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I don't think Apple needs to be told where their APIs are lacking for podcasting, as evident through the absence of standalone playback in their own Podcasts ap

I don't think Apple needs to be told where their APIs are lacking for podcasting, as evident through the absence of standalone playback in their own Podcasts app, let alone an app at all. Either Apple can't figure out how to take the podcast experience and make it a good one on the Watch, or more likely (I think), the way it would need to work would make the Watch experience bad. I imagine they've got the "just play" experience for music heavily optimized, but the callbacks Marco mentions probably do terrible things to the Watch's battery and processor. Either way, this is a known desired thing, and if it could be done in a reasonable way, I'm sure they would have - they did put the 'pod' in podcast, after all.

floatingatoll 9y ago
Apple has, in recent years, made explicit overtures to the developer community. They’ve welcomed feedback, requests, and concerns. They’ve acted on some of them. It’s absolutely appropriate to write a piece like this. Clearly summarizing a perceived need driven by a clear set of user stories permits Apple to evaluate viewpoints that may not be familiar.
madeofpalk 9y ago
> as evident through the absence of standalone playback in their own Podcasts app, let alone an app at all This is moot. If Apple wanted were to put their podcast app on Apple Watch they would just use internal APIs that third parties can't use, like the default music app.
- ascagnel_ 9y ago
  They actually had a podcasts app for the Watch early on, and removed it without giving a reason why.
- eddieroger 9y ago
  That was actually my point - either they don't want it done, or can't figure out a way to do it in a consumer-friendly way (read: without wrecking the battery). Apple gets to go first thanks to private APIs, and they haven't done this yet.
skygazer 9y ago
I would suggest it's probably a matter of time, rather than any judgement of infeasibility. Apple uses an iterative 80/20 rule approach to functionality. Podcasts didn't make the cut, because more people listen to music, and they hadn't even finished LTE streaming of Apple Music yet, and generally they service their internal apps/services first, before enabling competing third parties.
simonh 9y ago
That’s hard to accept given how utterly rubbish the Apple podcast app was for many years. It took them ages to get it right.
mikerg87 9y ago
Podcasting on the phone lost the ability to rate/review podcasts. I suspect that they have simply prioritized talent to something else and this will languish for a while. If enough people squawk the plan that will make this great will get executed
- CharlesW 9y ago
  > Podcasting on the phone lost the ability to rate/review podcasts. Happily, Podcasts (at least in the 11.0 GM release) still lets you rate/review podcasts on iOS 11.[1] [1] https://i.imgur.com/AFRSQZu.jpg https://i.imgur.com/AFRSQZu.jpg

floatingatoll 9y ago

Apple has, in recent years, made explicit overtures to the developer community. They’ve welcomed feedback, requests, and concerns. They’ve acted on some of them. It’s absolutely appropriate to write a piece like this. Clearly summarizing a perceived need driven by a clear set of user stories permits Apple to evaluate viewpoints that may not be familiar.

madeofpalk 9y ago

> as evident through the absence of standalone playback in their own Podcasts app, let alone an app at all This is moot. If Apple wanted were to put their podcast app on Apple Watch they would just use internal APIs that third parties can't use, like the default music app.

ascagnel_ 9y ago
They actually had a podcasts app for the Watch early on, and removed it without giving a reason why.
eddieroger 9y ago
That was actually my point - either they don't want it done, or can't figure out a way to do it in a consumer-friendly way (read: without wrecking the battery). Apple gets to go first thanks to private APIs, and they haven't done this yet.

skygazer 9y ago

I would suggest it's probably a matter of time, rather than any judgement of infeasibility. Apple uses an iterative 80/20 rule approach to functionality. Podcasts didn't make the cut, because more people listen to music, and they hadn't even finished LTE streaming of Apple Music yet, and generally they service their internal apps/services first, before enabling competing third parties.

simonh 9y ago

That’s hard to accept given how utterly rubbish the Apple podcast app was for many years. It took them ages to get it right.

mikerg87 9y ago

Podcasting on the phone lost the ability to rate/review podcasts. I suspect that they have simply prioritized talent to something else and this will languish for a while. If enough people squawk the plan that will make this great will get executed

CharlesW 9y ago
> Podcasting on the phone lost the ability to rate/review podcasts. Happily, Podcasts (at least in the 11.0 GM release) still lets you rate/review podcasts on iOS 11.[1] [1] https://i.imgur.com/AFRSQZu.jpg https://i.imgur.com/AFRSQZu.jpg