Why Did My Podcast Fail the Itunes Review

Apple has long been the dominant thespian in the podcast market. However, while Apple Podcasts has evolved quite a bit since the "tape player" i.0 version, it's not perfect. Today, I want to wait at the skilful, the bad, and the ugly of Apple tree Podcasts with a particular focus on how the app still struggles to sync across multiple devices.

Table of contents

• The Good
• The Bad
• The Ugly
• Wrap up

I've been listening to podcasts since 2004, so I consider myself somewhat of a veteran of the industry. I've used every major podcast app on the market. I retrieve sideloading MP3 files into iTunes using iPodderX. I remember when Apple wouldn't approve third-party podcast apps because they "duplicated functionality". Every bit a result, I am pretty opinionated on how podcasts app should work and firmly believe that it's non a podcast unless you can subscribe in the app of your option (don't endeavour to convince me otherwise).

The Expert

Apple Podcasts is a good app, but it'southward not great. It makes it easy to find new shows, follow them, and observe the nearly recent episodes. It works bang-up for shows where y'all need to listen in a particular gild. In addition, it makes information technology easy to share a show over iMessage to friends. With iOS 15, it's even easy to see what shows have been shared with you lot. I really like the interface as it follows the same overall manner every bit Apple Music. Information technology's tightly integrated into the Os, then information technology'south easy to use.

I love the end-user feel of paying for premium content for specific shows. I subscribe to several premium podcasts directly with the creator, but the procedure of subscribing isn't as seamless as it is when you do it at present in Apple Podcasts. I know Apple'south payments aren't as easy on creators as Patreon or Memberful, merely it's easy for the user.

Overall, the app provides a swell interface for sharing and finding new shows.

The Bad

Apple tree Podcasts isn't for power users, and that'due south okay. Apps like Overcast, Castro, and Pocket Bandage can fill out the features that power users want. Apple does need to go along striving towards making it a corking experience, though.

As I've added more than shows to my post-obit listing, the app has gotten slower and slower. I've noticed this on iOS 14 and iOS 15. Apple tree Podcasts feels much heavier than Overcast in mean solar day-to-twenty-four hour period usage. When you mark an episode equally played, it tin can oft have 4-v seconds to really reverberate that status in the interface. With Clouded and Castro, marking as played is automatic and the UI immediately updates. I am not sure if this problem is a symptom of how many shows I subscribe to, but it makes the app almost unusable/

The Ugly

The syncing of followed shows on Apple tree Podcasts seems to work well. What doesn't seem to sync well is the Mind Now and Latest Episodes section of the app. I primarily listen to podcasts on my iPhone but occasionally like to listen to my Mac or iPad. Whenever I launch the apps, it'south a hot mess as information technology tries to sync everything and never ends up getting the Heed Now and Latest Episodes in sync with what's on my iPhone. Then, if I do finally get them in sync manually, the iPhone somehow gets out of sync.

What tends to happen is an episode that's marked as played on 1 device volition show equally played on another, only it volition nevertheless be in the Heed Now. And then why would it be in Listen Now if it's marked as played?

The epitome to a higher place shows what happened when I turned on syncing on Apple tree Podcasts on my Mac. It completely screwed upwards my library on my iPhone and brought back episodes previously marked equally played into Up Side by side despite the fact they've already been marked as played.

Technically, I am sure this is not easy to implement at Apple's scale. On the other hand, Overcast and Pocket Casts accept figured out how to keep everything in sync across all of your devices then why can't Apple?

In 2021, seamless syncing to other devices is table stakes for a podcast app, and Apple has even so to figure out how to continue the apps in sync. Do you lot know how ho-hum iMessage feels on your Mac if it's been closed for a calendar week while you're on holiday and it's trying to catch upward on processing letters? Apple Podcasts syncing behaves that way daily.

Wrap upwardly

Apple focuses on the content side of podcasts, simply I want them to spend equally as much endeavor on making the app faster and figure out what is keeping the apps from staying exactly in sync while adding new features. I want to love Apple Podcasts, but I've found that the merely way I can use the app is to only use information technology on my iPhone. Otherwise, information technology's hot garbage. I find myself wanting to use information technology every few weeks and apace realize why it never sticks for me. The app is slow and struggles to sync across all of my devices.

Practise yous utilize Apple Podcasts, or are yous using a tertiary-party culling? Exit a comment below with which app and why.

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Source: https://9to5mac.com/2021/07/11/comment-its-2021-and-apple-podcasts-still-cant-stay-in-sync-across-devices/

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