Overcast: A Great Alternative to the Podcasts iOS App [Review]

If you love listening to podcasts on your iPhone, but have grown tired and frustrated (like myself) over Apple’s Podcasts iOS app, then Overcast may be the podcast player you’re looking for. It’s free to download and works great.

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Like Apple’s Podcasts, Overcast has a simple interface

You can start subscribing to podcasts or adding individual episodes by tapping the + icon on the top right of the main page. Here you’ll find a small assortment of podcasts, organized by categories such as Tech and Apple Development. If you don’t see the podcast you’re looking for you can add it by copying and pasting the feed’s URL.

What makes Overcast standout though are its premium features that you can unlock with a $4.99 in-app purchase. Some of these features are Smart Speed, which speeds up playback to shorten silences, Voice Boost, which increases the volume and levels out voices, and a one-by-one playback option if you don’t want to continuously listen to all the unplayed episodes in a podcast. Also, you can try out Smart Speed and Voice Boost for 5 minutes at a time before you pay.

I like Overcast, but I’m not sure if I’ll start using it as my main podcast player. The main reason being, I like to manage my podcasts on my computer and using Overcast would mean managing podcasts solely within the app.

That said, it does tempt me. I was initially put off by the small selection of podcasts, but adding one by copying and pasting the URL worked perfectly. Also, the Voice Boost feature works really well and I listen to several podcasts where everyone’s voice is at a different volume. However, some of the other premium features like making playlists and a sleep timer are already in Podcasts, so I’ll have to decide if paying $4.99 is worth getting most of the functionality I already have available.

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Above is the Add Podcast page and the list of premium features

Overcast looks and works great, but you’ll need to spend $4.99 to unlock the features that make it standout. You can download Overcast for free from the App Store or tell us about the podcast player you use.

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