In its previous update, Pocket Casts added an Android Wear companion app that allowed you to browse your Up Next list of podcasts and pick an episode to play. It worked even when Pocket Casts wasn't launched on your phone and without requiring the notification first, which was awesome if you needed to start playback from your watch without having to dig your phone out of your pocket/purse. The whole idea though relied on you having already populated your playback queue because you couldn't browse your entire library from the watch. That's changing with this new update.

In version 5.1.3, Pocket Casts revamped its notification actions, adding a few screens that you can swipe to when an episode is playing. The regular playback controls screen is still there, followed by the handy option to star the episode, and then a Browse screen that gives you access to your entire library.

You can browse all of your podcasts or scroll to view your playlists. In each case, you can delve deep to select a specific episode to play. The approach is similar to what Google Play Music does, by letting you browse your library straight from the notification, without requiring you to launch the Wear app first. Speaking of the app, it stays the same: you can only view your queue there.

If you're slightly confused, here's a summary of what you can do from your watch with Pocket Casts:

• If a podcast episode is already playing, use the notification to access the Browse screen to pick any other episode from your library.
• Whether something is playing or not, use the Android Wear app to access your populated (previously, from the phone) queue of episodes and start playback.

Here's the changelog, followed by the link to download the app.

What's New

We're back! Did you miss us? We kinda missed you a bit. We did have a shiny Material Design Award to keep us company though, so you know, it wasn't all bad. We've stopped fondling it (don't judge us, you would have too!) for long enough to bring you all an update!

If you love browsing, and you love Pocket Casts, you'll love browsing Pocket Casts on your Android Wear device! It's worth buying one just for this. Do it.

This release has plenty of fixes in it too, because we know you love those.