Podcast App Reviews

by Breezy6293

I love the selection and variety of podcasts and that it doesn’t take up a lot of storage space, but I think it should be easier a) to discover the lesser known podcasts within a category and b) download episodes for offline listening. As for B- the actual downloading isn’t the issue, but for some reason it isn’t always available once I go offline. This tends to happen more if I either c) pause a podcast while offline (as in it will be playing just fine but then won’t play due to it being offline when I attempt to resume playing) or d) download several episodes and attempt to listen to the next episode on the docket. As for d), I would like to be able to download a whole bunch of them to, go offline, and listen to them offline.
In addition, I would like to be able to save an episode without downloading it.
Now it’s quite possible that there’s a way to do all of the things I mentioned, but as there’s no FAQ or help center etc, I haven’t been able to figure out how to do that.

by Kaoy-s

For years I have been using PodcastApp and after the most recent update, I couldn’t be more frustrated with it.
The new interface makes it more inconvenient to access the podcasts I had subscribed to and listen to on the daily. Being someone who is not always looking for the newest podcasts, I very often dive into different episodes that are not the latest. I suppose only ever being caught up is what is expected of the now short term attention spans people have. I have to go through a series of “Whats new” options passing as if watching someone’s stories from Instagram or Snapchat. I can’t simply select the podcast which would normally direct me right to the list of episodes within the podcast I had subscribed to. WHY?!
Not only does it take forever to access the page I had subscribed to, it doesn’t even play. I waited over 20 minutes for an episode to load thinking it might be my service, internet connection, or my phone in general, so I shut my phone off and tried other routes and still nothing. After using PodcastApp, I am entirely and completely over it. It’s irritating enough that people who think they’re doing better by upgrading something and giving in to the modern era of thinking is frustrating.

by Might Belittle

To show how much i wanted to like PodcastApp, i will admit it is the only app I’ve ever paid for the premium version of. Ever. Unfortunately it didn’t work out well for me in the long run.
For starters, what has irked me all along is that it won’t let users add episodes to “listen later” without downloading them to the user’s device. Unskilled developers can’t just implement a “bookmark” of some sort I guess? They force user to download everything to the user’s device (with minimal use, it’s well over a GB and won’t let the user clean them up!)
Since this is an issue cited by multiple users, I always thought it would be addressed by one of the utterly massive amount of endless updates...but no matter how many of these faux “updates” they do they’v never ever fixed any problems I have, not a one. I have no other way to think at this point than to assume PodcastApp is just trying to gobble up my device’s space as fast as it can in any way possible. Don’t want to download 1-2 updates every WEEK? Well then PodcastApp will lag for literal minutes waiting for an episode to play. PodcastApp only gets worse and worse. Never once being improved by the fifty+ “updates” it’s had since I’ve installed it. Do better.

by Hrjordan

*update - what happened to the seamless listening? It used to just go from the episode I was listening to to the very next episode. Now it stops playing and I have to go back into PodcastApp and hit play to listen to the next one. Several times when I do this it freezes up and I have to close PodcastApp or click on the next episode and back to the one I want to listen to for it to work. Disappointing changes, unfortunately... Fix these things and then I'll re-visit this rating.*
Please make it to where I can tell PodcastApp I've already listened to previous episodes! It's annoying to have to click on the episode and ff all the way through to the end just to get it off my list. I love that it automatically goes from one episode to the next (unlike Apple's podcast app). That was the main reason I started using this, but now I need for it to say that I've already listened to the episodes from before I switched.

by M1234dse543

So here is an update to my last two reviews...a few months ago PodcastApp used all my months cellular data in the first two days of my billing cycle even when it didn’t have access to my cell data. It was supposed to only use WiFi. Well I’ve been watching and it seemed the issue was fixed....until today.....half my cell data is gone again due to PodcastApp....and my phone tracked its use of the data even when it isn’t supposed to have access to my cell data....I have no idea how that happens but I’m done with PodcastApp....the other issues from my second review listed below still exist as well....and I have deleted and reloaded PodcastApp ....no help.....2nd review is below... PodcastApp used to work great with the exception of burning up all my data in two days last month. Now PodcastApp crashes and freezes all the time. Also it doesn’t seem to want to download new podcasts for future listening and many of the ones that I have already downloaded over WiFi and show available to listen to off line won’t play anymore without being connected to WiFi. When I try to download new podcasts for future use it just sits and won’t download and old ones already downloaded fail to play off line. Help.

by CSiegell

Podcast app has potential, but is not there yet. I’m not sure why the developers would even release PodcastApp without a “settings” option and you can just imagine how many features and customizations are missing because of this. PodcastApp needs settings, volume boost, full customization for home screen, grid change / icon display options for home screen, settings for steaming / download, and login to remember your settings. Overcast just blows Podcast app out of the water and will probably continue to do so when the newer redesigns come out. Not to mention that the developers are not participating in replying directly to most of the reviews and many emails have gone completely unanswered from other users (although developers maintain is because they were busy on a project) . The nail in the coffin is that Podcast app appears to charge you for both your iPhone and iPad device when it’s included with Overcast for one price, not two.

by Ggmmaazz

This is a great podcast app. I have disliked many podcasts apps for various reasons (the native app doesn’t load new episodes quickly, even when refreshed, others have bad design) and this one solves many problems. It has good search, an easy enough design for getting to the podcasts I want to listen to. The biggest hang up I have with it is it eats space. My phone told me to manage my space since it was getting low, and PodcastApp was 1.1GB of data. But rather than just clearing a couple episodes that have been downloaded (like other apps), there is no way to see what has been downloaded, what/when episodes will be downloaded, and how to delete them once they’re downloaded. Hence my bloat problem. I had to regretfully delete PodcastApp . If there was a preference to choose when to download and to then delete, I would keep it and continue using it, even with ads.

by A Kindly Prima Donna

I’ve been using this for about a year after Apple podcasts did all their stupid thing. It’s been semi-functional the entire time. They recently added a few features that I wanted to review.

We now can create playlists! But there’s a lot of problems. First of all, you can’t add episodes that you’ve downloaded to any playlists. You have to go to the podcast itself and add it to the playlist there. Furthermore, you can’t add an episode from the search inside each podcast header. This is annoying if you’ve got an episode from 2018 and the podcast updated each week—lots to go through. Lastly, it doesn’t seem like you can delete playlists?!?!

It wouldn’t be so frustrating if there were a user guide available. But there is no user guide. You can send an email to the developers, and they do answer pretty quickly, but sometimes I just wanna look up an answer in a Q&A or something. Also, the name of PodcastApp , “ podcasts app “, is so generic you can’t Google for answers either.

PodcastApp also automatically delete episodes you’ve listen to, and there’s no way to turn that off. Why?? I can’t really complain considering it’s a free app, but some of the implementations just don’t make any sense. QA testers failed big time.

by Marmosette

I have used the heck out of PodcastApp and it is mostly awesome. It just has a weird quirk where podcasts don’t automatically play the next episode. It used to. I thought maybe they’d changed that in an update, but I just went back and caught up on another podcast with 4 new eps since the last time I’d listened, and those DID start right off—when one episode ended, the next one would start playing after only a second or two. Most of the time, when one episode ends, it moves to the next episode and just stops. I have to hit play for it to start loading the ep, wait a few secs for it to stop loading and say “error,” turn my wifi off and back on again, go back to PodcastApp , hit “play” again, and usually do that a few more times while I wait 5-10 min for it to download the entire episode. Then I have to go to the podcast’s page, scroll to find the last ep I’d listened to, hit play on THAT, then go to the one I just loaded and hit play on that. Then it will play. I know my connection speed is slow, but it does this when I’m connected in other locations with better speeds. I was just resigned to this weird buggy thing until I just checked up on that other podcast and it actually started playing the next ep right away without nannying and cajoling, and before it had downloaded the whole thing. Is that just happening to me?

by AdamantAbsols

So I love PodcastApp, and I use it about every day. But for at least the last few days, it’s been having issues with autoplaying the next episode. In that it doesn’t auto play at all and I have to open PodcastApp to play the next episode. And a few times it suddenly cuts out and stops playing, then I have to go to PodcastApp and start it again.
So I’ve tried closing PodcastApp , restarting my phone, I updated PodcastApp and then tried deleting and redownloading PodcastApp , which has only lead to more problems.
The option to continue listening to an episode from the home page is gone, and I have to go to the recommended section to find that, which is annoying and frustrating.
And when I try to rearrange my list of podcasts it starts switching between small thumbnails and larger thumbnails, and the switching happens in a way that makes it impossible to actually rearrange them.
Overall, I’ve used PodcastApp for around 6 months and I’ve enjoyed it until a few days ago.

by Dsvist12

Love this podcast app. Definitely the best I’ve used so far as well. Some podcasts I like to listen to, I want to listen to older archived episodes and this is the only app that I’ve used that has downloaded all episodes of any podcast. Other apps I’ve used only download the past 10-15 or so, so this is a big plus for for. I like the grid layout on the main page as well. My only gripes with PodcastApp is that isn’t a universal settings page. I’d like to change it where it doesn’t play the next episode automatically, once the podcast is done I’d like to either choose my next episode or just be done listening entirely. I also wish there was a dark mode as well, though that is purely cosmetic. It’s a well thought out app and works amazingly, just wish there was a way to change a few settings app wide.

by Miss Theta

I am so blessed every day as I hear messages that really make a difference in my life. The emphasis on living the Christian Life of obedience proceeding from a heart of “Love” for God, rather than fear really has resounded old and clear - and the FACT that even our love fir Him is a gift from Him makes everything work better - Obedience then is a joy! I am able to structure my life better with the knowledge I have gained and the rest it allows even when I am busiest (which is most of the time as I am caring fir my disabled 30 year old adopted son who is medically complex and now on TPN, but with major surgery recently, the two and one-half year journey with TPN will End soon, and we can focus on the less critical issues which are many. He listened to your messages with me, too. Thank you so much!

by CthulhuMan

/UPDATE: the most recent update has fixed the ability to Restore my active subscription so I am now VERY PLEASED with PodcastApp overall. Many thanks to the dev team for getting this sorted out. /UPDATE: after several app updates I still can’t restore my already paid for subscription. PodcastApp is great otherwise but it’s been many weeks since I paid for it and am still stuck with ads because the Restore button doesn’t work. Not cool. /UPDATE
I love PodcastApp, best podcast player I’ve seen. I subscribed to it but seemed to have found a bug where removing and reinstalling PodcastApp breaks the subscription and the ads don’t go away. Can renew subscription and can’t Restore button the ads away. Not sure what to do as I can’t find a way to contact support either. This would be five stars if those things were fixed/made clearer.

by Klmc608

I’ve been using PodcastApp for probably three years now. I’ve tried a bunch of different podcast apps because I despise the Apple podcast app, but LOVE pods. I listen all throughout the day. This is by far the best one I’ve used. It’s user-friendly, organized, and extremely well thought out.
I love the ‘latest’ feature: the latest pods from those you are subscribed to. You can sort chronologically or name of pod.
Also love the ‘listen later’ feature. This is where all of your downloaded pods live. You can sort these by when you downloaded them or by name of pod.
Other apps may have these features, but I promise you, PodcastApp is prettier and more well thought out than any other. The customer service is great too.

by TM2Bee

Update: I'm changing my review from 2 stars to 5 stars. This developer worked hard to solve my data retention issue. I'm happy to report that have been using PodcastApp for SEVERAL weeks with the improvements and I am not having issues any longer.

It's a good app, works well. However I was nosing around in my iPhone storage and lo and behold see that PodcastApp has stored 10gb of data on my phone aside from the actual app. So automatically I think that episodes are being downloaded but not deleted...and maybe they are but you can't reset that because there is no settings button. And then I thought I'd contact the developer so I went to PodcastApp page in PodcastApp store...nice try...both ways to even attempt to find the developer takes me right back to the data hogging app! The only way to clear this data is to delete PodcastApp . Thank you, I think I will and look for another app when I'm done.

by Joe Kingg

Great content, variety of topics ,quality people who for the most part don't have a selfish agenda, it's nice for a change to be able to chose topics other then politics that are not even real politics , seems like almost every podcast is about polotics,all contradict one another, everyone on the planet by now is well aware of the fact that it is no longer about the day to day citizens, so enough of that crap! here we got spiritual podcasts sports everything that you are interested in, music and without always ending up with how awful
The system is,if you have a podcast about music or art stick to the subject and so far I found some good uplifting and entertaining shows👌

by RealCRH

I thought I’d like to listen to podcasts in the car but this is practically useless for that! Even if I download what I want to listen to in advance in my home when I try to listen to it on the road all I get is the thing going around and around and around and around and around saying loading only it never loads! Once in a great while it will work but the vast majority of the time it does not! And good luck trying to contact them I have seen absolutely no way to get in contact with the people who do this or to get any kind of advice on how to make it work better. I should also add that sometimes I can’t even get the icons of the shows that I have or a list of the episodes—even that doesn’t download! And when something does download only three or four seconds of the program will sound and then nothing and then three or four seconds and then nothing and then three or four seconds and then nothing obviously impossible to listen to.

by SWVB10

I use PodcastApp all the time for two reasons: I LOVE podcasts and I really enjoy the structure of PodcastApp. It has a simple layout, it looks modern and up to date, unlike Apple’s podcast app. I really, REALLY enjoy the grid layout of being able to see all of my favorite podcast at once (I hope the developers keep this). I do wish that there were settings for the user and I could customize the layout of the home listen screen, especially since I pay for the upgraded version with ads (SO WORTH IT!!). For example, I don’t really care for the top line up of new shows, I already get notifications for that and the “new” tag pops up on my podcasts when a new one is available. Also, like my second favorite app, Audible, I wish there was an option to change the background/theme to “mode” or something. Definitely not deal breakers, and I would give PodcastApp more than 5 stars if I could, but maybe in a future update.

Thanks for PodcastApp !

by John Micheal 2

I’m not big on listening to podcasts, but I do occasionally like to listen to a few. And I know that one of my friends listens to them ALL the time! Wether you fall asleep to podcasts, or you can only sit through a few minutes at a time, this is a great app for it. Every podcast you favorite is right there on a list. I think that you should be able to MAKE podcasts through PodcastApp too. It would be more convenient than having to download another app for it. I also think there should be a setting, that translates whatever they’re saying into any language. Most podcasts are in English, so it would be useful to have some kind of instant translator. (At least in Spanish and Chinese)

by Greedo Green Guy

At first glance it seems silly to pay for an app that does the same thing free apps do. However, Apple’s native Podcast app falls short due to its poor, unintuitive design. There is no flow to the user interface. You have to wrestle through it only to have an unsatisfying experience.

I went looking for a replacement and found PodcastApp so much better that I soon happily paid to remove its irritating overlay ads. You get what you pay for, it’s a pleasure to use and they earned my money.

I am a frequent podcast listener trying to follow many different shows. I like to navigate while I listen, see what I recently listened to, resume partially listened episodes, view all my podcasts at a glance, get a quick handle on newly released material, etc. I’m pretty picky but PodcastApp does everything I want and I trust you will be satisfied as well.

by Kaletbh

I love PodcastApp, and I use it to listen to all of my regular podcasts. I've even discovered some of my new favorites through it, as it has a great variety of options for you to find completely for free. The ads are skippable and I really enjoy that as well, because they provide earnings to the creators without completely hindering the user experience. The only problem I've found is that there is absolutely no in-app technical support. A "help" or "FAQ" or even "contact us" is literally nowhere to be found. There is no settings section, which is what these would normally would fall under. I was going to report a bug to the developers, as I recently had an increasing number of playback errors when trying to play a podcast, and it seems that when one playback error occurs, every other podcast will also have a playback error for some time afterwards. It's not my internet connection or my cell signal, as everything else works fine. I don't know what the cause of this is, or if it's a server issue, but I was hoping to reach out directly to technical support instead of having to leave this under an app review. It would be helpful if developers could add in-app technical support to redirect user issues properly.

by Lidror

After months of misery, I finally dumped the native iOS app and have never looked back. I’m still transitioning my 100+ podcast shows to the Podcast App, but since I’m no longer wasting time and emotional energy on that other piece of junk, it has been worth every moment. As a podcast nut, I’m not exaggerating when I say that the Podcast App has definitely improved (and possibly lengthened 😃) my life!! PodcastApp works so well that I’ve even recommended it to others and several friends/family members are now using it as well..... With Gratitude...
ADDENDUM: ONE REQUEST— I was able to locate “The Park Avenue Podcast” (from the Park Avenue Synagogue) in your library, but while the one you offer IS correct, it doesn’t appear to have been recently updated. If you could research this, I’d be very appreciative. FYI: I’ve also contacted Park Avenue Synagogue with this request. THANKS!!

by Momatries

Ok... it didn’t really change my LIFE, but it’s AWESOME!! Works flawlessly, the ads aren’t bad (just a screen pop when you start, and the ads are appropriate), and they have all the podcasts I could think of! Oh and the best part is it’s organized by someone who actually listens to podcasts and wants to access them in a rational and easy way (unlike the iPhone podcast app that has become less and less user friendly with all the hoops you have to jump through to get where you want, which had me so frustrated I looked for an alternative, but soooo glad I did!!)! Love the picture tiles that you can see all your podcasts on one screen! There is an episode favorites section, more like a queue that you can add a lot more than one to and listen to them in whatever order you want even if they’re episodes from different podcasts! Seriously download this! This is the happiest I’ve ever been from an app download! And I don’t usually take the time to write reviews either, that’s how happy I am with this!!! And it’s FREE!

by Amotherfuckingcritic

I’m not big on listening to podcasts, but I do occasionally like to listen to a few. And I know that one of my friends listens to them ALL the time! Wether you fall asleep to podcasts, or you can only sit through a few minutes at a time, this is a great app for it. Every podcast you favorite is right there on a list. I think that you should be able to MAKE podcasts through PodcastApp too. It would be more convenient than having to download another app for it. I also think there should be a setting, that translates whatever they’re saying into any language. Most podcasts are in English, so it would be useful to have some kind of instant translator. (At least in Spanish and Chinese)

by Aaron Devlin

It’s probably was the best application when it’s come to listening to Podcasts , I’ve used iHeartRadio and Apple Podcast , IHeartRadio doesn’t work half the time and it’s takes forever to get a podcast to load I don’t like the lay out of iHeartRadio and apple podcast take my Storage because the podcast are so large when you have to download them , PodcastApp fixes all my issues it’s easy to find an podcast and you can listen to the podcast without having to download yeah they’re a few ads doesn’t bother me at all , I rather listen to ads then have to download an podcast other platforms like iHeartRadio and Apple Podcast . I’ve never had any issues with PodcastApp at all , I love the layout of PodcastApp and how easy it is to get to what I want to listen too I’ve never had any issues with listening to any of my shows I like to listen too . they’re been a few bugs where other audio from other podcast play over the podcast that I was listening too but otherwise I’ve not had any issues with PodcastApp at all !