Apple Fixes Its Podcast App, One Of Its Biggest Embarrassments

Apple released a massive update to its Podcast app. After some light testing, it looks like it might actually be a good app now.

This probably seems like a very small thing to people that don't follow the company. We think it's actually a very big deal.

Apple kept podcasts buried inside its iPod app for the iPhone until last year. Then, it changed the name of the iPod app to "Music." It broke out podcasts as their own standalone application.

It was a horrible app. It was one of the worst apps we've ever used from any company. Considering Apple made it for its own platform, it was shocking. It was slow to react, it was buggy and it had hideous animations of a reel to reel tape in the background for no apparent reason.

The crappy Podcast app was an omen. A few months after the Podcast app came out, Apple released Apple Maps, another app that was filled with bugs. The difference between Podcast and Maps? Everyone uses Maps, so everyone noticed the Maps bugs.

Last night Apple updated the Podcast app and it appears to actually work. There are no lags and no pointless animations.

It's a relief to see Apple has fixed one of its worst pieces of software ever. Hopefully this is a sign that it's going to really fix Maps and never release terrible apps again.