Pull 2011 Release 3: out now!
Pull, a popular podcatcher I develop in my free time, has seen a long delay (78 days in fact) since the last release. What’s new, and why did it take so long?
Release 2—the most popular version to date—was great but also one of the buggiest releases we’ve ever had. While there were no show-stopping issues, just some weird quirks, the delay was necessary to go back and fix, fix, fix, and fix even more. Loads of bugs were squashed, and I’ve been running release 3 for a little while now—it’s solid. I’m very happy with this release.
Meanwhile, along with the bug fixes, some great new features were added.
Forced Refresh Option
Next to the Refresh All Podcasts button is a new Force Refresh All Podcasts option. The first refreshes intelligently—doing checks to boost speed and minimize bandwidth—but sometimes you need a force refresh when the server is flaky. That’s where the new button comes in.
New Web Browser
I’ve never been happy with the built-in browser option. For a long time, if you clicked a link, it would reuse the browser window—leading to a poor experience. Then we tried to fix that, but pop-ups could jump out of Pull without warning. 🙁 Worse, it used 40 MB of memory—very expensive in terms of performance.
I finally replaced it with a proper HTML parser, offering a clean browsing experience where links open in your default browser. No more annoying pop-ups, and memory usage is now minimal! 😊
Welcome Back to Single Folders
Metrics showed that very few users relied on the single folder option (all downloaded files in one folder), so I removed it to simplify other scenarios. But those few users spoke up—loudly—explaining why it was a killer feature for them. So, I had no choice but to bring it back!
Error Reporting Improved
Bugs always hide in plain sight, but we’ve introduced a sleek new error reporting dialog. It sends all necessary info to fix issues and lets you add your email address, extra details, or both if you press Add Details.
I’m excited to get plenty of feedback with this! 😊
So go ahead—enjoy your podcasts—and please share your experiences with us on the website!