Overcast vs Pocket casts, which should I choose?

By KE8UPE, 28 May, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi,
I love listening to podcasts!
My current library contains over 200!
I'm trying to decide which app to use and subscribe to long term.
I'm 'currently using Overcast, but have also used Pocket casts in the passed.
I like both for different reasons, but obviously don't need both.
So, which one should I choose, and why?

Options

Comments

By Firefly on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 - 10:20

I have overcast, but I don’t have pocket cast. What did you like about pocket cast? Maybe I will give that one a try and compare that to myself.

By KE8UPE on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 - 10:20

Hi,
I liked the UI and it’s customizability. It defaults to grid view, which is perfectly accessible with voiceover, but there’s also a list view you can use. You can also change the order in which podcasts are displayed..
In addition, the application is available on iOS/iPadOS, macOS, windows, android, and Amazon Alexa.
If you have a HomePod, you can also use airplay. It works very well. The windows app is quite finicky with a screen reader, but there’s also a website which is way better.
You can also airplay to an Apple TV, if you happen to have one of those.
The application also supports standalone playback on the Apple Watch, which is part of their new premium subscription. The windows and Mac app are also part of that. You can get a subscription for $.99 a month, or $9.99 a year, which is the same price as overcast. That’s another reason why I can’t decide which one I want to go with.

By Amir on Monday, January 2, 2023 - 10:20

I've used both over the last few months to get a sense of how they work, but finally made the switch to Pocket Casts full-time. First and foremost, Overcast's Playback window is really laggy with VoiceOver, and it hasn't been fixed in the app's few final releases. It's definitely usable but the lag is really noticeable upon attempting to navigate around or interact with its playback/playing controls. Second, Pocket Casts is much more customizable if it's your cup of tea. Third - and quite interestingly, it shows Trending podcasts in the search window and it really helps with podcast discovery. The other day, for instance, I managed to find some interesting BBC Radio 4 podcasts there - stuff that I might have easily missed. Fourth, Pocket Casts handles non-English searches much more leniently. For instance, few weeks ago I was trying to find a Persian (Farsi) podcast in Overcast, but it displayed 0 results when I typed the string in Persian. It found the podcast when I typed it in English. However, Pocket Casts had no difficulty locating the podcast regardless of the language used. Last but not least, it receives updates quite frequently - much more than Overcast.