I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Castro by Supertop, the more I used it. I wrote about its v1.0 back in December and it has proved to be a solid podcast app for iPhone. Although it shipped with a gorgeous UI, it did lack some important features at launch. Today, Castro v1.1 is available on the App Store and it is a welcome update.
With this 1.1 update, Castro now finally has continuous playback. If you listen to certain podcasts that drag on longer than they should (you know what I’m talking about), playback at faster speeds is a welcome addition to podcast apps. 1.1 claims to use a new pitch shifting algorithm that enhances how podcasts sound when the speed is adjusted. There’s a demo available on the app’s website that showcases this. The typography in the app just keeps getting better with each update. If you look at any view in the app, the only thing that looks out of place is the iOS status bar. Everything else looks modern and beautiful. The app’s settings are now accessible from within the app and not via the Settings.app in iOS like it is 2008 or something. The most notable addition for me in this update is the sleep timer. I always have a podcast playing in the background with a 30 minute timer as I play Hearthstone before I sleep and now I can do this with Castro as well.
If sync isn’t important to you or you just listen to podcasts on a single device, Castro is probably the best app you can use right now. Castro gets iOS 7 right and you will definitely walk away impressed with its 1.1 update. Castro is available on the App Store for just $2.99.