Overcast Just Made It Way Easier to Share Podcasts with Friends

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Getting your friends into your favorite podcasts used to be tough. Overcast is changing that.

Sharing your new favorite podcast can be difficult, as it often requires you to convince someone else to open a new app to see if your hype is warranted. Fortunately, one app has found a new way to make podcast discovery more social.

That app is Overcast, a free, award-winning podcatcher with a 4.5-star rating in the iOS App Store. The big change I'm so happy about is that its developer, Marco Arment, saw the need for open, social sharing of clips from episodes in video form. That feature is now available in just a few taps.

I can hear someone off in the distance asking, "Why video?" — especially when podcasts are primarily audio-only. In a blog post announcing the new version, Arment notes that video is important, as "today's social networks are more reliant on images and video, especially Instagram."

Breaker — which seeks to be "the social podcatcher" and supports Instagram Stories, Twitter and more — isn't nearly as seamless. And it lacks two of Overcast's important features: clip selection and openness.

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Most podcatchers just share a link to the entire episode in question, which isn't a terrible idea. I greatly prefer the Overcast method, however, where you can crop out a segment of audio from an episode and then you get a video clip (which looks just like  a podcast app) which you can easily share, so nobody needs to open any apps, it just plays, wherever you share it.

That ability to create your own snippet means fans can share the best singular moments or bits of banter from the shows they love. It's an important difference because it cuts out some of the friction and work for the potential new audience member, and they can just get to the good part.

And unlike many apps, which share a link to their own site, Overcast creates a la carte videos that you can share on Twitter, post to Instagram or even just send via text message. On top of that, there's a Link button, so you can copy and paste a link to the episode into the tweet, post or other form of content that you're using to share the show. That way, your friend can hear more.

The only issue is that Overcast is an iOS-only app. Sorry, Android fans.

Credit: Tom's Guide

Henry T. Casey
Henry T. Casey

Henry was a managing editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.