The iOS 14.5 upgrade to the stock Apple Podcasts app has created quite a bit of discussion. Here's a poll:
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Apple Podcasts app iOS 14.5
- Thread starter brilliantthings
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New podcasts app is the worst they could have released…
It didn’t need changing in the first place!
It didn’t need changing in the first place!
Is it just me or is there no way to globally limit episodes anymore? You have to go into each show now. That’s a terrible change
[edit] nvm seems to be an old change. Makes no sense why there isn't an option to limit episodes by default or limit the entire storage use. Just seems inevitable that you will have to manage storage eventually if you follow a lot of podcasts
Overall I don't notice really any difference except on the show page itself. If you didn't or did like the app before, that probably shouldn't have changed too much with the update.
[edit] nvm seems to be an old change. Makes no sense why there isn't an option to limit episodes by default or limit the entire storage use. Just seems inevitable that you will have to manage storage eventually if you follow a lot of podcasts
Overall I don't notice really any difference except on the show page itself. If you didn't or did like the app before, that probably shouldn't have changed too much with the update.
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It really is. They always fu@k up something smfh… It used to work fine before this update, but now it’s buggy to the point where I am seriously considering replacing it with a 3rd party app.
In the main Settings app I have disabled automatic downloads for podcasts I follow, but they still download automatically unless I go into the individual settings for each podcast.
If Apple don’t quit changing apps for the sake of it I’ll be replacing it with a 3rd party phone let alone an app.
Um....the choices seem somewhat biased? 'Love it' followed by 'negative, negative, negative , negative.' Never 'loved ' the old version but have used it for years...for the new version once I got used to the 'down arrow' replacing the 'cloud' symbol....no issues. NOTE: did not vote.
Sorry, but a podcast app which is incapable of showing the length of individual episodes reliably in the overview is completely and utterly useless for the purpose of podcasting (...at least from my point of view).
The length information is for me by far the most important thing to know in the episode overview, any other information is far less important than that.
Think maybe the best thing is to just leave the original app behind and rely on 3rd party solutions.
Did the same thing with weather: a few years ago Apple Weather was by far the best mobile forecast available in my region (Germany). But then they first changed the weather provider, thus being less reliable. Second, they over-simplified the interface to almost complete uselessness. Just as an example, there is no symbol for "sun and rain" combined on the same day anymore, which is a very frequent condition in my region and it's of course very important to clearly distinguish this from the very different "only clouds and rain" condition - not possible anymore on Apple Weather. The symbols like "rain" or "snow" also do not contain enough differentiation to be useful (how much precipitation is going to fall?).
So what the heck - although lacking deep system integration, there are currently a lot of 3rd party tools being far more useful than built-in weather.
Did the same thing also with email: last year I had serious trouble to make macOS Catalina's Apple Mail work together with iCloud Mail Servers (Apple Support dropped the towel on that one) - so I had to switch over to Spark until I could resolve the situation with a 3rd party system tool a few months later.
Well, to be honest, today I'm glad to be back on Apple Mail again, as I still like its concept more than Spark.
Concerning Podcasts, there are surely tools out there which get the work done better.
Of course a working stock app would be nicer, but that seems to be beyond reach for the foreseeable future...
The length information is for me by far the most important thing to know in the episode overview, any other information is far less important than that.
Think maybe the best thing is to just leave the original app behind and rely on 3rd party solutions.
Did the same thing with weather: a few years ago Apple Weather was by far the best mobile forecast available in my region (Germany). But then they first changed the weather provider, thus being less reliable. Second, they over-simplified the interface to almost complete uselessness. Just as an example, there is no symbol for "sun and rain" combined on the same day anymore, which is a very frequent condition in my region and it's of course very important to clearly distinguish this from the very different "only clouds and rain" condition - not possible anymore on Apple Weather. The symbols like "rain" or "snow" also do not contain enough differentiation to be useful (how much precipitation is going to fall?).
So what the heck - although lacking deep system integration, there are currently a lot of 3rd party tools being far more useful than built-in weather.
Did the same thing also with email: last year I had serious trouble to make macOS Catalina's Apple Mail work together with iCloud Mail Servers (Apple Support dropped the towel on that one) - so I had to switch over to Spark until I could resolve the situation with a 3rd party system tool a few months later.
Well, to be honest, today I'm glad to be back on Apple Mail again, as I still like its concept more than Spark.
Concerning Podcasts, there are surely tools out there which get the work done better.
Of course a working stock app would be nicer, but that seems to be beyond reach for the foreseeable future...
Curious about that - why exactly is the length of an episode the most important bit of information? I honestly couldn't care less about an episode's length. All I care about is its contents but I've honestly never looked at its length.
I like the new Podcasts app. Seems to resonate more with my style of using it, which is to binge-listen to a particular podcast for weeks on end, e.g. BBC science podcasts, history podcasts. etc.
Simple: Ain't got much time, therefore dependent on reliable and well-working time management...usually listen to episodes which just fit right in for the pause time I just have (e.g. car or train ride, walk to office etc.). Sometimes also meditation podcasts which I don't want to leave right in the middle...and the channels I follow offer episodes which are sometimes like 10 minutes, sometimes like 80 minutes long, you never know what's in...unless the episode overview shows you.
Well...to binge-whatever is something I almost never ever do in my life. Maybe that's the most relevant difference between you and me in terms of consumer habits...
I see, thank you for explaining. I listen to my shows whenever I have time, e.g. when walking the dog (which can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour), driving my daughter to or picking her up from daycare (which, again, depending on traffic can take anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes return), driving around town running errands, going for a run, etc. I never really purposefully and specifically listen to a single show from start to finish within a specific well-defined time window.
The binge-listening may have painted the wrong picture, too. What I mean by that is that instead of listening to a mix of various podcasts I pick one show, e.g. The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry, and listen to its episodes in chronogolical order. For lack of a better word I referred to this as binging but I realize now that it may have painted a somewhat weird picture of a person obsessed with and listening to a particular podcast every breaving and living minute of their life. That's not at all what I meant
The binge-listening may have painted the wrong picture, too. What I mean by that is that instead of listening to a mix of various podcasts I pick one show, e.g. The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry, and listen to its episodes in chronogolical order. For lack of a better word I referred to this as binging but I realize now that it may have painted a somewhat weird picture of a person obsessed with and listening to a particular podcast every breaving and living minute of their life. That's not at all what I meant
I still like Apple podcasts better than any 3rd party apps I've tried but I was pretty miffed at the redesign. Everything still works fine but it navigation feels clunkier now and I really didn't like so may global settings moving to individual settings for each show. I have probably 40+ shows, a lot of which are archives of old stuff I've already listened to but want to keep to listen to again in the future, and they kept showing up in the new episodes list. Thankfully though the mark all as played option is back now in 14.6b3, but only AFTER I just got done going through 11 seasons of one show and manually marking hundreds of old episodes as played 🤬
So biased! I couldn't help myself. I just can't stand the new Podcasts app. I have deleted it from all my devices and replaced it with Pocket Casts. It's amazingly good!
Bit the bullet and switched to pocketcast. Simpler-- and can actually "delete" episodes. I subscribe to over 60 podcasts and Apple must think that a typical user must only listen to a few. It's just not usable.
Jury out on whether I'll stick with this third party app or try another, but much rather spend time exploring other apps than complaining to Apple.
Jury out on whether I'll stick with this third party app or try another, but much rather spend time exploring other apps than complaining to Apple.
I feel like the poll is dumb, doesn't really have enough options for not having strong feeling either way.
So I really like the visual changes I feel it look much more pleasant on the eye and the old one looked a bit dated. Not that its very important I guess.
I strongly dislike that the library shows you the podcasts with the one you subscribed to most recently. Why would anyone pick that as a way to order something? It should display them with the most recents episodes first.
The sync doesn't work still. I listen across my phone, CarPlay and multiple HomePods and it is very hit and miss, other apps missing HomePod integration is what is keeping me with the app.
Also the browse function is dumb, it really should have some AI that can suggest things that would appeal to me based on current subscriptions. They could still have a top chart in there to try and prevent me living in an echo chamber but I'm not going to listen to podcasts about 'celebrating mums, meditation and the mind or a curated collection about Mardi gras'
With my currents subs being related to politics, history, science, warhammer, rugby league, football and cricket you would think they could suggest something in my wheel house.
So I really like the visual changes I feel it look much more pleasant on the eye and the old one looked a bit dated. Not that its very important I guess.
I strongly dislike that the library shows you the podcasts with the one you subscribed to most recently. Why would anyone pick that as a way to order something? It should display them with the most recents episodes first.
The sync doesn't work still. I listen across my phone, CarPlay and multiple HomePods and it is very hit and miss, other apps missing HomePod integration is what is keeping me with the app.
Also the browse function is dumb, it really should have some AI that can suggest things that would appeal to me based on current subscriptions. They could still have a top chart in there to try and prevent me living in an echo chamber but I'm not going to listen to podcasts about 'celebrating mums, meditation and the mind or a curated collection about Mardi gras'
With my currents subs being related to politics, history, science, warhammer, rugby league, football and cricket you would think they could suggest something in my wheel house.
I have no real issue with any of the stock apple apps except the podcasts one. It’s a complete mess.
Ditto, its the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I was always a defender of the Apple Podcasts app, it wasn't perfect but it worked for me for the 2 hours a day I listen to podcasts.
Then with this last update I had deleted episodes which didn't delete, other episodes which disappeared for no reason, and the whole thing just seemed too messy. I tried a few other 3rd party podcast apps, and have settled on Pocketcasts, it works well for me and I like the layout more than the others.
I didn't want to bin the Apple Podcasts app after all these years, but I've eventually just given up.
I might have to switch to a third party app too. Apple podcasts app doesn't seem to be refreshing all of my feeds.
Hi,
that was my major problem, too.
I don’t want many downloaded episodes on my iPad but just the most recent one so I’m good for travelling.
Exactly as you mentioned, I disabled automatic download under settings but then had to go into the setting of each podcast show to disable the download.
Is there really no way back to just generally enable and allow most recent download?
Sometimes even turning off the individual downloads doesn't prevent the episodes from downloading and I keep having to remove the downloads!
Same. It is frustrating. I gave up on fixing it now and hope with the next update they will sort it. What a pity!
I think the Podcasts app is proof app updates should be decoupled from main core OS updates.