The negatives of Apple’s Podcast app

Written by

TJ Draper:

I can see how this is a major improvement if you have been using iTunes to manage podcasts and syncing them from iTunes to your iDevice. But while this is a major improvement over that scenario, this is by no means a good app.



  • http://bobmartens.net/ Bob Martens

    There are definitely issues with the new app that I hope are fixed … but the entire piece sounds like another person complaining that Apple’s app for consumers is not like their favorite app for “prosumers”.

    I use Instacast. Apple will need to make some changes to “woo” me over, but that’s the way it goes. That’s a good thing.

    • http://buzzingpixel.com/ TJ Draper

      I know I’m coming at it from a prosumer position a little bit. And I knew from the start it would probably not be the app for me, but I was honestly surprised at how well it “didn’t” work. Features we were supposed to have, such as playback syncing not working. And the whole subscription issues seems like it would be awfully confusing to the average user.

      But, each is entitled to their opinion. I definitely agree with you that Apple is probably never going to make an app that would appeal to the podcasting “power user”.

  • http://crankygeek.com Jack Brewster

    After trying Podcasts, my preference is to still sync wirelessly with iTunes. Better management (playlists, too). Played podcasts aren’t displayed.

    I’ll keep Podcasts on hand for those days when I must listen to something and I’m not near my computer, but that’s pretty rare these days.

  • quietstorms

    I realize that Apple didn’t make this app for “power users” and that’s fine. However, I’d have to agree with the article and say that it doesn’t feel ready for release when it comes to user experience. Not having show notes is a head scratcher.

    I hope that Apple does have some serious upgrades in the future for this app.

  • D Pauw

    I’m confused why they launched this app when they did. iOS 6 is still in beta. Also, the rumored unbloated iTunes is just a rumor. It has me wondering if the weirdness with no iCloud syncing is because we don’t have the new iTunes as it still seems to be stuck syncing the old way (or maybe 10.8 is the issue). The only thing that really annoyed me about the Music app podcast support in the past was no subscribing and no iCloud sync. They fixed one of those so hopefully they’ll fix the other. It is a nice looking app, at least.

    • http://twitter.com/aidano Aidan

      They’re releasing it now so they can have it fully baked in time for iOS 6 to be released to the public – that’s when Podcasts will be removed from the music player.

  • Chuck

    The podcast app looks interesting, besides that it simply does not do anything I would think it would do. It keeps asking for my Apple ID password over and over, shows from my Mac (also available in the music app) don’t show up in the podcast app. Additionally, it is extremely sluggish on my 3GS. And the top stations is simply unmanageable to use, tedious scrolling and little info per page.

    I really hope that this won’t replace podcasts in the music app, unless they update this app significantly. The only thing I want is the playback position syncing between Mac and iOS. At this point the app is completely useless to me, worse than music app with the podcasts in them.

    “And telling whether you are or not [subscribed] is hard unless you are specifically looking for the signs.” There’s the giant subscribe button after every show you’re not subscribed to…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MGKMDABPUEAIAYIL5RC6WGE3AY Schuyler

    Another advantage of Instacast that Draper doesn’t mention: unlike Apple’s Podcasts app, Instacast doesn’t limit downloads to episodes of 50MB or less.

    • http://buzzingpixel.com/ TJ Draper

      Ahh, good point. The other limitations were so glaring that I likely just didn’t have time in my short stint with the app to run into that.