Overcast

Music Assistant has support for Overcast. Contributed and maintained by OzGav

Overcast is a podcast player for iPhone, iPad and the web. It keeps the list of podcasts you follow and remembers how far through each episode you are, so you can put an episode down on one device and pick it up on another.

This source brings both of those into Music Assistant. The podcasts you follow turn up as podcasts you can play, and an episode you started in Overcast can be finished on a speaker, resuming where you left off.

Overcast has no public API, so this source signs in to your account the same way the website does and reads the account’s OPML export. It works one way only, nothing Music Assistant does is sent back to Overcast.

Features

Subscription FREE	Yes
Self-Hosted Local Media	No
Media Types Supported	Podcasts
Recommendations Supported	No
Lyrics Supported	No
Endless Mix	No
Artist Top Tracks Support	No
Similar Artists Support	No
Similar Tracks Support	No
Maximum Stream Quality	Lossy variable bitrate
Login Method	QR code or Password

Other

• Acquires progress from Overcast, but does not report progress back
• Populates libraries with podcasts
• Updates playlog on regular source syncs
• Episodes you are part way through appear under Continue Listening

Configuration

Overcast account

Most Overcast accounts are created in the app and have no email address or password. The quickest way to connect is to scan a code with the Overcast app on your iPhone, which links the account without needing any credentials.

If your account does have an email and password you can use those instead. Choose Overcast when adding a music source and pick the method that suits you:

• Overcast app (scan a code). A QR code appears on screen. Point your device’s camera at it and open the link, or tap the code if you are setting up on the device itself. The Overcast app asks you to approve the connection. This is the default and works for every account, including ones that have never set up a password.
• Email and password. Sign in with the email address and password of your Overcast account. Only works for accounts that have set these up. Accounts that sign in to Overcast through Sign in with Apple, and accounts with two factor authentication enabled, cannot use this method.

How to add an email and password (optional)

If you prefer to sign in with a password and have not set one up yet:

1. Open the Overcast app on your iPhone or iPad
2. Go to Settings (the gear icon) and choose the Sync Profile option to add an email address and password to your account
3. Pick an email and password. Your existing subscriptions and listening progress stay exactly as they are, this just adds a login to the account you already have
4. To confirm it worked, visit overcast.fm in a browser and log in. If you can see your podcasts there, you’re ready

Music Assistant signs in once and keeps the resulting session, so your credentials are only used when that session expires and a new sign in is needed.

Multiple accounts

The Overcast source can be set up multiple times, once per account, and each one keeps its own sign in. To have the progress of individual media items sync with the right Music Assistant user please refer to user management.

Settings

• Maximum number of episodes. Maximum number of episodes to sync per feed. Use 0 for unlimited

Known Issues / Notes

• Overcast limits how often the export can be downloaded, to roughly ten times a day, so Music Assistant asks for a new copy at most once every four hours no matter how often it syncs. While a new copy is on its way it keeps using the one it already has, so progress made in Overcast normally shows up within about four hours, and takes longer if you have not used Music Assistant for a while.
• Following or unfollowing a podcast in Music Assistant is not sent to Overcast. Use Overcast for that and the change will arrive at the next sync.
• Nothing you play in Music Assistant is sent back to Overcast, so the two will drift apart until you listen in Overcast again.
• When both sides know about an episode, the more recent of the two is used. Progress that arrives from Overcast never moves you backwards through an episode you have got further into in Music Assistant, and progress made in Music Assistant is kept until Overcast reports something newer.