Using Instacast

How do I subscribe to a podcast?

Tap the plus button in the bottom left of the ‘Subscriptions’ view.

This will open Instacast’s podcast directory, which allows you to browse both audio and video podcasts by popularity, author or genre. Additionally, you can search for a specific podcast from the directory or add one manually by tapping the link button and pasting a podcast’s URL into the field.

How do I play a podcast?

Tap on a podcast episode to open the media player and begin playback. You can pause and play the episode, skip forwards and backwards by 30 seconds (this can be changed in Instacast’s main settings), drag the playback slider to jump to a specific point in the episode, view and add bookmarks by tapping the icon in the upper right, and hide the media player by tapping the the arrow in the upper left.

Are there more advanced playback options?

Yes. Swiping the media player’s controls to the left reveals a set of advanced playback controls. From left to right, these controls allow you to send audio via Airplay, change playback speed, set a sleep timer, allow continuous playback of episodes in the current subscription or playlist, and access various sharing options.

What are bookmarks?

By adding a bookmark to a podcast you are able to instantly return to a specific point. To add a bookmark, tap on the bookmark icon from the media player and then tap ‘Add Bookmark’ at the point you want to save. You can access your bookmarks from the ‘Bookmarks’ section of the main menu.

How do I manage my subscriptions?

Tap on a podcast to be presented with a list of that podcast’s episodes. From this view, tap the podcast’s title to be taken to a screen displaying additional details about the podcast.

In this view you can choose to unsubscribe from the podcast, refresh the feed manually, access further settings or share the podcast’s URL.

Tapping the settings icon allows you to adjust settings for the selected podcast. These settings will override Instacast’s general settings (see below), which are applied to all subscriptions by default. These settings can also be found under ‘Subscriptions’ in Instacast’s main settings (see below).

How do I recover deleted episodes?

Simply refresh the feed manually from the feed’s settings (see above).

What is a playlist?

A playlist is a collection of podcast episodes arranged into a specific order. To create one, tap the plus button in the ‘Playlists’ view and select ‘Add Playlist’.

How do I edit a playlist?

You add episodes to a playlist, delete episodes and manually sort the playback order by tapping the icon in the lower left of the playlist’s screen.

What is a ‘smart playlist’?

A smart playlist automatically sorts and updates podcast episodes from a variety of variables, including the following: most recent, partially played, unplayed, favourites and downloaded. To create a smart playlist, tap the plus button in the ‘Playlists’ view and select ‘Add Smart Playlist’.

What are Favorites?

Favorites are episodes that you have marked with a star to indicate preference or to refer to later. Additionally, favorites will not be deleted automatically if you have configured Instacast to delete played episodes and/or downloaded files automatically. To add a podcast to the ‘Favorites’ smart playlist, tap the ‘i’ icon next to an episode to view the show notes. Next, tap the star icon (you can also swipe the episode left to mark it as a favourite without viewing the show notes).

How do downloads work?

You can download any episode for offline playback. To do this, simply tap and hold on an episode to bring up the option to download it. Alternatively, tap the icon in the lower right corner of a subscription or playlist to select multiple episodes to download.

What customisation settings are available?

Tap the settings icon from the subscription, playlist or bookmark view to be presented with Instacast’s main settings. From here you can access general, subscription, push notification and offline storage settings.

‘General’ allows you to set whether streaming and downloading should be allowed over cellular data; when to check for new subscriptions; whether to sort episodes by newest or oldest; adjust various playback options; whether continuous playback should be enabled by default in feed lists, playlists and smart playlists; and select local notifications.

‘Subscriptions’ allows you to customise the settings for each of your subscriptions individually. Changes made here will override changes in ‘General’, which are applied to all podcasts by default. To indicate this, the word ‘Custom’ appears next to the podcast’s name.

‘Push Notifications’ allows you to receive instant notifications when new episodes are available. You can also choose which subscriptions you would like to be notified about.

‘Offline Storage’ lets you put a limit on the amount of space Instacast uses for storing downloads. Additionally, you can also set options to allow Instacast to download and/or delete episodes automatically. Any content you have already downloaded will be displayed here, and you can manage downloaded content from this page too.

What are ‘parked subscriptions’?

Parked subscriptions are subscriptions that you choose to hide from your list of subscriptions. Additionally, these subscriptions are not automatically updated. To park a subscription select ‘Subscription Parking’ from ‘Subscriptions’ in Instacast’s main settings.

Can I export my data?

Yes. Select ‘Export Data’ or ‘Send Data as Email’ from Instacast’s main settings to export your subscriptions or bookmarks to another app or email address respectively.

---

Instacast Cloud

What is Instacast Cloud?

Instacast Cloud is a custom built cloud synchronisation service. When using Instacast for the first time you are given the option to register an account to for Instacast Cloud.

How much does Instacast Cloud cost?

Instacast Cloud is provided free of charge for all Instacast users.

Why not use iCloud?

iCloud has a number of issues that cause a great deal of difficulty for third party developers. This is a well-attested fact, and a number of leading iOS developers are taking it upon themselves to provide their own cloud synchronisation solution to circumvent these problems. Furthermore, Instacast's own synchronisation solution is much quicker than iCloud, which means that customers will appreciate a faster user experience.

What information does Instacast Cloud sync?

Instacast Cloud synchronises the following: subscriptions, deleted episodes, played and unplayed states, playback position for individual episodes, favourites, playlists and bookmarks.

How do I sync my data?

To synchronise your data you simply need to create an account when you first launch Instacast – all synchronisation is automatic. If you declined the option to create a cloud account when first using Instacast, you can find the option to make one in Instacast's main settings.

Can I reset my synchronisation data?

Yes. Update to Instacast 3.1.2 or above and visit instacast3:///sync/reset from your device to replace the data in Instacast Cloud with the data from that device. Next, open Instacast on your other device and confirm the sync reset.

---

General

Will Instacast work on my iDevice?

Instacast only supports devices running iOS 6 and above. Although previous versions of Instacast did support earlier versions of iOS, these have been removed from the App Store.

Is Instacast a universal app?

Yes. Instacast will work on both iPhone and iPad without having to pay twice.

Can I import my subscriptions from previous versions of Instacast?

Yes. Instacast 2.2.2 used iCloud to synchronise data. You are given the option to import this data when you first use Instacast 3. Alternatively, you can export your subscriptions from earlier versions of Instacast as an OPML file.

Is there a Mac version of Instacast?

A Mac version of Instacast is currently in development and will be available later this year.

Is there an Android version of Instacast?

There are currently no plans to create an Android version of Instacast.

---

Troubleshooting

I keep getting the error message ‘Media not loaded.’

Unless your internet connection is faulty, this indicates that the podcast you are trying to download has been removed from the host's server and is no longer available. It's also possible that the download has been corrupted. In this case you can delete the file and re-download it with the download button under the show notes.

Instacast Cloud is not syncing all of my data.

Try resetting your sync data.