![]() ![]() I don’t think these controls are better iterations of what they were previously. For the iPhone, using the scrubber sometimes led to accidental swipes revealing the extra controls. In both the iPhone and iPad (landscape) interfaces, the volume slider is hidden with these extra controls. Artwork is small, and controls are grouped tightly together at the bottom of the display. In keeping the interfaces mostly the same, I feel like there’s lots of wasted space on the iPad. On the iPad, controls are matched with the iPhone’s except that they’re revealed by tapping a wrench icon. The same controls are still there on the iPhone, but instead of sliding up you slide left to reveal them. I haven’t warmed up to the changes made to the now playing view. Eventually responsiveness is restored after a few seconds. Imagine refreshing Reeder and not being able to browse articles as your subscriptions are loading new entries. It’s a sore point to make, but it’s definitely jarring. When refreshing subscriptions, either manually or automatically, Instacast’s interface becomes unresponsive. Cloud Sync has been great in my time reviewing the app.Ī problem for me, however, has been with refreshing subscriptions. Regardless, I suggest trying again, or resubscribing to your podcasts as a method of troubleshooting. Maybe subscriptions aren’t being rejiggered correctly for Cloud Sync. I’ve never had my 13 subscriptions (with others parked) not sync in the new engine. As for syncing problems, it has not been representative of my experience. A bug’s a bug, and the next version of Instacast, 3.0.1, reportedly fixes this issue. Some people on Twitter have been vocal that they cannot get past the initial Sync Reset when importing their subscriptions from iCloud into the new Cloud Sync. You can try to nitpick and intentionally break the sync, but I think it works as intended. Instacast couldn’t always sync up podcasts between now playing views, especially if I was playing different podcasts concurrently (who would do that?), although that’s to be expected. I can pause Instacast on my iPhone, put it to sleep, pick up my iPad, and it will sync up where I last left off. The best analogy I’ve got is how long it takes to make your cup of coffee. With iCloud, the best results were had if you waited a few minutes. Having the privilege to use Instacast while it was in beta, it is as fast as Vemedio promises it should be. Instacast 3’s Cloud Sync is much improved over iCloud. It’s been my mainstay for podcasts for a long time and I don’t want that to stop. ![]() I’m personally happy to the pay for the app. Vemedio charges for apps (and previously charged additional for extra features) to recoup development costs and maintain their podcast directory. In fact, this is how The Iconfactory handled Wednesday’s launch of Twitterrific 5. As the App Store doesn’t offer a way to pay for upgrades, Vemedio decided to launch a brand new application. The upgrade to Instacast 3 isn’t free for previous customers. You will need to sign up for a free account from the settings to enable sync - it’s simply a username and password to associate Cloud Sync with you. It’s a single app costing $4.99 that gives you all of the features right out of the box. It’s also a response to finding a pricing model that works. Instacast 3 is a response to solving these core issues. By the end I simply dealt with its problems. At launch, I found Instacast’s sync to be quite good. Progressively, it felt like Instacast sync was getting worse throughout its lifespan. It’s unfortunate that iCloud isn’t as reliable as it could be. Couple that with slow and sometimes inconsistent syncing over iCloud, and Vemedio had no choice but to completely rebuild the engine underneath the hood. The previous in-app purchase model and lack of parity between Instacast’s apps ended up being confusing for customers. ![]()
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