Display old icons and theme colors instead of 4 thumbnails for each playlist.
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I’ve been a user for more than 10 years now and never really complained about Pocket Casts. In fact, I’ve always recommended it to all of my friends.
However, this new UI overhaul doesn’t work at all. Especially, the playlists list. The fact that it’s just showing 4 random tiny podcast covers does not help me quickly find the playlist that I am looking for. On the contrary, since the same podcasts can be in many playlists it can be repetitive and confusing. Also, why does it say smart playlist on every playlist? It doesn’t add any value. It is just making the title of the playlist way too small, which should be the most important information. The margins are too wide. The backgrounds grey color while I have the darkest theme set is way too light.
Please add an option to revert to icons instead of thumbnails or revert to the previous UI. -
i have to agree. I didn’t move calling them smart playlists or whatever, but the collage takes up way to much space better used for the actual playlist or a summary of the playlist rules.
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Thank you for sharing your feedback on the new design!
Regarding the label “smart playlist”, that is to differentiate between the Smart Playlists that use the Smart Rules, and the Manual Playlists where you can add individual episodes from podcasts you follow and those you don’t.
We’ve heard from other users who have similar thoughts about the header area within Playlists and Smart Playlists. The artwork is meant to be dynamic and changes based on the podcasts included in the playlist.I’ve forwarded your feedback along to our development team alongside those we’ve received from other users so it can be taken into consideration as we refine the design going forward.
Please let us know if you have any other questions or comments at all, we’re always here to help.
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Please offer an option to remove this icon view.
I am a little confused as to how this was implemented in the first place. More than 50% of the screen has been given up to something which I cannot for the life of me figure out the purpose. I now see 2 maybe 3 of the podcasts in any of my playlist as opposed to 7.
What was the reasoning?
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Hi there, @fidog! The collage of podcast artwork (cover art or logo) of four random podcasts in the playlist is meant to show a preview of what is in a specific list. The artwork is dynamic and changes based on which podcasts are in the list.
Thanks for your feedback about the design of the playlists! I have shared this with the team as well. -
YES. The collage of podcast cover art at the top is annoying. Please give us the option to make it go away.
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Hi there, @steveholstein! Thanks for your input here. I’ve added your vote to this feature request too.
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Yes I would also suggest removing the four thumbnail images. They push the playlist down which means I cannot immediately visually scan a bunch of recent episodes. I used to be able to do that.
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@chrismartin76 thank you for sharing your feedback on this! I’ve forwarded it along to our team!
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Hello. I thought this would be addressed in the latest update but it hasn’t been. Could you please address this? It degrades the usability of the app.
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I can’t confirm whether we’ll make this an option in the app or not or how long it would take if we decide to, but I can assure you that the feedback is filed with the development team and it will be taken under consideration as we refine the design going forward.
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Thanks for your reply. To clarify, I’m not suggesting that this be an option, which would involve a lot of developer effort. I’m suggesting that the four icon square be removed altogether for all users (see feedback from other users in this thread). No user likes this four-icon square.
From a usability perspective, in the older interface, the way to visually skim the 8 most recent episodes was to
1. Open the app.
2. Do a visual search.
This takes about .25 of a second.
Now, the way to do it is.
1. Open the app
2. Move your finger to the screen.
3. Scroll upward and then stop when 8 episodes are visible.
4. Do a visual search.
This takes more than twice as long. If you want to look at the UX side of it, you could do a GOMS analysis or look at Fitts law.
The visual icon square also serves no function. I switched from Overcast to Pocketcasts in Nov. 2025 because Overcast was not that usable. However, Pocketcasts immediately changed its interface. I’m thinking about going back to Overcast. -
You can also see this thread, which has received 183 upvotes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pocketcasts/comments/1pbzmep/awful_new_ui/
Pocket Casts Forum 