Roger Fingas
Developer Marco Arment on Friday released Overcast 2, an update to the popular iOS podcast app that makes it completely free to use and adds several significant improvements, such as streaming and early 3D Touch support.
Under the new pricing model, all Overcast features are free, instead of some being locked behind a $5 in-app purchase. Arment is asking regular users to donate $1 per month, with the possibility of patrons getting special features if he can't afford to offer upgrades to everyone.
The streaming technology lets users listen to an episode immediately, rather than wait for it to finish downloading. The app can also be set to stream-only, saving local storage space at the expense of bandwidth. An added storage manager lets users check how much space each podcast is consuming however, and can purge downloads to regain room.
Under the hood Overcast has a faster, more efficient audio engine, communicates better with the Apple Watch, and sports a new database layer eliminating numerous bugs.
Other feature improvements include chapter support, swipe actions, and a Play Next By Priority option for playlists. 3D Touch controls are currently limited to launch shortcuts, but these should expand in the near future. Lastly, the app has ditched editorial show recommendations for a system driven by users.
Overcast 2 runs on iPhones, iPads, and the iPod touch, but now requires iOS 9 or later.
William Gallagher
AppleInsider Staff
Christine McKee
25 Comments
No, thanks. Not interested in contributing a single cent to that waffler Arment, nor will I download anything of his being marketed as "free".
I gladly paid the $5 for in-app purchase, but I avoid monthly fees as much as possible. I'll get this, but I'm very unlikely to pay unless it's a one-time thing that unlocks features.
$1 / month when the actual product (the podcast) is free and once you hit Play, you're enjoying said product exactly the same, only using Apple's free podcast App. Strange marketing.
[quote name="bugsnw" url="/t/189055/overcast-2-goes-free-adds-streaming-chapters-and-3d-touch-controls#post_2788847"]$1 / month when the actual product (the podcast) is free and once you hit Play, you're enjoying said product exactly the same, only using Apple's free podcast App. Strange marketing.[/quote] I'm not going to defend Marco's one dollar per month subscription plan, but I've got to say that I'm really not digging the Apple podcast app since iOS 9. I never really love the old one, but the new one really had me looking for a different podcast app to use. So far Overcast is the best one I found.
$1 / month when the actual product (the podcast) is free and once you hit Play, you're enjoying said product exactly the same, only using Apple's free podcast App.
Strange marketing.
I would argue that his app works the way a technical user want a podcast app to work, and apple's podcast app doesn't.
I spend probably 20 hours a week in pod casts... I'm willing to spend a penny an hour on the app. I spend more on the earbuds/hour of use.
Marco, is Talented, but strange (more accurately, borderline eccentric). And his talent covers his strangeness.
While his flip-flop on Peace was bizarre, his reasoning was rational. He didn't want to be the face of ad-blocking, and his original logic was that he wanted a good ad-blocker for himself (his same logic for instapaper, magazine, overcast, and a cast of other apps he's written), in a market of hundreds, when only 12ish were announced day 1, and his was deemed the 'market leader', on a product he really didn't want to market at all. It was either a couple weeks of pain early, or years of pain supporting the app, and having every web-ad funded site point at him as the reason web journalism died (not because 99% of it sucks).
This is a guy that spend month worrying over the best fan timer for his bathroom, and feels he should blog about it. I like that in a programmer. He sweats the details.