Tag: pocketcast

Categories
Apps

Chris Gonzales on moving from Instacast to Pocket Casts 4

Chris Gonzales has moved from Instacast1 toPocket Casts 4. I have heard good things about Pocket Casts, but I find this paragraph interesting:

The only issue I've come across with this sync service so far is that episode playback position doesn't reliably transfer between my iPhone and iPad. I'd like to say that I can pause an episode on one device and pick it back up on the other, but that hasn't been my experience so far. The second device acts as if the episode hasn't been played at all.

That seems like a big issue to me. I use Instacast on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and I rarely have any issues with sync.2 I cannot imagine moving to a podcasting ecosystem that: (1) has no Mac app, and (2) does not have reliable syncing. That sounds terrible.

  1. Affiliate Link (as are all product links in this post.) ↩

  2. This has not always been the case. Instacast's sync used to be somewhat hit and miss. Over time, however, it has become quite reliable for me. ↩

Categories
Apps Technology

Federico Viticci reviews Pocket Casts 4 for iOS 7

Pocket Casts 4 is a great podcast client for iOS 7. The push notification and sync systems are reliable, and automatic downloads finally make for an invisible download experience that happens behind the scenes and you don’t have to think about. I found filter management to be simpler and yet more powerful than other alternatives on iOS, and, especially on the iPhone, the app takes advantage of the iOS 7 aesthetic while still adding great custom details and animations. There is some roughness and a few minor bugs, particularly on the iPad, and I hope that Shifty Jelly will quickly iterate on those aspects (hopefully with some help from Apple with fixes to the iOS 7 code; please note that the app has been reviewed under the iOS 7 GM seed).

Pocket Casts sounds like a really solid iOS podcatcher, however, I am far too deep into the Instacast ecosystem to consider making a switch.1

  1. Of course, we still do not know how good the iOS version of Instacast is going to be. I am crossing my fingers that it is a nice upgrade from the current one. ↩

Categories
Apps Entertainment Technology

The Verge on the new PocketCasts for Android

> [T]he app has been completely overhauled for its new version 4, and the results are fantastic.

> The UI is attractive, simple, and Android-native; while it has a distinct style, it looks like it was designed for the platform, and just about everything works the way you’d expect across both phones and tablets. The effortless cross-device podcast syncing is a killer feature, too, especially as it’ll be compatible with iOS once that app gets its own update.

Sounds like a winner from the guys at [Shifty Jelly](http://www.shiftyjelly.com). It will be interesting to see how much [Instacast](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Finstacast-3%252Fid577056377%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30)[^f0712] improves between now and when PocketCasts comes out for iOS. Currently, I am quite pleased with Instacast as my primary podcast client, but PocketCasts’ speed, even in its current version, could make it really intriguing when it gets its next update. I am sure Instacast’s developer is taking notice.

[^f0712]: Affiliate Link