Podcast apps offer a great way of listening to your favorite content at any time of day, wherever you choose!
Listening to the radio has always been a hugely popular activity, but it’s fair to say that listening in the traditional way is on the wane. This is mostly to do with the growing use of podcasts that make it easy and convenient to listen to exactly what you like, exactly when you want it, rather than having to tune in at a particular time. There are all sorts of podcasts providing a wide variety of content, and you can listen to virtually any topic on-demand from the thousands of podcasts available.
There are a variety of ways to access podcasts, but listening on a smartphone is one of the most popular. Therefore, if you have an Android device, you might want to take advantage of one or more of the many podcast apps on the Google Play Store. The wide choice makes it hard to know where to start, so we’ve done the legwork (or ear-work!) and tested numerous podcast apps to compile our list of the best podcast apps.
Our top picks offer different content, features, and playback controls, with options to listen to both online and offline, so you could soon be listening to content either live or on-demand. Most of our best podcast apps are free, although some have in-app purchases (IAPs) for additional features or services. It’s up to you to decide which might be the best for you depending on your requirements, so delve in, sit back, and get ready to use those ears!
What are the Best apps to listen Podcast free?
CASTBOX: FREE PODCAST PLAYER, RADIO & AUDIO BOOKS
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
These podcast apps are in no particular order, but we have to say that Castbox is one of our favorites. It has a very high user rating of 4.7/5 stars on the Play Store, and the extremely user-friendly interface makes it a pleasure to use. Over 50 million episodes of podcasts, audiobooks, and radio channels are on offer for free, and podcasts can be streamed or downloaded for offline listening.
You can also opt to subscribe to more than 1 million podcast channels from the likes of HowStuffWorks, NPR, the BBC, CBC, and many more. It’s easy to search for the content that you like, and if you’re finding it hard to think of something, why not check out the 16 categories of new or trending podcasts.
Features include ChromeCast support, cloud syncing, and Amazon Echo support, all great for general users. On the other side of the coin, Castbox is good for podcasters who can upload audios via desktop or mobile devices with no hosting fees and no restrictions on audio uploading. There are in-app purchases, but there’s plenty to use that’s free. In our time with this app, it worked excellently, and we can’t recommend it highly enough.
PODCAST APP & PODCAST PLAYER – PODBEAN
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
This Podbean app came highly recommended to us, and it didn’t take long to see why. It has many of the inclusions of other podcast apps and some great features such as customizable playlists, an intelligent speed that removes unnecessary silences, and a volume boost to enhance your listening experience.
You can benefit from instant streaming or download to listen to podcasts offline, and further features include a mini-podcast player widget, integration with Amazon’s Alexa, and Chromecast support. The app also offers notifications for new episodes from the podcasts you follow, while audio recording functions include user-friendly audio recording, the ability to mix voice and background music, and auto-posting to Twitter and Facebook.
PODCAST ADDICT
Price: Free with ads
Podcast Addict is entirely free without any in-app purchases. The app works well as a central hub to manage content that includes podcasts, radio, YouTube, SoundCloud, Twitch, audiobooks, and more, with millions of podcasts and episodes available to browse. Searching is available with keywords or podcast name, and you can receive recommendations according to your subscriptions.
Various playback and audio effects are also available, and there’s support for multiple playlists as well as advanced features such as loop mode, shuffle mode, and sleep timer. As we mentioned from the off, everything with Podcast Addict is free. However, there are ads, but if they annoy you, there’s a paid option of the app with no ads for £2.99.
POCKET CASTS
Price: Free/ Offers IAP
Unlike most of the other apps on our list, Pocket Casts is not free to download. However, there are no other in-app purchases or ads, and it’s packed with features and controls that make it another excellent option. Smart tools include secure cloud storage for your subscriptions, filters, and playback, automatic checks for new episodes, auto-downloading for offline listening, and custom filters, and we particularly liked the choice of the dark-of-light themes for the display.
There are also plenty of playback features, including skip playback, Android Auto, and Android Wear control, and the app benefits from a very appealing interface that makes it a pleasure to use.
SPOTIFY MUSIC
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
Spotify is a name that most people heard of, although it might not be one of the first that springs to mind regarding podcasts. However, the popular streaming music app has included a podcast library for the last couple of years. While there may not be as many podcasts here, it’s worth saying that Spotify does offer some that are not available elsewhere.
It’s a free app, but you can opt to upgrade to Spotify Premium if you want to skip the ads and benefit from additional features such as offline listening. It’s safe to say that the numbers of podcasts on the platform are bound to increase to include less mainstream ones steadily, so if you’re an existing Spotify user, you may soon need to look no further.
DOGGCATCHER PODCAST PLAYER
Price: $2.99
DoggCatcher’s strengths lie in the easy management of podcasts and news feeds, the active community forums, and regular updates. It’s highly configurable with an array of features, including a home screen widget, offline podcast listening, podcast categorization, support for Android Auto and ChromeCast, and variable speed playback.
Additionally, you can receive personalized recommendations or browse DoggCatcher’s top 100 podcasts for suggestions (we found some excellent offerings this way).
ANCHOR – MAKE YOUR OWN PODCAST
Price: Free
Anchor has a different leaning than most of our best podcast apps for Android as it focuses on making podcasts. Even if you have no experience and the most basic equipment (the built-in mic of your device or a plugged-in external microphone), this app makes it easy to create podcasts and even distribute them through the likes of Apple and Google Podcasts.
You can make solo podcasts or collaborate with others, embed episodes on your website, take voice messages from those who listen in, import audio from other apps to use in your podcasts and add songs from Spotify. Moreover, there is an assortment of editing tools to use. It’s also satisfying to be able to see the numbers of people who are listening to your episodes and which parts are the most popular, and more analytics are available on the desktop version of Anchor.
RADIOPUBLIC: FREE PODCAST APP FOR ANDROID
Price: Free with ads
RadioPublic is a Public Benefit Corporation that benefits both listeners and podcasters and is committed to providing a platform to share public media and open access to information. If you want to listen to podcasts, the app makes it easy to find the content you’re looking for, while podcast creators benefit from the ethos of fair valuation for their work.
There’s a wide variety of content, with over 300,000 podcasts (15 million episodes) from small independent podcasters through to major networks, and users can import and export shows via OPML import. We like the emphasis of promoting lesser-known podcasts, with the podcasters being paid according to listeners and retaining rights to their work.
PODCAST REPUBLIC – PODCASTS, RADIOS & RSS FEEDS
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
A highlight with the Podcast Republic podcatcher is the high levels of customization on offer. Whether you want podcasts, music streaming, audiobooks, or public radio, you can find it here, with easy management of SoundCloud channels, YouTube channels, podcast subscriptions, and RSS feeds, all from one place.
The app offers an equalizer and built-in audio effects, customizable episode filters, multiple playlists support, and powerful download management. Additional features include a Car mode so you can control playback with gesture controls, customizable shaking options, so you don’t even have to open your device to control playback. The apps also come with live radio streaming support, SD card support, 16 color themes, and a whole lot more.
PODCAST GO
Price: Free with ads/ Offers IAP
Podcast Go has gathered an exceptionally high user rating of 4.7/5 stars on the Google Play Store. It’s a good podcast player that enables you to listen to podcasts offline whenever you choose. Over 300,000 shows are up for grabs across genres, including music, news, business, health, games, science and medicine, technology, comedy, and more.
The app also makes it easy to find new content and subscribe to podcasts. Although it doesn’t have the cleanest interface, there’s enough here to warrant its inclusion in our top picks.
Whether you want to listen to music on your commute, tune in to news updates while on the move, or chill with some comedy in your free time, podcasts offer an enjoyable way to do this. All of these good podcast apps for Android worked smoothly in our time spent using them, and needless to say, we will now be using many of these regularly. Do send us a comment to tell us which of these is your favorite podcast app and why.
