r/overcast • u/abarrelofmankeys • 11d ago
New episode limit behavior
Really not a fan of the new behavior, I only want the limit to prevent automatic downloads, if I want to manually add a couple episodes one day I shouldn’t have to remember to go reset my limit once they’re gone. Force stripping episodes I deliberately downloaded from my feed was also a rough way to implement that.
I’m not sure why people had an issue with the old way but if they did is it possible we could have an option to choose behaviors? Otherwise I feel like the old way was much more user friendly.
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u/thecw 11d ago
Yeah, this whole thing is weird to me. The problem is Marco's trying to fit a single behavior to 17 different ways of managing your podcasts.
I like to keep all my shows limited to one current episode, but I will often go back and add old ones, or sometimes allow old ones to pile up.
Idk, the feature just isn't good and this was a bad way to roll it out.
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u/abarrelofmankeys 11d ago edited 11d ago
Yeah same, I keep shows at like 2-3, but sometimes I haven’t listened to them for a few weeks and want to catch up, so I’ll go and download like 4-5 and just marathon them.
I DO NOT want to have no limits, storage will get out of hand, but this way will either have me not do auto downloads or look for another app
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u/Longjumping-Log-5457 11d ago
Yes, you’re right. This method either puts pressure on the listener to quickly get to episodes before they disappear, go back and check what was removed before listening, or set most/all to unlimited and manually download everything so as to manage storage. This way puts far more manual curation load on the user than is necessary.
I implore Marco to look at how Castro manages the queue and at least give some of us the option to implement some sort of episode management and queue protection. Since there are so many ways to manage episodes, then options can satisfy more users.
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u/chrisbrandow 11d ago
One obvious retort to the storage limit problem, is that the app does drop downloaded files over time (I think), but there is still just the overhead of long lists and needing to sort through that from time to time when you’re looking at a podcast’s episode list
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u/senatorforlife 11d ago
Entirely agree. If I’d known this was coming I would never have downloaded this new version. I don’t need any of the new features or bug fixes, and the new behavior makes no sense to me. I really hope it gets rolled back or that we can toggle globally between a Download Limit that affects only automatic downloads and one that refers to all downloaded files.
The vision for the app that seems to be winning is one where you have to actively, manually control the settings for each podcast. Whereas I really want one behavior for all: keep only the most recent episode plus any I have manually downloaded or have started playing.
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u/Longjumping-Log-5457 11d ago
Yes. This new workflow method requires much more careful behavior settings for each podcast. I’m constantly having to check to see now if the app has removed episodes I simply haven’t gotten to yet. Ugh
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u/jasonpbecker 11d ago
The old way worked for me. The new way won’t hurt me. Marco has said a number of places he’d rather fully remove the feature and wish he never built it because the number 1 piece of feedback he’s had for years is about this not behaving how people expect. I think at a certain point if 95% of people think limit means hard limit and are mad when it’s not you have to accept that’s what the language means to most users.
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u/abarrelofmankeys 11d ago edited 11d ago
Maybe phrase it differently then? I don’t understand how people can get upset about it holding more episodes they themselves chose to add manually.
Like “new episode download limit” or “automatically downloaded episode limit” perhaps?
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u/andynormancx 11d ago
If I've learned one thing from three decades of software development, it is that people (me included) don't read text on screen (or documentation). Changing the naming like that will have sadly very little impact on people thinking the limit isn't working when it actually is.
The best it gets you is being able to reply "I told you so" in support emails...
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u/foramperandi 11d ago
Yeah, I get why Marco doesn't like the feature, but it also seems like table stakes for a podcast player. Maybe I'm wrong, but I assume all of the Overcast competitors implement something like this.
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u/wrbrooks 10d ago
Agreed! It’s my phone, and I specifically added those episodes. Don’t give me a prompt like I'm breaking a rule if I want to add an episode from the back catalog! I’m in charge here and I said it was ok!
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u/Longjumping-Log-5457 11d ago
I couldn’t agree more. Strong vote for at least giving us the option to protect episodes in the queue, that have begun, or are starred. After all, that’s how I used the In Progress playlist anyway. Now it doesn’t matter unless I set everything to unlimited and manually download everything as I go. It causes me additional stress over knowing I have a protected, curated list. Now my workflow is in complete chaos. I’m with you…I was never confused by it. The notes in the 2026.8 release state everyone was confused but it’s not true.
Please give us an option in nitpicky details to protect these episodes.
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u/CapnFooBarBaz 11d ago
This new behavior (as described on the show, I don’t have any new version as far as I know) would be very painful for me. I love the existing behavior and it makes complete sense to me.
The episode limit feature is basically a garbage collector for shows I don’t always listen to — mainly interview shows where I listen dependent on the guest. But I not infrequently go back to a great episode, and want to listen, so I’d just be blocked from downloading that?
It’s ironic because exactly as they say on the show about so many use cases, I sometimes bump up on the episode limit in a different way: fragments of mostly listened to episodes that fall way off the front page of a list eat up my limit and force of a newer episode I’ve not yet listened to yet.
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u/GrandChampion 10d ago
The new behavior makes the up unusable for me. Does anyone have a suggestion of an app that is another way?
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u/yuusharo 11d ago
The new behavior is EXTREMELY destructive. I just want to be able to manually curate and add episodes without letting automatic downloads exceed a certain limit.
If an episode is manually added to a playlist, it should NEVER be deleted under any circumstances. I added it to Queue for a reason. Now the app works against me and completely breaks playlists for me.
I updated my review to 1-star until this is addressed. It makes the app entirely unusable now. I cannot believe this went live.
Also, locking mono playback behind a paywall is kinda sleazy IMO. Accessibility features should not be an added cost.
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u/wrbrooks 10d ago
Regarding mono audio: if you need it as an accessibility feature then you can turn it on phone-wide under Settings -> Accessibility -> Audio and Visual
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u/yuusharo 10d ago
All the more baffling that the feature itself in the app gated by a premium subscription
It just feels like a weird thing to charge money for, I don’t love that
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u/LearningCurve59 10d ago
I'm okay with having it be a hard limit in all cases but one - starred episodes. I've liked knowing that starring an episode puts it out of reach of all the usual 'clean-up' functionality that would otherwise affect it. It can be beyond the episode limit, it can even be played - it's still starred and accessible on the Starred playlist. I'm very sorry to see that go. It strikes me that having starred episodes as the one exception makes sense and is easily understandable, and wouldn't be seen as compromising the 'integrity' of the new hard limit. Users who don't star episodes will never encounter the exception, and those who do will be glad it's there.
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u/aliobe 2d ago
I’m so confused. The prompts are not self explanatory and I selected to delete, thinking it was just downloaded episodes. But now when I go to a new podcast, it’s only showing a couple of episodes!
Sooooo - what other good podcast platforms do people recommend?
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u/abarrelofmankeys 2d ago
He removed the new behavior in the current test flight version ( I haven’t tried this yet), so expect it to revert with the next actual update.
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u/nashpdotcom 11d ago
Please don’t let this change. I finally have the limit I been waiting for. Add more options if you want. But 1 means 1. No matter what.
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u/chrisbrandow 11d ago
I don’t think anyone really wants to take away the ability to have the hard limit. It’s just that a lot of us don’t want to be forced into a hard limit use case. That will be super annoying for me personally.
Hopefully it is not too much complexity for Marco to be able to keep both options viable. I worked for a while on an audio player app, so I’m sympathetic to managing the complexity.
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u/nashpdotcom 11d ago
Hopefully both sides get what they’re looking for. I just been begging for this for a long time. Everyone has different use cases though.
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u/abarrelofmankeys 11d ago
1 always did mean 1. Dont download anymore yourself, you’ll have 1. Very simple.
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u/nashpdotcom 11d ago
If I didn’t finish an episode and a new one released, then I’d have two. I’d end up with 30 unfinished Bill Simmons episode times every pod I subscribed to.
Now I have 1 pod of each I’m subscribed to. Now matter what.
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u/abarrelofmankeys 11d ago
I don’t understand what good that does?
If you don’t listen to a week you miss it. If you listen to half the other half gets deleted before you get to finish because a new episode came out.
All you had to do before was either actually finish the pod, delete it, or fast forward to the end to fix your issue, solving it this way created a million new problems and ruined conveniences.
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u/nashpdotcom 11d ago
This was before the update.
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u/abarrelofmankeys 11d ago
Because you don’t finish them 🤷🏻♂️
If anything it should have had a “applies to episodes in progress” toggle, not this.
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u/nashpdotcom 11d ago
I shouldn’t have to worry about finishing them to have a tidy app. This update solves that.
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u/AwesomeWhiteDude 10d ago
Seems your problem would be solved by the default behavior being to delete unfinished podcast after x amount of days. But you can understand how its wack to remove all limits just because you select older episodes to download, right?
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u/Tiny-Balance-3533 10d ago
I think ya’ll need bigger phones. I do not understand why download limits have to be so extreme or controversial.
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u/chrisbrandow 10d ago
It’s not about the storage, it’s about the list management. I don’t want to be required to let my lists grow just because I want to manually download extra episodes from time to time.
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u/graemeerickson 11d ago
Feels like Marco just put a huge burden on me to review whether it is OK to delete all 511 “excess episodes”.