Castamatic Podcast Player 4+
No nonsense podcast player
Gunp Media Productions
Designed for iPad
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- Free
- Offers In-App Purchases
Screenshots
Description
No ads, no tracking, new widget!
Castamatic is the best app to listen to podcasts on any iOS device. Quickly assemble a custom sequence of shows to listen to or create a smart playlist, and listen to your favorite shows with enhanced audio quality, thanks to Castamatic's machine learning enhanced Auto-leveler DSP algorithm.
Not completely happy with the current feature set? Castamatic wants offer a complete boutique experience: send us an email with your issues or suggestions, and we will do our best to fullfill your wishes.
Highlights
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The "On the Go" playlist lets you pick the episodes you want to listen to in your next listening session and assemble them in a playlist just before leaving. The On the Go playlist will mantain the same order in which the episodes were added. You can then move and rearrange them manually. As soon as an episode has been completely listened to it will be automatically removed from the On the Go playlist. You will always find your On the Go playlist synced on all your devices.
Key Features
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-Chapters:
quickly jump to favorite topics (available for podcasts that support ID3 chapter marks).
-Smart playlists with priority shows.
-Manual "On the Go" Playlist
quickly pick shows for the next listening session.
-Automatic or manual playlist reordering:
sort playlists by date, or arrange them in a custom sequence.
-Support your favorite producers with Podcasting 2.0 and Value4Value features.
-Full support for Siri shortcuts
-Program dependent Automatic Leveler:
increase audio level consistency between different parts/voices of each show, without altering original audio character.
-Adaptive Gap-Zapper:
increase play speed without losing intellegibility by shortening silent parts. Available in three levels for maximum customization.
-Streaming support:
spare network traffic downloading only the parts you want to play, when you want to play them. (Or automatically download the whole thing as soon as it is published).
-Apple Watch support:
control playing, volume, pick episodes, control audio effects directly from the watch app.
-CarPlay support:
take your favorite shows with you in your car.
-3D-touch support:
preview shownotes without interrupting currently playing show (on older devices the same feature is available by long press).
-iCloud sync:
sync subscriptions and playhead position. Pick subscribed shows on any of her iOS devices and resume playing from the point you left.
-AudioUnit API based custom player
for maximum performance and minimal battery drain.
-Serverless design:
our studio can go out of business but Castamatic will keep on working until there are podcasts to listen to on planet Earth.
Subscription (in app purchase)
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Castamatic is supported by advertising. A subscription is available to remove all ads.
Subscription title is "One Year Premium Subscription"
The duration of subscription is one year.
The price of subscription is 8.99 US dollars for one year of subscription, and can vary for different countries and currencies.
Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase
Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end
of the current period
Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and
identify the cost of the renewal
Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the
user’s Account Settings after purchase
Privacy policy: https://castamatic.com/privacy
Terms of Use: https://castamatic.com/terms_of_use/
Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable
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We don't feel confortable interrupting your listening experience to ask for reviews, but if you are feeling generous with your time please take a minute to leave a nice review. Thank you very much for your support.
What’s New
Version 9.2.14
Version 9.2.14
- Minor bug fix importing an opml file
- Improved crash reporting
Version 9.2.13
- Fixed another crash importing an opml file
Version 9.2.12
- Added opml import via document picker
- Fixed crash importing an opml file
Version 9.2.11
- Fixed bug causing frequent crashes on iOS 17 and earlier
Version 9.2.10
- Fixed opml import from files outside Castamatic folder
- Improved opml import
- Import new podcasts with castamatic://feed_url
- Added double tap gesture to watch player
- Improved speed of opml import and cloud sync
Version 9.2
- Fixes and improvements for background updates
- Added adjustable default settings for audio effects for new podcasts
- Apply default settings for audio effects for all existing podcasts
- Improved audio buffering when streaming episodes
- Improved updating feeds in the background when subscribed to a big number of podcasts
- Fixed crash when chapter has malformed URL
- Fix: Sequential playback for new podcasts should follow app default
Version 9.0
- Completely new audio engine.
- Support for Podcasting 2.0 "Value Time Split"
- Many bug fixes
- Fixed resuming from the wrong point in time
- Fixed wrong progress reported after an audio session interruption
- Fixed audio meters when GapZapper is enabled
- Fixed background image in watch player
- Fixed crash when pressing share button on iPad
- Fixed crash when subscribing a new podcast and immediately dismissing the panel
- Improved rss feed caching
- Reduce memory usage during RSS feed updates
- Fix for boost transactions mistakenly marked as failed
- Better handling of low memory conditions
- V4V local fees have precedence over remote splits
- Fixed missing complication on watch
- Trying to fix duplicate entries in the download list
Version 8.7
- New integration with GetAlby.com
- Globally set stream and boost amount
- Minor bug fixes
Version 8.6
- Added support for subtitles
- Modernized the UI with SF Symbols
- Fixed progress indicator during first sync / import
- Fix: Respect user indication not to download new episodes when activating iCloud sync
- Added option to mark episode listened in player
- Small bug fixes
Version 8.5
- Chapter artwork is now displayed in CarPlay
- New option to pause playing and load next episode in the playlist at the end of the current episode
- Improved iCloud sync
- Improved background updates
- Added titles of inclulded podcasts in playlist cell
- Fix for finished episode not marked ad listened in iCloud sync
- Fix for a crash when marking all episodes in a playlist as listened
- Fix for not resuming playback after some audio interruptions (notifications, calls...)
- Many minor bug fixes
Version 8
- Renewed CarPlay user interface, with controls for chapters and audio effects.
- New optional remaining episodes badges
- Podcasting 2.0 support: search for new podcasts on Podcast Index and support your favorite shows with Value4Value
Version 7
- Add or play single episodes from a podcast without subscribing
- Removed all Google Analytics and Ads libraries to prevent abusive behaviours with user's data.
- New "Whats New" panel
- New widget
Version 6.0
New features:
- Automatically skip advertising chapters, intro and outro (configurable for generic and per-podcast keywords and time).
- New high performance audio engine, Airplay 2 compatible.
- Improved audio effects.
- Completely new CarPlay integration.
Fixes and improvements:
- Finer control of priority podcasts in playlists.
- Improved management of onboarding panel.
- Many minor bug fixes.
Ratings and Reviews
Overall best app with one flaw
I love this app. It has all the podcasting 2.0 features and uses native components which looks and feels very polished.
There is one downside, when playing on Bluetooth in the car, if you turn off the car while playing a podcast (without pausing it beforehand) there is a chance that the app will get confused and loose your place. Next time the app starts up the podcast starts from the beginning!
If this can be fixed the app would be perfect!
An Excellent Choice
Castamatic has all of the features one would expect from a modern podcast player, presented in a very well organized, easy-to-use interface. The user experience is brilliant compared to many other players which have become almost hopelessly convoluted. When I discovered that sideloaded files also synced across devices, Castamatic even replaced my audiobook app.
The app subscription model is something I’m still getting used to, especially since multiple subscriptions add up very quickly, and Castamatic is certainly on the higher end for an app with no obvious services or storage being provided. That being said, as long as Castamatic is under continuous development the current asking price is reasonable.
My personal wishlist for Castamatic would be ‘End of Chapter’ and ‘End of Episode’ options for the sleep timer, as well as a time-based limit for News Mode, as opposed to episode count.
Mixed Message
Heard about the app, read the No Ads, No Tacking… decided to try the app. First thing you notice is banners. Can be removed…for a subscription. So much for the No Ads, at least I see a banner that can be removed as an ad. Not a terrible subscription at 9.99 a year, but I’m sticking with a cleaner interface app that doesn’t force a subscription to look clean. Worth a try though if you can get past the, well, ads, or perhaps call them reminders your not a subscriber. Just not for me.
I appreciate the Dev response here. I suppose it all come down to perception. I see a banner reminding you to subscribe to a product as an ad. The developer does not. I can see the their point of view as well. This app is a fantastic app, that banner just ruins it for me. I believe many will love it though and I wish the developer well. Who knows, one day I may try it out again.
Developer Response ,
I confirm there are no ads in Castamatic. If the user is not subscribed there is a banner that remembers the user he can subscribe to Castamatic premium to support developement.
App Privacy
The developer, Gunp Media Productions, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Usage Data
- Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Franco Solerio
- Size
- 26.4 MB
- Category
- Music
- Compatibility
-
- iPhone
- Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
- iPad
- Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
- iPod touch
- Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
- Mac
- Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- Apple Watch
- Requires watchOS 8.0 or later.
- Apple Vision
- Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- Languages
-
English, Italian
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2015-2022 Franco Solerio
- Price
- Free
- In-App Purchases
-
- Premium Subscription $9.99
- Unlock everything $3.99
Supports
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Siri
Get things done within this app using just your voice.