Pocket Casts icon
Pocket Casts icon

Pocket Casts

Podcast player supporting streaming and downloads, advanced search, cross-device 'Up Next', improved discovery, playback effects, and offline listening essentials.

Pocket Casts screenshot 1
Pocket Casts screenshot 2
+5
Pocket Casts screenshot 3

Cost / License

  • Freemium (Subscription)
  • Open Source (MPL-2.0)

Application type

Platforms

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Online
  • Android
  • iPhone
  • Chrome OS
  • Android Tablet
  • iPad
  • Apple Watch
  • Android Auto
  • Android Wear
  • Apple Car Play
246likes
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Pocket Casts News & Activities

Recent News

Recent activities

Comments and Reviews

   
Comment summary: Pocket Casts is praised for its intuitive interface, cross-device syncing, customizable settings, and robust features on Android and iOS. Users value its playlist management and podcast discovery. However, concerns include frequent UI changes, less favorable web app experience (noted bugs, extra charges), and some platform limitations. Despite minor drawbacks, many users find it outperforms alternatives for multi-platform use.
Top Positive Comment
jezr
3

I had been looking for a long time trying to get a half decent pod-caster for Android. I trialed about 10 different leading apps. I found that Pocket Casts was leagues ahead of everyone else in design, usability and function.

Clinchers for me was the ease of setting up playlists and managing a feed. Also being able to discover new podcasts via the application was a bonus.

Top Negative Comment
DL300
2

Every now and then I get duped into trying this """""free""""" ecosystem. It is not free, let's get that out of the way first - the devs SAY they will only charge you for the web player, but the APPS COUNT AS THE WEB PLAYER. So apart from the ANDROID APP, this ecosystem is totally unusable without paying. As in, it will not let you sign in or click anything.

I AM SICK OF SEEING THIS LISTED INCORRECTLY.

Anantapodoton
0

I got on Pocket Casts after the downfall of Castro in 2024 an it offer almost exaclty what i wish as a very regular podcast listener.

After trying a lot of different apps, it's my favorite free podcast app on iOs. (I would get the support tiers if it was a bit less pricy)

q8tm0lvh
1

The best podcast player for iOS followed by Overcast

0

Pocket Casts scored 2.5 / 5 stars on Amazon Alexa.

The Pocket Casts Web Player is not available to free users –– it is only available to paid subscribers. A paid subscription costs $3.99 - $9.99 / month.

https://play.pocketcasts.com/user/plans

The desktop apps are also available only to paid subscribers of Pocket Casts Plus –– not free users.

https://pocketcasts.com/plans/

dinesh-58
Replying to @Duncan Briggs

As of March 11, 2025, the web and desktop apps are available on the free tier too. Source:

Note that the Downloads page may redirect you to straight to the web player based on your user agent.

p L
1

After Stitcher closed, I had to find a lightweight, useful app that worked on ALL my devices with web interface as well as full featured app. Pocket Casts seems to be the best, full featured , multi-platform app available in 2024. Thanks!

Peter Mello
0

It has all the right settings to let me make it behave precisely as I wish, depending on the podcast and syncs my progress between all my devices. Nothing else I've tried comes close to working so well and reliably.

7 of 11 comments

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Open-Source Slopware

A list of open-source software containing slop (LLM generated) code or endorses the usage of LLMs in other ways. This list contains software that obviously accepts irresponsible coding practices or promotes LLM usage. I found these applications while searching for alternatives to previously used software that turned out to contain code generated by slop-machines. Each of added applications have at least one link that points to the verifiable proof. This list by no means is meant to cover all the software that contains code by not-so-intelligent tools and people using them but to serve as a reminder to myself about what I have already checked. Why having LLM generated code (and using generative tools in general) is bad? Ethical reasons — such as illegally retrieved training material, underpaid workers that prepare the training data. Impact on environment — increased fossil fuel usage to supply the needed electricity power, water usage in water scarce regions. This somewhat overlaps with the above. Social impact – noise pollution in neighbourhoods near AI data centres, air pollution from diesel- or gas-powered turbines (also overlaps with the above), resource consumption by data centres drastically increases utility prices. Impact on brain and thinking, reasoning — by offloading thinking and decision making to machines people are shooting in their foot (more like in their head) as this leads to brain rot. Less intelligent people are easier to control. Even legal issues (especially in open-source software as it cannot be guaranteed that the “generated” code is not really just re-used, thus unknowingly violating the source license). Inevitable enshittification — every software product from big technology eventually gets enshittified to maximize revenue. For users this could mean hidden or plain ads, biased opinions/information, privacy violations, increased prices for LLM based tools. Burden on open-source software maintenance — LLM tools provide easier access to code contributions which often shifts the responsibility of checking code quality from developers to maintainers and reviewers. Digging through walls of merge request text and code generated by slop-machines takes valuable time that otherwise could be spent more meaningfully by fixing bugs and working on new features. I will try to add links that back up the claims above, but it may take a while. Of course, I see how and where generative tools could be helpful and sometimes I feel tempted to find an acceptable way to use them, but for now the direct and indirect costs far too much outweigh gains. This list has its positive counterpart: Slop-Free (Supposedly) Open-Source Software (not quite complete yet). Also take a look at and give thumbs up to AI Slopfree Software Catalog which contains software dedicated against usage of LLMs. Also, here is a list of some labels that can be added / voted for so they would eventually appear on application pages: Slopware; Slop (LLM) Code; Slop-Source Software; Open-Source Slopware; Contains Slop (LLM Generated) Code.
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Official Links

Install from the command line

  • winget install -e --id Automattic.PocketCasts
  • brew install --cask pocket-casts

Be careful what you paste into a terminal. Check what a command installs before running it.

What is Pocket Casts?

Stay up to date with all the latest podcasts (or netcasts if you're Leo) with one easy to use app. Simply add your favourite podcasts, and you'll be able to stream or download new episodes as they become available.

Play without subscribing Committing to things is so 2015. Browse podcasts and hit play on episodes that look interesting, no strings attached.

Episode search Trying to find your favorite guest on that one amazing episode? Looking for your pet topic but confronted with hundreds of shows to sift through? Episode search to the rescue!

Up Next syncing Have you built the perfect list of shows to play on your phone? Wouldn't it be nice if they were all there, ready to go, on your PC at work? How about the tablet sitting on your coffee table? Pocket Casts 7 has you covered.

Improved discovery With so many new podcasts launching daily, how do you find your next obsession? We've invested heavily in curation to make discovery easy. Our best algorithms teamed up with our best people to bring you the best podcasts.

Streamlined experience Everything is easier in Pocket Casts 7. We've spent months fine-tuning the app so that it gets out of the way and lets you seamlessly enjoy your favorite podcasts.

So much more… New archiving features. Playback effects while streaming. Enhanced Apple Watch support. Siri Shortcuts. Listening history. Syncing improvements. Season and episode numbering support. Almost everything that could be improved has been to take Pocket Casts 7 to the next level.

Pocket Casts Videos

Pocket Casts information

  • Developed by

    US flagAutomattic Inc.
  • Licensing

    Open Source (MPL-2.0) and Freemium product.
  • Pricing

    Subscription ranging between $1 and $2 per month + free version with limited functionality.
  • Rating

    Average rating of 4.1 (13 ratings)
  • Alternatives

    141 alternatives listed
  • Badge

    Get an embeddable badge for Pocket Casts
  • Supported Languages

    • English
    • Dutch
    • French
    • German
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Portuguese
    • Russian
    • Chinese
    • Spanish
    • Swedish

AlternativeTo Categories

Audio & Music, News & Books, Video & Movies

Apple AppStore

  •   Updated 
  •   4.51 avg rating
View in AppStore

GitHub repository

  •  2,842 Stars
  •  310 Forks
  •  382 Open Issues
  •   Updated  
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Our users have written 11 comments and reviews about Pocket Casts, and it has gotten 246 likes

Pocket Casts was added to AlternativeTo by 69dragons on and this page was last updated .