Looking for an iOS podcast app that plays episodes sequentially

December 29, 2017 1:51 PM

I want an iOS podcasting app that allows me to choose an old episode of a subscribed podcast and play that and automatically play the remaining episodes in sequential order - without me having to create a playlist. I just want to be able to tap an episode and have the app play the following episodes for hours without any intervention. The old iOS podcast app did this, but as of iOS 11, it doesn't. I tried a few other podcasting apps, but haven't found one that does it as simply as the old iOS app, or I haven't figured out how to use or configure the apps to do it.

Apps I've tried that don't do this:

• Apple - A podcast can be put in the Library to sort of do this. But the new interface is a pain to deal with.
• Overcast - much cleaner interface than the Apple app, but in continuous play mode after you subscribe to a podcast, if you select an old episode, the next episode played jumps to the most recent ones (the problem being that old episodes are not in the unplayed list)
• Podcast App - It can actually do it, but it has full-page ads, is extremely basic and has absolutely no configuration settings.
• Downcast - From what I can tell, you have to create playlists.

Features I'm looking for:

• Plays all episodes of a podcast sequentially with minimum fuss.
• No ads, or at least unobtrusive ads.
• Free or cheap.
• Streams the podcast, instead of automatically downloading (this is configurable in most apps).

If any of the above apps I've already tried do what I want, please enlighten me on how to configure the app to do so.

posted by ShooBoo to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

In Overcast, check under Settings / Nitpicky Details whether you have "Play Next By Priority" on. I think it's on by default and gives the behaviour you describe. I have it off, and episodes play in sequential order for me.
posted by kelper at 2:00 PM on December 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, Overcast plays sequentially for me. Also make sure that you have either downloaded the episodes, or set them to stream. If it's set to play from downloaded, and only the most recent one is downloaded, that would cause it to jump to that I think.
posted by primethyme at 2:04 PM on December 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

In Overcast you have to download all the episodes for it to play them sequentially. (I just went in to make sure) There is a button to download them all with one click (upper right corner of show page) but I think OP specified they don't want to download.
posted by bleep at 2:24 PM on December 29, 2017

I use and love Breaker, a newer app for podcasts. On each podcast's page, you can choose whether to have the podcasts listed Oldest first or Newest first.
posted by estlin at 3:05 PM on December 29, 2017

Response by poster: Yes, I don't want to have to download any episodes to play them sequentially (for example, and if I wanted to play all of Welcome to Night Vale from start to end, I don't want to download all 120 episodes).
posted by ShooBoo at 3:42 PM on December 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

RSSRadio does exactly that. It’s $3.99, but it’s been my go-to podcast app for years now.
posted by Master Gunner at 3:51 PM on December 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Pocket Casts can do this, at least in the Android version. Over there, you'd go into the specific podcast, sort by date, and then long tap on the first podcast and choose "Play All from Here". I would suspect something similar exists in the iOS version, but not 100% certain.
posted by RyanAdams at 4:14 PM on December 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't actually see those settings on Pocket Casts, maybe there was an update that changed things?
posted by sarcasticah at 5:01 PM on December 29, 2017

Oh wait, never mind, found it. Lock-click on the Play icon.
posted by sarcasticah at 5:04 PM on December 29, 2017

In Overcast you have to download all the episodes for it to play them sequentially. (I just went in to make sure) There is a button to download them all with one click (upper right corner of show page)

This is incorrect. If you have "new episodes" set to "stream" instead of "download" in the global settings, the "add all" button just adds them to the list, and you can play them via streaming. It will not download them if you do that.
posted by primethyme at 5:54 PM on December 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Downcast will do this.
posted by nothing.especially.clever at 7:48 PM on December 29, 2017

I just switched to Casts which does this. Apple’s podcast app became intolerable with ios11. It was a one- time purchase, not a subscription (hate those too).
posted by janell at 10:27 PM on December 29, 2017