Downcast

Hi,

I am running the latest Version 2.8.28 on my iPhone and iPad, and am having a particularly nasty problem with subscribing and unsubscribing to podcasts. When I specifically subscribe to a new podcast, it often doesn't appear the next time I start the app, as if I'd never subscribed in the first place.

The bigger issue is deleting podcasts that I no longer listen to. By both the actions method and the Edit button method, I go through all the deleting process, only to find the episodes cleaned out but the podcast still subscribed and bringing down new ones. This is getting annoying. Is this a true bug, or do I need to reset something. Asking here before I email the developer.

Thanks. As with any bug, hope it's not just me. Running both iOS 8.2-3, and seeing the issue no matter what.

in downcast are episodes that have been heard automatically Self deleted within 24 hours (as does the stock Apple podcaster) or must they be deleted manually?

You can set all of that up in settings. I have a keep all which keeps all of them so I can keep going back.

As someone pointed out, when podcast episodes are deleted is determined by what you have in your global settings or the settings for the individual podcast subscription.

You can set podcast to refresh automatically on a schedule. However, what I do is have the app set to refresh manually. In this case there is some text near the top of the podcast dialog tab that tells you when the podcasts were last updated. If you double tap this, all of the podcasts will be refreshed with new episodes and already played episodes will be deleted.

There are many settings for exactly how podcasts and episodes are treated either globally or on an individual basis. go through some of these settings and check it out.

--Pete

Hi Brad, yes I agree Downcast is a great podcast app.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to answer all of your questions but I'll try my best.

I've found this article from the downcast support sight from a google search. Personally, if your not subscribed to a lot of podcasts, I'd just find them and resubscribe to them again in downcast itself. Note: you may end up with the recent podcast episode being downloaded but you can clear that up afterwards.
The good news though, that when you listen to a podcast and it is marked as played upon the next time you refresh the app, the episodes that you have listened to contained in the podcast will get deleted. Assuming you have the episode to keep as all unplayed option. found under the more tab> settings. The app should then just delete them once listened to with the next refresh interval you have set.
So what this would mean, is that those 10GB with of files will decrease as you listen to per podcast episode etc and get through them all.

One final thing, do you own a Mac at all? Since you mention Windows, I'm assuming not and this may be not worth mentioning but if you do, get to like Downcast even more over time, then I'll end this post by saying that they do have a Mac app to which works incondunction with the IOS app. Its a good combination for an IOS/computer experience for podcast listening and both work extremely well with Voiceover. I'll post the Mac app store link below just in case your curious to check it out.

Hope this was of some help.
The link is below for getting podcast subscriptions from iTunes into downcast.

http://support.downcastapp.com/customer/portal/articles/476143-importing-podcast-subscriptions

Mac app store link for Downcast:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/downcast/id668429425?mt=12

The feature of this application that lets you skip the first few minutes or seconds on a podcast is inaccessible. You cannot adjust the timer with voiceover because it freezes. This must be fixed in the night latest update I have already notified the Downcast team via email I hope it gets fixed in the next version.

I tested the new feature regarding skipping the beginning of podcast episodes, and at least on my iPad Air, the feature worked just fine. I had no trouble adjusting the amount of time, though it was a bit slow updating after pressing the increment button. Note that if you are adjusting the setting for a specific podcast, you must first uncheck the box that says obey global setting, or else the timer cannot be adjusted.

Among other things, this new version fixes the problems with playback control that have been around for the last couple of months or so. I believe this should fix the magic tap issue, though I haven't tested it yet.

I just sent an email to the developer about a new issue in this version of Downcast. Fortunately it isn't as serious as the playback control issue that has just been fixed.

At least on the iPad, the four buttons in the upper right of the screen do not have proper labels. From right to left, they are labeled as follows:

1. The settings button is labeled: "Playback Speed Button - Tap to cycle through playback speeds. Tap and hold to choose a specific speed."

2. The download queue button is labeled: "DownloadBarButtonNew Button - Sets continuous or single episode play"

3. The add button is labeled: "Share episode information Button"

4. The refresh button is labeled: "Refresh Button - Displays sleep timer configuration"

They know about the issues and are working to resolve them.

As for overcast I've given up on that. Focus is terrible, and the dev never gets back with any responses. You cannot mark multiple items to download, you cannot share them like you can with downcast, in fact you cannot do a lot. The only reasonI use over cast is because of the smart speed issue. If downcast has that I'd happily give up overcast.

Take care to all.

I was about to purchase this app, but I thought that I should read the comments here first. Most people say that the app is good, but the most recent two comments are qite negative towards the app. I would like to know if there are many people who still like the app and who still use it, and would recommend it. I am currently using Apple Podcasts, but I was thinking that this would be better. What features would this app offer me that Apple Podcasts does not at the present ttime?

This has been my favorite podcast app for a long time now. There were a few quirks introduced in recent versions of the app, but nothing major in my opinion. Having said that, you might consider Overcast as well. Some people like Overcast better than Downcast, and Overcast is free. Both apps are way better than Apple's app.

Reasons why I like Downcast include:

1. Highly configurable. There are a lot of settings that control how Downcast behaves, both globally and on a podcast basis. You can change how many episodes to download, whether you want to download or stream episodes, the playback speed, and plenty more.

2. Skip options. You can change what happens when pressing the next or previous buttons in the control center or on Bluetooth headsets, and there are several buttons within Downcast itself for skipping forward and backward by varying amounts. The skip forward two minutes button comes in handy in podcasts that have advertisements, or when a topic within an episode is not to my interest.

3. Fast updating. When new episodes are available, Downcast finds them before Apple's app does, sometimes by several hours. You can control how often Downcast checks for new episodes, and you can refresh manually at any time if you have reason to believe a new episode should be available.

Some don't like Downcast because the interface is a bit daunting when you first try it out. I had that experience personally, but if you stick with it, you should get the hang of it. Also, I have heard that some have had syncing issues, which I have not experienced myself, and there are occasional AirPlay quirks, but as I said above, there is nothing major to be concerned about. And this app is very accessible, and the developer is very good at fixing VoiceOver issues when they arise.

I have nothing against Overcast, except that it doesn't support videos. The interface for Overcast is much simpler than Downcast, although the configuration options are more limited. One thing Overcast supports that Downcast doesn't is the ability to speed up podcasts intelligently by shortening the silent portions, thus avoiding the chipmunk effect. I would love Downcast to have such a feature, and it is almost enough to make me switch, but there are enough things I like about Downcast to make me stay with this app.

In what way is the user interface rather difficult to use? I think I would prefer all of my podcasts having the same settings, so do I have to manually adjust it for each of the many podcasts I listen to.

I would say, the interface isn't exactly difficult to use, there's just a whole lot in there, especially in the settings screens and it can be daunting if you're not particularly good with iOS. If you're a seasoned user, you will have no problems with it. I certainly am happy with it, particularly because I don't sync stuff via iCloud. I figure if I need an episode of a podcast again I can just re-download or stream it. In fact, I love Downcast because you can stream podcast eppisodes instead of downloading them to your device, which saves lots of room on a 16 gig iPhone. I gave Overcast a good try, but ended up going back to downcast, and it's been my favorite. For those wanting to try it, give it a shot and if you don't like it, you're only out a few bucks and can always get a refund if you really end up not being able to stand it. I don't think that'll happen, because the app is very nicely done. Oh, before I forget another feature I particularly like is the ability to start a podcast at a specific point, instead of having to hear the same introductory stuff all the time. That comes in really handy if you're listening to a lot of eppisodes of the same podcast, back to back. Very nice feature!

I purchased Downcast, and like it for the most part. The interface is much simpler than the one for the Apple Podcasts app, and many parts are the same. This being said, there are some features of the Apple app that I do prefer, and will miss in Downcast. These include the ability to listen to podcasts at high speeds without any distortion, and the ability to see the total download progress and total download length left in minutes. However, I do like Downcast so I will use it.

Hello,
One thing I like better about Overcast is the ability to automatically delete a message when its done playing. Is there a setting like this for Downcast? I used to use Downcast up untill the two finger double tap did not work anymore. I see that this is now working. I want to go back to Downcast but I cant figure out how to get everything set up so it acts similar to Overcast. I will have to play around with the settings some more. :)

Regards,
Greg Wocher

The setting you are looking for is called "episodes to keep." Set this to "all unplayed," and Downcast will remove episodes you have listened to. There is a catch, though, as Downcast will only delete episodes when the podcast feed is refreshed, so after you listen to an episode, it will remain on your device until the next refresh. The time between refreshes is another setting that can be changed if you like.

Hello!
For some reason, I couldn't get the push notifications to work in OverCast, so I decided to give DownCast a try. But no better luck there. Shouldn't it really give notifications when a new episode comes out? If not, why does it ask whether it allows notifications and what do the "Local Notifications" section in the Settings mean? It seems not either to obey the setting to refresh itself every hour. It refreshes the feed only when I open the app, so this could maybe explain why I haven't seen any push notifications either? I kind of like DownCast, but really much settings and stuff inthere, so maybe I have just missed something.

Downcast does not use push notifications. Instead, it uses locally generated notifications, which the app generates when it finds new episodes during a feed refresh. Therefore, in order to receive notifications, you must have background app refresh enabled. Go to settings, then general, then background app refresh, and make sure the feature is enabled and that Downcast is set to use the feature.

As always with notifications, you should check the notifications settings within the Settings app, as well as the settings within Downcast. If everything is enabled properly, and if you have background app refresh turned on, then you should be getting notifications regularly for new episodes.

Oh, and make sure Downcast is actually running. Go to the app switcher and look for it, and make sure VoiceOver announces that the app is active. If it is not active, then it will not be running even if background app refresh is enabled, so feed refreshing won't happen. You need to open Downcast to get it running again. As long as you use Downcast on a regular basis, say once a day, the app should always remain active unless you are using a large number of apps every day.

Hello,
Well I tried using Downcast again and for some reason the two finger double tap to play and pause has stopped working again. I am also unable to get notifications from Downcast reliably no matter how I have my settings. Also even if I have it set up to refresh my feeds every hour it will not do it. I do keep Downcast in my app switcher. I have to actually open up the app to get my feeds refreshed even when the app says active in the app switcher. I have gone back to Overcast for now myself but may give Downcast another try this week.

Regards,
Greg Wocher

Hi, I was wondering, if Downcast supports the same function as the Apple Podcasts app, where it deletes episodes 24 hours after they are played?

The way Downcast removes episodes will vary depending on how the settings are set.

There is a setting called "episodes to keep" which determines the conditions under which downloaded episodes will be kept or removed. The setting can be set to keep all, keep only unplayed episodes, or keep a certain number of recent episodes. You can change this setting globally for all podcasts, or you can change the setting individually for each podcast.

When Downcast is set to keep only unplayed episodes, it will not remove an episode immediately after it is played. Instead, the episode is deleted the next time the podcast feed is refreshed. There is another setting which controls how often podcasts are refreshed.

Personally, I don't want Downcast to delete anything automatically, so I set the "episodes to keep" setting to keep all. I then delete each episode after I am done with it, using the standard VoiceOver method of swiping up or down to select the delete action, then double-tapping. More often than not I end up deleting episodes after I finish listening to them, but sometimes I keep an episode around if there was something in it I want to revisit later.

I was just listening to something in Downcast. Then I inadvertently tapped the screen after accidentallly turning VoiceOver off. After this, the show notes from the podcast disappeared from the Now Playing screen for all of my podcasts, and I can't figure out how to get them back. Can anyone who has had a similar issue please provide me with a solution to this frustrating problem?

hello. Recently, I have begun trying to use downcast to listen to an audio drama that is released in podcast form. It seems that when Downcast is set to go to the next episode automatically
, it says that it is the right one but it plays something else entirely? As a result, I have become lost several times as to what show I am on and whether files are misnamed in the system or if this is something Downcast is doing. This usually happens when trying to listen to multiple episodes in a row, without restarting the app or backing out of the player screen. Is anyone else experiencing this? I have nothing else that goes in chronological order so can't test very well.

Hello! I purchased downcast and i absolutely love it. However, i have a question. I notice that when i go to podcast it says that there are no episodes, when i press view other episodes i can see the list of episodes. However, when i play an episode it plays well, i use the streaming mode only. But if i play the next episode it plays it but after that it starts playing the previous episode that was already played. How does it work? Why does it happen? It doesn't appear always like that. And i notice that it says how many episodes were played in this pidcast feed. Does it download these episodes or what?

I have not these issues. If you go under feeds you will see the feeds episodes. I have continuous play turned off so I do things by hand. there are two radio buttons, one for local and one for feed. The feeds one is the one you want at first. Transfer them to local by right clicking and choosing the options you want and wait for them to finish downloading or convert them to streaming only. I have my settings set to no doenloading just streaming as I don't want over 100 podcasts downloading 1 ep as some are hours and hours long.

Hello! Actually, the question was about the iOs app, but your answer helped. When I turned off the continious playback there are always no episodes when I go to podcast in the feed. What does it mean? Why does it tell that there are no episodes in iOs client? Also where do I find my downloaded episodes?

There are settings for how many episodes to download and whether to remove them after you've heard them. There are global settings that act as defaults, but you can configure each podcast with its own settings. For example, you can set your default to stream podcasts,then set a particular podcast to download if it's one you want to have available offline.

Along the bottom of the app are 5 tabs. The first tab is podcasts and that's the one you want to select to see the list of your subscribed podcasts. Podcasts with new episodes will be listed under the heading for those. If there are no new podcasts or the podcast is empty, those are listed below under a different heading.

Double-tap the podcast title in this list to see the new episodes available. It will indicate whether the podcast is downloaded or available to stream.
Check your settings to make sure Downcast is configured to do what you want it to do.

Is anyone else experiencing voiceover not speaking correctly and stopping speech with downcast? The podcast will play but everything is not spoken as it should be.

yes I am experiencing this issue, speech is cut off when some screen elements are read. I guess its time to email the author. this has only started happening since I updated to ios 13.

this is a very customizable app and does everything I would ever want from a podcast app except allow you to rate a podcast.
I haven't had any issues with voiceover since starting to use the app a few months ago, So I think any issues with iOS 13 have been fixed.
This app is one of those that is super easy to use but with a ton of complex options hidden just out of sight if you want them.

Yes, this is a truly great app that is very VoiceOver friendly. There are many ways to customize the app and it is very easy to manage lots of podcasts.

The only feature I find lacking is the ability to create playlists of particular podcast episodes. There is a workaround for this by using "locked" episodes, but it isn't as straightforward and easy as just creating a playlist of the episodes you want to hear.

Hopefully this will be coming in the next major release, but it has been a long time coming.

--Pete

I am not sure if they've fixed it yet or not, but back before I switched over to Overcast, the only reason I switched was because, when I started using my 2nd generation AirPods, I noticed that when playing a podcast, if I paused playback and resumed some time after, the longer I played the podcast before pausing, the longer it took for the podcast to resume playing after tapping on my AirPod.

Oddly enough, this only occurred with the 2nd generation AirPods, not the first generation.

That was the only reason I stopped using the app, as after I had emailed the developer to let them know and never actually got a response, I sadly switched over to Overcast.

Although I have gotten used to Overcast now, it too has started to act odd in the recent month. On occasion, when opening the app and swiping through the app, VoiceOver acts sluggish. I've tried so many times to figure out what was the cause and how to reproduce, and for a while I thought I had it figured out and had emailed that developer, but now the sluggishness seems to occur at random and it is starting to become a little annoying.

So if Downcast ever fixed the issue I was having, I would actually reconsider leaving Overcast and switching over back to Downcast.

Alright, so I just decided to give it a try once more and, sadly, the playback glitch is still there.

I tried it with my second generation AirPods and even with my AirPods Pro and with both sets, when playing a podcast for 30 seconds or more and then pausing, when trying to resume playback, it takes a long time before the podcast resumes. Like I said before, it seems as though the longer you play a podcast before pausing, when you try to resume playback, the longer it takes before the podcast resumes.

I'm curious to know if perhaps the H1 chip in both sets may be causing this issue, as back when I had my first generation AirPods, I never encountered this glitch, and it had the W1 chip.

I've just switched to downcast, and it's amazing!! it's compatible with both iOS and MacOS. I love all of it's features, especially it's full accessibility with VoiceOver. I'm subscribed to 3 podcasts, and listening to them is easy on either iOS and or MacOS. I can even tell Siri to play a specific podcast with downcast.

AGree that Downcast is incredibly accessible with Voiceover and has a ton of very useful and easdy to use options that let one customize the app in many ways. I've been using downcast for many years and thoroughly enjoy using it.

The one feature that I would like to see is the ability to readily create playlists. Although this can sort of be done by locking episodes, this is really a workaround and isn't quite as straightforward as making a playlist ought to be.

I thought the developer had a playlist capability on the "to do list" a while ago but haven't seen any mention of it in a long time. Perhaps some nudging from current users would help.

--Pete