Pocket Casts’ ability to sync podcasts makes it great on Android or iOS

The reality of writing about technology is that you regularly move your life from one device to another. Choosing apps and services to make this switch is easy, but I’ve often struggled with podcasts. I maybe switch to an Android phonebut I need a podcast player that works on my tablet, whether it’s from Samsung or Apple.

Google Podcasts was my favorite podcast player on Android, iOS, and the web. However, the app is retired. The two popular replacements are Spotify and the less than ideal podcast support in YouTube Music. My chosen alternative is Pocket Casts. A free, feature-packed podcast app that has perfected syncing between devices and offers more control over how podcasts sound than most first-party options. Here’s my argument for why you should switch.

Pocket Casts covers all your listening basics

The app has multiple ways to organize, filter and sort episodes

I first tried Pocket Casts when I bought my first Android phone, a Google Pixel 3. I was an iPhone user, but wanted to try something different. Pocket Casts offers Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and web apps. It also uses an easy way to import the subscription list I’ve built up since high school, and carefully curated playlists that I might otherwise have to rebuild.

What Pocket Casts offers is not radically different from other podcast apps. Still, it includes everything where other apps might be pickier. Plus, you can view all your podcasts at once and organize and reorganize them around episode release dates or your whims.

There’s a special tab for applying filters if you want to see new releases or episodes you’ve started but haven’t finished yet. You don’t have to tap in a Now Playing window to adjust your queue. The Next tab gives you a dedicated space where you can organize and rearrange to your heart’s content.

Pocket Casts is also ad-free. The only place you can find it is in the Discover tab, where you can find something new to listen to. While other apps push algorithmic recommendations or additional subscriptions, Pocket Casts has a light touch. It also makes your listening history and statistics easily accessible.

The app’s long list of features makes for an experience that’s as deep, customizable, hands-off, or simple as you want. When other apps want to get in the way of you listening to the shows you like, that flexibility makes a difference.

Pocket Casts – Podcast player

Automatic, Inc

NEWS & MAGAZINES

Price: free

4.4

Download

You can use Pocket Casts to improve the sound of your podcasts

Playback effects can change a poorly recorded episode

Having all these basic features should put die-hard podcast listeners at ease. However, two playback effects tools convinced me to stick with Pocket Casts. The first, Trim Silence, intelligently removes large silences in podcast audio. The second, Volume Boost, adjusts the mix of podcast audio so that the dialogue is louder.

Both have worked well at cleaning up the occasionally messy mixes of shows I listen to, with minimal warpage or distortion. Many apps do not offer these features or place them behind a subscription. Having both tools at no extra cost can make Pocket Casts worth switching to or sticking with, even if you only plan to use the app on one device.

You can rely on Pocket Casts to keep your listening pleasure in sync

Start listening on one device and continue on another

The main reason to choose Pocket Casts over other options is how well it performs universal syncing. If you pause in the middle of a podcast on your iPhone 16, you can pick up where you left off on your Google Pixel 9 as if you never switched devices. The same goes for your laptop or web browser. Pocket Casts isn’t perfect at keeping everything in sync, but it is more consistent than first-party options like Apple’s Podcasts app. It also helps that the number of places you can use it is enormous.

Pocket Casts is available on iOS, Android, Android Auto and CarPlay. If you’re willing to pay $3.99 monthly for Pocket Casts Plus, you can get Pocket Casts for portable operating systems, desktop operating systems, and the web. That makes switching between work and personal devices easy without losing progress. If you switch between iOS and Android, it’s a whole new ecosystem.

Pocket Casts makes listening to podcasts as easy as possible

Open, flexible and reliable apps always win

It’s easy to stick with a given platform’s default podcast app. However, if you need something more flexible, there’s no reason not to try Pocket Casts. The app gives you premium features at no extra cost, works virtually anywhere, and does so without serving ads in the core interfaces you use every day. If all this still isn’t enough to convince you, YouTube Music is not the best optionbut it is relatively simple to import your podcasts into it.