Castro Podcast Player 2024.3

version 2024.3

Apr 7, 2024
Version 2024.3
• 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

version 2023.15

Oct 21, 2023
Version 2023.15
- Fixed the CarPlay crash issue - Sorry about that commuters!
- Fixed the New Episode Management selection bug.
More exciting stuff coming soon!

version 2023.14

Oct 16, 2023
Version 2023.14
New Feature: Auto-Add to Folder

- Automatically sort new podcast episodes into your designated folder with our latest feature.
- Navigate to Show Settings (exclusive to Plus subscribers) -> New Episodes. Choose between "Queue Next + Add to Folder" or "Queue Last + Add to Folder" and set your destination folder.
- Your new episodes will be auto-added to your (you've guessed it) chosen folder.

More stuff and bug fixes coming soon! Thank you for all your support, Castro-ers (can we call you that?)

version 2023.13

Sep 13, 2023
Version 2023.13
Improved episode search: Now, after viewing episode details through the “Search episodes” bar, tapping the previous screen takes you back to your search results instead of the podcast Discover screen.

More updates coming soon! Stay tuned.

version 2023.12

Aug 20, 2023
Version 2023.12
It ain't much but it's honest work:

- You can now have “empty” folders state. You can clear episodes inside a folder and re-use it in over and over and over and over….
- Added an option to remove episodes from folders but not from queue
- Fixed a text-wrapping issue that shows up when you pasted a URL or RSS feed to the search bar

version 2023.11

Jul 23, 2023
Version 2023.11
New things have come to light!

- You can now create a new folder right from the Folders tab, whee!
- Switched the position of the delete and folder buttons in the Queue because muscle memory.
- Bug fix: fixed the Continuous Play behavior when you play episodes in a folder.

version 2023.10

Jul 4, 2023
Version 2023.10
Happy 4th of July to all our American friends! *cue the dazzling fireworks and majestic screeches of the bald eagle*

In this update, we're unleashing Folders, a nifty way to wrangle your episodes into iOS-style (you guessed it) folders without disrupting your main queue.

After adding new episodes from your Inbox to the Queue, you can now wield your organizational prowess and stash them in different folders with names tailored to your fancy. This means you can finally tackle that epic binge of all 26 podcast episodes about World War II that have been piling up in your queue.

Our folders feature acts as a steadfast filter, akin to the power of our existing Categories and Shows filters. It shall stand unwavering, preserving the sacred order of your queue. Don't believe us? Give it a whirl!

To cap it all off, behold a timeless quote from the 1996 cinematic masterpiece Independence Day (we shall not acknowledge any lesser sequels): "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!"

version 2023.9

Jun 21, 2023
Version 2023.9
“Bug fix: 
Cheers! All Adam Carolla fans and Swedish listeners who reached out to us, we hear ya. 
The issue affecting the shows under "Podcast One" and "Sveriges Radio" is now fixed!

A new feature is also coming up in our next update. Stay tuned!”

version 2023.8

May 27, 2023
Version 2023.8
Bug fixes and performance enhancements (it ain’t much but it’s honest work):
- Sluggish navigation bar issue now resolved,
- Resolution to duplicating Podcasts under certain categories, and
- Resolution to the weird state where the app kind of freezes when subscribing to Podcasts from search(It was kinda rare though).
Added “Follow us on Twitter” link in Settings
New features and updates will be announced on Twitter (we’re actively working on cool stuff now so please stay tuned). Say hi to us there!

version 2023.7

May 1, 2023
Version 2023.7
Performance enhancements and Bug Fixes are as follows:

- Resolution to the blocking issue, where we got stuck at Search UI and there was no way to go back to Queue,
- Category name in the navigation bar, just like every other screen,
- Resolution to episode action buttons being overlapped by the Category/Podcast floating action buttons,
- A little bit of UI modification to declutter the Episode Canonical state icon, also reduced the Description length to just 2 lines,
- Resolution to the Drag and drop of the first episode in the queue resulting in bizarre position interchanges, and
- Resolution to the inconsistent Episode count on the Category grid and Category detail Screen.

version 2023.6

Apr 11, 2023
Version 2023.6
Resolution to a crash that happened while toggling the Queue filter from show to hide to reveal the whole Queue.
Resolution to the Queue Filter button not tappable anymore.

- More information around Clearing Inbox and Queue:
* Inbox and Queue can be cleared by long pressing the Queue and Inbox Tabs.

version 2023.5

Apr 9, 2023
Version 2023.5
Fixes for the crashes when we tap on selected tab(Inbox/Queue) when the Queue/Inbox is empty,
Fixes the distortion of UI in Show/Category screens on Inbox and Queue, and
Increased the tap area for Delete mode in Inbox/Category grid screens.

version 2023.3

Mar 17, 2023
Version 2023.3
Added accessibility for Inbox and Queue,
Fixed pull to refresh for podcast episode listing,
Fixed grid item cell arrangement for plus devices,
Fixed duplicate shows and categories issues,
Minor UI Fixes.

version 2022.1

Feb 1, 2022
Version 2022.1
- Fixes issue where wrong podcast artwork could show in episode lists
- Fixes issue where artwork would flash between different podcasts in episode lists
- Fixes issue where playing/pausing could cause episode artwork to flash
- Fixes issue where reordering episodes in the queue could cause artworks to flash
- Fixes issue where play suggestion in the iOS Now Playing widget on the Lock Screen and Control Centre were missing artwork
- Speeds up YouTube downloads when using the Sideload to Castro extension

version 2021.8

Dec 7, 2021 Version 2021.8
Introduces a more efficient image caching system to address an issue where Castro could sometimes take up far too much disk space even when no episodes were downloaded.

version 2021.7

Aug 12, 2021 Version 2021.7
2021.7
- Fix for crash when dragging and dropping episodes from Library to Inbox, apologies that this slipped through in the last update

2021.6 FIXES
- Gets YouTube working with the Sideload extension again
- Fixes an issue where episodes could stay download even after manually clearing from the queue if they’d been previously played and then requeued
- Fixes “pocasts” typo in Promoted Content Settings
- Episodes that are cleared from your Queue by the Episode Limit feature now respect the “Delete Episodes” setting in Downloads instead of always having their download immediately deleted
- Same goes for episodes that you manually move from Queue to Inbox
- Fixes issue where an episode could get pushed to the top of History after being on the top of the Queue even if you didn’t play it any further
- Improved error messages when something goes wrong with feed URLs pasted into the search bar in Discover
- Fix for showing the incorrect error message when trying to preview a podcast in Discover that doesn’t load correctly

version 2021.6

Aug 8, 2021 Version 2021.6
QUICK FIX RELEASE
- Gets YouTube working with the Sideload extension again
- Fixes an issue where episodes could stay download even after manually clearing from the queue if they’d been previously played and then requeued
- Fixes “pocasts” typo in Promoted Content Settings
- Episodes that are cleared from your Queue by the Episode Limit feature now respect the “Delete Episodes” setting in Downloads instead of always having their download immediately deleted
- Same goes for episodes that you manually move from Queue to Inbox
- Fixes issue where an episode could get pushed to the top of History after being on the top of the Queue even if you didn’t play it any further
- Improved error messages when something goes wrong with feed URLs pasted into the search bar in Discover
- Fix for showing the incorrect error message when trying to preview a podcast in Discover that doesn’t load correctly

version 2021.5

Jun 24, 2021 Version 2021.5
DOWNLOAD STARRED EPISODES
There’s a new option in Download settings to keep Starred episodes downloaded on your device. Whether there’s episodes you keep coming back to or others you want to keep around for later without clogging up your Queue, this feature means you can have access to them instantly.

OTHER CHANGES
- Episodes you manually clear from the Queue get deleted immediately rather than sticking around for 1-7 days like episodes that have left the Queue because you played through to the end.
- Custom artwork loaded from YouTube channels now shows in the widgets and on the Lock Screen and Control Centre, as well as where it previously did on episode lists and the Now Playing screen in the app.

FIXES
- Sideloading from YouTube had broken again, this fixes it.
- Deselecting chapters could previously lead to a crash, not any more.
- Toggling download settings on an Apple Silicon Mac could previously lead to a crash, that’s fixed too.
- Episodes published with *.mpga file extensions won’t fail to download any more.
- Clearing old listened episodes shouldn’t slow down launch time any more.

version 2021.4

Jun 6, 2021 Version 2021.4
SIDELOADS
- Fixes an issue that was preventing Sideloads from YouTube through the share extension from working
- Sideloads from YouTube now show the channel artwork in episode lists and on the player screen in Castro instead of the default Sideloads icon

PROMOTED CONTENT
- The player screen now has a banner at the bottom promoting podcasts from our advertisers
- Castro Plus subscribers can hide it and it will be hidden by default

BUG FIXES
- Fixes an issue with refresh that could prevent new episodes from showing until after multiple attempts
- Fixes an issue that could prevent new episodes from appearing until after a restore from backup
- Fixes an issue that could prevent pull to refresh in a podcast from getting the latest episode
- Fixes an issue where unwarranted error messages could show after pulling to refresh on Queue or Library tabs
- Fixes an issue that could cause episodes that you're finished with to be left with a few seconds or minutes left in your Library instead of reset to the beginning in case you want to relisten

OTHER
- Adds an option to Reset Castro in User Data settings if you want to just start fresh
- Refinements to the player screen transition with a smoother parallax effect and progressive fading of content

version 2021.3

Apr 14, 2021 Version 2021.3
NOTIFICATION IMPROVEMENTS
- Apologies for an issue where some users stopped receiving notifications. This update resolves an issue we had server-side where push notification tokens were getting inadvertently cleared. On startup the app will send your push token to our serversagain if we don’t have it so that push notifications can be sent reliably again.
- The Push Notifications screen has an option to send a test notification to verify that we are able to send notifications from our server to your device
- The Push Notifications screen will display in the footer the timestamp of when you last received a new episode push notification (if you’ve received one since installing the update)

LOCK SCREEN/CONTROL CENTER
- This build fixes an issue where playback didn’t start as expected after tapping podcast artwork in the Now Playing suggestions on the Lock Screen and in Control Center
- We fixed a potential issue where the play/pause state on the Lock Screen/Notification Center could be out of sync with the app and require multiple taps to play/pause
- This should also improve the reliability of controlling playback from CarPlay
- Please contact us through the support screen and send logs if you continue to encounter playback issues

WHAT ELSE
- The Support section in Settings includes an option to “Copy Anonymous Account Identifier” which can be helpful when contacting support with issues
- Added logging to diagnose a potential issue where episodes aren’t getting auto-queued as expected. Please contact us if new episodes aren’t showing up in your Queue as expected

version 2021.2

Mar 25, 2021 Version 2021.2
- Suggestions from Castro will now show in the Now Playing widget on the Lock Screen and in Control Center when no other media is playing
- Improvements to Siri support for upcoming OS update
- After pushing on Show Notes from the Now Playing screen (by swiping right on the big artwork) you can now perform episode actions on that screen and push on the podcast screen by tapping the mini-artwork in the navigation bar

version 2021.1

Feb 8, 2021 Version 2021.1
BUG FIX RELEASE
- Fixes issues where playback would be jumpy on certain podcast episodes, specifically those with sample rate lower of 32kHz or lower
- Fixes issue where app could get stuck in a state of showing error messages on every refresh
- Improves reliability of podcast redirects getting picked up properly
- Improves reliability of restoring from backup
- Fixes a crash that could happen when restoring from backup
- Fixes the selection highlight colour when selecting text in show notes
- Fixes an issue where attempting to install a shortcut from the Shortcuts Gallery or import from Apple Podcasts would present an error

version 2020.16

20 Dec 2020 Version 2020.16
PLAYERS GONNA PLAY?
This version of Castro should be much faster and more reliable at resuming playback after interruptions like phone calls, alarms, timers, Siri, etc. I also fixed a bug that could get the play/pause buttons stuck in the wrong state and requiring multiple taps.

I’m hesitant to declare Mission Accomplished but fingers crossed it should be much better. Please let us know if you still run into any issues related to this.

NEW WIDGET CONFIGURATION
You can choose between displaying episode summaries or durations and dates in medium and large widgets. Tap and hold on a widget and choose “Edit Widget” (or “Edit Castro” if it’s in a stack) to adjust this setting.

CASTRO PLUS FAMILY PLAN
We now have a dedicated Family Plan where 2-6 members of a family can share a Castro Plus subscription among them using Family Sharing on iOS 14 for a small premium over the cost of a regular annual plan.

NEW APP ICON OPTIONS
New “Blueprint” icon options for Castro Plus subscribers… and another bonus set for subscribers to the Launched podcast.

VOICEOVER IMPROVEMENTS
- Buttons for categories are now read correctly in Discover.
- Unsubscribe is now included as an action on podcast cells in Library.
- On the categories list the percentage match is read out as part of each category instead of as a separate element.
- Podcast summaries are now read out for the highlighted podcast in Discover search results, charts, and curated lists.
- Promoted shows in Inbox and Discover can now be opened and subscribed to.
- Episode summary explicitly mentions if it is downloaded to your device.
- Episode titles are read before podcast names in Inbox and Queue.
- Includes actions to move to next or last in the Queue.
- Adds new actions to quickly move an episode one spot up or down the Queue.
- Inbox tab is now labelled correctly instead of as “New Tab”.
- Podcast name is omitted from episode cell summaries if you’ve explicitly filtered to that podcast in Inbox or navigated to it in Library.

CUSTOM ARTWORK
Castro Plus is no longer required for showing custom episode and chapter artwork on the Now Playing screen.

OOPS
Fixed an issue where private feeds like Dithering would fail to open when using Castro’s URL scheme for opening RSS Feeds.

version 2020.16

Dec 20, 2020 Version 2020.16
PLAYERS GONNA PLAY?
This version of Castro should be much faster and more reliable at resuming playback after interruptions like phone calls, alarms, timers, Siri, etc. I also fixed a bug that could get the play/pause buttons stuck in the wrong state and requiring multiple taps.

I’m hesitant to declare Mission Accomplished but fingers crossed it should be much better. Please let us know if you still run into any issues related to this.

NEW WIDGET CONFIGURATION
You can choose between displaying episode summaries or durations and dates in medium and large widgets. Tap and hold on a widget and choose “Edit Widget” (or “Edit Castro” if it’s in a stack) to adjust this setting.

CASTRO PLUS FAMILY PLAN
We now have a dedicated Family Plan where 2-6 members of a family can share a Castro Plus subscription among them using Family Sharing on iOS 14 for a small premium over the cost of a regular annual plan.

NEW APP ICON OPTIONS
New “Blueprint” icon options for Castro Plus subscribers… and another bonus set for subscribers to the Launched podcast.

VOICEOVER IMPROVEMENTS
- Buttons for categories are now read correctly in Discover.
- Unsubscribe is now included as an action on podcast cells in Library.
- On the categories list the percentage match is read out as part of each category instead of as a separate element.
- Podcast summaries are now read out for the highlighted podcast in Discover search results, charts, and curated lists.
- Promoted shows in Inbox and Discover can now be opened and subscribed to.
- Episode summary explicitly mentions if it is downloaded to your device.
- Episode titles are read before podcast names in Inbox and Queue.
- Includes actions to move to next or last in the Queue.
- Adds new actions to quickly move an episode one spot up or down the Queue.
- Inbox tab is now labelled correctly instead of as “New Tab”.
- Podcast name is omitted from episode cell summaries if you’ve explicitly filtered to that podcast in Inbox or navigated to it in Library.

CUSTOM ARTWORK
Castro Plus is no longer required for showing custom episode and chapter artwork on the Now Playing screen.

OOPS
Fixed an issue where private feeds like Dithering would fail to open when using Castro’s URL scheme for opening RSS Feeds.

version 2020.15

Nov 25, 2020 Version 2020.15
WIDGETS IMPROVEMENTS
- In medium and large widgets you can now choose whether tapping an episode plays it immediately or just jumps to the episode details screen. Tap and hold on a widget and choose “Edit Widget” (or “Edit Castro” if it’s in a stack) to adjust this setting.
- Layout fix for text wrapping issue in small and medium widgets if you have a large system font size.

DELAYED EPISODE DELETION
Episodes now aren’t deleted until 24 hours after they leave the queue instead of immediately. You can revert to the old behaviour or extend this to 7 days in settings.

version 2020.14

Nov 15, 2020 Version 2020.14
2020.14
- Fixes a bug that could cause Castro widgets to disappear from your homescreen.
- Private feeds are now marked properly as so and sharing is disabled on them.

2020.13
Widgets!
You can now add small, medium and large Queue widgets to your home screen. You'll get a short-list of episodes at the top of the Queue, as well as stats displaying total episode count as well as duration. There are both light and dark mode options which change automatically with your system setting.

Ghost Icons
We've added a set of white icons for Castro Plus users! Enjoy!

Secret stuff!
There is some good stuff coming, and we've hidden it in this build for when ... some things happen.

Per-episode speed settings persistence
If you have per-podcast speed settings for a particular show but you want to over-ride that setting, we used to let you do that, but if the app quit the over-ride would go away. No more! We'll remember what settings you adjusted for an episode even if you've quit Castro and relaunched.

version 2020.12

Oct 5, 2020 Version 2020.12
QUICK BUG FIXES
Fixes a crash that could happen when performing actions on new episode notifications. Also fixes another issue that could prevent actions taken on new episode notifications from sticking (e.g. you might clear an episode from a notification only to see it pop back into Inbox later).

NEW SHARE MENU
On iOS 14 sharing from the Now Playing screen now uses a pop-out menus instead of an action sheet. Pro-tip: tap and hold on the share button then move your touch to the appropriate share option before releasing to bring up the share sheet in one smooth gesture.

TAP AND HOLD TO SEARCH
Noticed that the Twitter app does this and it seemed smart so: tap and hold on the Discover tab icon to jump to the tab and immediately into search. The same works on the Library tab for filtering your subscriptions.

IN OTHER NEWS
We've had a hell of a last few weeks with a medical emergency and a car accident that destroyed a laptop (separate incidents). Everyone is fine now, but... it's been a bit wild over here. Widgets are coming, just a bit delayed.

version 2020.11

Sep 28, 2020 Version 2020.11
My fellow Castroids,

We're hard at work getting widgets ready, in the mean time...

This version brings a brand new push notification system. Get your notified about your episodes the moment they're released! iOS 14 restored reliability to local notifications, but these new server side notifications will be even snappier.

We’ve also added “Next in Queue” to the “Adjust Queue Position” shortcut. Next in Queue maintains what’s currently being listened to, but puts the episode up next. This is the way “Top of Queue” used to work, but now Top of Queue will over ride what is currently playing. This will hopefully unlock more options for you all.

The Shortcuts Gallery has been expanded into categories, with some fancy new Shortcuts for you to try out!

Issues where certain YouTube videos could not be Sideloaded have been addressed.

Enjoy!

Oisín & Jesse

version 2020.10

Jun 29, 2020 Version 2020.10
Feedback Integration Release

- Intra-chapter images are now supported! Mr. Thompson feel free to update that chart. Mr. Thompson feel free to update that chart.
- Ryan on Twitter asked for yellow versions of our app icons for Castro Plus users - and so we made them. Enjoy!
- Many of you asked for another app icon... and some things happened there... you'll have to ask Siri about it.
- We also improved support for opening castro.fm timestamp links in the app.
- For those of you on a beta version of iOS experiencing crashes, this release should have a fix for that- but no guarantees- betas gonna beta.
- Chapter skip actions now show as expected in the Shortcuts app, instead of only being available through our Siri Guide.
- Get Now Playing Episode details no longer shows in suggested siri shortcuts, since it is only of use when chained with other actions in the Shortcuts app.

Accessing History, and other parts of the app, through Shortcuts will come later this year alongside the next version of iOS.

version 2020.9

Jun 18, 2020 Version 2020.9
SIRI + SHORTCUTS INTEGRATION

SIRI
- Ask Siri to play any show in Castro, whether or not you're subscribed to it- and Castro will find the episode of that show that makes the most sense to play.
- Ask Siri to play the news in Castro, and Castro will check your Queue, Top Picks, and then Inbox for recent news shows to play.
- Ask Siri to play you something from any category.
- Add episodes to the queue through Siri
- Control all aspects of playback via Siri (playback speed, skipping ahead, jumping back, continuous play, etc)
- Control Castro Plus features like Chapter skipping, Trim Silence, and enhanced Voices via Siri
- There's too many to add to this list, so we made a Siri Guide in Settings so you can see what's possible without having to remember it all. SOME COMMANDS REQUIRE A SHORTCUT TO WORK, you can conveniently add them through the guide with the push of a button.

SHORTCUTS
Many of the Siri interactions are supported to the advanced use of Shortcuts, but we've also added a ton of support for Shortcuts so you can connect Castro to any app, and create your own automations. We can't wait to see what you come up with, but if you'd like some inspiration check out the new Shortcuts gallery in settings.

SIDELOADING
We've updated the Sideloading extension with a nifty redesign as well as support for dark mode. Go sideload something to check it out.

OTHER
- Updated Apple Podcasts library import instructions to use a new shortcut which is much easier to work with.
- Episode summary is now accessible on the Apple Watch (thanks Bryan Clark)
- This release requires iOS 13
- Terms of Use added to Settings

version 2020.8

Mar 28, 2020 Version 2020.8
BUG FIXES
- Fix for "Show More Episodes" not always working when browsing to a podcast in Discover
- Fix for wrong podcast getting subscribed to when tapping (+) buttons in Discover category listings
- Fix for a crash that could happen when pulling to refresh on a podcast screen in Library

version 2020.7

Mar 11, 2020 Version 2020.7
BUG FIXES
- Fixed a crash that could happen after subscribing to a new show by tapping (+) in Discover
- Fixed a crash that could happen after refreshing content in Discover
- Fixed some internal reporting issues related to promoted content in Discover
- Removed The Athletic from the list of apps you can import from (it was there accidentally and tapping it would crash)

version 2020.5

Feb 14, 2020 Version 2020.5
THIRD TIME LUCKY?
We tried to introduce an early supporter Castro Plus discount in 2020.3 but some errors prevented it from being available in the app. We hope it's there now!

If you purchased Castro when it was a paid app, have never subscribed to Castro Plus, and don't see the special offer on the Castro Plus subscription options sheet even after restoring purchases, please contact us from Settings > Support > Email Support and we'll look into it.

Thanks for your support.

ALSO NEW IN 2020.3
- The Sideloading extension now works from the YouTube app, no need to open in Safari any more.
- Pulling to refresh on a podcast screen in your Library now prompts our server to do a refresh, so if it seems like an episode is delayed or missing give that a shot.

OTHER CHANGES
- Fixed an issue with too much padding around some episode titles
- Fix for sideloading from YouTube on iPad not working
- Fix for missing delete sideload button on the next selected sideload after deleting one
- Fix for cases where the promoted podcast placeholder in Inbox could get stuck on screen
- Fix for incorrect timestamps on lock screen and in CarPlay when streaming episodes

version 2.1.1

version 2020.8

28. März 2020 Version 2020.8
BUG FIXES
- Fix for "Show More Episodes" not always working when browsing to a podcast in Discover
- Fix for wrong podcast getting subscribed to when tapping (+) buttons in Discover category listings
- Fix for a crash that could happen when pulling to refresh on a podcast screen in Library

version 2021.2

2021年3月25日 Version 2021.2
- Suggestions from Castro will now show in the Now Playing widget on the Lock Screen and in Control Center when no other media is playing
- Improvements to Siri support for upcoming OS update
- After pushing on Show Notes from the Now Playing screen (by swiping right on the big artwork) you can now perform episode actions on that screen and push on the podcast screen by tapping the mini-artwork in the navigation bar