One of Apple CarPlay’s weaknesses is the low count of apps that work with it, and the lack of variety among them. They fall into four major categories: navigation, audio, store integrations, and messaging. With few choices, the handful of apps that connect to CarPlay need to be excellent.

I’m happy to say that Overcast is one such app. It’s a great podcast manager that I started using to get around issues with Apple’s stock Podcasts offering, and is now an essential part of my drives.

Why I needed a new podcast app

Back when I used Android, AntennaPod was my podcast app of choice. After switching to iPhone in 2020, I needed a new podcast manager since AntennaPod is Android-only. To start, I decided to stick with the stock iPhone Podcasts app to see if the default offering was any good.

And while the Podcasts app is decent, it had one flaw that made me look for an alternative: a lack of flexibility in controlling playback order. I always want unplayed episodes to go in order from oldest to newest, which the Podcasts app makes harder than it should be.

For example, say I was behind on a show and currently listening to episode 100, while episodes 101–103 had since been published. When episode 100 ended, the Podcasts app would play episode 103 next, since it’s the newest unplayed one.

There are two solutions for this, neither of which is convenient. The first is before you start listening, hit Play Next to add older episodes to the queue so they play in order. This is easy to forget, and tedious if you’re listening to lots of episodes in a row (like on a long drive).

The second is to set the episode sorting order to show the oldest at the top, which sets the play order to my preference. However, that has its own problem: the app will play ancient episodes if you haven’t marked them all as played.

Apple Podcasts now has an option to mark all episodes of a podcast as played. As I recall, this wasn’t present at the time. I tested my preferred behavior with this option, and it’s still an issue.

Tapping Play at the top of the show doesn’t play the oldest unplayed episode, even when sorted from oldest to newest. And when one episode ends while more remain, the app plays other shows instead.

How Overcast fixes my podcast issue

When I decided to switch, it was between Pocket Casts and Overcast. I went with the latter because Pocket Casts had more negative reviews at the time, plus its optional subscription was more expensive. I know some people love Spotify for podcasts, but I prefer to use separate apps for different kinds of media.

Overcast solves my playback order problem with an elegant solution. Each show has two tabs for Current and All episodes, and allows you to sort them independently. Current is limited to episodes you haven’t completed, which initially sounds like it would have the same problem as the Podcasts app. However, Overcast has an option called Episode Limit. This caps the number of episodes that appear in your Current list, and is customizable per-podcast.

Thus, if you’ve been listening to a show for years on another podcast app and just switched to Overcast, you don’t have to mark hundreds of old episodes as played. Just set an episode save limit, sort Current from oldest to newest, and you’ll be able to hear your unplayed episodes in order.

Overcast also has a Mark All as Played option.

Overcast is great in other ways

While sorting was a key feature for me, it’s not only this improvement that has kept me using Overcast. There are tons of simple yet smart features around the app that make it pleasant to use; many of them are in the Settings menu.

The History tab lets you review your listening for the past hour, so if you accidentally jump around in an episode, you can review and go back to where you were. Overcast also shows an Undo button when you scrub through an episode for the same purpose.

A recent addition is Promos & Reruns, where Overcast skips uploads that aren’t core episodes. This keeps your Current feed clean and avoids unnecessary downloads and time spent realizing what those uploads are.

The Nitpicky details section contains several interesting toggles. Smart Resume rewinds a tad after you pause, making it easier to resume with context. Seek Acceleration will speed up how much you fast-forward or rewind when you hit the button rapidly. And if you’re the opposite of me, Play Top Episode Next will match Apple Podcasts’ episode order behavior. I also prefer to disable Remote Episode Skip so that the controls on my headphones only seek and don’t accidentally change episodes.

Overcast has little quality of life touches all around it. For instance, you can pin your top podcasts so they’re easily accessible. And dormant podcasts have a moon icon, letting you know they haven’t published in a while.

More show and playback control

Open a show within Overcast, and you’ll see even more handy options.

Tap the Audio icon at the bottom of the Now Playing screen to change the playback speed up to a ridiculous 3x. On the same menu, you can enable Smart Speed and Voice Boost. The former cuts out silences, while the latter normalizes the volume so you don’t have to constantly adjust for quiet and loud talkers.

I’m not a fan of Smart Speed because I find it makes the cadence of speech unnatural (at least at 1.5x speed). But you might find it worth using. Each of these options can be set globally or adjusted per-show.

Under the Settings gear at the top of a show’s page, you can customize many of the options from the main Settings menu for a particular show. Adjust the Episode Limit per your preferences to save storage space, make sure you always have something to listen to, or keep a short queue.

To save even more time, the Skip Intro and Skip Outro options let you bypass repetitive introductions, credits, ad reads, and similar.

Take Overcast into the car

I’ve spent a lot of time discussing Overcast outside CarPlay, but that’s because most podcast management takes place inside the app. Being able to set up Overcast exactly the way I want means I don’t have to fumble around when I’m in the car.

From my list of apps in CarPlay, I open Overcast, tap the Podcasts tab, select my favorite show from the top of the list, and I’m into the latest episode. My playback speed preference is set, and the latest episodes are downloaded. And I know when one ends, it will go to the next chronological episode without me having to fumble around.

I can’t listen to podcasts while I work, as they break my focus, so I usually listen to them while driving or before bed. I listen to music all day while working, so using Overcast for podcasts in the car is a great change of pace.

Overcast is powerful without being confusing

Overcast does have an optional $15/year subscription, but it’s not necessary. It removes ads, but even as someone who despises ads, I don’t mind those in Overcast. They blend into the Now Playing interface and promote other podcasts, not gross products or AI garbage.

Ads don’t appear in CarPlay, and there are no video ads or other obnoxious intrusions. Premium also provides listening stats, which is cool but not essential. The main reason I would upgrade is to support the lone developer.

If you’ve found other podcast apps lackluster, spend some time setting up the download, sorting, playback, and storage options in Overcast. You’ll be able to enjoy them equally on your phone and in the car. It does everything I need, and I bet you’ll be happy with it too.