Reviews

Downcast iOS App Review

Downcast allows you to listen to podcasts directly from your iOS device without the need to sync with iTunes. This app has achieved a 4.5 star rating in the Apple App Store and there’s a very good reason for that. It works and it works well. Read our detailed review below…

Introduction

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To get started with this app, once you have downloaded it from the App Store, start by subscribing to some podcasts, within the app itself. This is very simple to do. Just select Add Podcasts from the menu bar at the bottom of the app. You then have the option of adding podcasts manually or searching for them automatically.

We’re buddies with Lady Geek TV here at theappwhisperer.com, not least because we very often recommend apps for them to review on their shows. In the example above we selected Search and typed in TheAppShow, a generic term to see what would show up. A list of relevant podcasts appeared on our iPhone and we selected the one that we knew we wanted.

Episodes

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Once we selected Lady Geek TV, a list of the other episodes in the series also showed up to give us the opportunity to download. By selecting any of them they will queue in your download queue.

You can carry on searching and adding podcasts to your download queue like this until you have exhausted yourself. It is so simple to do.

As we all know though, there’s no point in constantly downloading podcasts to your device and letting them take up valuable storage and that’s where the Settings come in and are a key function of this app.

Settings – New Episodes Action

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Downcast offers a whole host of settings to help you enjoy your podcasts. You can set it up to Download the Most Recent episodes of any podcasts you are subscribed to, or you can change it to Download All of Them or Mark for Streaming or Do Nothing at all. This is an important control function of Downcast.

Settings – Episodes To Keep

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Another key setting within Downcast is the facility to automatically set whether to keep all unplayed podcasts, the most recent, last two and up to the last ten. By default Downcast is set to All Unplayed. Again, another nice touch that helps you manage your podcasts in the most usable way.

Settings – WiFi

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There’s also the option to automatically download via Wi-Fi only, always or never. By default Downcast is set to Wi-Fi only.

Settings – Miscellaneous

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There are various toggle on/off miscellaneous setting functions too. These include Continuous Play, Downloads Badge and Sound Effects. These are all on by default.

Playlists

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Downcast wouldn’t be complete without a comprehensive Playlist function and it doesn’t disappoint. It is possible to add an innumerable quantity of Playlists that will help you keep your Podcasts organized and enhance your usability.

Overall

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If you listen or want to start listening to more podcasts then downloading Downcast onto your iOS device is a complete no brainer. The facility to download either video or audio podcasts directly onto your iPhone without having to sync with iTunes is fantastic. There is also a multi tasking functionality which allows you to download podcasts in the background or to play the audio in the background plus having the advantage of linking your Bluetooth headset to allow volume adjustment.

This is a very well balanced app. It is complex but the complexity has been organized for your convenience by the developer, therefore, giving you a complex app in a very simple format. The best of both worlds.

You can buy this app from the app store for $1.99 and we thoroughly recommend that you do. We have given it a good road test and it has proven to be a thoroughly decent app and one that comes very highly recommended by theappwhisperer.com.

If you would like to download this app, you can do so here.

Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: joanne@theappwhisperer.com

2 Comments

  • oleh

    For some strange reason search function for podcasts doesn’t work with my Downcast. What may be wrong?

  • oleh

    I found. The problem is in a small bug with region setting. Once I changed it, search is working. The developer of the app will probably fix it soon.