OverCast Issue in iOS 12.2

By eclectica, 3 April, 2019

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

I have noticed that since installing iOS 12.2, OverCast repeats the name of the podcast before the name of every episode of a podcast in the podcast list on the screen that opens when one double taps on a podcast. This is quite annoying, as I know what podcast I selected when I double tapped on it. There is no reason to repeat the name of the podcast before the name of every episode. Before I report this issue to the developer, I want to make sure I am not the only one experiencing it. Please post if yu have experienced this behavior in the OverCast app.

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Comments

By banana on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

I'm experiencing the same issue but really enjoy it. When you are subscribed to many different podcasts and check them out for new releases in the all episodes view, it's rather useful to know quickly which topic was posted by which podcast. So this is actually a feature, not a bug.

By eclectica on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

That makes sense. I think it should be a switch that can be enabled or disabled, however. I never view my podcasts in the "all episodes" view.

By Tim Culhane on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

hi,

I also see this issue and to be honest find it a bit annoying.

Idon't think it has anything to do with iOS 12.2 as I'm running an older iOS version. I think it was added as part as a recent app update.

Suggest contacting the developer and asking them to make it configurable.

Tim

By Kroni on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

Hello, after the update of Overcast I have the same behavior. It definitely bothers me.

By Peter Saathoff on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

This is useful in playlists such as new episodes, but cumbersome in lists of episodes from one podcast. It’s specific to the latest version of OverCast, not iOS.
A few days ago, I tweeted to OverCast and Marco Arment, the developer, pointing this out, and he liked the tweet. Hopefully this means he understands the issue and will fix it soon.

By Marco Arment on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

Hi, I'm the developer of Overcast.

I'm sorry about this. I made this change to improve VoiceOver navigation of playlists containing episodes from multiple different podcasts, but failed to consider how tedious it would make navigating lists of episodes in individual podcasts.

In the next update, the playlist behavior will remain how it is today, announcing the podcast name before the episode name each time, but the podcast name will be omitted when navigating episodes of an individual podcast.

By dvdmth on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

I don’t use Overcast currently, but I used it in the past and may switch back to it again at some point down the road.

One thing I remembered about Overcast that annoyed me was the lack of any podcast indication when viewing episodes in a playlist. The fact that this change was made might influence my decision whether or not to try Overcast again.

However, at least one podcast I subscribed to has a very long title. The short name of the podcast, as I have it abbreviated in Downcast, is Blind Bargains. I think the full name is something like Blind Bargains Audio, Featuring the BB Qast, Technology News and some more SEO nonsense. If I have to listen to this full name before each episode from that podcast, I would really be annoyed, even if I was in a playlist view.

Downcast has the feature to customize podcast titles, and I use this to shorten longer titles to something that doesn’t take VoiceOver forever to read. If Overcast can offer a feature like this, or if you can somehow add intelligence to shorten podcast titles automatically, that would be appreciated.

Again, I’m not using Overcast currently, so I don’t know how the experience is in reality, but I can picture it being a problem for me.

By eclectica on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

Thank you! It is nice to have a developer listen to feedback.

By Marco Arment on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 02:20

The update that fixes this is now in the App Store. Thanks again for bringing this to my attention.