Castro 2.4 with Enhanced Audio

We’re excited to announce that Castro 2.4 with Enhanced Audio is available now on the App Store. Enhanced Audio improves the listening experience for many podcasts and makes it easier to hear in loud environments. Under the hood, Enhanced Audio applies a dynamic compressor and a peak limiter to increase volume just where it’s needed.

Download on the App Store

Enhanced Audio helps when playing a show where voices are at different levels and makes it much easier to listen to podcasts in a car, on public transit, or in a busy noisy place.

You can toggle Enhanced Audio on and off from the expanded player controls screen.

We’ve also added a toggle here for Continuous Play. Lots of users told us that they were toggling Continuous Play quite frequently based on when and where they were listening; navigating to Settings to change that was awkward so we’ve made that much easier now.

There’s a bunch more changes and fixes in the full release notes on the App Store.

9 Months of Castro 2

It’s 9 months since we introduced triage for podcasts with the release of Castro 2 and we’ve been steadily improving things since then:

Up Next

Pádraig will be in San Jose for WWDC from June 5 to 9. If you’ll be in town and want to talk about podcast apps say hi.

We’re really happy with how Castro has developed so far and excited for the future. We’ll be busy over the coming months working on the next iteration of the app. You can follow us on Twitter for updates or subscribe to the Supertop Podcast where we’ll release regular episodes about what we’re working on, the future of podcasting, and more.

Download on the App Store

The Future of Podcasting

A year after The New York Times published an article on the growth of podcasting, we discuss the current state of the medium and what the future may hold.

Listen to this episode in:

This episode is sponsored by Steamclock Software. Steamclock crafts polished products for iPhone, Android, and the Web.

2016

2017

A Contiguous Dumpster Fire

On episode 18 of the Supertop Podcast, we’re joined by Jared Sinclair to discuss his new app, Stormcrow, and the best way to approach hobbies and side projects. Then we discuss what’s needed from social features in podcast apps, and what the future of Supertop might look like.

Jared Sinclair on Stormcrow

Social Features in Podcast Apps

If you’d like to send us your thoughts on how social stuff for podcasts is or is not working for you please send your thoughts in audio or text form to support@supertop.co.

What Might the Future of Supertop Look Like?

  1. Be like Panic, keep selling products for money.
  2. Be like a Silicon Valley Startup with all that entails.
  3. A hybrid approach with free apps but still a small scale business.
  4. A combination of consultancy and our own products.

Tragedy Of The Commons

In episode 17 of the Supertop Podcast, Pádraig and Oisín discuss triage in Castro and other podcast apps, complain about improperly implemented HTTP caching techniques and remember a puddle in Newcastle.

Sponsor

Thanks to Steamclock for sponsoring the show. Steamclock are looking for a bright, enthusiastic developer with experience building wonderful mobile apps, especially on iOS. If you love writing beautiful, high-quality software, they’d like to meet you. Senior iOS Engineer – Swift at Steamclock Software - Stack Overflow

Show Notes

Woo People With Our UI Skillz

On episode 16 of the Supertop Podcast we discuss Castro 2.3 (and what’s coming in 2.4), Overcast 3, and Iconfactory’s Kickstarter campaign for Twitterific.

Castro 2.3

We focused on bug fixes and polish for this version, but we also fit in some nice new features. Here are the highlights:

The most exciting part is that Castro now uses custom notifications to allow episode triage without opening the app.


Expanded notifications look great, and include a short summary of the episode to help you decide if it interests you. If it does, the actions below let you act on it right away.


From the notification you can play, queue or archive the episode directly, without opening the app.

These new notifications have changed the way we use Castro — it’s a fantastic multitasking experience to see a new episode notification appear while reading an article in Safari, then pull it down to read the description and queue it right there, without leaving Safari.

Apple has introduced tons of new ways for iOS apps to reach out from behind the icon and provide user features without requiring that the app be full screen. In 2.1 we added an iMessage Extension, 2.2 a Today Widget and CarPlay and now with 2.3 we’ve expanded Castro to take advantage of custom notifications. Each step of the way the core Castro ideas, Triage + Queueing, have provided a solid foundation to expand podcast listening into the rest of the iPhone experience.

Castro is $3.99 in the App Store.

Lots of Likes and Retweets

In episode 15 of the Supertop Podcast we discuss feedback to our App Store Review Prompts blog post, ideas for improving Castro’s notifications, answer a listener question about open source, and more.

This episode is brought to you by Steamclock.

Follow-up: App Store Review Prompts (00:11)

Rethinking Castro Notifications for iOS 10 (08:23)

Open Source Hygiene Features (13:30)

Sponsor: Steamclock (21:21)

This episode is brought to you by Steamclock: Steamclock crafts polished products for iPhone, Android, and the Web.

Beard Grooming Regimen (22:09)

Michael Laccheo asks about beard grooming.

Micro UI (23:39)

All of these things end up just being additive. You can make them available optionally but you can never commit to making your UI about them. That’s where any big ideas you get hit a wall. — Pádraig at 26:49

Podcast Talk (27:01)

Outro (35:10)

Notifications Are Better Than Alerts

The latest beta release of iOS introduces a new feature that allows developers to prompt users to rate their apps. The rating is selected and submitted without leaving the app. It is presented as an alert, using the standard system appearance.

SKStoreReviewController modal alert

It’s a welcome addition but I believe the current interface has a significant flaw. I would like to propose an alternative design.

The problem is that the alert is modal: it takes over the whole interface and must be acted upon (by rating the app or tapping “Not Now”) before the user can do anything else in the app.

Developers can try to avoid bothering users with alerts at inopportune times but if an app is on screen at all, the user probably has a specific task in mind. An alert forces the user to act on it before they can continue, which risks annoying them. This could lead to negative reviews, ignored requests, and an increased likelihood that the user will disable the rating feature system-wide.

iOS already has a feature for communicating information passively: enhanced notifications. These are a fantastic way for users to interact with content without having to switch to another app and without having to interrupt their current task.

Users interact with notifications every day to heart tweets, respond to messages, triage podcast episodes, read news, and more. Notifications don’t require them to act immediately. They don’t block interaction with the rest of the screen. Users can complete whatever task they were working on and then turn their attention to the notification.

I believe that the notification pattern could improve the effectiveness of the rating feature.

SKStoreReviewController proposed notification alert

SKStoreReviewController modal alert

The key point is that users can complete whatever task they were intending to before interacting with the notification

If the new rating feature uses a notification style interface, I believe it will reduce the frustration caused to users by modal alerts. This could lead to fewer users disabling the rating feature, and more ratings being submitted to the App Store.

I have filed an enhancement request with Apple. If it seems like a smart idea to you too, please consider sharing this post and duping the radar.

Does this Computer have a Soul?

In episode 14 of the Supertop Podcast, we invite you to send in a recording of you asking a question / suggesting a topic for discussion next episode: take out your phone and use the voice memos app, then email the file to us!

We follow up on Oisin’s AirPods, discuss Apple’s two new app store features: the ability for app owners to respond to reviews and a system ratings dialog in iOS. Then, bug of the week and recommend some podcast episodes.

Sponsors

This episode is sponsored by:

Show Notes

Follow Up (00:20)

Weird Idea (08:41)

New App Store Features (12:36)

Bug of the Week! (36:30)

Podcast Recommendations (44:56)

Jimmy, Get an iPhone

On Episode 13 of the Supertop Podcast we recount stories of our first iPhones and reflect on how indie development has changed over the past 10 years.

You can find the episode in:

Sponsors

This episode is brought to you by:

Our First iPhones (00:20)

I had to open the case, run something on my Mac, and hold a wire so it connected two points within the phone… and then with my nose reach down and hit space bar to make the program run

I just enjoyed the box that day

It was stolen from me at gun-point… well, and machete-point, on a night-bus in Mexico

I only had that one for about two weeks, and then I got off a bus and left it on my seat in Bogotá… chased the bus as fast as I could down the road but couldn’t catch it

Sponsor: Steamclock Software (15:38)

We’re product people, just sometimes we build products for other people.

10 Years of iPhone (17:32)

For God’s sake, Jimmy, get an iPhone!

Sponsor: MarkUpDown (33:51)

Making Apps On Windows (34:56)

What Has The iPhone Made Possible? (37:46)

Twitter took off when I could be at an airport waiting for my bag and complain about being at an airport waiting for my bag at the same time

Micro.blog (41:17)

manifesto-y-ish

Podcasts (48:18)

You can say “porno” right, I mean like it’s just “porno”, it’s not like there’s anything explicit about “porno”… will I stop saying “porno” now?

Wrap Up (54:47)

Ever wanted to understand what the life of an indie app developer is like? Hear from the developers of Castro and Unread (amongst others). Refreshingly honest as they deal with the realities of the app store economy. The guys speak openly of their search for sustainable revenue streams. Give it a listen.

Beard-forming Microphones

In episode 12 of the Supertop Podcast, Padraig and Oisin discuss gifts, Castro’s surprisingly good performance in December, thoughts on Swift and New Year’s resolutions.

Sponsors

This episode is brought to you by:

Show Notes

Christmas presents (00:40)

Oisin’s AirPods Q&A (07:14)

Business Update: Not so doomy (15:05)

iTunes Connect Analytics (22:45)

Charts & Sales Anxiety (31:17)

Starting to learn Swift (42:02)

New Years Resolutions (60:03)

Supertop Discounts

App Santa

App Santa artwork. Award-winning apps, up to 80% off for Christmas!

App Santa has been delivering deals on great indie software since 2013. At that time we had recently launched the first version of Castro and were clearly very keen to be part of it!

In 2014 we were delighted to join a host of award-winning apps in the promotion. It lead to a boost in awareness of our app (and a nice spike in sales to boot).

In 2015, although we had more apps on the store than before, they were all free downloads with in-app purchases so we couldn’t take part. Once we decided to release Castro 2 as a paid app, we knew that if App Santa called we’d be proud to take part again.

And so now, for a very limited time, we’ve dropped the price of Castro to only $2.99 (regular price $3.99).

If you haven’t already discovered the power of triage for podcasts you should grab it now and head over to AppSanta.co for other great deals on amazing apps like Tweetbot, PCalc, Drafts, Screens, and so many more.

Unread

Unread artwork. 40% off Until December 26

We’re also running a sale on Unread, our RSS Reader, for the first time.

You can unlock the full version of the app for only $2.99 (regular price $4.99) until December 26th. (Hint hint, nudge nudge: there’s also a reduced $1.99 option which unlocks the same features. Pay what you prefer.)

Here’s the links for the iPhone version and the iPad version. If you own neither, or even if you own one and have been consdering the other, now is the perfect time to upgrade.

We wish you all the best for the holidays. We’ll be back in the new year with more news and developments from Supertop.

♥️ and 🐙, Oisín and Pádraig

Doom, I Guess

In episode 11 of the Supertop Podcast we follow up on the Castro 2.2 launch and explore options for increasing Supertop’s revenue.

You can find the episode in:

Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Feed Hawk. Feed Hawk makes it easy to subscribe to the RSS feed of the website you are visiting. From within Safari, simply open a share sheet and tap Feed Hawk. Feed Hawk will find the feed for the site and subscribe to it. If the site has multiple feeds, Feed Hawk will allow you to specify the feeds to which you wish to subscribe.

Show Notes

Supertop Podcast

A few months ago we started the Supertop Podcast. It’s been a fascinating experience to see how things work from the publisher’s point of view. Jason Snell’s post “How I Podcast” helped us get started with Logic Pro X for editing. To record, publish, and see download stats, we use a web app called Cast — it’s a really neat tool, much nicer than wrangling Skype.

This Week’s Episode

This morning we published our 10th episode: “Catch-Up Pony”. We discuss Castro 2.2, give an update on the Doom Clock, follow up on Oisín’s Search Ads blog post, and ponder what Castro 2.3 should do.

You can find the latest episode in:

Sponsors

We’re interested in getting some sponsors on the show. To get started, we’re charging just $100. We’ll introduce the episode as being sponsored by you, then read your ad during the show. Email or DM us if you’re interested.