In the finale of the Supertop Podcast we discuss Pádraig leaving Castro and look back over 7 years of Supertop, with a little help from our friends. Links for this Episode: Playdate Pádraig’s announcement tweet Oisín’s missing bike Xcake developer meetup in Dublin Úll In Lemon With An iPhone Mountee Tokens The skeumorphtastic early design Steamclock Software Unread Business Model and Pricing for Unread 2 Relay Release Notes Podcast Conference A software company called Panic A computer company ca...
Jul 12, 2019•2 hr 17 min
Oisín and Pádraig discuss the new clip sharing feature in Castro, some changes to Castro Plus pricing, Panic’s Playdate console and WWDC. Clip sharing in Castro Marco on clip sharing Bosco Ho Jesse James Herlitz Playdate Castro swag at WWDC...
Jun 04, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Oisín and Pádraig discuss Top Picks, the new Castro feature that helps surface the best episodes in your inbox. Castro on the App Store Top Picks announcement blog post Castro 1 showing in search results for “Fidel” Castro designer Jesse’s twitter Oisin in Cuba...
Apr 04, 2019•32 min
We talk about additional improvements to discovery in Castro, including featured collections. We also discuss Spotify’s complaint filed with the European Commission alleging that Apple uses anti-competitive business practices. Enhanced Podcast Discovery in Castro ( https://twitter.com/CastroPodcasts/status/1103718809372745730 ) Featured Collections in Castro ( https://twitter.com/CastroPodcasts/status/1104120758723272704 ) Saransh Sinha ( https://dribbble.com/screenshake ) Spotify filed a compla...
Mar 22, 2019•42 min
We discuss improvements to search and discovery in Castro, and what Spotify’s recent acquisitions might mean for the future of indie podcast apps. Links for this episode: Local Search in Castro 2019.1 Discovery & Snappy Search in Castro 2019.2 Spotify bought Gimlet and Anchor: Spotify’s announcement Ben Thompson: Spotify’s Podcast Aggregation Play Exponent: 162 — Why Exponent Isn’t on Spotify Recode Media: interview with Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber...
Mar 08, 2019•49 min
Pádraig and Oisín discuss selling a majority stake in Castro to Tiny. Who are Tiny? How the deal went down Announcing the acquisition Response from users Why did we sell? What’s different now? Links for this episode Tiny ’s website Our blog post announcing the acquisition David Harrison’s question and subscriptions and privacy. Castro’s Privacy Policy Jesse James Herlitz’s tweet to Andrew about Castro Our direct emails if you’d like to talk with either of us: padraig@castro.fm , oisin@castro.fm ...
Dec 12, 2018•43 min
We discuss how we can better introduce the features of Castro and improve the Castro Plus subscription pitch. To do that we need to better understand how people are using the app have better ways to measure whether changes we make are working. Other topics include: App analytics and the problems with Apple’s offering Keeping a handle on the flow of new items into RSS reader and podcast apps Castro’s iOS 12 features What kind of topics should we discuss on this podcast? Links for this episode: La...
Oct 29, 2018•50 min
Padraig has a new CarPlay unit to debug with. We reflect on the work we did for Drag & Drop last summer. Castro 3.1 is out with Sideloading and Chapter Preselection. We discuss a new targeted marketing platform from Panoply, and the (in)accuracy of reporting podcast subscriber counts. CarPlay Padraig’s CarPlay setup Greg Spiers on Twitter Drag and Drop Design Details blog post about our implementation YouTube Walkthrough of using the feature in Castro Another hopeful blog post we published a...
Aug 14, 2018•45 min
In this episode with discuss the just released Castro 3.0.4 and what’s coming in 3.1, as well as trying to improve Castro’s performance in China, and thoughts on Anchor. Links for this episode: Our tweet announcing alternative app icons in Castro 3.0.4 Why You Should Never Pay For Podcast Hosting by Nir Zicherman, Anchor co-founder and CTO Anchor On Free Podcasting by Manton Reece There’s No Such Thing As Free Podcast Hosting by Jason Snell Past episode of this podcast: The Future of Podcasting ...
Jul 27, 2018•34 min
We discuss subscriber projections for Castro and things we’ve been doing at Supertop to keep us motivated on the road to sustainability. Links for this episode: Our episode about the “Doom Clock”: Doom, I Guess Chuck Morris at Aptfolk now helping us with support Jim Metzendorf edited this episode, the previous episode, and future episodes Raccoon in the episode artwork by Mikhail Listopadov from the Noun Project...
Jul 13, 2018•20 min
We discuss the launch of Castro 3: pre-launch drama, launch day emotions, subscription feedback, reviews, and thoughts about future updates. On our blog: Release Week roundup including reviews from: MacStories Macworld iMore Receipt Validation Programming Guide: Receipt Fields Max Seelemann from Ulysses on SaaS Open Mic This episode was edited by Jim Metzendorf ....
Jun 14, 2018•46 min
Oisin and Padraig discuss wrapping up Castro 3 development and explain what current Castro users can expect from 3.0. Links: How Ulysses pulled off a controversial pivot to subscription - SaaS Open Mic by ChartMogul What we need from Apple to make standalone Apple Watch podcast apps – Marco.org
Apr 27, 2018•34 min
We give an overview of why we feel good about moving to subscription pricing for Castro and then discuss some of the issues we’ve experienced preparing for the transition. Phil Schiller, quoted on Macworld : The reason we haven’t done it is that it’s much more complex than people know […] And the upgrade model, which I know very well from my days of running many large software programmes, is a model from the shrink-wrapped software days that for some developers is still very important, for most,...
Mar 29, 2018•29 min
Oisín and Pádraig follow up on feedback about moving Castro to a subscription business model, then discuss the work they've been doing on Castro 3.
Feb 28, 2018•33 min
Oisín & Pádraig discuss the different options for Castro 3’s business model and the reasons behind the model they’ve chosen. Castro for Nintendo Switch Tweet referencing email address to ask for access to Switch development kit YouTube video for Castro 2 Rejected Doom Clock Our episode about it Under The Radar We Sold Tokens and Top Hat We Sold Unread Auto-renewing Subscriptions Phil Schiller says upgrade pricing is a model of the past iOS Dev Weekly The Case For App Patronage We reference C...
Jan 30, 2018•41 min
Oisin’s iPhone X is stolen by Mexican police. We discuss apps using black backgrounds on the X’s OLED screen for dark modes, the launch of Castro 2.6’s backup / restore feature (including a daring live performance of Padraig restoring his main device) and the new App Store pre-orders feature. Links: Jared Sinclair’s ’Sodes app Castro 2.6 is available on the App Store now with Backup / Restore. Offering Your Apps for Pre-Order...
Dec 21, 2017•31 min
Oisín has an iPhone X. We discuss the new phone and how having the device in hand changed Castro’s status bar strategy . This episode is sponsored by Steamclock Software . Oisín trying to order an iPhone X . Oisín taking photos of anything symmetrical he can find . Oisín’s first portrait mode selfie . Our previous episode about Drag & Drop . Force quitting apps: On iPhone X . On Apple Watch . Guilherme Rambo on Twitter . Demo video of Control Center shown in the multitasking UI . Our previou...
Nov 28, 2017•46 min
Oisín is in Canada! We discuss the latest Castro updates, the Release Notes conference, the Notch, and as we start work on Castro 3, we share some thoughts on how our process has changed since we started Castro 2 three years ago. This episode is sponsored by Stonehouse B&B . Three generations of Unread . Mark Bramhill’s Welcome To Macintosh podcast. Release Notes Conference Castro now has Podcast Share pages! They look like this and they can even open podcasts in Overcast or Pocket Casts. If...
Oct 31, 2017•41 min
Padraig and Oisin discuss how drag & drop in iOS 11 simplifies workflows and makes the most of multi-touch. We dive into the design issues we faced while integrating drag & drop with Castro 2.5, and then we don’t talk about The Notch. This episode is sponsored by Steamclock Software . Steamclock crafts polished products for iPhone, Android and the Web. Federico Viticci on MacStories “After getting used to drag and drop in Castro 2.5, I want it everywhere.” Jake Underwood reviews Castro 2...
Sep 25, 2017•36 min
We sold Unread, our RSS News Reader for iPhone and iPad. We’re joined by the new owner, John Brayton of Golden Hill Software to discuss the transition and his plans for the future of the app. Unread is now a Universal app for iPhone and iPad . Anyone who unlocked the Supertop version of Unread for iPhone or iPad can unlock the latest version for free. Supertop will now be focussed solely on Castro . We’re excited by what we’ll be able to do with this new focus, and also to see how Unread will ev...
Aug 02, 2017•26 min
We sold our iTunes promo code management app, Tokens, and our sales reporting app, Top Hat. We're joined by the new owner, Denis Hennessy ), who tells us about his company , shares his thoughts on being an indie developer and teases some of his plans for Tokens. We wrote about the transition and how it will work on our blog . Current Supertop users licenses will continue to work, and there’s a new 7 day trial. If you ever deal with promo codes in iTunes Connect, you owe it to yourself to give it...
Jul 27, 2017•34 min
Pádraig and Oisín discuss the amount of time they spend not programming and what it’s like working as a team instead of solo. Links Mentioned Castro’s Summer Sale YouTube: In-depth Walkthrough of Castro Podcast Player on iPhone Vimeo: Tokens demo Club MacStories Castro featured at WWDC Rich Notifications Best Practices and What’s New in User Notifications Brian Irace says Castro is his favorite app watchOS beta Software Installation Guide Supertop Blog: Registering App Encryption use to the US G...
Jul 11, 2017•28 min
Oisin and Padraig discuss the podcasting and app store announcements at WWDC17. Some follow up on our Unread and Tokens discussion last week. Podcast Analytics, how will people use them (not just ads), some potential problems. A graph of episode length vs listener drop off The WWDC session about Apple Podcasts The new podcast tags, what they’re for, some issues with them. Padraig’s The New iTunes Podcast RSS Tags about the new tags. Apple is remaining benevolent in podcasting for now, but how mi...
Jun 27, 2017•35 min
Oisin and Padraig introduce Castro 2.4 and then discuss plans for our other Supertop apps, Top Hat, Tokens and Unread. We try to figure out what kind of focus Supertop should have and decide that we’re probably not a developer tools company.
Jun 01, 2017•31 min
A year after The New York Times published an article on the growth of podcasting, we discuss the current state of the medium and what the future may hold. This episode is sponsored by Steamclock Software . Steamclock crafts polished products for iPhone, Android, and the Web. 2016 John Herrman, The New York Times: Podcasts Surge, but Producers Fear Apple Isn’t Listening Ben Thompson, Stratechery: The Future of Podcasting Alex Carter: Apple and the Future of Podcasts Marco Arment: Apple’s actual r...
May 12, 2017•40 min
We’re joined by Jared Sinclair to discuss his new app, Stormcrow , and the best way to approach hobbies and side projects. Then we discuss what’s needed from social features in podcast apps, and what the future of Supertop might look like. Jared Sinclair on Stormcrow JaredSinclair.com Stormcrow : the easiest way to write properly-threaded tweetstorms. The last time we interviewed Jared: Having a Chat in Some Kind of Hell Chippy : for your Pivotal Tracker Icebox John Cleese on Creativity How to S...
Apr 10, 2017•33 min
Pádraig and Oisín discuss triage in Castro and other podcast apps, complain about improperly implemented HTTP caching techniques and remember a puddle in Newcastle. Sponsor Thanks to Steamclock for sponsoring the show. Steamclock are looking for a bright, enthusiastic developer with experience building wonderful mobile apps, especially on iOS. If you love writing beautiful, high-quality software, they’d like to meet you. Senior iOS Engineer – Swift at Steamclock Software - Stack Overflow Show No...
Mar 16, 2017•33 min
We discuss Castro 2.3 (and what’s coming in 2.4), Overcast 3, and Iconfactory’s Kickstarter campaign for Twitterific. Castro 2.3 Our blog post announcing 2.3 Complete release notes Our blog post about App Store rating prompts that got us started thinking about notifications in Castro What’s coming in 2.4? “Enhanced Audio” or so it’s called for now Overcast 3 Design walkthrough Iconfactory’s Kickstarter Twitterrific for Mac: Project Phoenix Release Notes : Craig Hockenberry Part 1 Part 2 Podcast ...
Feb 28, 2017•41 min
We discuss feedback to our App Store Review Prompts blog post, ideas for improving Castro’s notifications, answer a listener question about open source, and more. This episode is brought to you by Steamclock . Follow-up: App Store Review Prompts (00:11) Mentioned in the last episode: Can Apple do better than the rating prompt as it is in 10.3? The Blog Post: Notification Are Better Than Alerts The Radar: SKStoreReviewController should not be modal Daring Fireball: Should iOS 10.3’S App Store Rat...
Feb 14, 2017•36 min
We invite you to send in a recording of you asking a question / suggesting a topic for discussion next episode: take out your phone and use the voice memos app, then email the file to us! We follow up on Oisin's AirPods, discuss Apple's two new app store features: the ability for app owners to respond to reviews and a system ratings dialog in iOS. Then, bug of the week and recommend some podcast episodes. This episode is sponsored by DrinkControl : Track alcohol use and expenses with iPhone : A ...
Jan 31, 2017•49 min
