| Price | Freemium |
| Version | 6.1.0 |
| Category | multimedia |
| Developer | Evolve Global, Inc. |
| Source | iOS, Android |
| Rating | (4.8) |
Once you choose a podcast, you can either listen to it or download it. If you choose to download it, you can listen to it later even when you are offline. If you listen to podcasts often, we recommend you download all the episodes you like so you can listen to them later. You can keep track of your favorite podcasts so you know when new episodes are available.
The Podcast App is only available for smartphones. The best part about The Podcast App is that it’s free. We love the simplicity of this app, and we hope you enjoy listening to podcasts as much as we do. If you want to listen to podcasts on your computer, then we recommend you check out Spotify or YouTube instead. To get started installing it, open the Google Play (Android) or App Store (Apple) app on your smartphone and search for ‘Podcast App’ in the search bar.
When you open the app, there will be a list of popular podcasts. If you want to find more podcasts in other categories, tap on “More” at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen and select what is most relevant for you (Tech Podcasts/News & Politics/Healthy Living/etc).
To play a podcast, just tap on the episode of your choice. The Podcast App will automatically begin playing that episode for you! To navigate through the episodes or find more information about each one (such as length), swipe from left to right in order to access other options such as “Play”, “Download” (if you don’t want to listen now), or the name of each episode. You can also swipe from right to left in order to access the podcast options. If there are any new episodes, you will see a “New” button on your screen (see below).
If you tap on “New”, it will show you all the new episodes of this podcast and allow you to play them. Tap any episode that interests you in order to listen. If there is a download icon next to each one, then the episode can be listened to later even when you are offline.
The Podcast App was built with simplicity in mind, and you can’t fault it for its ease of use and user-friendliness. It’s clearly aimed at a maturer, less tech-literate audience rather than some of the other, less intuitive podcast apps out there on the market.
The interface is clean and it only takes a few taps to get listening to a podcast of interest to you, whether there’s a specific one you have in mind or you’re just browsing through to find whatever takes your fancy.
As for the app’s categories, there’s a lot to choose from: arts, business, comedy, education, games and hobbies, government and organisations, health, kids and family, music, news and politics, religion and spirituality, science and medicine, society and culture, sports and recreation, TV and film, technology. If none of those are what you’re looking for then you’ll probably have to find a more niche podcast service.
We were particularly surprised to see some of the more controversial podcasts advertised on the front page of the app. Alex Jones’s Infowars, for example, as he tends to favour conspiracy theories over accepted facts, which caused him to be banned from YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify. His Infowars app was even banned from Apple’s App Store yet it’s still possible to access his content via The Podcast App.
There are also a few true crime podcasts that focus on morbid subject matter. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it was certainly unexpected, and you should be warned before you dive into some of these podcasts without understanding the nature of the content and the backgrounds of the presenters first, as you might stumble upon some disturbing material.
You’re probably wondering how The Podcast App is monetised; after all, it seems too good to be free so far. And you would be right, it is too good for it to be free. It’s monetised by visual ads in the free version, which are far less intrusive than Spotify’s audio ads, but still a minor annoyance.
Of course, the first screen you see upon opening the app for the first time is an ad for the premium package which removes the visual ads, allows you to adjust playback speed, and set a sleep timer. It offers a free trial but you’ll be charged €14.49 per year thereafter; not a bad price at all for what you get.
We advise you to skip premium to start with and see if you can tolerate the amount of ad banners on the app. If you find yourself to be using it frequently, consider the premium package but be sure to immediately cancel the subscription after activation. This way you can continue to enjoy the free trial without automatically paying for a subscription after the free seven days have expired.
We have no criticism for what the app aims to do and how well it executes it; it just delivers a vast choice of podcasts, including all the most famous ones, as well as lesser-known ones, with a navigable interface. There’s absolutely nothing to lose from giving this great podcast app a try other than a few minutes of your time.
