Can’t decide between overcast and apple podcasts

By KE8UPE, 7 March, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi,

I love podcasts!
Recently, I deleted all my podcasts so I could start fresh.I had over 300.
For a while, my 256GB iPhone 12 Pro Max, and overcast, handled it well, but recently, the app would crash, whenever I opened it, including today.
As a result, I deleted my overcast account, after sending myself the OPML file that I had made.

in addition to my phone, I also have an Apple Watch series 6, HomePod, M1 MacBook Air, and an Apple TV 4K.
I’m not a huge fan of the design of the Apple podcast app, and the fact that you have to use iTunes on a PC, if you want to listen to your podcasts on windows.
However, I do like the convenience of being able to listen to them on my HomePod. I also forgot to mention, that I have an Amazon echo, which can also play Apple podcast.

I can’t decide between apple podcasts and overcast. One thing that I like about overcast, that Apple podcast doesn’t even offer, is the ability for premium subscribers to import their own audio. Though extremely rare, sometimes I come across files, such as old episodes to other podcasts, that I could import into the app, and listen to, if I were to become a premium subscriber.
I also like that overcast has a web player, that can be accessed on either Mac or Windows.
For those unaware, overcast is one of a few iOS apps, that’s also available in the App Store, on an M1 Mac.

Given all of the above information, which app should I go with?

Options

Comments

By Khushi on Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 13:41

overcast.
I'm using it right now.. without an account.. and I like it.
apple podcast isn't updated too often.. as far as I know. I guess it was OS 13 or 14 which got it updated.. I'm not sure really.
but overcast gets its updates and I'm thinking I might make an account soon :)

By Pa. Joe on Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 13:41

I realize this is not what you are asking, but I have switched to the google podcast player. It is not availble on the Mac though. How well it would do with 300 podcasts I just can't say.
Just a thought... good luck

By Brad on Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 13:41

I like overcast but don't know what you're going to do with the OPML file?

Hi,

I don’t know either.
I was planning to use it as a backup.
Do you think my phone can handle that many subscriptions?

If the following tells you anything, when I had that many subscriptions in the app, I had to turn voiceover off, in order to click on the settings button.
This is because, the screen froze, because it was trying to load a bunch of stuff.

By Matthew Whitaker on Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 13:41

I personally use Overcast. It's working out great for me. I didn't know you could import files into the app. That's cool. :-)

By KE8UPE on Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 13:41

In reply to by Matthew Whitaker

Hi,
Yeah, you can import files of your own, such as podcast episodes from a webpage. However, you have to be a premium subscriber. Thankfully, a premium subscription is only $9.99 annually.

If you have an older phone it might struggle but I honestly don't know.

By KE8UPE on Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 13:41

In reply to by Brad

As my post states, the app used to handle my database just fine, until recently, when the app would crash every single time I opened it, on my 256GB 12 pro max.

I'd encourage you to write to the dev, Marco Arment, he's very supportive.
I am running an iPHone 12 pro with around 200 podcasts with no issues. I have the app set not to downoad episodes, if that helps. I used to download, because space is cheap, but that killed my battery.
Maybe you have a corrupt local database or some bug like that. Have you tried to either delete all apps documents and data, or delete the app and install it again?

By KE8UPE on Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 13:41

Hi,
What's the best way to write to him?
I've tried sending emails, but he never replies, so recently, I've been trying to tweet him, but he doesn't answer those either.
I've tweeted both accounts.
I even sent one last night.

I tweated to him once with my dad's account.. and encouraged to go to my forum on applevis. he actually answered on the forum topic I created though it took 2-3 days..
he's normally responsive though so...

Do you know which account you sent the tweet to?
He has 2.
@MarcoArmment and @overcast, and I sent the tweet to both.
I'm in a slack group, so usually write him there, & he gets back to me.