#pocketcasts — Public Fediverse posts

I tried Apple Podcasts app on iOS27 for a week…

What I liked:

1. Dynamic, iOS-native design (it’s a first-party app)
2. Podcast artwork looks better in full screen
3. Audio quality is slightly better (it’s subjective though. I’m not an audiophile, so I can’t tell much of a difference)

But that’s about it.

Coming from Pocket Casts (I’m grandfathered into the premium version), I felt a lot of friction trying out Apple Podcasts. Now that you have some context about my previous podcast service, here’s what I missed in Apple Podcasts:

1. Trim silence – I’m not used to silences in podcasts. Trim Silence is a feature in Pocket Casts, and I’m very used to it. During silences in episodes, it feels like the audio on my phone has just stopped. It feels like I’m getting a phone call and the audio has stopped. It’s disorienting.
2. Queue system – (does not sync + multi-step access + behaviour) Pocket Casts has a very intuitive Queue system that syncs across the web very quickly. In Apple Podcasts, I’ve noticed that the Queue doesn’t sync with the Mac app. There’s also no quick access to the Queue. I have to tap the player, then the queue icon to see the next-in-line episodes. When I’m on this screen, if I accidentally tap on any episode, the current episode is marked as Played! I lose all the progress of that episode.However, I’ve found a way around this: tap the “3 dots” icon next to the currently playing episode at the top right, tap “Add to Queue,” and then tap on the queue item before accidentally tapping anything else in the Queue.
3. Up Next – What in the world is this? There’s a Queue, so why does anyone need a separate Up Next list at the top of the Home page? I think it’s similar to the new/latest episodes, but not always. It guesses what I may want to listen to. It’s totally redundant for me. If anyone knows what the purpose of this is, please let me know.
4. Downloading – In Pocket Casts, I have an option to automatically download any episode that I intentionally add to my Queue. It saves me time in the long run. In Apple Podcasts, there’s no such option that I could find. There’s Auto-Download for new episodes (with an option to select the number of new episodes) per podcast, but what if I don’t want to listen to a certain episode? It will still get auto-downloaded. I’ll have to manually delete the ones I don’t want to listen to. There’s no option to automatically download all the episodes that are added to the Queue.
5. Big banner – Any action like “Added to Queue” or “Added to Play Next” will show a big squircle banner for a few seconds, hiding the main UI elements. I can still interact with the background elements, but it’s guesswork to hit the correct element. I usually add an episode to the Queue or Play Next and then download it, but the download button is hidden behind the banner for a few seconds.
6. Auto-skip first/last few seconds – In Pocket Casts, we have an option to customize, per podcast, the first or last few seconds to automatically skip, which is most likely for introductions/advertisements, etc., saving time. In Apple Podcasts, I have to manually skip them for each episode.
7. Layout – Home and New tabs feel redundant. They both have similar views. They could just replace New with Queue and get rid of the “Up Next” section entirely.
8. Stats – No stats are available in Apple Podcasts. Pocket Casts has a pretty nice version of Stats, showing how many hours/days I have listened, the time I saved by skipping, trimming silence, etc.

Overall, the lack of intuitiveness and the additional friction in the UI are keeping me from using Apple Podcasts full-time. For now, I’ll be returning to Pocket Casts.

This could just be my muscle memory making me avoid a new app, but I feel like I spend more time fiddling with the app and less time actually listening to the core discussions in the episodes themselves. What is your preferred Podcast app of choice?

I tried Apple Podcasts app on iOS27 for a week…

What I liked:

1. Dynamic, iOS-native design (it’s a first-party app)
2. Podcast artwork looks better in full screen
3. Audio quality is slightly better (it’s subjective though. I’m not an audiophile, so I can’t tell much of a difference)

But that’s about it.

Coming from Pocket Casts (I’m grandfathered into the premium version), I felt a lot of friction trying out Apple Podcasts. Now that you have some context about my previous podcast service, here’s what I missed in Apple Podcasts:

1. Trim silence – I’m not used to silences in podcasts. Trim Silence is a feature in Pocket Casts, and I’m very used to it. During silences in episodes, it feels like the audio on my phone has just stopped. It feels like I’m getting a phone call and the audio has stopped. It’s disorienting.
2. Queue system – (does not sync + multi-step access + behaviour) Pocket Casts has a very intuitive Queue system that syncs across the web very quickly. In Apple Podcasts, I’ve noticed that the Queue doesn’t sync with the Mac app. There’s also no quick access to the Queue. I have to tap the player, then the queue icon to see the next-in-line episodes. When I’m on this screen, if I accidentally tap on any episode, the current episode is marked as Played! I lose all the progress of that episode.However, I’ve found a way around this: tap the “3 dots” icon next to the currently playing episode at the top right, tap “Add to Queue,” and then tap on the queue item before accidentally tapping anything else in the Queue.
3. Up Next – What in the world is this? There’s a Queue, so why does anyone need a separate Up Next list at the top of the Home page? I think it’s similar to the new/latest episodes, but not always. It guesses what I may want to listen to. It’s totally redundant for me. If anyone knows what the purpose of this is, please let me know.
4. Downloading – In Pocket Casts, I have an option to automatically download any episode that I intentionally add to my Queue. It saves me time in the long run. In Apple Podcasts, there’s no such option that I could find. There’s Auto-Download for new episodes (with an option to select the number of new episodes) per podcast, but what if I don’t want to listen to a certain episode? It will still get auto-downloaded. I’ll have to manually delete the ones I don’t want to listen to. There’s no option to automatically download all the episodes that are added to the Queue.
5. Big banner – Any action like “Added to Queue” or “Added to Play Next” will show a big squircle banner for a few seconds, hiding the main UI elements. I can still interact with the background elements, but it’s guesswork to hit the correct element. I usually add an episode to the Queue or Play Next and then download it, but the download button is hidden behind the banner for a few seconds.
6. Auto-skip first/last few seconds – In Pocket Casts, we have an option to customize, per podcast, the first or last few seconds to automatically skip, which is most likely for introductions/advertisements, etc., saving time. In Apple Podcasts, I have to manually skip them for each episode.
7. Layout – Home and New tabs feel redundant. They both have similar views. They could just replace New with Queue and get rid of the “Up Next” section entirely.
8. Stats – No stats are available in Apple Podcasts. Pocket Casts has a pretty nice version of Stats, showing how many hours/days I have listened, the time I saved by skipping, trimming silence, etc.

Overall, the lack of intuitiveness and the additional friction in the UI are keeping me from using Apple Podcasts full-time. For now, I’ll be returning to Pocket Casts.

This could just be my muscle memory making me avoid a new app, but I feel like I spend more time fiddling with the app and less time actually listening to the core discussions in the episodes themselves. What is your preferred Podcast app of choice?

I tried Apple Podcasts app on iOS27 for a week…

What I liked:

1. Dynamic, iOS-native design (it’s a first-party app)
2. Podcast artwork looks better in full screen
3. Audio quality is slightly better (it’s subjective though. I’m not an audiophile, so I can’t tell much of a difference)

But that’s about it.

Coming from Pocket Casts (I’m grandfathered into the premium version), I felt a lot of friction trying out Apple Podcasts. Now that you have some context about my previous podcast service, here’s what I missed in Apple Podcasts:

1. Trim silence – I’m not used to silences in podcasts. Trim Silence is a feature in Pocket Casts, and I’m very used to it. During silences in episodes, it feels like the audio on my phone has just stopped. It feels like I’m getting a phone call and the audio has stopped. It’s disorienting.
2. Queue system – (does not sync + multi-step access + behaviour) Pocket Casts has a very intuitive Queue system that syncs across the web very quickly. In Apple Podcasts, I’ve noticed that the Queue doesn’t sync with the Mac app. There’s also no quick access to the Queue. I have to tap the player, then the queue icon to see the next-in-line episodes. When I’m on this screen, if I accidentally tap on any episode, the current episode is marked as Played! I lose all the progress of that episode.However, I’ve found a way around this: tap the “3 dots” icon next to the currently playing episode at the top right, tap “Add to Queue,” and then tap on the queue item before accidentally tapping anything else in the Queue.
3. Up Next – What in the world is this? There’s a Queue, so why does anyone need a separate Up Next list at the top of the Home page? I think it’s similar to the new/latest episodes, but not always. It guesses what I may want to listen to. It’s totally redundant for me. If anyone knows what the purpose of this is, please let me know.
4. Downloading – In Pocket Casts, I have an option to automatically download any episode that I intentionally add to my Queue. It saves me time in the long run. In Apple Podcasts, there’s no such option that I could find. There’s Auto-Download for new episodes (with an option to select the number of new episodes) per podcast, but what if I don’t want to listen to a certain episode? It will still get auto-downloaded. I’ll have to manually delete the ones I don’t want to listen to. There’s no option to automatically download all the episodes that are added to the Queue.
5. Big banner – Any action like “Added to Queue” or “Added to Play Next” will show a big squircle banner for a few seconds, hiding the main UI elements. I can still interact with the background elements, but it’s guesswork to hit the correct element. I usually add an episode to the Queue or Play Next and then download it, but the download button is hidden behind the banner for a few seconds.
6. Auto-skip first/last few seconds – In Pocket Casts, we have an option to customize, per podcast, the first or last few seconds to automatically skip, which is most likely for introductions/advertisements, etc., saving time. In Apple Podcasts, I have to manually skip them for each episode.
7. Layout – Home and New tabs feel redundant. They both have similar views. They could just replace New with Queue and get rid of the “Up Next” section entirely.
8. Stats – No stats are available in Apple Podcasts. Pocket Casts has a pretty nice version of Stats, showing how many hours/days I have listened, the time I saved by skipping, trimming silence, etc.

Overall, the lack of intuitiveness and the additional friction in the UI are keeping me from using Apple Podcasts full-time. For now, I’ll be returning to Pocket Casts.

This could just be my muscle memory making me avoid a new app, but I feel like I spend more time fiddling with the app and less time actually listening to the core discussions in the episodes themselves. What is your preferred Podcast app of choice?

I tried Apple Podcasts app on iOS27 for a week…

What I liked:

1. Dynamic, iOS-native design (it’s a first-party app)
2. Podcast artwork looks better in full screen
3. Audio quality is slightly better (it’s subjective though. I’m not an audiophile, so I can’t tell much of a difference)

But that’s about it.

Coming from Pocket Casts (I’m grandfathered into the premium version), I felt a lot of friction trying out Apple Podcasts. Now that you have some context about my previous podcast service, here’s what I missed in Apple Podcasts:

1. Trim silence – I’m not used to silences in podcasts. Trim Silence is a feature in Pocket Casts, and I’m very used to it. During silences in episodes, it feels like the audio on my phone has just stopped. It feels like I’m getting a phone call and the audio has stopped. It’s disorienting.
2. Queue system – (does not sync + multi-step access + behaviour) Pocket Casts has a very intuitive Queue system that syncs across the web very quickly. In Apple Podcasts, I’ve noticed that the Queue doesn’t sync with the Mac app. There’s also no quick access to the Queue. I have to tap the player, then the queue icon to see the next-in-line episodes. When I’m on this screen, if I accidentally tap on any episode, the current episode is marked as Played! I lose all the progress of that episode.However, I’ve found a way around this: tap the “3 dots” icon next to the currently playing episode at the top right, tap “Add to Queue,” and then tap on the queue item before accidentally tapping anything else in the Queue.
3. Up Next – What in the world is this? There’s a Queue, so why does anyone need a separate Up Next list at the top of the Home page? I think it’s similar to the new/latest episodes, but not always. It guesses what I may want to listen to. It’s totally redundant for me. If anyone knows what the purpose of this is, please let me know.
4. Downloading – In Pocket Casts, I have an option to automatically download any episode that I intentionally add to my Queue. It saves me time in the long run. In Apple Podcasts, there’s no such option that I could find. There’s Auto-Download for new episodes (with an option to select the number of new episodes) per podcast, but what if I don’t want to listen to a certain episode? It will still get auto-downloaded. I’ll have to manually delete the ones I don’t want to listen to. There’s no option to automatically download all the episodes that are added to the Queue.
5. Big banner – Any action like “Added to Queue” or “Added to Play Next” will show a big squircle banner for a few seconds, hiding the main UI elements. I can still interact with the background elements, but it’s guesswork to hit the correct element. I usually add an episode to the Queue or Play Next and then download it, but the download button is hidden behind the banner for a few seconds.
6. Auto-skip first/last few seconds – In Pocket Casts, we have an option to customize, per podcast, the first or last few seconds to automatically skip, which is most likely for introductions/advertisements, etc., saving time. In Apple Podcasts, I have to manually skip them for each episode.
7. Layout – Home and New tabs feel redundant. They both have similar views. They could just replace New with Queue and get rid of the “Up Next” section entirely.
8. Stats – No stats are available in Apple Podcasts. Pocket Casts has a pretty nice version of Stats, showing how many hours/days I have listened, the time I saved by skipping, trimming silence, etc.

Overall, the lack of intuitiveness and the additional friction in the UI are keeping me from using Apple Podcasts full-time. For now, I’ll be returning to Pocket Casts.

This could just be my muscle memory making me avoid a new app, but I feel like I spend more time fiddling with the app and less time actually listening to the core discussions in the episodes themselves. What is your preferred Podcast app of choice?