I used the default Apple Podcasts app for years and *hated* it, but I could never find an app I thought could suitably replace it, either. Castro does everything I always wanted an app to do: Downloads are easy, queuing up what I want to hear is a breeze (simply drag and drop in the order you want)... Show more , you’re able to turn off whether you want the episodes to play continuously or stop, playback speeds are easy to control, and best of all, there’s a “sleep” option, where you can tell Castro to stop playing anything after a certain number of minutes. Some nights I like to listen to podcasts to help me sleep, but of course with Apple Podcasts this meant it’d keep playing ALL of the episodes in my queue, one after another, after I fell asleep. Not with Castro :). There are even more great features in the paid version, but for right now, I’m happy with the free version!
Why the star docked? Castro’s one big fault is it’s navigation. There are certain screens you can navigate to where it’s impossible to tell how in the world you can get back to the “Home” screen. Sometimes I have to close out PodcastPlayerApp entirely just so I can get back to a screen I recognize.
It’s really not too terrible, but it’s still a pretty big oversight. A “Home” screen might exist on those screens, but it’s definitely not obvious, and it should be.
Overall, I’m really happy with PodcastPlayerApp and will be recommending it to anyone who loves podcasts!