OS X: We love Downcast—it's my favorite iPhone app and our top pick of podcatchers on iOS—so we were thrilled to see the release of a Mac version. If you want a feature-rich podcatcher that. Yet for some reason, Downcast can’t do that. It applies BOTH the latest local changes AND the latest remote changes How stupid is that? The developer really needs to fix this. If it’s a function of iCloud — which I doubt as other apps sync with iCloud just fine — the developer should find another sync solution.
I wasn't going to write this post because I've already said most of what I wanted to on Twitter. Yesterday though, I changed my mind when I saw this Tweet from Product Hunt.
Unlike the above-mentioned podcast apps, Stitcher is an on-demand Internet radio service first and an excellent podcast app second. But just because podcasts aren’t Stitcher’s top priority doesn’t mean that the app doesn’t deserve its place on this list of the best podcast apps for Android and iOS devices—far from it. Alternatives to Downcast for iPhone, Android, Web, Mac, iPad and more. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. This list contains a total of 25+ apps similar to Downcast. List updated: 8/21/2020 10:22:00 AM.
The Best Podcast Apps for Mac ?️?️
Add your favorite ? https://t.co/S9X18oklTFpic.twitter.com/fGVNgRsYDH
— Product Hunt (@ProductHunt) July 15, 2017Add your favorite ? https://t.co/S9X18oklTFpic.twitter.com/fGVNgRsYDH
It's a link to a question posted on Product Hunt over three months ago asking for a decent Mac podcast app because iTunes is dreadful. The recommendations are what really angered me:
- Downcast - The is the only remotely sensible suggestion as it's a native Mac app that comes with an iOS counterpart. However the app isn't an improvement over iTunes to me as the UI could do with some work. The iPhone app also lacks features like Smart Speed that can be seen in Overcast and Pocket Casts.
- Overcast - No, Marco hasn't made a Mac version of Overcast but someone recommended using the web UI which doesn't in any way fill the place of a native app.
- Castro - Yep, no Mac app here either but even worse, there's no web UI and the user recommended using AirPods with your iPhone. My face hit my palm at that point.
I don't know why I even clicked the link because I knew after repeatedly searching for months there wasn't.
Pocket Casts
It's no secret that my favourite podcast app on my iPhone is Pocket Casts. I love the UI, the smart playlists, and up next feature. Not to mention the fact that it cuts out gaps in audio like Overcast and has a web UI.
While the web UI is okay it doesn't feel native and still leaves a number of issues. Most notably there is no media key or chapter support. On top of that, because I have it pinned as a tab in Safari I constantly find myself closing the window.
Building Desktop Casts
I opened up the web inspector for the Pocket Casts site and started recording the XHR requests. Reverse engineering their private API was simple as it's logically designed and uses a user token stored in a cookie for authentication.
That Friday I spent the day bashing something together that would interface with the Pocket Casts private API.
Downcast For Windows
With a little tidying up this could be something pic.twitter.com/ZowMmZu1N4
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) June 30, 2017I was excited with what I had and quickly registered desktopcasts.com, thinking that I could release this as an unofficial Pocket Casts Mac app.
Thankfully I had nothing planned that weekend and spent the entirety of it working on Desktop Casts. That's not hyperbole at all. The project had its grip on me and I couldn't stop thinking about it or working on it. I stayed awake until 3am Sunday working on it, got up at midday and worked some more.
I can’t decide if I like that bottom bar in dark. It is on the iPhone app and I do like the separation. pic.twitter.com/KfPYZReItg
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) June 30, 2017A lot happier with this now and think I have a general idea for the player layout at the bottom. pic.twitter.com/XKd94TJabE
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) July 2, 2017We’ve got show notes! ? pic.twitter.com/hLipNlboNa
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) July 2, 2017Let’s get that individual podcast screen in ? pic.twitter.com/BExjh4F36z
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) July 2, 2017Login screen looks a little nicer now pic.twitter.com/jBRNTVGHJB
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) July 2, 2017Chapters were easier than expected to add. Now just needs some tidy up. pic.twitter.com/aguqyt5AG4
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) July 2, 2017Turns out that panel is perfect for show notes too! pic.twitter.com/ExOim5zbUO
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) July 3, 2017Chapter support + seeking fully implemented ? pic.twitter.com/pY8epbQM6y
— Stephen Radford (@steve228uk) July 4, 2017Game Over
I was excited. Finally it felt like I would finally have the Pocket Casts Mac app I so desperately wanted. In my excitement I'd assumed that this would all be fine but I wanted to make sure so I looped the @PocketCasts account in on the thread.
Hopefully @pocketcasts don’t mind me using their private API for this ?
![Downcast for windows Downcast for windows](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134050291/368199455.jpg)
It turns out that was the right thing to do as they're not currently in a position to support an API.
I think this is cool personally, but please don't do this. We don't have an API for a reason, we just don't have the.
— Pocket Casts (@pocketcasts) July 3, 2017.resources to support it. Current changes we're working on will also probably break what you're doing.
— Pocket Casts (@pocketcasts) July 3, 2017.and finally if you implement it wrong you risk getting people's accounts locked who use this app.
— Pocket Casts (@pocketcasts) July 3, 2017. Free mac apps downloads. don't want to be a buzz kill, but just hoping to be open and honest about using an API we don't have or support.
— Pocket Casts (@pocketcasts) July 3, 2017I was disappointed but I understood. It's their API, I broke their user terms by reverse engineering it and I totally understand not being able to support something as a small team from experience.
https://bedpowerup639.weebly.com/blog/vodafone-smart-first-7-unlock-code-free. That said, I reached out to them via email to apologise for causing any alarm and they explained some more of their reasoning.
What Now?
![Fantastic Fantastic](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134050291/174596160.jpg)
Well I still get to use the best podcast app on the Mac. It syncs perfectly with Pocket Casts on my iPhone, I can skip to chapters and it's simply fantastic — and, you don't. You get to keep using a web UI that's a mediocre experience or put up with podcasts in iTunes if you can wade through that piece of crap. https://everlog570.weebly.com/blog/minecraft-pc-mods-download-mac.
I did consider releasing it as a standalone app that would subscribe to feeds on its own but that idea proved to not be popular and the additional time it would take to do that isn't worthwhile. If Pocket Casts (or Overcasts) ever release a public API that will sync with their service or mobile apps I will be ready and waiting.
Until then, the perfect podcast app for Mac is all but a dream.
Questions about Apple Watch?
See our FAQ for Fantastical for Apple Watch.
I’ve upgraded from Fantastical 2. What happens to the features I paid for?
Downcast Podcast App
All of your features from Fantastical 2 are automatically available and do not require a Fantastical Premium subscription. Twitter app mac os x. This is only available to existing Fantastical 2 customers.
You do not need to do anything special to receive these features, Fantastical will automatically detect your previous purchase and make these features available.
Fantastic Downcast Mac App Install
NOTE: You only receive the features that were available on your previous app. For example: Fantastical 2 for Mac had calendar sets, but Fantastical for iPhone did not.
There are also new features available for free to existing Fantastical 2 users:
- New: 3 day weather forecast (powered by AccuWeather)
- New: Full task support including Todoist and Google Tasks
- New: Parser autocomplete recommendations for invitees, locations, calendars, and task lists
- New for iOS: Apple Watch syncs over Wi-Fi and LTE, even if your phone isn't nearby (requires creating a free Flexibits account, but no Fantastical Premium subscription is needed)
- New for iOS and iPadOS: Improved invitee support. Add your calendar accounts directly to Fantastical and receive and respond to invitations as well as G Suite and Exchange invitee lookup
- New for macOS: Fantastical can now run in the background (receive notifications and sync even when Fantastical isn't running) and the mini window can now run over other full screen apps
- New for macOS: Support for attachments on Google Calendar events
- New for iPadOS: Full screen day, week, month, and year views
- New: Universal app on iOS and iPadOS - If you are an existing iPad user, please download the new Fantastical from the App Store and your existing features will be made available
Note to Mac users:
- If you purchased Fantastical for Mac on the Mac App Store then update on the Mac App Store
- If you purchased Fantastical for Mac directly from our website then update in-app
Why is Fantastical's app icon badge not updating?
This appears to be caused by a bug with iOS 13 notifications, which we've reported to Apple. If you open Fantastical, the badge count may update correctly. If the badge count doesn't update, the first place to check is iOS Settings > Notifications > Fantastical. Make sure that Badge style notifications are enabled here. If the problem persists, go to Fantastical's settings and toggle the App Icon Badge setting off and then back on again. If that doesn't work either, we've had reports that reinstalling Fantastical fixes the issue for some people. This issue is not specific to Fantastical and affects some other apps too. Hopefully a solution will be available in a future update to iOS.
How do I delete events from the Holidays calendar?
The Holidays calendar is built directly into iOS and maintained by Apple, so there is no way to edit or adjust this calendar. However, it is possible to hide this calendar in Fantastical's Settings > Calendars.
You may want to subscribe to an alternative holiday calendar that you find more relevant. Once you've found an alternative holiday calendar online, go to iOS Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Add Account > Other > Add Subscribed Calendar. Paste the calendar feed's URL here and the calendar will appear in Fantastical.
Why do I only see one Join Call button for conference calls when I have multiple calls scheduled?
The Join Call button will only appear for your next, upcoming call. This has the advantage of reducing clutter in your calendar, and when future calls become due you can click the Join Call button to join these calls too.
Why aren't my calendars or reminders appearing in Fantastical?
First, please make sure your data appears as you'd expect in the Calendar and Reminders app. If it doesn't, make sure your accounts are configured correctly in the Passwords & Accounts section of the Settings app.
Once you've ensured your data is in the built-in apps, make sure you've allowed Fantastical to access your events and reminders. You can verify this in the Privacy section of the Settings app.
If your events or reminders still aren't showing up, try turning your phone off and back on. You can do this by holding down on the power button and sliding to turn off the phone.
Why isn't Fantastical syncing my data?
Fantastical itself doesn't sync your data. Instead, your device connects to a service such as iCloud, Google Calendar, or Microsoft Exchange which stores your calendars. When Fantastical updates your calendar, your service will upload these changes and sync them to your other apps that are signed in to the service. These might include other versions of Fantastical, or any other app configured to use your calendar service.
If events or reminders aren't syncing between devices, take a look at our troubleshooting steps for syncing.
Why can't I see my shared or subscribed Google Calendars?
You probably need to enable your other calendars through Google's web interface. Go to https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect and make sure that all of your calendars are enabled there. If you originally set up your Google account using Exchange and Google Sync, you can enable your calendars at https://m.google.com/sync/settings/.
Why can't I see events that are more than a month old?
Check to make sure your device is set to sync all of your events.
- Open the Settings app
- Tap the Calendar section
- Make sure Sync is set to All Events
Why are my new events being set as all-day events?
New events will be set to all-day if you don't specify a time in your sentence. If you want a timed event, simply add the time to your sentence, such as 'Meeting on Friday 3pm-5pm,' and Fantastical will disable all-day mode and set the event times.
How do I get alerts for events and reminders to open Fantastical?
You can enable alerts for events and reminders in Fantastical's settings under the Advanced settings. If you enable this option, you'll also want to disable the alerts for the Calendar and Reminder app. You can do that in the Notification Center section of the Settings app.
How do I show the date on the app icon?
You can show the current date in as a badge on Fantastical's app icon by going into Fantastical's settings and changing the App Badge Icon setting to Current Date. Apple does not allow developers to modify the icon directly, so this is the best workaround that is currently available.
Which types of calendars does Fantastical work with?
Fantastical works with any calendar that you have set up on your device's Settings. If it appears in Calendar, it will also appear in Fantastical. If you haven't already added your calendars to your iOS device, you can do so by opening the Settings app, selecting Passwords & Accounts, and adding your accounts there. iOS supports syncing calendars over iCloud, Google, Yahoo, Exchange, and more.
Why do I keep being logged out of Zoom?
If you are getting frequent prompts to log back into your Zoom account, then this is caused by a device limitation imposed by Zoom: Zoom can only be signed in to one computer and one mobile device at a time. Zoom's authentication system doesn't yet support multiple devices of the same type being able to sign in to the same account simultaneously. Thus, signing in to Zoom through Fantastical one one device will automatically log you out on another device of the same type. We have reported this limitation to Zoom.
For more information on this topic please refer to Zoom's help center
Are my accounts and events safe in Fantastical? Does Flexibits collect any personal data?
Please see our privacy page for more information.
Why do I need to add my accounts manually?
Fantastical on iOS and iPadOS can access your calendars in two ways: using the accounts you have added in iOS or iPadOS or directly via Fantastical, using accounts you need to add manually to the app. Habit tracker app pc.
Accessing your iOS or iPadOS calendars through Fantastical empowers you to start working right away. However, this convenience comes at a price: iOS restricts what third party apps can do, which results in a limited and slower experience. This is why we recommend you take a moment to add your calendar and task accounts directly to Fantastical.
To add your calendar and task accounts directly to Fantastical, proceed to Settings → Accounts → Add Account and select your account type.
The benefits of adding your accounts directly to Fantastical are as follows:
- Add invitees to events
- Hide events without deleting them
- Look up room and person availability on G Suite and Exchange
- Receive up-to-the-second push updates for Google, Exchange, and Office 365 calendars
- Respond to incoming invitations
- Set custom event colors and Exchange categories
- Set Travel Time and Time to Leave notifications
- View shared calendar notifications on iCloud
Once you have added your accounts to Fantastical, we recommend you go to Settings → Accounts → Accounts from iOS and disable “Calendars from iOS” to avoid seeing duplicate events. We recommend you leave “Reminders from iOS” on, as calendar accounts do not sync the reminders you have set up in the Reminders app on your iPad or iPhone.
On the Mac, Fantastical does not access system calendars the way Fantastical does on iOS or iPadOS. It is therefore necessary on Mac to add calendar and task accounts manually in Preferences → Accounts before using the app.
Multi-device users, please note that, for privacy reasons, accounts must be added manually on each device. Fantastical will suggest accounts you have added on your other devices, but they still need to be added manually.
I added my calendar accounts to Fantastical, so why can't I invite people to events?
After adding your calendar accounts directly to Fantastical you can use the app to send invites. If you have already added your account but are still getting a message stating that you need to add your account before you can create an invite, you need to disable the 'Show Calendars from iOS' option.
Here's how to do that:
- Open Fantastical’s Settings
- Tap on Accounts
- Tap on Accounts from iOS
- Disable 'Show Calendars from iOS'
How do I specify a calendar or reminder list when creating a new event?
You can specify a calendar by using a slash (/) at the beginning or end of a sentence. Even easier, you only need the first character of a calendar. For example, /w or /h would create your event in the Work or Home calendars, respectively. You can be more specific if you have multiple calendars with similar names, such as /pe for Personal and /pr for Private. Alternatively you can use the word calendar, such as 'Lunch with John calendar work'. Finally, you can tap the space bar four times instead of using a slash. For example, 'Lunch with John<space><space><space><space>w' will do the same thing.
Why can't I sort my reminders manually?
Unfortunately, Apple does not allow third-party apps to change the order of reminders in the Reminders app or when using Reminders data. Due to this restriction, Fantastical sorts your reminders by due date. You can view all your reminders in a single list, or separately by each list. Fantastical also displays reminders in your schedule on the date they're due.
I'm getting unwanted alerts on my events!
There are multiple ways to configure calendar alerts and Fantastical, iOS, and possibly your calendar service, all have their own alert settings. It could be that the unwanted alerts are being added by something outside of Fantastical. If you events have unwanted alerts, check the following:
- Open iOS's Settings app > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Default Alert Times. If default alert times are configured here, they may appear in addition to Fantastical's. Disable them if necessary.
- If you're using Google Calendar with Fantastical, it's likely that Google Calendar has it's own default notifications configured. Go to www.google.com/calendar and click Settings > Calendars > Edit notifications (you'll have to do this separately for each calendar). Check whether you have any event or all-day notifications enabled. If you do, remove them to prevent the extra alerts from appearing in Fantastical.
Does Fantastical have a URL handler?
Fantastical supports the following URL actions:
fantastical2://parse?sentence=[input]
— Begin creating a new event with the given sentence. The notes parameter can also be added to specify a note with the event. For example: fantastical2://parse?sentence=sentence¬es=[your note]
. The following parameters are also supported:add
(set to 1 to automatically add an event - be careful!)reminder
due
(requires the formatyyyy-MM-dd HH:mm
)title
location
url
notes
start
(requires the formatyyyy-MM-dd HH:mm
)end
(requires the formatyyyy-MM-dd HH:mm
)allDay
(can be 1 or 0)availability
(options:free
,busy
,tentative
,unavailable
)private
(can be 1 or 0, only applies to Exchange calendars).
Note that if you use the
sentence
parameter it will cause other parameters to be ignored.fantastical2://show?date=yyyy-mm-dd
— Jumps to the specified date. You can also use a natural language date such as 'Tuesday' or 'next month' and Fantastical will do its best to show the date.Fantastical supports x-callback-url. x-callback-url can be used by using
fantastical2://x-callback-url/parse?parameters
or fantastical2://x-callback-url/show?parameters
. The parameters x-source
, x-success
, x-cancel
, and x-error
are all supported. Refer to the x-callback-url site for more details.Fantastical is also officially supported by Launch Center Pro.
What is your subscription cancellation and refund policy?
Fantastical Premium offers a 14-day free trial period. During the 14-day free trial period, you have the option to cancel your subscription before it is billed.
- Subscriptions automatically renew unless you cancel them
- If you cancel, you can keep using the subscription until the next billing date
If you signed up for a free 14-day trial subscription and don't want to renew it, cancel it at least 24 hours before the trial ends.
If you are currently on a plan that has been billed, you are responsible for those charges. However, you can cancel future billing at any time. If you want to cancel, follow these instructions:
- If you activated your subscription directly from Flexibits, click or tap here for your Flexibits Account and select the Billing tab.
- If you activated your subscription from the App Store, click or tap here to manage your subscriptions.
Once a subscription charge has been billed, it is non-refundable.