podcast app 2019

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• Breaker. Breaker is a free iOS-only podcast app with a social bent. ...
• Castbox. Castbox is the podcast app to use if you're interested in discovering new podcasts. ...
• Castro. Castro is a free iOS podcast app that is fairly average if you use the free version. ...
• Downcast. ...
• Himalaya. ...
• Luminary. ...
• Overcast. ...
• Pocket Casts. ...
• Stitcher. ...
• Spotify. ...

More items...

Full Answer

What is the Best Podcast app to use?

Best podcast apps of 2020 The best podcast apps you can download today Pocket Casts (Android, iOS) Overcast (iOS) Google Podcasts (Android, iOS) Castro (iOS) Spotify (Android, iOS) Laughable (Android, iOS) Luminary (Android, iOS; $4.99/month) Himalaya (Android, iOS) Castbox (Android, iOS) More items...

How does a podcast app work?

The Podcasts app for your iPhone and iPad allows you to listen to a number of podcasts right on your device. It uses your Internet connection to fetch, download, and play podcasts on your device. The Podcasts app is actually the result of Apple breaking down the iTunes app into three parts namely Podcasts, TV, and Music.

How can I download podcasts to my computer?

Direct Download Options. The most direct method available to download podcasts to a PC is to obtain the audio files straight from the source: this is done by downloading files from the podcast's hosting website. Whether the program is hosted on its own dedicated site, published through a hosting service like Libsyn,...

Which is the best app for podcasts?

Here are the best podcast apps:Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts provides free access to over 30 million podcast episodes, along with the option to pay for premium shows.Google Podcasts. ... Spotify. ... Audible. ... Stitcher. ... TuneIn Radio.

What is the most common podcast app?

SpotifyIn 2020, the most commonly used app for listening to podcasts in the United States was Spotify, with 25 percent of podcast listeners aged 18 or above saying that they used Spotify to listen to podcasts. Meanwhile, Apple Podcasts was used by 20 percent of adults, down from 21 percent in the previous year.

Is podcast app free?

Popular options include Spotify, SoundCloud, Pocket Casts, and Stitcher. Many of these apps work on both Apple and Android devices, and most of them are free. (Some offer different tiers of service with the most basic one being free.) There are also podcast platforms devoted to particular genres.

What is the best app for podcasts on iPhone?

When it comes to listening to podcasts on iOS, there are so many great options. The Apple Podcasts app comes built into every iOS device with syncing....Table of contentsIs Apple Podcasts the best podcast app for iPhone?Overcast.Spotify.Breaker.Castro.Pocket Casts.Player FM.Wrap-up on best podcast app for iPhone.More items...•

What is the best free app for listening to podcasts?

9 Free Apps You Can Use to Listen to Your Favorite PodcastsSpotify. Let's start with the obvious—Spotify. ... Google Podcasts. Google Podcasts is among the best podcast-specific services. ... Amazon Music. Amazon Music is another two-in-one service that bundles music and podcasts. ... Stitcher. ... PlayerFM. ... Castbox. ... Pocket Casts. ... YouTube.More items...•

What is the most listened to podcast platform?

Most Popular Podcast Platforms The most popular platform for listening to podcasts in the United States in 2020 was Spotify. In a study published by emarketer, on a sample of over 2000 respondents, Spotify was chosen by 25% of respondents.

How do I listen to a podcast?

Download the Google Podcasts app. Ask your Google Assistant to play a specific podcast. Search for a podcast in your Google app. or on google.com....Add a podcast by RSS feedOn your Android phone or tablet, open Google Podcasts .At the bottom, tap Activity. Subscriptions.Tap More. ... Enter the feed URL.Tap Subscribe.

How do I get the podcast app?

On your Android phone If you have an Android phone you can use the Google podcasts app. Search “Google podcasts” in the play store app or click this link on your phone to open it in the store. Install the app.

How do you start listening to podcasts?

The most popular examples are iTunes and Spotify. If you have either app on your computer, then navigate to the podcast section, browse around and hit play. Even better, if you use the Spotify app to listen on your phone, then the subscription carries right over to that platform.

Does iPhone have a podcast app?

Use the Podcasts app to find shows about science, news, politics, comedy, and more. If you find a show you like, you can follow it to add it to your library. Then you can easily listen offline, get notified about new episodes, and more.

How do I listen to a podcast on my iPhone?

How to follow podcasts on iPhone or iPadOpen the Podcasts app.Browse or search for a show. Need help finding the shows that you like?Tap the show to see its information page.Tap the Follow button .

How do I put podcasts on my iPhone?

iTunes AppTap the “iTunes” app on your home screen.Tap “Search” and then type the name of a specific podcast. ... Tap the podcast's name to go to its episode listings.Tap the arrow icon next to any episode to download it to your iPhone.Enter the password for your Apple account and tap “Download.”

What is the best app to listen to podcasts?

Stitcher is one of the more popular podcast apps. It’s great for both exploring new podcasts and keeping track of your favorites. You can create playlists, find new podcasts, and listen to the news. For long drives and commutes, create your own personal radio station–type playlists. You can even search for individual episodes, rather than entire podcasts. Amazon Alexa devices, CarPlay, Android Auto, and smart audio systems all play Stitcher. Plus, if you subscribe to Stitcher , you get access to exclusive content not available on other podcast apps.

What is an overcast podcast?

Overcast is an award-winning podcast app that’s perfect for minimalists. While its interface is clean and simple, the app offers powerful features, including voice boost to enhance and normalize speech volume. It also offers a “smart speed” feature, which shrinks silences and picks up extra speed without distortion. Users can also share clips from the podcasts on social media.

What is laughable app?

Laughable focuses on comedy. The podcast app differentiates itself by letting you subscribe to podcasts and directly to podcast artists, such as comedians, journalists, actors, athletes, and politicians. Each profile includes the artist’s appearances on different shows, tour dates, and social media pages.

What is a castbox?

Castbox is an intuitive podcast app that also offers radio, FM, and audiobooks. It touts a balance of clean design, easy usability, and general features with no ads. Its features include volume boost, trim silence, and a sleep timer. The app recently added a “zen” mode, which features guided sleep meditations as well as Sleep and Relax ASMR. Castbox is compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple Watch, CarPlay, Google Home, and Android Auto.

What is Himalaya podcast?

Himalaya also allows you to import shows from other apps including Google podcast, Castbox, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, and more. The podcast app suggests playlists for different times of day and suggests what to listen to during your morning routine or when you’re winding down at night. Additionally, Himalaya has a sleep timer, so you can listen while you fall asleep. Also importantly, users can create playlists to share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Messenger.

Is Spreaker a good app?

Spreaker is a great podcast app, especially if you’re looking for help with exploring new shows. You can find niche categories in lists that its editorial team curates. Spreaker’s news feed keeps you updated on your favorite podcasts and users you follow. You can also like, share, and comment on episodes. For another social aspect, if a host opts to go live, you can interact directly with them and fellow listeners tuning in.

Is there a podcast app for iPhone?

There’s a whole world outside the Apple Podcasts app when it comes to podcast players. It may be one of the most widely used podcast apps—since it’s automatically downloaded on iPhones—but it’s limited compared to some of the best podcast apps in the game. The best podcast apps offer more advanced features such as voice boost to normalize audio levels and smart speeds to skip silences and speed up audio naturally.

What is a breaker podcast?

Breaker makes podcasting a more social experience, a great idea if you want to chat with your group of friends about your latest true crime obsession. By making a Breaker account, you’ll be sharing your listening habits with your followers, who will be able to see what you’re listening or subscribed to.

What is Pocket Casts?

Pocket Casts has a robust web interface, and the most recent update to its smartphone apps rethinks its user experience, making it easier to dive into new shows or episodes. It also adds an inbox-like archiving mechanic that helps you manage and dismiss shows you’ve listened to.

Is Overcast a good podcast player?

Billing itself as a “powerful but simple” podcast player, Overcast lives up to its lofty claims. Its interface is easy to understand, and makes managing and tweaking settings for your podcast subscriptions a straightforward affair. It also has some essential quality of life improvements for those who consume podcasts in a particularly speedy fashion.

Is Spotify a podcast?

With Spotify available everywhere from your web browser to your in-car stereo, the music streaming company’s entry into podcasting makes perfect sense. Through a series of acquisitions, along with the creation of original programming starring big names in music and entertainment, Spotify has its own stable of quality shows along with whatever podcasts choose to put their shows on Spotify’s platform. Premium subscribers get added benefits like offline playback — essential if you’re a subway commuter or if you’re going off the grid for a bit.

What is the best podcast app?

Stitcher is one of the better known podcast apps on the market outside of those bearing their platform’s name. Like them, its toolset is fairly standard, though playlist creation is more streamlined. That’s the real story with Stitcher: it does all the usual tasks, just a little bit better than the baseline. But Stitcher also produces podcasts via its Stitcher Premium service. Subscribers ($4.99/month, $34.99/year) gain access to these programs, but the non-exclusivity of some dampens the value, not to mention the inability to export your podcast collection to other apps. Its perfectly serviceable but unimpressive without its original productions.

What is podcast addict?

It wants to be your media hub. The app features over 750,000 podcasts alongside the ability to build playlists from an impressive amount of audio and video sources. Users can collect files from YouTube, Twitch, Soundcloud and any other RSS feed available. Chromecast and SONOS support allows for easy bluetooth streaming. The app’s meticulous approach to customization can be intimidating and time consuming at first glance, but no other podcast app lets users build the program around individual priority like Podcast Addict. It’s UI could be easier to navigate, but those willing to put in a little practice will find a solid tool.

What is Pocket Casts?

Pocket Casts is simply the best at providing a streamlined, intuitive interface to collect and enjoy podcasts. It does all of the usual tasks better than any other app on the marketplace. Its main unique feature is the ability to sync files between devices via the cloud. Pausing and picking up an episode exactly where you left off between phones, tablets and PCs provides unmatched flexibility. The app is also compatible with most wearable tech, bluetooth speakers and in-car programs. The only exception is offline support for Apple Watch users. The one-time $3.99 payment makes it much more cost-effective than apps pushing yearly subscriptions, and the tools within are well worth the price. It’s basically the Arn Anderson of podcast players: it doesn’t do everything but it’s the best at what it does.

What is a castbox?

Castbox is the podcast player for the listener that is always looking for something new. Designed specifically for search optimization, Castbox provides copious new suggestions to users in nearly every nook of the app. The only thing more prevalent might be the free version’s constant advertising for its premium service. The $9.99 price point for a yearly subscription isn’t terrible, but the only useful tool behind that paywall is the ability to lift the free user’s subscription limit. Honestly, there really shouldn’t be a 100 podcast subscription limit to begin with. Especially when compared to the importance Castbox prescribes to finding new programs. Castbox is still a solid service despite its faults though. Especially considering its compatibility with a wide array of wireless speakers and in-car play services.

Is Spotify good for podcasts?

Much like our previous entry, Spotify is great for those valuing convenience over innovation. The music streaming giant has increased its podcast hosting service in the past few years, building its library to one that competes with others. Coupling that collection of shows with the ridiculous amount of music available to both free and premium subscribers turns the app into even more of a one-stop shop for all things audio. The app suffers from a lack of tools, rendering it fairly basic. But being able to build your personal podcast library without adding another premium subscription is pretty appetizing.

Is Apple Podcasts the same as Google Podcasts?

The real value for either comes in the form of convenience and cost. Apple Podcasts comes pre-installed on all iOS devices while Google Podcasts is quite easy to add to the suite of Google apps standard on Android devices. Both boast large libraries, though discovering niche or less popular shows is much harder to do in their search engines. They’re an introduction to podcast services that many never really move past, which is perfectly fine if you have no desire to explore additional features.

Is Himalaya the best app?

It lacks the search algorithms of Castbox but makes up for it with highly specialized categorization within its search engine. This makes Himalaya the best app for finding those niche shows that makes the medium so great. It further separates itself from the competition by offering podcast creation tools as well through its Himalaya+ service. The service provides hosting, routes to monetization and in-app marketing to help even the smallest creators get a leg up in a flooded market.

What is an Apple Podcast?

Apple Podcast is an in-built app on iPhones and it is supposed to be the most widely used podcast app based on Apple’s massive users. Last year, Apple released Podcast Analytics, a service that helps podcast makers analyze to their works and listeners. This year, Apple released a podcasts desktop app for Mac users and published a web player for more people to listen to podcasts via Apple service.

What is a podcast?

Podcasts, a compound word of iPod and broadcast, attracts more and more people's attention these years. The definition of podcasts is abundant: a series of audio episodes, a talk radio, free-download, etc. As a free land for everyone to create their own audio programs, podcasts inspire a greater enthusiasm, imagination, and creativity from the producers, and also fulfill the needs of entertainment to enable listeners to relax through their favorite audio programs at any time and anywhere. Maybe that is why the podcast is rapidly growing in popularity.

Can I listen to Google Podcasts?

You can listen to any popular shows like The Daily, Modern Love, etc. on Google Podcasts from Google Play Music. Using AI technology, Google Podcasts will send recommendations depending on your listening habits. It is perfectly compatible with Google products such as Google Home, and it is available to sync the data of playing history by using Google Assistant so that you can play podcasts episodes from where it was paused on another Google product.

Does Spotify have podcasts?

Spotify is famous for streaming music, but it also has a selected podcast option. In February, Spotify announced that it is ready to spend $400 million to $500 million on podcast-related purchases and creations, containing acquisitions of Anchor and Gimlet Media, two podcast companies. The CEO of Spotify hopes to build not only an integrated platform of podcasts but also a factory of producing their own original episodes. Users of Spotify are available to access increasing unique podcast programs on Spotify now and the future.

Can I download podcasts on my computer?

Using these 4 useful podcasts apps and the functional method below each of them, you can download any podcasts episodes you like from Spotify Podcast, TuneIn Radio, Apple Podcast, and Google Podcasts on your computer for offline playing without any hassle.

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No auto-play?

I have used the heck out of this app and it is mostly awesome. It just has a weird quirk where podcasts don’t automatically play the next episode. It used to.

Developer Response ,

Hi Michta2, how are you? We are so sorry to hear you are having a bad experience with our app. Please contact us at [email protected] so we can help you with this and further investigate what is the issue that you are having. Thanks!

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How much is BeyondPod?

Like Podcast Addict, the full app is a $4.99 payment, but with a supplementary free version available for users looking for an alternative to paying.

Is Castbox a good podcast app?

Though we originally praised the app for being a free experience, the app has since become monetized, offering subscription plans and advertisements built into the app. That hasn’t stopped Castbox from being one of the best podcast apps on Android, taking our top pick for 2019. Let’s take a deep dive into CastBox to find out what makes it a great app, albeit with some shortcomings.

Does Spotify have a podcast player?

More than ever, Spotify has been working to transform their app into a fully-formed podcast player. With the multi-million dollar acquisition of Gimlet Media, Spotify is slowly beginning to build out their podcast empire into something that could take podcasts into the next decade. With deals opening up for podcasts to host through Spotify instead of RSS (with the advantage being the ad revenue is automatic and always current, instead of the radio-esque show reads that most podcasts have now), along with the promise of Spotify-exclusive ads coming soon, it’s easy to see what Spotify wants to do with podcasts. But how exactly is the player experience in 2019?

Is Podcasty free?

Podcasty (or, as it’s listed on Google Play, “Podcast App”) arrived on the podcast scene last year from a single developer and offers a completely free application, both in terms of price and advertisements. So far, the app has been kept relatively up to date with new features and bug fixes (though the app hasn’t been updated in about six months as of writing), and has slowly been growing in numbers since it was launched last year, now reaching over 50,000 users. So far, the app has maintained a strong 4.5 star rating with its users, gaining solid reviews from podcast fans and novices alike. The app is cloud-based and supports Google’s login method, meaning your playback positions always sync automatically between devices. The app allows you to choose from a multitude of colors, and in a sea of red-shaded podcast apps, this is a lifesaver.

Does Google Play support podcasts?

While Google Play Music may support podcasts, it’ s also on its way out, being replaced on the music streaming side of things with YouTube Music. For podcasts, Google has shifted to their Podcasts app, which syncs with Google Home and Google Assistant to offer synced playback across your multitude of devices. The idea is simple: when you look up a podcast through Google, you can tap on “More episodes” from the search result screen. This opens up a description for the podcast, the option to stream and download each episode, a subscribe button for the podcast, and the ability to add a shortcut to the podcast to your home screen (showing the podcast artwork with a small G in the corner of the display).

Is there a podcast app for Android?

Listen wasn’t a great app, but it was free and had the stamp of approval from Google themselves, allowing for newer podcast fans to grab the app and trust the source of the software. In 2016, four years after the death of Listen, Google finally added a default podcast application back into Android, albeit one buried inside their music-focused application, Google Play Music. If you’ve used Google’s music app before—either for local music playback or with Google’s streaming subscription plan—you already know how this app works. The user interface within the app is largely the same as what we’ve seen with Play Music, albeit with the addition of fast-forward and rewind buttons within the application. Podcasts can be added to your collection easily through the app, and you can even setup the auto-download feature that’s seen in most dedicated players.

Is podcasting a form of art?

Over the last fifteen years, podcasts have become a true modern art form, far from their talk radio-origins. Sure, early podcasts were often built on the back of radio, and some of the most popular podcasts on the market today, including shows like This American Life, are aired over terrestrial radio in addition to being produced as ...

Is Podcast Player a good app?

Another popular app, Podcast Player is a good all-arounder. Offering choices such as comedy podcasts (both visual and audios), music and many more. With this app, you are guaranteed to never miss an episode of your favorite series again.

Is Spotify a podcast?

Spotify is not only a music streaming service but also a podcast streaming one. If you already use Spotify to listen to your music then it can be a sufficient alternative for radio as well.

Cross-Platform Podcast Apps

Podcast apps that are on both mobile platforms and some that have Mac, Windows, and Chromecast desktop apps.

iOS Podcast Apps

Overcast is ad-supported, but the ads are other podcasts you might be interested in, and are targeted by category. You can also pay to remove them.

Android Podcast Apps

Google released its own Google Podcasts app in June 2018. Check out their announcement blog post for more details too.

What to Look for

Nearly all podcast apps have a few features in common. You should always be able to subscribe to a show so that new episodes appear in your podcast feed. You should be able to control how much content downloads to your device, either manually or by limiting the number of new episodes that download from each show.

Start Listening

Below you'll find the best podcast apps, listed alphabetically, with images of the mobile apps, details on their prices, and a few words about what makes them unique or useful.

Acast

Acast is both a podcast player app for listening to shows and one where creators can host their content and work with Acast's team to earn money from their work. As a listener, you'll find all your favorite podcasts, even if the creators don't work directly with Acast. The app has an option to change your region when discovering podcasts.

Downcast

Downcast is among the best podcast apps for iPhones and Macs. It also works with Apple Watch and CarPlay. You pay once for the apps and own them forever with no subscription fees. It's easy to subscribe to podcasts, whether you browse or search for them or add them via a URL feed.

Himalaya: Courses and Stories

A newcomer to the podcast arena in 2019, Himalaya: Courses and Stories started out as a fairly standard podcast player app and service for podcast creators, but it now focuses on providing "inspirational" content with a bent toward learning and personal growth. Himalaya offers audio lessons and learning in five- to ten-minute bites.

Luminary

Luminary launched in early 2019 with a beautifully designed podcast catcher and player app, plus a controversial battle cry to eliminate ads from podcasts. Its pitch: Pay a monthly or annual fee (which has come down significantly since the original launch) to get access to original programs.

Overcast

Overcast is an iOS-only app with a few unique features, the standout one being clip sharing. With clip sharing, you can tell someone about a podcast you love by sending them an audio or video clip of it up to one minute long.