Podcast app Castro may be dying
Devastating news, well it would have been 2 months ago. I’m now using PocketCasts as I just could not get on with overcast.
Castro changed the way I use inboxes/queue for managing my listening. It was my favourite app. It’s been on my home screen for years.
As a long time paying subscriber of Castro it has deteriorated since the sale/merge. Running PocketCasts in parallel showed how far Castro has fallen. Podcasts would drop days or weeks after release, often needing manual refreshing, occasionally I would get 10 episodes drop in one go, some dates months ago that I had missed, whilst PocketCasts got new episodes in my inbox instantly. Finding new podcasts is easy and error free.
Having been subscribed to 293 podcasts it makes it hard to keep track when one isn’t working in Castro.
Using a VPN was a problem too.
The searching for podcasts would often return multiple results - inevitably I’d pick the one that throws an unauthenticated error.
I’ve cancelled my subscription.
PocketCasts filters allow me to process my inbox and define my playlist just like Castro did. All without a subscription so far, but may look at synching to iPad or a web browser if the need arises. No errors or issues.
RIP Castro.
Castro has been a popular iOS podcast app for many years, but right now things look grim….
The cloud database that backs the service is broken and needs to be replaced. As a result, the app has broken….
What’s worse, according to former Castro team member Mohit Mamoria, “Castro is being shut down over the next two months.”
Published 30 November 2023, with 275 words.