1 db is the highest you can go without causing it to clip when converting to mp3. That's where you set your overall limiting level when exporting the final master. If you didn't do the first part right, that's how you fix your final product. Just boost your levels into a limiter until the dynamic range is gone, exactly what the audiophiles hate. Ten+ years in, much of the podcast world is still figuring out the basics, but I continue to love you more than a friend. This app, iPhone's built-in dynamic range compression, and the analog compressor on my TV signal chain help keep this relationship strong.

4 weeks ago, BradPDX

Still the best one

The recent update brought changes to features, and also a much snappier app. I really like the new placement of audio controls and chapters. I disable one tap play because I often like to look at notes first. The removal of streaming options I miss only a little, but understand that big podcasts (that I don’t listen to) dynamically insert ads, making predictable streaming impossible. If you love podcasts, this is the one to get. It has great discovery and organization tools, but the audio enhancements are "must-haves" that really set this apart - don’t hesitate to drop the $5. Smart Speed clips out pauses so stealthily, I never notice except that I am shaving 5 to 15 minutes off of each podcast. Voice Boost uses a dynamic compression and EQ scheme that maximizes intelligibility, absolutely perfect for listening in a car or to enhance uneven production. No other app does this, not even close. I thought might miss streaming (Overcast downloads episodes in order to implement the audio enhancements) but the seamless WiFi background sync is even a better solution - whatever I see in Overcast is by definition ready to play, regardless of my cellular connection. Bravo.

4 weeks ago, JPMullican

Still the Best & Still Seeing Updates

Been using it for quite a few years now. Smart speed is great, the design is clean, it’s lightweight and responsive, the price is low for what you are getting, and ads are not intrusive if you go with the free plan (and may actually be relevant since they are only for other podcasts and doesn’t just throw you to the Adsense wolves). The recent update and transition to Swift UI has changed things to be sure and I’m not the biggest fan of horizontal playlist scrolling or the sleep timer being moved behind a second tap. But the app has seen a half dozen minor tweaks and bug fixes responding to community feedback in the past few weeks and more are certain to come. 5 stars because it’s still the best out there AND actively being worked on by a developer who is monitoring feedback after a transition to make fixes and adjustments quickly based on feedback. This app started out as a reasonably barebones but clean podcast player and added features over the years to become the best. I have no reason to expect that the quality will not continue to increase after the lateral move this update represents.

3 years ago, TDisch08

I’ve never looked back

I was very early in getting into podcasts. Actually used Stitcher before iPhone added their default app. Don’t even know how many years I’ve used Overcast now rather than the standard iPhone podcasts app but just about everything is just a little better here. Also, so many little things that don’t exist on the standard iOS app (as far as I know). Won’t list them all here but by far my favorite feature that comes to mind is the customization you can put in for number of old episodes to hold on to from each individual podcast to keep your feed clean and not eat up too much storage on shows you don’t get to as often and probably won’t anyway! Can’t tell you how excited I was when they added offline syncing ability for podcasts to the Apple Watch app so I could listen on runs without my phone. Also, I was so pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they fixed some of the early bugs with this feature that were obnoxious. Keep up the great work Overcast I recommend your product to everyone when it comes up and even tell them how easy it is to transfer over from another app.

1 month ago, denisemcf7

Love the update but for one thing

Love the update! The app is fast and responsive and doesn’t lag and crash constantly anymore!!! I’ve been an Overcast user for nearly the 10 years it’s been around. My only complaint about the update is that my list of podcasts still shows “current” podcasts that have no new episodes I haven’t listened to (or deleted) yet. I prefer to only see podcasts on the list that have a new episode I need to listen to. I’m not sure if there’s still a way to do this with the update, but I poked around the settings and I don’t see any way to fix it. I follow tons of podcasts and this means I have to click on every single one to see if there’s actually an episode there I haven’t listened to or of the list is still blank. Please fix this and it will be a 5 star!!!!! Edit: also think it’s absurd that there’s no longer an option to stream podcasts and you’re forced to download them before listening. I’ve been listening to podcasts for a decade+ and have never downloaded, only streamed, with zero issues. Now I’m having a major lag time to start episodes because they’re downloading first, and I’m worried about phone storage with the number of podcasts I listen to. It’s also very difficult to find the sleep timer now.

6 years ago, djkenickie

Pretty great!

What I love about this app is how customizable and user friendly it is. You can pick different color schemes for the apps, get super particular about what order to display shows and episodes in your feed, create playlists (the main reason I got this app and deleted the regular “Podcasts” Apple app), etc. There are so many options without it becoming overwhelming so kudos to the creators! My one gripe is that I wish the “Add Podcasts” section of the app would be updated more frequently. It seems like the suggested podcasts in the “most recommended” category or “comedy” category, or any of the other categories hardly ever change. It’s always the same list of podcasts with one or two new ones thrown in. This makes it difficult for me to find more podcasts and ultimately spend more time on the app. It would also be great to get suggestions for other podcasts that are similar to what I already listen to (ex: “if you liked x podcast, you might also like y podcast”). This app does not make easy to discover new podcasts/podcasts that are similar to the ones I already enjoy, and that’s the only way in which the Apple “podcasts” app is superior to this one.

1 month ago, Kelly_M_

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.

2 weeks ago, Jpaulgetty38

2 column v 3 column

I hate this app now. Everything everyone is writing is true. Three columns is horrible, downloading leaves me in limbo, there's no "delete all" and it won't do continuous play. It also is not working on apple car play and just freezes. My queue is unusable. Please rerelease the former version For the app overall, I have been very happy and I like a lot of features such as the repeat the last few seconds feature after pausing 🧡🧡🧡. I humbly(because I can't do this programming) write that your new update leaves a lot to b desired. The three column setup is awful, the middle column is usually blank and the info I want is squished into the two, smaller side columns. Please bring back the previous two column option. My queue is now useless. I play one pod and it stops, then I click on my earphones to play next in queue and nothing happens. It used to play next in queue and it won't. I have to turn on the iPad and manually start the next podcast. The downloads are failing and/or not responding (just circling) constantly despite good wifi. The download queue is full of failed downloads and it won't move on to the recent podcasts. It would be awesome if there was a way to delete all older episodes, whether finished or not, in one click. So far, I can only unsubscribe, then resubscribe. I'm going to try this new update and thank you for this app.

4 years ago, SivartVanHoo

Honestly, reviewing because it said in settings they would never interrupt to ask for a review

This app is the best podcast app I have used. Way better than the stock iOS podcast app and is incredibly thoughtful in its details. When you pause, it skips back a second or two so your brain can pick up where the conversation was when it resumes, and using the skip ahead buttons will adjust to land between words. It will speed up or cut out intros, and while digging through the settings I couldn’t help but notice the option in there that also informed me they wouldn’t ask for a review with a pop-up (like every other app all the time!) so it inspired me to make this review. I also noticed that with a premium subscription you can upload your own files which is perfect for listening to old radio shows I have archived but playback of a 4 hour show is nearly impossible without an app designed to handle long format talk based files, and this is going to be perfect. I didn’t realize it was an option and thought premium just took away ads. That alone isn’t worth paying for to me, but now that I saw this they are going to have a new customer.

3 years ago, K.Jo2055

Finally A Platform That Let’s Me Organize

I’m so glad I found the Overcast podcast platform! I’ve tried a couple others but they never did exactly what I wanted. I listen to different styles of podcasts on different days depending on my mood and attention span. Sometimes I need hype and sometimes I just want easy listening. I can organize my saved list to set up my playlist ahead of time so that my preferred order happens without me having to snatch up the phone and change the podcast in the middle of what I am doing. A couple other perks are the vocal boosts and speed of play options. Only con I am experiencing is no matter what I do, I am not getting new episode notifications consistently. I get sporadic updates for some shows and no notifications for others. I have checked all my notification settings and everything is set like it’s supposed to be. I’m having to bounce over to Apple podcasts and check my recent uploads over there to know what I need to add to my saved list on Overcast. I hope this gets fixed soon! After that snag is fixed, this platform will be perfect!

3 weeks ago, Bare Bear

I was excited, but frequent download errors & crashes tarnished that

It’s really frustrating how often I have to exit the app and restart it because all the downloads are failing again, and again, and again. The app was crashing frequently too ,but deleting and reinstalling seemed to fix that so far. Now, the timer is failing to stop at the set duration, so the app just keeps playing through my podcasts until it wakes me, and I turn it off. Today it has stopped opening altogether. When I try to start the app, it opens to “syncing,” with a progress bar. It’s been hours and several restarts, but I’m still not able to actually get past that screen and use the app. Hoping this gets another update soon. Original review: I’ve been an overcast user for years, and while it’s always been the best choice on iPhone, there were things that weren’t perfect. Still perusing the updates, but it may now be perfect. Thank you! So glad I’ve been a paid subscriber, cuz you really came through here. Update: I am having stability issues and crashes, where the audio just stops. It is also stuttering/slowing substantially during downloads. It’s gonna need some tinkering, but we’re definitely heading in a great direction here.

6 years ago, MeatyUrologist

Frustrating with iOS 11.

I’m on an iPhone 6, using iOS 11.4.1. This app used to be at least a 4 star app, but ever since iOS 11, the app is more frustration than fun. First, an ongoing issue even before iOS 11, is the amount of space it takes up. I’m finding I’m having to delete and re-download the app every month, because I’m finding it taking up nearly ten gigs of space, despite the fact that I have it set to stream podcasts, not download them. There seems to be no intuitive way to get it to stop downloading. Second, now with iOS 11, I’m having to open the app several times to get it to stay open. It’ll usually crash a couple of times first. Third, and the issue that frustrated me enough to write this review and look for a new player: I listen to podcasts for hours at a time at work, using headphones. Sometimes I’ll need to pause an episode to do some work or talk to someone, and I’ll pause it using the button on my headphones. When I press the button again to start it... nothing. I’ll try again a few times, nothing. I’ll have to stop what I’m doing, take my phone out of my pocket, unlock it, and restart overcast. Sometimes it’ll open and be frozen for fifteen seconds before it’ll start responding, sometimes it’ll just crash and I have to try again. This happens SO OFTEN that this app has basically become useless to me.

5 years ago, JOEO3

Excellent

After upgrading to a new iPhone and having to deal with iCloud back up issues, I was finally good to go. However, the only app that didn’t seem to work was Overcast. Huge bummer, I thought. I had to run the latest public beta of the current OS (not the upcoming OS) in order to get my iCloud back up to work. I assumed there was a bug between Overcast and this newer beta version of iOS. I sent the developer a quick email letting him know. Within 12 hours, Marco had responded, apologized for the issue, and let me know a fix had been released in that time. Apparently a recent update to his app introduced a nasty little bug. I’m grateful that he was quick to fix it. This shows the level of commitment and detail he has for this app. It’s also why I will continue to be an Overcast user. This is an excellent app and deserves all of the praise it gets. During that time, I tried other podcasting apps, but most were embarrassingly confusing and none seemed to just do what a good podcast player should do well: manage and play podcasts. Overcast is easy to use and understand, and it does its primary job very well!

9 months ago, CDMatthew

OVERCAST is the BEST podcast app!’

I got so frustrated with the Apple podcast app (constant changes that only worsened the user experience, increasingly non-intuitive “features” and controls), that I shopped around and found many positive comments about OVERCAST. Sure enough, OVERCAST has made me a happy listener once again, and I now can’t imagine using a different app for podcasts. My feed of podcasts is ridiculously long; some are regular listens, others I visit occasionally. The OVERCAST app helps me organize my pods and track my usage, has great features that no other app has, and sticks to its winning formula. (When it rolls out a new feature, it’s clearly explained and actually makes for an actual improvement.) You’ll note that there are visual ads at the bottom, which I find unobtrusive, and these occasionally suggest a pod worth checking out. (You can also get rid of of those ads for a very modest fee.) This app was clearly developed by someone who thinks about the user/listener experience, and cares about quality and clarity. Sending kudos to OVERCAST from podcast fan in Boston!

1 month ago, Metaligoat

Recent update a major step back

There is one major bug in the recent updates that will likely drive me to using another app. My general usage of the app is to add certain episodes to the queue, and then manually order the queue how I want. This has worked for years. In the new version, I am able to manually change the queue order, but at some point later in the day the queue will reorder itself. It won’t even be strictly in the order specified in settings, like oldest to newest. It will just be… not what I set. In the last week I’ve probably reordered the queue 15-20 times and it just won’t stick for more than a couple hours. Since this is how I listen to my podcasts, the fact that it doesn’t work anymore means I’m going to explore other options. I like the app otherwise. I especially appreciate the granular playback speed options because only moving in .25 increments like Apple Podcasts puts me in the uncanny valley where it no longer sounds like real people. I can’t listen faster than about 1.15 or so. Hopefully there’s another app that can do that. I’ll gladly come back if/when manual queue sorting works properly again. Until then, I’ll be looking for an app that doesn’t frustrate me multiple times a day.

2 months ago, Dampfen

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?

4 weeks ago, Mars256

Rework update

I wanted to counter the negative reviews regarding the new update. Overcast has actually been working better for me personally. The app used to crash a lot, and streaming barely worked. I used to have to manually download many episodes because of broken streaming. I approve of the decision to turn streaming into a “download-on-demand” option, and I haven’t had any crashes since the update. I do think there could be some improvements to the UI. It takes a lot of taps to get to podcast settings. If I’m listening to an episode, and I want to adjust the “skip intro” setting, I have to back all the way out of the episode/playlist, find the podcast in the main list, open it, tap the ellipsis, then finally open podcast settings. It’s not very intuitive, and I hope this gets smoothed out in the future. This is clearly still a work in progress, but I regret not subscribing sooner to support a sole developer who puts a lot of work into making the best podcast app (IMO), even if it isn’t perfect.

1 week ago, Arougthopher

Hard to give a bad review, but recent changes broke a feature

I have a special playlist setup in overcast for news podcasts. These podcasts get multiple updates per day, so, I really only want the latest ones in the playlist and don’t need/want to listen to any that I have missed, as they are now “old news”. I set this up by following the podcast, and then in the podcast settings, I would set the “episode limit” to 1. I created a playlist and added each podcast to the playlist. Worked. After the update, however, only one of the podcasts has been limited to 1, and all the others download everything. I’ve tried removing and re-adding the podcasts, changing the settings again, nothing works. I just have to go through the playlist and delete all of the unwanted episodes, which is getting annoying, especially since some of them release about once an hour! I don’t want to reinstall the full app because I have some other playlists that I have where I do t want to lose where I am in those series. I tried reporting the issue via email as well, but, this is a volunteer app, and free, so, I get it. But, it is still a bug.

1 week ago, Obhaso

New Update is a Major Regression

Appreciate the effort and the love that Dev puts into this. However the recent re-wrote is a huge regression. This used to be a 5-star app (does what I need, simply, cleanly, and just as expected) however after recent changes it’s barely functional as a daily podcast player. I used to wake up to all of my daily news podcasts downloaded and ready to play when I started my commute. Now, the background downloads are completely unreliable. I have to open the app and the Download screen before I shower to get this thing to start pulling down the queued podcasts. Also I used to be able to easily say “Hey, go head and pull this episode down over cellular. I know you’re waiting for WiFi, let’s just do it now.” but I can’t figure out how to do it anymore. But the biggest issue right now is that it plays one podcast at a time. I have a playlist called Queue that I throw things on in an order I want (see other reviews for how ordering constantly changes) and I’ve noticed over the last week that instead of playing the playlist it plays one episode, then stops!!!! WTliteralF!?!?! I came to write this review because I’ve had to start the next episode in this playlist 4 times now!!!

4 weeks ago, drsear

Episode Limits Broken Still

-Update: I spent 2.5 hours onboarding fresh with a competing app and couldn’t be happier. Was a good 10 years with Overcast but I’m on to greener pastures. Not giving a 1-star lightly (sorry Marco, I listen to ATP and am still here). I tried to give the updates a bit to land with me and overall I can’t shake the feeling the developer chose to make his life easier at the expense of his users. But the real trigger is that when I went to go try out alternatives I noticed the export option was conveniently removed in the update and is “coming soon”. Can’t shake how junky that feels. I get dev priorities but that’s a low confidence move to make a big change and then throw up a barrier to exit on top (and they’re your priorities to make!) The episode limit setting is something I heavily rely on and is still totally broken after several updates. Removing streaming is a huge QoL downgrade and forces me to not listen to pods I otherwise would because I’m stuck with bad cell service. The UI is so much more plain and boring (even if it is a smidge zippier). The new UI for chapters and show notes is just plain ugly. I’d normally give this 3 stars and move on but pulling the rug out on users trying to evaluate alternatives is not respecting your users and acting like any other big company.

3 years ago, DylanAilDon

simple and clean

came here after the last iOS update broke apple podcasts, like so many others. overcast is simple and has a nice clean easy to use interface, which is all I want. I love that the sleep timer can be adjusted to whatever time I want. love how easy it is to find and download the podcasts and episodes I want, especially since I’m almost never caught up on podcasts and so usually the most recent episode isn’t relevant to me. my two complaints are: - i wish the sleep timer counted down the minutes the podcast is playing, instead of just the real-time minutes that go by - I wish it was easier to save episodes to come back to, because occasionally there are episodes I want to refer back to for school and such. In apple podcasts there was a “saved episodes” folder, which was handy because it was out of the main feed for that podcast but was easy to find. I’ve tried staring episodes to refer back to on Overcast, but they stay in the main “unplaced” feed for that podcast and are irritating to have to scroll past to get to the actual unplaced episodes.

7 years ago, Vuski2ski

Love the app but it keeps constantly crashing and is unusable

I absolutely love the design and aesthetics of this app and the sound quality is also top notch. The Smart Speed and Audio Boost features are also quite nifty features that I’ve come to adore. The Smart Speed has been especially useful for speeding past “dead zones” in the audio where nothing is happening and its saved me lots of time to listen to other podcasts and what’s better, the audio does not get distorted when speeding it up, unlike other podcast apps where the audio gets pitched higher or becomes robotized when ou speed it up. Unfortunately though, as of late, the app constantly crashes whenever I use it, whether it be on my iPad Pro or my iPhone SE. The Overcast symbol can be seen in the background but after 10 or so seconds, it crashes back to the home screen and it does this again and again, ad infinitum. I’ve been installing all of the updates and trying everything, from clearing the cache of the device to uninstalling and reinstalling the app to little avail. When this app works, it’s absolutely amazing. But when it doesn’t then it is unfortunately quite tragic. I hope that Marco can find a way to remedy this so that I can return to my podcasts.

3 years ago, Mgfcgsgdvfxgcdgxd

Frequent Crashes

If this app worked as intended, it would be excellent, however it appears to have some frustrating quirks and stability issues. First and foremost are the crashes. It crashes when you pause about half the time, it crashes when you select a podcast, sometimes it just seems to crash for really no reason at all. On a typical weekday I use this app for about 2-3 hours and will see 1-2 crashes each day. The second issue is that the app will always, always try to play the previous unfinished podcast, even if you have a playlist or have a different cast selected as “play next”. For instance, the last minute of most casts is just an outro, an ad, or credits so I will skip to the next cast. If I allow a cast to play to the very end, Overcast will begin playing the last unfinished minutes of all previous casts even if I have a new cast queued. I’ve used this app for about a year and will say it is better than the native Apple app, but only just barely, owing only to Overcast’s better layout. However its stability issues and infuriating quirks hobble it badly. Update July 2021: Even worse these days! Crashes about every 3-5 minutes. When I relaunch the app, it starts me at the beginning of the podcast, losing my place.

6 years ago, Mozef Kaddas

Smart Speed For The Win

There are so many good podcasts out there, and so many podcast apps to download into your smartphone to listen to your favorite ones. All these podcast apps, including Apple “iOS” Podcast have in common features that make them somehow similar to each other. Yet, what makes Overcast stand above the rest, is it has a technology that I haven’t seen in others, and it's called Smart Speed which shortens the silence in thought long podcast, I know all the apps give you a control to speed up your podcast if you are in a car and don’t have enough time, while you don’t want to miss any of the speech, I know this depends on everyone preference and the type of show you listening to. But we all know speeding up your podcast it take from the enjoyment.l, that’s way overcast has the technology that doesn’t trade off the enjoyment yet also save sometime. I recommend it big time. All I wish for is a new feature that allows the podcast rewind a 5 seconds back when ever a notification goes off while you are listening to one.

5 years ago, Skidude64

1 Billion Times Better than Apple

The native iOS podcast app used to be good. Then Apple decided to make it look and function much more like its music app when they released Apple Music, which is to say they dumped all the good interface choices out the nearest window. The native iOS podcast app is atrocious to use, isn’t responsive, can be very finicky, and just overall hates life, particularly yours. My favorite feature was that it knew that even though I was only 10 minutes or so (how would I know how long, my phone was in my pocket?) into a podcast and happened to drive through a dead zone, I definitely wanted it to mark the entire show as complete and wouldn’t want to resume where I left off when I regained signal. It knew I loved scrolling through hundreds of uploaded podcasts in the finished pile looking for the one I wasn’t done with yet, only to try to find what time stamp I was at when it cut me off. Thanks for nothing, Apple podcasts. And thank you, Overcast, for being a clean, well-designed, completely functional podcast app.

7 years ago, nrlacanc

Thank you!

To me listening to podcasts should be quick, easy and done without thought. Overcast is providing just that. You have all the functions you need in the free version and the adds are not intrusive. For me it was well worth the $10/yr to support the future development. Even though I consider myself an early adapter and enjoy changes to improve a product, I basically stopped listening to podcasts after the iOS update which changed the podcast app drastically. It is possible I am more forgiving to bumps in the development process when it is a small company or new product, neither of which describes Apple. With that said overcast does have some limitations that to me do not hinder the daily listening experience. The biggest I have noticed is searching for podcasts I am not always able to find what I’m looking for. An easy solution is to copy the url from Apple podcast app, use that in the search and there is no problem finding it. I also haven’t figured out a way to better organize all of my podcasts.

3 years ago, MaggiesGM

My Favorite App for Podcast

I really enjoy the simplicity of Overcast, and if you’re particular like me you’ll find all sorts of “Nitpicky” functions to fine tune the app to your liking. Visually Overcast is my favorite as well. You can set several different “themes” and it’ll use “black” when you’re iPhone is in Dark Mode which mine always is. It’s just so much better on your eyes at night when trying to relax. Making playlists is a breeze as well. My only gripe is if you have a really old episode in between two newer episodes it’ll skip the older and the play the newest first. That’s sort of odd because they have a button that you can toggle on/off for that very feature. However mine is turned off but it still plays newer episodes first. As far as grievances go that’s pretty tame. The ads are also super discreet and I hardly notice them. Lastly, I haven’t found a podcast that isn’t on Overcast. Their catalog is quite extensive. Well, what are you waiting for? Install it already!

3 years ago, Jill457

Volume Issue

This app has excellent features, like Smart Speed, Voice Boost, and Smart Playlists. I generally like it a lot, but there are a couple of issues. The search function is terrible. It returns illogical results, if any. Often, it just freezes. There are no reviews or feedback, and it’s not easy to browse for new shows other than the few they highlight. Unfortunately, I have to go back to the native app for that. I actually don’t pay for premium because the ads are, sadly, the best way to find new podcasts on Overcast. Recently, it’s started messing with the volume whenever I disconnect and later reconnect Bluetooth devices. I always listen at a low setting because iPhone doesn’t actually have a low volume option — it goes straight from medium to silent. When I put the headphones back in, the volume is cranked up high every time. I’ve learned to fix it before hitting play (which has to be done on the lock screen), but that’s annoying. It should just work. This is simple. I contacted the developer and never heard back, so I’m warning potential users before they damage their eardrums.

2 months ago, MileHighDevs

Congrats on 10 Years!

The update rocks! If every developer cared about their product and their customers the way worker does, the world would be such a better place. That’s not hyperbole. 376 hours. That’s how much time SmartSpeed has saved me. Not 2x. Everyone has that. But no one else has tweaked the audio to remove those empty air microseconds in a way that doesn’t sound like a middle schooler playing with AutoTune. SmartSpeed + Voice Boost works so well that now people sound unnatural when you listen on any other player. Marco obsesses over the details so we don’t have to. Layouts are intuitive, controls are where you expect them to be and then get out of the way. My only complain is that Overcast makes you realize how poorly designed nearly everything else is. It spoils you as a tech consumer, and makes you wish there was an Overcast version of everything. I cannot think of another free alternative to the basic app that ships with your hardware that raises the bar like Overcast does.

7 years ago, 'Derm

I finally get it!

I’ve been a podcast junkie for over a decade. Before the iPhone, I would download them on iTunes, burn them on a CD and play them in my car. So the built-in podcast app on iPhone was a revelation. I feel like that all over again with Overcast. First, I was blown away by its ability to speed up pauses to make podcasts play quicker without sounding sped up. I don’t mind a little sped up, so I also liked the wide range of speeds to choose from. The real winner was the smart playlist though. THE SMART PLAYLIST IS AWESOME. I tell it which show I want to hear first, which second, etc., and it automatically keeps the playlist up to date, adding new top-priority shows to the front of the line ahead of older lower-priority shows. (I used to make “up next” playlists each day in the old app. No more!) Finally, just today I discovered custom settings for each show. My news podcasts can rip through at 1.8x speed. My narrative ones I can set for 1.2x speed. The app remembers. I don’t ever have to mess with it again. I LOVE this app!

7 years ago, egionet

Doesn’t connect to Internet.

This morning I paid for premium subscription. Later the same day when checking for my daily dose of recently downloaded podcasts, there were none?! When checking podcast history or trying to leave feedback within app, I kept getting the message “No Internet Connection - the Internet connection connection appears to be offline.” My phones other apps (social media, safari, mail, etc.) are using WiFi just fine. I checked to make sure both WiFi and cellular data are checked. I cancelled my subscription to see if that was the problem. Doesn’t seem to have made a difference. I turned phone off and then on - that didn’t solve the problem. I hate to have to shop around for a different podcast player. Can anyone help me? UPDATE: Upgraded rating from one star because my podcasts started downloading again! I am happy about that. Thanks fixer! I had preferred this player to others I have tried (I like to create multiple playlists.) and am glad I don’t need to change. However, I am waiting to see if the download issue arises again before re-paying for my cancelled premium subscription.

4 weeks ago, emily;;

Removing streaming and breaking a great app experience?

it may be because I have many podcasts, but the new app update is awful at downloading (which it forces you to do before listening!). I primarily listen on my phone, but often go to my iPad every so often to continue listening. This functionality is basically broken… Forcing allllllll the podcasts to download upon before listening may seem like a great idea - but if its not broken, why try and “fix” it and then break it? It was very frustrating trying to get podcasts to download and not able to do so in order to listen. I didn’t want to leave, but to still enjoy listening to podcasts I had to do so…. All settings feel like they are 6 clicks deep and feels like it got inspiration from the settings app on the phone. The old Overcast used to have a swipe based UI which was much better on larger devices. After 10 years this app got a lot of my money - and it really was the best podcast player for a long time. But now that I have looked around at other options, the things that made overcast great (trim silence for example) are elsewhere. I do feel bad leaving, but if you are on the fence about leaving there is green grass elsewhere…

2 years ago, Yesh Medicinebird

The BEST, especially if you care about sound quality.

I listen to podcasts all the time, so love Overcast because it has great tools for managing playlists, makes finding podcasts easy, and seems to be built around what I actually want to do with a podcast app. The latest release has given me features I didn’t even know I wanted, like the “mark as played” which is great. (-edit: I didn’t realize at first the following was a feature already!-) I love that “mark as played” is a toggle, to easily mark things un-played for when I accidentally fall asleep listening and end up with six podcasts marked played that I have no memory of! As for sound, this is the only podcast player I’ve found that actually sounds good at anything over 1x playback speed, and the smart speed “shortens silence” setting is my favorite tiny detail. This is one of the few apps that I subscribe to, as I want to make sure they’re able to keep revising and making the experience better.

2 years ago, guycooper

Terrible search, worse navigation

Very disappointed after switching from Apple podcasts and giving this a try for nearly one year. The search simply doesn't work - you'll never find the episode you're looking for. If you are just exploring and type in a name of someone that you know has podcast episodes, they almost never appear unless they are very well known. If you type in an exact or nearly exact match you might get the search result, but when you click on the episode it will direct to the list of all episodes for that podcast rather than the episode you clicked on. Until about two months ago there was a hack where you could then click on "unplayed" and wait a moment and the episode would suddenly appear, but it no longer "works". Worst of all, if you then press the back button to see the original search results, to check another result for example, they're gone! It takes you back to an empty search bar. I can't believe how much time I wasted on this terrible app. I contacted support and also asked the dev via Twitter but received no reply. I'll spend my premium podcast dollars elsewhere.

3 weeks ago, Amdg ihsv

Ruined, try Castamatic

Sorry, but it’s taken a giant leap backwards. Each episode needs to be fully downloaded before it plays and it’s quite buggy so it’ll finish downloading after a pretty long wait but it’s incomplete so you’ll find the roadside Episode is “complete “ at a few minutes when the it should be his hours. Sleep timer is terrible and clunky. Hard to navigate, so much for fluid interaction, you’ll have to practice finger gymnastics. Not a fan of the “next up system” , if you have a lot of podcasts be prepared to scroll for days to find it and not sure why my playlists which should include all new podcasts doesn’t include all of them. Searching for specific episodes takes you to direct matches but then when you select it takes you to top of that podcasts list. Developer decided to rush release this before it was ready to celebrate his 10year releaseanniversary. Castamatic better now, pocket casts is better but more money. Finally, developer drives a rivian as a social justice statement and forced all of us to pay for his 20,000 USD minor dent repair because of his vanity and pride before “conservatives.” Honestly the state of this app is more embarrassing but also speaks to prematurity and vanity.

2 years ago, Angry Birdman from Alcatraz

Dump the default and get Overcast!

I have become a HUGE podcast listener. My typical day will have me in the car for 2-5 hours and podcasts have become a staple for me. Like most folks, I used the default player on my Apple devices. What a mistake that is! The default player started forcing other podcasts to download in place of my favorites. I contacted Apple who didn't give two squirts and bounced me around to numerous customer "don't care" departments. At that point I searched for a new player and found Overcast. I have been in love with it since. Great layout and fantastic functionality! Not sure about the people crying about ads ... I haven't gone subscription (yet!) but the ads are the least obtrusive I have seen on any app. I've deleted my fair share of apps for obnoxious advertising; I understand a person wants to make some money off their work and I don't fault anyone for that. The ads on here are minimal and certainly tolerable to help reward the guy for a great product.

1 month ago, wasabicoder

Like the new update

I’m an ATP listener and Marco asked us for our feedback on the update. Being an app developer myself I know how difficult it is to make any UX changes without experiencing some upheaval from existing users. This update may have gone a bit too far as far as pairing feature removal (one tap play, streaming, etc.) with a lot of UI changes that require a learning curve for existing users. I can see why some people are frustrated. I also experienced launch day bugs that were quite frustrating (no autoplay of next podcast despite setting enabled) and the vast majority of those have been resolved. The one outstanding issue I’m having is sometimes the playback controls simply do not work. I don’t know if this is an iOS audio stack bug or something related to Overcast, but I will hit play, the button stays on the play icon (doesn’t switch to pause) and then nothing. I wait and wait and nothing. Hit play a few more times, nothing. Force quit overcast, go back in and hit play and it plays instantly.

9 months ago, BlondStranger

Once Great, but Desparately Needs Help!

Update: Upon further review, this app will no longer download episodes via wi-fi AT ALL! Set it to wi-fi only, turn off cellular data, and it’s completely useless! So, if you want to use Overcast much, you better have an unlimited data plan. In addition to this, the developer offers ZERO technical support; he even tells you this in the app info like we’re supposed to feel sorry him. Well, I feel sorry for folks stuck with a podcast app that won’t download podcasts! Someone needs to fix this festering pile of poo for me to continue using it. Original Review: I’ve used Overcast for years and absolutely loved it, until recently. This app has a major issue with episodes getting stuck in “waiting to download.” They won’t download until you actually play them, and if you aren’t on wi-fi at that time, tough - just smoke right through your cellular data plan. I’ve tried everything I can imagine to fix it, and nothing works. This issue has been cropping up for YEARS now, and the developer hasn’t addressed it. It’s too bad, because it is a great app, otherwise. But, this is a dealbreaker - especially if you listen to a lot of podcasts, as I do.

2 weeks ago, Rapunzzel07

Almost perfect!

I used to use other podcast apps but at my husband’s insistence, gave Overcast a try. It remains my go to app now! I can appreciate that it’s a one-man show and Marco is doing the best he can. ☺️ I don’t mind most of the changes that were made in this latest update, and most of them are improvements or are neutral for my specific usage of the app. The only issue I’m having is with the queue. It used to be so easy to swipe on an episode of any podcast to add it to the queue under Up Next. Now that function is gone, and I have to click the three dot menu on each episode and add it that way. However, I’m finding that if I’m in the middle of listening to one podcast and then add an episode from another podcast to Up Next, it will just keep rolling into the next episode of that first podcast and I end up having to go into my queue and force play it anyway. I can deal with losing the functionality of easy swiping, but what am I missing here? Why won’t it actually play what’s next to my queue?

Description

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.