Feature Request: Multi-tiered Up Next and Automatically Add
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I’m subscribed to a mix of podcasts. Currently, I have them all set to automatically add to Up Next. And I have built a bit of a backlog, which is ok. But some of the podcasts are news-related, and I want to listen to as soon as they are published. (But still in chronological order.) It’s a bit silly to listen to a show about news that happened a month ago.
So I’d like to propose a multi-tiered Up Next with Automatically Add. I would then be able to add high-prio podcasts at the end of tier 1, normal news-podcasts at the end of tier 2, regular podcasts to tier 3, and so on. The player then first plays all podcasts in tier 1. When tier 1 is exhausted, it starts with tier 2, et cetera.
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Thanks for the suggestion, @ffrraannss! I’ve added it to our list of feature requests.
In the meantime, if you haven’t tried it already, you may want to make sure your news podcasts use the “To Top” Auto Add to Up Next position. You can check this under Profile > Settings (gear icon) > Auto Add to Up Next. You can then use “To Bottom” for other podcasts.
I know that’s not exactly what you’re looking for, but it might be something for you to consider.
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I know this is over two years old, but I’d like to dig it back up. I think this would be extremely helpful. The option to just either add to top or bottom of Up Next isn’t enough. Overcast had the ability to prioritize how new episodes were added and in what order (ie. one podcast being added above another, based on priority). This would be an awesome feature within PocketCasts.
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Thanks for sharing your feedback. This feature is still on our roadmap but not worked on it yet. I will add your vote to it, and hopefully, we can have it in the near future.
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I think this is a great option, and one I would definitely use. I’ve even identified a potential UI, although I haven’t coded anything for it, and could be a bit confusing to use.
You have several “insert points”, named A-Z. Inserting after point A means that as episodes are released, they are inserted after that point, and then the episodes are pushed down, which means that you play newer episodes before older ones. Inserting before point A means that A remains in the same place on the queue, but they push the insert point down, which means that older episodes get played before newer ones.
Given the matrix of several podcasts inserting at several insert points, playing through them as they come up to the top, and different release frequencies, this might mean that several insert points are bunched together. Shouldn’t be a problem, as an insert point could be represented in the UI as only a psuedo-episode of zero length at the top of the queue, just underneath the currently playing episode on the Up Next queue.
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Thanks for such a thoughtful feature request, for fleshing out a concrete UI concept too. The idea of priority tiers (or named insert points) for auto-added episodes makes a lot of sense, especially for anyone juggling time-sensitive news podcasts alongside a slower-burning backlog.
There isn’t a way to do this today. The closest the app currently offers is per-podcast control over whether new episodes auto-add to the top or bottom of Up Next, but there’s no concept of tiers or intermediate insert points. A few things that might help in the meantime:
- Set your high-priority news podcasts to Add to Top in each podcast’s settings, so new episodes always jump ahead of your backlog.
- Use a Smart Playlist filtered to just those news podcasts (by podcast selection and release date within the last 24 hours or 3 days), so you can quickly play or batch-add them to the front of your queue when you’re ready.
Neither workaround fully captures what you’re describing, but they might reduce the manual shuffling for now.
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