Podcasts seem to be making a return as a main source of information gathering in the age of the Internet. It’s a great way to listen to experts talk about the topics you care about and it’s relatively easy to find great podcasts. Plus, you can find a ton of entertainment podcasts where they relate stories, tell jokes, and there are even documentary podcasts that deep dive into specific topics. You can literally find a podcast for just about any topic you can think of. If you’re a fan of podcasts and are in the market for a new podcast app, here are the best podcast apps for Android.
Those who like talk radio and don’t want to hassle with downloading or selection stuff, there are a variety of regular talk radio apps too!
More interesting apps here!
Anchor
Price: Free
Most of the apps on this list are podcast apps that let you download or stream your favorite podcasts. We thought we’d include at least one app that helps you make them yourself. Anchor is a podcast platform that offers unlimited hosting. The app lets you record audio, publish it to various places like iTunes and Google Podcasts, and import audio from other devices to upload. It’s a neat premise with a business model that wants you to get successful so that both you and Anchor can make money. The app and the hosting is free, though, and this isn’t an ad or anything, so give it a try yourself if you want to make your own podcast.
Castbox
Price: Free / Up to $1.99
Castbox is one of a few free podcast apps. It boasts a collection of over one million podcasts scrubbed from places like iTunes and others. The app also includes support for 70 languages, language learning podcasts, Chromecast support, Amazon Echo support, and more. It also includes cloud syncing for multiple device support. The free version comes with everything and has no ads. The in-app purchases are basically optional.
Doggcatcher
Price: $2.99
DoggCatcher is one of the older podcast apps. However, the app does get frequent updates. It currently has support for things like Android Wear, Android Auto, and Chromecast. Additionally, it boasts a massive library of podcasts, playlist support, variable speed playback, themes, and various automation and customization features. The app even has Material Design. You do have to pay $2.99 up front. However, there are no ads and no additional in-app purchases.
Google Podcasts
Price: Free
Google is doing to their podcast selection what they did to their messaging selection. There are currently three different platforms for podcasts from Google. The first is Google Podcasts. It’s a fairly standard podcast app with playback speed controls and the ability to skip silence segments. Google Play Music is Google’s current music streaming service and it also has podcast support. Finally, a lot of people upload daily or weekly shows, podcasts, and similar material to YouTube. Google Podcasts is the simplest option and it’s free so it’s the one we recommend first. It had a rough start, but it works much better now.
Pocket Casts
Price: Free / $0.99 per month / $9.99 per year
Pocket Casts used to be one of the easiest recommendations on any app list we have here at Android Authority. It’s still an outstanding podcast player, but it’s not quite the easy recommendation it used to be. The app has an excellent UI, good discoverability features, some power user features, and even some customization features like themes. This was a premium app back in its day. However, it went the subscription route a little while back so it’s difficult to recommend to your average podcast listener since podcasts are generally free to listen to and this developer charges monthly. It’s a great deal if you live and breathe podcasts, but those who only listen to the occasional podcast would be better served with something that doesn’t cost money every month.
Podbean
Price: Free / Up to $9.99
Podbean is a fairly popular podcast app and it works pretty well. It boasts a metric ton of podcasts organized into various categories. You can subscribe, stream, download, and listen as you choose. It also comes with lock screen controls, various audio effects, Chromecast support, Android Auto support, and integration with Amazon Alexa. That means you can use it virtually everywhere. A few Google Play reviewers had a few bones to pick, but we didn’t notice anything terrible during our testing.
Podcast Addict
Price: Free / $2.99
Podcast Addict is one of the most popular free podcast apps. It contains a massive library of podcasts, audiobooks, live streaming radio, and more. It even has support for YouTube and Twitch channels. The app also features variable playback speed, skip silence options, Chromecast support, and SONOS support. The UI looks just a little bit old, but it works really well with tons of options for playlists, playback, and organization. The app is free but it also has advertising. There is an optional $2.99 pro version in the Google Play Store if you want to remove the ads.
Podcast Go
Price: Free / $2.99
Podcast Go is one of the up and coming podcast apps. It features the basic stuff like downloading podcast episodes, variable speed playback, sleep timers, and more. It also has a delightful design with Material Design. The app boasts over 300,000 available podcasts. You can search or browse at your leisure and subscribe. Otherwise, it’s a fairly basic experience. The app is free with advertising. You can pay $2.99 to remove the ads. You can use this one free as part of a Google Play Pass subscription if you use it.
Spotify
Price: Free / $9.99 per month
Spotify is one of the world’s best and most popular music streaming services. It also started doing podcasts in early 2016. There aren’t a lot of available podcasts there compared to something like iTunes (which most other podcast apps use for their libraries) but we’ve no doubt that the number of available podcasts are going to skyrocket over time. You can download and use the service for free as long as you don’t mind some audio adverts or you can fork out $9.99/month for the full, ad-free experience. If you already use Spotify, there will likely come a point where a second podcast app will be redundant.
TuneIn Radio
Price: Free / $9.99 per month
TuneIn Radio is among the best radio apps out there. Its focus is mostly live talk radio. However, the app also includes podcasts, audio books, radio stations (both AM and FM), and even live sporting events. The podcast owners have to make their podcasts available for this one. It doesn’t do things like scrub iTunes for podcast content. Otherwise, it’s a very serviceable podcast app. The premium subscription gives you access to live NFL, MLB, and other sports games along with other features. We might not recommend this as a standalone podcast app. However, those who also like listening to radio shows from other platforms may find this one to be better than just a regular podcast app.
Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
If we missed any of the best podcast apps for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!
