I stopped using it a year or two ago after they stopped updating/communicating with their users. This sounds promising however:
3 Likes
Castro used to be my podcast app of choice. I even listened to the dev podcast! Then, I moved to Pocket Cast and when that got acquired by Wordpress and increase in price, I settled back to Apple Podcast. I’m glad to see Castro coming back!
Yeah, I doubt I’ll jump back in but I’m glad it’s back.
The watch sync was unreliable and communication from the dev was non existent. I particularly enjoyed the year where they never updated their social media and barely answered any support requests.
That chapter pre-selection though 
I’m a happy Pocket Casts user, but I like to keep my eye on Castro.
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I am interested and might check it out. I want a podcast player that is iOS/Android and preferably has Mac and PC desktop apps. Pocket Cast is the closest to what I want because it checks all the boxes, but it is kind of expensive and I really don’t like some of the design designs (like settings don’t sync between devices). So, even if it doesn’t have desktop apps, I am willing to give it a go once they get it all settled.
Yes! Welcome news. They’ve recently gotten to a couple of my support emails from December and the responses are much better, and there was a quick follow up to my follow up on one of them.
I know both the recent outages were accidents, but ownership really needed to go to someone who would have been immediately alarmed and communicative.
Other than the outages and one bug in the fall, it’s been solid and the feature set is still unique, so their expressed attitude towards stability and power users in the post resonates with me.
After the Singularity, everyone will have an opportunity to run Castro for a day.
2 Likes
First big update from the new owner. Good feeling.
• Fixes for light/dark mode issues when the app wasn’t sure what theme it was on
• Fixes for minute/hour calculations
• Fixes for various visual issues around Castro Plus, text rendering, icon showing up randomly for plus users
• Playback author / Podcast name fix on notification
• Fixes shortcut domain
• Adds an interactive widget
• Visual fixes for the queue widgets
• Fix for sideloading bug where new files would not be recognized
• Fix for sideloading bug where youtube videos would download very slowly
• Add button to clear the queue
• Add ability to mark as played manually
I wasn’t updated with Castro since it was bought by Automattic but I did cancel my subscription when they raised their price and still use the app up to now. With the current pricing, I’m still not subscribing though and would still the app for free.
I just got an email from Apple that my Castro subscription (which I had cancelled, but it was still running) was prolongued for a year. That seems like a nice move to gain back trust. I had just switched to Castro when the severs started to break down, bad luck.
I really liked the queue at first, but actually it started adding up really quick. I switch my interests too frequently, I‘m better of with several folders/playlists for different topics than one queue. So I guess I won’t return, but it’s still nice to see them recovering.
Sounds like you’re talking about Pocket Casts.
I did that early on as well. A small queue (15-30 episodes) with not much auto-queued is the way to go. Castro used to ship with a Siri Shortcut that asks you if each episode in the queue sparks joy and deletes it otherwise, haha.
For the interest-switching problem, the tools are a bit limited. You can filter the queue down by show, category or folder and hit play all to just focus on that. But it feels like a departure from the core, low-friction idea.
You are correct. It was Tiny who bought them.
Ah, I see what was going on with that subscription extension now.
New Pricing
Annual: $24.99
Family (Annual): $39.99
If you are on an early supporter plan right now, it will of course be valid until it expires. Then it will renew at the new pricing.
All existing subscribers have received additional time on their subscription (monthly was extended 30 extra days, quarterly 45, annual 90).
So, it’s down for most people from $30/year to $25/year, but up for people like me it’s up from $19/year.