<\/div>\n
One of the other new features that Shifty’s server-side infrastructure enables is cross-device and cross-platform syncing. So if, like me, you consume podcasts on an iPhone and a Galaxy Nexus you no longer need to manage two podcast libraries. When Pocket Casts is\u00a0signed in\u00a0on both, your podcast subscriptions and current play position for each episode\u00a0will sync across both devices automatically.<\/p>\n
There are a couple of other smaller features that are worth mentioning. The first is the Up Next<\/em> playlist, which allows you to queue episodes up on the fly. It’s not something that I thought I’d use all that often, but it’s proved incredibly handy to the point where I can’t imagine using the app without an Up Next playlist.<\/p>\nThe new set of Episode Filters<\/em> is another feature that is surprisingly powerful. Want a list of audio podcasts that have been downloaded and haven’t been played yet? You can create a filter for that. Want a list of audio and video podcasts that you haven’t downloaded yet? You can create a filter for that too. Want to change that to\u00a0show only\u00a0video podcasts you haven’t downloaded? Easy, edit the filter you just created. The filters are incredibly customisable, all the way down to the icon (there are plenty to choose from) and colour of each filter.\u00a0The app includes a handful of predefined filters to get you started, or you can supplement those by creating your own.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Last (but certainly not least), Shifty weren’t content with simply redesigning their iPhone app from the ground up inside and out and adding a slew of new features; they also decided to set themselves the mammoth task of turning Pocket Casts into a universal iPhone and iPad app. I’ve yet to see the iPad app in person, so I’ll post an followup to this article once I’ve had some hands on time with it.<\/p>\n
With version 4, Shifty set out to make Pocket Casts the very best podcatcher on iOS. I think they’ve more than succeeded. Not only have they made the best podcatcher out there, they’ve set the standard for what an iOS 7 app should look like.<\/p>\n
I can honestly say that I’m a giant leap closer to that perfect podcasting workflow I mentioned at the outset…in fact, I think I might actually finally be there.<\/p>\n
Pocket Casts 4<\/a> will be released alongside iOS 7. It will be a free update for existing Pocket Casts users and AU$4.49 for first-time buyers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pocket Casts is one of those apps that I use every day and has lived in the dock of almost every iPhone (and more recently, Android handset) that I’ve owned. So when I was offered the chance to get an early look at the beta of version 4, I could barely contain my excitement.\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11],"tags":[13,152,94,245,69,246,134],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"reckoner_social_message":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}