Oh, and if you’ve paid for desktop apps before, you get the premium version free for life. If you want access to Mac and Windows apps, as well as a variety of themes and icons, consider paying $10 per year to unlock functions. Pocket Casts has recently made their app free for mobile platforms.

I hope they consider adding it in the next version. You can also share a specific episode of the podcast from the default podcast clipper option.Ĭastro lacks detailed statistics functionality like Pocket Casts. You can use Settings in the player to access clipping silence, sound enhancements, sleep timer and fast play options. The Statistics section in the Settings menu shows detailed information about how much time you’ve saved using these functions.Ĭastro is not far behind.

You can also use channel customizations like playback effects and skipping the first few seconds to avoid ads. The app also supports the sleep timer function that will turn off the podcast after the selected time. You can increase the playback speed, trim the silence and increase the volume.

The podcast player lets you go forward 45 seconds and back 10 seconds with a single tap. First, it displays a color in the background that matches the channel icon. A premium and clutter-free listening experience is one of the reasons advanced users choose third-party apps over the default Apple and Google podcast apps. If the listening experience is not enough, none of the above functions matter. I miss that in Pocket Casts.īoth apps support iOS widgets and long press app icons to reveal popular shortcuts. When opened on iPhone, you have the ability to carry on Mac with Handoff functionality and it starts playing in the Safari browser. I set it to ‘Hey Siri, Play Castro’ and it will open the app and start playing the first episode in the Queue.Ĭastro syncs perfectly with Apple’s Handoff function on the Mac. Similar to Pocket Casts, Castro also supports Siri Shortcuts. With the sideload function, you can easily transfer audiobooks, conference calls from Safari browser to Castro. When you add a podcast to the Queue, it will automatically download the episode and delete it after removing it from the Queue tab.

You can check detailed statistics on how long you’ve been listening to podcasts and playback history in the Profile menu.Ĭastro is already compatible with iOS 13 dark mode. It’s a nice way to keep relevant and unread podcasts under control. The AutoArchive option, which archives the episode being played, is also available. For example, you can say ‘Hey Siri, play the Android Police podcast’ and Pocket Casts will open and start playing the latest episode.

Pocket casts free