Overcast and the Apple Watch

I have an Apple Watch Series 3 running watchOS 5.0.1 and Overcast 5.0.2 and my iPhone XS running iOS 12.0. The issue I can’t figure out is how to get Mac Power Users podcast to sync to my watch. Other podcasts will get in the queue and “eventually” will make it over to my watch. MPU just stays on my iPhone. I would also like to know if I could push a podcast to the watch via WiFi. I used Outcast in the past and I was able to put my iPhone in Airplane mode and then have my watch attach to my network via WiFi and then push the podcast over WiFi to my watch faster then Bluetooth.

Maybe the watch is “out of space”?

Nope. I went so far as to remove overcast from the watch and iPhone to delete everything and the reloaded overcast on both devices.

Same issue. I have a lot of podcasts downloaded to my iPhone and configured all of them to sync to the watch. None of them have. My next plan is to uninstall Overcast and the data from the phone and watch and start over.

I don’t use Overcast nor do I have an Watch which would support the feature (hurry up series 4 delays) but I did listen to this weeks (or was it last weeks) Under The Radar podcast that Marco Armenia does and I think he mentioned that the Auo-Sync to Watch function only works when the watch is charging.

His website also mentions that there is a 20 episode limit. Could any of you be hitting that limit?

Up to 20 episodes are auto-synced today. This number will change as I refine the balance of resource usage. Auto-Sync to Watch is on by default and can be turned off in Nitpicky Details.

You can control which podcasts get synced by going to Settings > Sync to Watch. If you turn off everything except MPU that should push it to the top of the queue. Then if you want other podcasts, turn them on.

Even with this you’re gong to suffer with the fact that syncing data to the watch is just slow. Something for Apple to fix in the next watchOS (or perhaps the next generation of Watch hardware).

Thanks YellowFrogToaster for the info. You provided enough info for me to figure out fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. First off I’m the version of Overcast I am using Sync to Apple Watch is NOT in Nitpicky Details, but further down the screen. I now know what the Number of Episodes is for, mine was set to 10, the solves why things didn’t seem to move along. So maybe Marco can fix it so that you can download 1 or 2 episodes to your watche while you keep more on your iPhone.

Thanks Chris as you can see I found the missing piece to the puzzle from YellowFrogToaster. Marco needs to look at Overcast and the way it loads data. As I pointed out I have used Outcast and was able to put my iPhone in Airplane Mode and then put my watch in network mode and download the podcasts over WiFi instead of the slower Bluetooth. I like Overcast because it has the ability to let me start a podcast on one device and then you can finish on a different device.

Sync while charging makes sense. It’s what playlist sync to Music on the watch does, too. Probably a requirement of the watch API for payloads over xx Mb to prevent failed or stuck syncs due to dead batteries.

Overcast is very buggy to me. I use carplay for listening to podcasts 90% of the time. The carplay interface doesn’t work in main playlist. I use Castro the app is rock solid. Carplay works flawlessly. Kinda funny this bug has been there for a really long time in Overcast. Marco likes to complain but has yet to fix this bug.

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I’m now running with just my watch - with Overcast providing the podcasts.

On the latest 2 betas I’ve had very little trouble with it.

Not having to carry a phone - though maybe I should for emergencies - has proven a much nicer running experience.

I’m not sure if I’d walk without the phone - as the lightness/clunkiness benefit is less important than with running - but I can recommend persisting with it. If you’re on the beta programme.

Of course I expect the “beta” point to be obsoleted within a few weeks.

The bug in Overcast that you describe has finally caused me to start using a different app. I’ve gone back to Downcast for now. I tried out Castro again before settling on Downcast. I couldn’t get into the interface. It seemed overly fancy without any benefit. The simplicity of Overcast’s interface is really amazing compared to all the other major podcast apps. I just wish he’d address this issue or at least indicate that he’s aware of it and working on it. For those of us that use a personal vehicle for commuting, it’s terribly frustrating that because of this single feature being effectively broken I can’t viably use it in the place I listen to podcasts most these days.

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