I love podcasts. When I’m stuck on a train, cooking in the kitchen or running around my local park, they offer a wonderful escape and explore many of my favorite hobbies, interests and pastimes. There are an overwhelming number of podcasts to choose from – it’s never been easier to produce a show and share it with the world – so keeping up with them all can feel like a full-time job.
If you want to manage them all through your iPhone or iPad, there are a number of podcast apps to consider. We tackled the problem back in 2011, but a lot has changed in the last three years – so here’s our updated shortlist.
Podcasts (Free)
If you’re delving into podcasts for the first time, Apple’s own offering is a decent place to start. The Podcasts app is a free download on the App Store, but it usually come pre-installed on every new iPhone or iPad anyway.
The design is in keeping with Apple’s flat iOS 7 aesthetic, opting for a sparse, white background with the odd splash of purple for buttons, toggles and menu tabs. You can search the Podcasts Store for a specific show or hit the Top Charts and Featured sections if you’re looking for something new.
You can subscribe to as many as you like and individually set whether you want new episodes to be downloaded automatically, how many episodes should be stored offline, and the ordering of episodes both for browsing and playback. It’s all fairly straightforward and the audio player also supports different playback speeds and a sleep timer. Did I mention that it’s free?
Instacast 4 ($3.99/£2.49)
Instacast 4 feels like a spiritual successor to Apple’s Podcasts app, or a premium version that was designed with long-time podcast listeners in mind. The app follows the iOS 7 philosophy with a minimalist look, but it also offers some fresh design ideas and advanced features that surpass Apple’s creation.
You can swipe in from the edge of the screen to access a slick sidebar with shortcuts for a number of different menus and listening modes. This includes Unplayed – a list of episodes that you haven’t listened to just yet – anything you’ve imported and a play queue for episodes that you want to listen to next. That last feature is particularly useful as it means that if you’re out running or have your hands full, you can set Instacast 4 to play new episodes from your subscriptions automatically.
The app lets you add custom bookmarks so you can easily return to specific points in an episode, and offers granular control over when new episodes are downloaded, deleted and other general playback settings. These can be configured for individual subscriptions too, so if you find one podcast difficult to follow, you can slow down the default playback speed or configure longer skip intervals without affecting your other shows.
➤ Instacast 4 | App Store
Downcast ($2.99/£1.99)
If that sounds a little overwhelming, Downcast is a lightweight alternative. The general interface and horizontal menu bar is similar in design to Apple’s Podcasts app, but you’ll quickly notice that the tabs and general user experience is pretty different. For starters, all of the app’s discovery options are covered under the ‘Add’ option, including search, manual imports and top charts.
Episodes are then accessed from the Podcasts tab (no surprises there) but what’s unique is that Downcast uses sub-headers to show whether each of them have any new or unplayed episodes to listen to. The app also gives prominence to your download queue, which is valuable when you’re wondering how long it’ll take before you can dig into another episode.
Downcast uses a dark theme for its audio player, prioritzing show notes over the creator’s artwork. It’s not the most beautiful design, but it means I always read the show notes – an area of podcast apps I usually never engage with. It’s also worth highlighting the four skip buttons at the top of the player, which let you move 15 or 30 seconds back and 30 seconds or 2 minutes forwards.
Pocket Casts ($3.99/£2.49)
If you gazed at Pocket Casts from afar, you would be forgiven for thinking this is a glossy news reader app similar to Flipboard. That’s because this sublime piece of software cares about podcast artwork, offering up a vibrant mosaic both in the directory and your personal library. It’s striking and sharp, making it one of my favorite podcast apps to explore.
The top menu is similar to the sidebar in Instacast 4, giving you quick access to your subscriptions, unplayed episodes and download queue. It’s a simple, intuitive interface that makes it easy to bounce between menus at breakneck speed. For each subscription you can note whether you want new episodes to be downloaded automatically and also whether you want to start them partway through – a joyous feature if you hate a particular podcast intro.
A small knock against Pocket Casts is the audio player. While you can customize the length of time for skipping forwards and backwards in the app’s settings, these are mapped to the standard fast-forward and rewind buttons. A quick tap triggers a skip – which makes sense – but when I’m running or in a busy environment it’s easy to select it by mistake. Finally, be sure to check out the Episode Filter option, which gives you the ability to create automated playlists (with customizable designs) based on pre-defined parameters.
Castro ($2.99/£1.99)
Castro is an exercise in minimalism. When you first launch the app on your iPhone or iPad, you’ll appreciate the sparse design almost immediately. A single button presents itself for adding new podcasts and you’ll be given just two further options – search, or add a supported URL from your clipboard. The lack of categories and top charts is disappointing, but the gorgeous aesthetics and smooth animations give Castro a slick feel.
The main interface is split into just two tabs – podcasts and episodes – with notifications for new subscriptions and finished downloads dropping down from the top of the screen. Castro is restrained in its approach, offering only a few options for configuring playback speed and automatic downloads for each show. Nevertheless, this is a promising app for podcast addicts that are truly passionate about design.
Next: Pod Wrangler, iCatcher! and more…
