I had become very dismayed with the default podcast on my iPhone lately.

The biggest feature that was driving me over the edge was the “You haven’t listened to this in awhile, we’ve stopped downloading it” function which cannot be turned off.

There are two problems with the implementation this function;

  1. The assumption that I have not listened to casts in awhile because I have chosen not to do so (when this is wrong, the reason is I get busy sometimes).
  2. I cannot disable this function (a simple on/off switch).

The lesson I took from these problems is that if you’re building a feature in your software that is not core to its operation (and falls under the category of preferences) then there should be a way to toggle it on/off.

Sad side note: I have tried to use a number of other Podcast apps and sadly they all had their own quirks in relation to automatic downloading over wifi, subscriptions not being updated, ads galore, etc.

Happy side note: There is a market to build a better podcast app.

Want more? Check out my book Code Your Way Up – available as an eBook or Paperback on Amazon (CAN and US).  I’m also the co-host of the Remotely Prepared podcast.

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