Hi everyone,
I have developed a free and open source podcast app, called Anytime Podcast Player, which is available for iOS and Android. I've been working on improving accessibility within the app and particularly the screen reader support, but I know there is more improvements to be made and I was recommended this forum - thank you Robert.
I would be very grateful for any feedback, tips or suggestions that can help me improve the accessibility in Anytime and make it a better app if anyone would like to try it.
It's available on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anytime-podcast-player/id1582300839#?platform=iphone
Many thanks,
Ben.
Comments
Re: using the cueue?
Hi Troy,
No, the queue is not part of the last update, it's been around for a while.
When you tap on an episode to bring up the context menu, you should find an option labelled "Add episode to queue" (or "Remove episode from queue" if it's already queue up).
When you open the full screen player window, at the bottom there is an option labelled "Up Next". Open this to get to the queue. This is one area where I need to make some improvements, as re-arranging the order of the queue does not play well with VoiceOver. But, I know what I need to do, and it's on the to fix list.
Thanks.
Re: I actually prefer it when…
Hi kool_turk,
Absolutely, by default it will be off, so nothing will change. There will be a new option in settings to enable continuous play.
I always prefer when introducing new features, that not every user may want, to make them opt in rather than opt out.
Thanks.
Downloading vs Streaming
Does this download all podcasts or can it do everything by streaming? I installed it but can't see an option either way.
Re: Downloading vs Streaming
Hi Mr Grieves,
The continuous play option isn't out yet. I'm currently testing it so I would expect it to roll out in the next 2-3 weeks. When it does roll out, it will continue to play episodes for a podcast. If they are already downloaded it will play the download, otherwise it will just stream.
Thank you
Thanks for the speedy reply, and also for the way you are engaging with us on here - it is really great to see.
Will I be able to set it so that I don't have to download anything? And can I use it without continuous play?
I think my needs are a bit simpler than most. I just like to find a show, look at episodes I've not played yet and then choose which one to listen to. I don't really want to have to decide all that in advance. I know maybe most people who move away from the built-in app are looking for a bit more power. I guess all I really want is the same kind of thing, maybe with an interface that requires less swipes, and with the option to change playback speed per show.
I've been a bit reluctant to import an opml in case it just downloads every episode of every show.
@mr grieves from my understanding...
The app doesn't download anything.
I'm not even sure you can at the moment, i think you will in the future but not now.
Thanks @Brad
Aha, that sounds perfect. I will give it a go later on. The starting position for most podcast players seems to be to just download everything.
Re: Thank you @ Mr Grieves
Thanks for the feedback. The engagement, feedback, suggestions and pointers I have received from the members of this forum has been fantastic and very helpful in moving Anytime in the right direction - thank you.
Anytime does not automatically download any episodes, so you are safe to do an OPML import. You can manually download episodes for offline playback if needed, but it's completely optional.
The continuous playback option I am currently testing will be off by default, and enabled by an option within settings.
It sounds like Anytime should do most of what you need. You can search for podcasts and stream episodes. There is a speed control option but it's global rather than per podcast - at least for now. I hope to introduce per-podcast settings at some point in the future.
Thanks, Ben
I will definitely give it a go. It sounds like you have rather a lot to get through, but I'm glad the option to change speed based on podcast is in the mix somewhere.
I tend to listen to podcasts sped up, but I also listen to a couple of music podcasts and they definitely need to be played at normal speed.
One other feature suggestion, but probably for a bit further down the list - I recently imported my OPML from Overcast to Downcast. In Overcast I was able to do this directly from the share sheet - I could select Downcast and it just imported it directly that way. It was pretty neat. I think with Anytime it looks like I need to save the file somewhere and then import. Not a big deal but might be a nice addition if you ever get the time.
Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to reply here.
Re queue
Thanks Ben, when I listen to a podcast I just play the episode I'm interested in and have never looked at what other options I have.
First thoughts
I had a very quick play with Anytime last night. I managed to import the OPML in fine. It all seems quite snappy and easy to use from first glance, so first impressions were really good.
The only problem with OPML is that everything appears unplayed. So there's a podcast I'm working my way through with well over 300 episodes. When going through the list and marking the ones I had seen as played I had two observations.
Firstly, the three finger swipe up to move the list down didn't seem to work and I'd end up at the top of the list.
Secondly, the single tap and hold worked fine as a way to mark episodes as played but it's a bit slow and clumsy when doing it a lot. It's been mentioned before, but it would be really nice if there were actions in the rotor so I could just swipe up and select played without having to use that menu. This isn't a big deal but it would speed this sort of thing up a bit and is a tad more discoverable for VoiceOver users I think.
Will play with it some more later, but I'm getting a good feeling about this app - thanks for all the hard work.
small feature request
In Apple Podcasts, if a podcast was recently updated, the app will tell you how many hours ago it was updated.
If it's older than 24 hours, then it says 'one day ago'.
I think if it hasn't been updated in more than a week, it will tell you the date.
Could you do something like that?
The way it is currently, you have the date, but no way of knowing how many hours ago a podcast has been updated.
Not really a biggy, but a nice thing to have.
Didn't realize this app was available on Android
Hi,
After reading this post & all the comments associated with it, I downloaded the app the other night.
I have to say I'm quite impressed with what's there currently.
However, I agree that Voiceover rotor actions would be a huge help, especially, given the number of podcasts I have.
My current opml contains over 300 podcasts!
Also, since the app is available on both iOS & Android, I'd suggest adding some kind of sync capability, that way, we could add a podcast or change a setting once & it would sync across to all other devices.
This would also be a major help, if for some reason, a device failure were to occur.
When you get a new device, just sign-in to sync & everything will be exactly as you left it.
Could that be done?
A way to save your podcasts would be amazing!
I don't know how it can be done but it would be nice if you could save OPML stuff so that if you have to or want to redownload the ap would be nice without having to go through the entire having to download OPML thing.
I back up my device through…
I back up my device through iTunes, or now, you can use the Apple Devices app on Windows, so all my podcasts get saved automatically.
You can also export your podcasts as an OPML file in the app, save it to the Files app, and then transfer it to your PC.
For me, I just move it to the VLC media player's folder in the Files app, because when it's in there, I can use Apple Devices on Windows to grab the file.
It's one of the apps that shows up in the Devices app on Windows.
It's a bit convoluted, but it works for me.
Re: First thoughts
Thank you for the feedback.
I've logged the three-finger scrolling issue as a bug and will get that fixed.
Rotor support is an issue. The first problem is that the tools I am using to build Anytime have - or least appear to have - limited support for the Rotor. The second problem is that I have little experience or understanding of the Rotor. It's something I need to invest some time in. If anyone has a link to a good tutorial on the rotor that would be great.
Re: small feature request - recently updated
That's an interesting idea - I like that. Sounds like a small change that could be really useful, so I'll put it on the to-do list. Thanks.
Re: Didn't realize this app was available on Android
Hi KE8UPE,
Thank you for your feedback.
Syncing across devices could be done, but that's a more longer term goal for Anytime. Adding sync would require me either building a backend to store and sync the data between devices, or integrating Anytime with third-party sync services. Both options would introduce a small cost to the user.
Rotor
Thanks, Ben.
There is quite a good article on Applevis that explains the rotor from an end-user point of view:
https://www.applevis.com/guides/idevice-primer-103-what-rotor-how-do-i-use-it
It's very old but still makes sense. The "actions available" is what we are after here.
As an example, if I am looking through the list of episodes in a podcast, I can double tap and hold to bring up a menu, then scroll through the items and select one. If the actions were set up, as I swipe to an item it would tell me that there were actions available and I could just immediately swipe up and down to select them. This just makes it quicker to access. And maybe it's just me but I always forget about the double tap and hold menu so I find actions easier to discover.
Because the rotor tends to jump straight to actions if there are any, you don't tend to need to use the dial action in this case.
There was an article on applevis targeted towards developers explaining how to build this sort of thing but I can't for the life of me find it. It was quite old but I saw it a few months ago. Maybe someone else can track it down? I'm not sure if the information is still correct though.
Re: Rotor
Thanks Mr Grieves, that's a really helpful link.
I'm going to spend some time learning more about the rotor and practicing.
Getting rid of played episodes
I've been using this to listen to one podcast in particular which has a lot of episodes and I'm slowly making my way through them.
One thing I find is that when I finish listening to one, there is usually maybe a minute or less left because I stop before the credits and all the other rubbish at the end. So if I listen to a few in a row, I end up with a load of podcasts in a nearly-played state. The rotor would help get rid of these more quickly, but if I mark them as played they still sit in the list until I go back and forwards again. Then inevitably I find there is still one or two that I have missed.
I wonder if it would be possible to either remove them from the list as soon as they are marked played, or allow me to do a pull to refresh on the list, which would then get rid of them at that point. (I've seen some rss apps get rid of read articles in this way)
It's not a big deal, I just seem to spend a lot of time just trying to get rid of episodes I've listened to.
I am otherwise really enjoying the app. I think once we can set playback speed per episode then I can see myself using this for everything.
Is this available for MacOS?
Hi,
Is this available for macOS? also notifications could be nice for new episodes, as well as a sound to notifie you that there's a new epsiode available. the notive podcasts app has no sound, but tells you the notification on whenever a podcast episode is available for listening/download.
Re: Getting rid of played episodes
Hi Mr Grieves,
Removing played episodes from the list (when the filter is set to show only unplayed for example) when you mark them as played should be possible. Short term, you can do a pull to refresh to force a reload of the episodes. I'm not sure what the action for that is when using VoiceOver. In the context menu next to the follow/unfollow button there is also a refresh option there which does them same thing.
Longer term, when I get to podcast level settings, I want to add an option to mark an episode as played when within x seconds of the end. A number of podcasts apps do this and it would be useful for episodes with lots of adverts at the end for example.
Re: Is this available for MacOS?
Hi JC,
Anytime is available on MacOS in the sense that iPhone apps can be installed on M series Macs. It runs on a Mac as if it were running on an iPad, so it works but the UI is not optimised for desktop.
Notifications for new episodes is coming. I'm currently working on this, but it is going to take a while. Keep an eye out on the updates! :)
Refreshing Content with VoiceOver
The way to refresh content with VoiceOver is to scroll to the top of the page, and then continue scrolling up. VoiceOver should say "Refreshing content". If In iOS 18.4 and later when refreshing the page in safari, VoiceOver will say Scroll Up Again To Refresh". You will need to perform the gesture one more time to actually refresh the page.
The default gesture to scroll up is a 3 finger swipe down, or Option+Up arrow if using a keyboard with quick nav turned on.