The Overcast Podcast Player App is Now Free [Download]

Marco Arment has announced Overcast 2, an update to the popular podcast player app which brings streaming, chapters, storage management, and more.

A powerful yet simple audio podcast player, with features such as Smart Speed, Voice Boost, and Smarter Playlists to help you listen to more podcasts in more places, try new shows, and completely control your experience.

Features:
- Download podcasts for playing anytime, even when offline.
- Search and browse for new podcasts, plus get recommendations from Twitter.
- Create custom Playlists with smart filters and per-podcast priorities, and rearrange the list whenever you want.
- Receive optional push notifications when new episodes arrive.
- Subscribe to a podcast, or just add an episode: try new shows without committing.
- Download podcasts over cellular, set a sleep timer, or use Voice Boost to enhance and normalize speech volume.
- Adjust playback speed, and use Smart Speed to pick up extra speed without distorting the conversation.
- Navigate with CarPlay. (On supported car radios.)
- Apple Watch app, Glance, and notifications


What's New In This Version:
- Streaming
- Chapters
- Storage management
- Icon badge option
- Play-by-priority option
- Smart Speed now dynamically adjusts to quiet voices
- Lots of bugs fixed, including playlist reordering and storage growth
- Tons of little improvements and optimizations

Arment has also announced that he is testing a new business model which makes Overcast free. Here are the details...

---
Overcast 1.0 locked the best features behind an in-app purchase, which about 20% of customers bought. This made enough money, but it had a huge downside: 80% of my customers were using an inferior app. The limited, locked version of Overcast without the purchase sure wasn’t the version I used, it wasn’t a great experience, and it wasn’t my best work.

With Overcast 2.0, I’ve changed that by unlocking everything, for everyone, for free. I’d rather have you using Overcast for free than not using it at all, and I want everyone to be using the good version of Overcast. f you can pay, I’m trying to make up the revenue difference by offering a simple $1 monthly patronage. It’s completely optional, it doesn’t get you any additional features, and it doesn’t even auto-renew — it’s just a direct way to support Overcast’s ongoing development and hosting without having to make the app terrible for 80% of its users.
---


You can download Overcast from the App Store for free.

Read More