I have a confession to make: after years of using Overcast as my podcast player of choice, I’ve made the switch back to Apple’s Podcasts (for the time being). There were two reasons I made this change:
The first was the addition of podcast transcriptions in iOS 17.4. That’s a feature that I have long wished for, especially when going back to a podcast I’ve previously listened to to pull some information out. I’m hoping with everything going on with Apple right now, we’ll see them open up transcripts to third-party podcast clients, but as of this moment, they have not.
The other reason I decided to try out Apple’s own app again is something that I’ve thought about for a while, and has long been one of my only dislikes about using Overcast: discoverability. To his credit, Marco does have a way to discover some new content, through a screen with recommendations, most starred, and genres you can browse through, but it starts and stops here. By comparison, Apple’s podcast app throws suggestions and surfaces shows for you as aggressively as Apple Music does. For me, this has already led to an increase in my podcast consumption, just from discovering episodes of shows throughout the app that pique my interest.
Who knows where I’ll be with my podcast listening in six months or a year, though. Maybe my interest in transcripts will die off and I’ll wind up back with Overcast in a few months after I’ve discovered some awesome new shows, maybe I’ll wind up using a combo of the apps, or maybe I’ll still be on Apple’s app.
Right now I’m really in a state where I’m rethinking everything about my devices: the apps I’m using, whether to use focus modes, redoing my home screens, and a whole lot more, so expect to see plenty more little posts like this (and maybe some longer write-ups) as I continue to grow in the ways that I make my technology work for me.
What are some aspects of your technology that you’re currently reexamining? Let me know down in the comments below or reach out over on Threads.
Dan Stransky 