I need Podcast app recommendations for Android/PC

I've been using Pocket Casts on Android and it works well. I think that I started using it 2 years ago and I haven't encountered any issues. I use the free version and it hasn't asked me to pay and hasn't shown me ads. I'm a light user when it comes to podcasts though.

They have a web player for PC, but I haven't tried it.

Plus it is multiplatform. Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iOS, web - and syncs between them.
I'll add my vote to Pocket Casts. Been my goto podcast app for... Forever. The app is all around solid on every plattform, and you can easily upload your own sound files and they will sync between devices.
I also use PocketCasts. Paid 4 bucks for it back in 2013. Highly recommend it.
I've used Pocket Cast for a long time now. I bought it probably about 10 years ago. It recently went open source.
I've been using Pocket Casts for like 10 years at this point, great app
I think you pay if you want to use the desktop app. I paid. Works pretty everywhere. 😊👍
- @skellener @VoxAdActa @fdisk not if you use web
- I'll second this. It's less than $20 USD per year so I think it's worth it. Also, I'm on iOS and have used it on there, Android and Windows.
This is the one for me. I just checked and I've been using the premium version since May 2016 and it cost me £2.50. Only issue I've had in that time is the web player was failing to buffer episodes for streaming, but that has since resolved for me.
- That was most likely caused by a limitation or rather security feature of the browser regarding cross-domain resources. They offer a desktop Electron-based app that works around this.
@fdisk @VoxAdActa love for Pocketcasts
Another vote for Pocket casts, been a user since 2011. Best release notes of any app as well.

Using antennapod on Android, can fully recommend. For other apps and platforms check https://podcastindex.org/apps

Ideally, you would donate to the project you choose :)

Agreed, AntennaPod is the most feature complete podcast app I've ever used.
Have been using Antennapod on Android for some months now. It is by far the best app I have used. Feature rich and no ads is the best one can hope for.
After seeing your note, I thought, "damn, I've used AntennaPod a LOT, I'll donate!"

If you go to donate they basically say that all their costs are covered right now, but ask if you can help in non-financial ways (translations, help on the forum, beta test, code if you can, spread the word, UX work). I'll be honest, that level of transparency makes me love the app more than I already did!

Get Fdroid on Android and use Antenna Pod. Idk about podcasts on PC.

@VoxAdActa AntennaPod. I've been using it for years now. Instantly works and has exactly the features you need. No ads, no bullshit.

And it's Free and Open Source!

(Meaning their primary motivation is making a good app, not monetising through enshitification)
And you can sync with nextcloud. Thats great.

I had been using Podcast Addict for a couple of years after switching from BeyondPod which I used for many years.

But now I'm using the open source, community-built AntennaPod. There are a few quirks I had to get used to, but that is true of every app and especially something I use so frequently throughout the day. Performance has been great, especially with audio casting which has always been buggy and inconsistent for me with other apps.

Second this, I love Antenna Pod. Similarly, I too started with Podcast Addict and switched a year ago. Antenna Pod got a facelift quite recently and it looks and feels better than ever. You get all the stuff you want from a podcast app, plus you can customise it a little and its open source without ads. It really doesn't get much better than that.
came here to give the same suggestion
Do you need to host a server to sync? I just downloaded the app. I don't have a server.
came here to give the same suggestion

I use AntennaPod, love it but I haven't got it to work on Android Auto yet. That's the only gripe I have with it.

Podcast Addict is amazing. No complaints.

https://podcastaddict.com/app

I like the app and I've used it for over a decade. I absolutely hate the UI. It's extremely confusing.

I just keep the player widget on my home screen, but everytime I go to search for podcasts or to unsubscribe from one it takes me a few minutes to figure out what to do to get there.
- Prior to Podcast Addict I used Spotify for my podcasts. So, for me at least, it's been a big improvement; though I'll concede that's a low bar to clear.
- That's a fair criticism. It can be counter-intuitive with forward/back/menus. I'm probably just used-to-it.
  
  It's never hindered me from adding anything or using the podcast/rss protocol how I need to. That said, there may be some other super-useful podcast apps out there that are better.

On Android, I use AntennaPod. Does everything I want from a podcast app and more.

+1 to antenna pod. Been using it now for about a year and it works very well. App has a nice clean UI and it lets me organize podcasts
Agreed - I swapped from Pocketcasts to AntennaPod and have been very happy with it. The UI is excellent, and it works quite well. There's no sync with a web interface for subscriptions/queue/etc. but it's great as an android-only option. 10/10, would recommend!

As a side-note, I tried Podverse on Android between Pocketcasts and AntennaPod. It just wasn't polished enough for me to fully buy in - even though it has great features and the premise of the app's licensing and features is something I could get behind. For now, AntennaPod is for me!
Since OP wants to listen on PC as well: Antennapod can also sync via gpoddersync and nextcloud.

Works really nice and can be self-hosted if you want to.
- Can you do it without self-hosting?

I moved from Google Podcasts (which is pretty good) to AntennaPod, which is FOSS and honestly, pretty damn solid

@Nyanix love me some AntennaPod!
@VoxAdActa
@Nyanix @VoxAdActa I'm only on this because FOSS. If your cast isn't there I'm not likely to hear you, sorry 😐
@Nyanix @VoxAdActa Looks good! Is there anything like this for internet radio?

I'm throwing in another vote for Pocket Casts. Bought it back in 2015 and the web player as a separate purchase. It's had ups and downs over the years, but I've always returned on the rare occasions I tried something different in hopes of finding something better--granted I'm grandfathered into premium at this point. It ticks all the boxes for me and I'd probably buy it again if I didn't already have it.

I stand behind AntennaPod, it does what I need.

I'm using PocketCasts and I paid a one-time fee before it became subscription based (but there's still a free tier), in order to be able to listen to podcast using the web app on PC. Thus I now have lifetime premium access.

I'm very satisfied with their service, I did not find any problems with both the Android app and the web app, moreover it has almost every feature I need, except voice to text conversion in order to be able to share slices of audio in text format (but there are dedicated apps for that).

💯 this. Pocketcasts is and has been outstanding for the years I've had it. Great UI, and will remember your position on a specific episode cross-platform.
I paid too and I don't get to use the web app. That's the main reason I stopped using Casts
- Paid for the mobile app (back before it was free)? Or paid for Pocket Casts Plus, which inclued access to the desktop/webapp?

I am very happy with podcast addict on android. Powerful, not the cleanest ui though.

I also use Podcast Addict, I recommend it.
- Me too, lots of functionality and options to customise it to your needs.
Podcast addict was perfect for me, the ability to automatically add things to your queue based on priority was great. I used it to play a 10 minute news podcast every morning then jump back to whatever podcast I was listening to and have other weekly podcasts jump in after that

I've been using Pocketcasts for years, and I've been very happy with it. Works on Android, PC, and through web browsers. I've never had to pay for it.

I've also been using the app for user and got grandfathered into a lifetime membership, although I think it's been inserting ads in my podcasts. I only say that because I have a VPN on my phone and suddenly my phone will play a Swedish ad I can't understand.
- Fwiw I don't think pocket casts is doing that, but rather your podcasts themselves. A lot of podcasts use dynamic ad insertion that allow them to inject ads into the podcast at download time as opposed to them being baked into the episode. It lets the hosts have relevant ads in their entire backlog of episodes rather than just ones released during the campaign window.

Spotube, as it is open source, respects privacy, and is multi-platform. If you run owncloud, you can also install an app to have your listening history synced across devices:

https://spotube.netlify.app/

I just use Google podcasts. It's simple, it works, hail corporate.

I've been very happy with Pocket Casts. Their subscription is pretty cheap (not one-time though, unfortunately), and it has automatic sync between the android and desktop apps.

I use Pocket Casts, but I paid for the "plus" upgrade before it was a subscription. Nowadays if I didn't have that option I'd probably just use either Google Podcasts, or if you have a NextCloud instance available to use somewhere, then something like GPodder Sync + NextPod on the server/web side and AntennaPod should allow you to keep things in sync.

Edit: Err scratch that, I just set this up on my NextCloud instance, and while it syncs with AntennaPod and Kasts a KDE/Linux app - the actual web app on NextCloud doesn't seem to allow you to play podcasts through the browser, it'll only let you see your subscriptions and any sync actions done recently. You'd still need a PC app that is compatible with GPodder Sync in order for you to listen in on your PC.

Apologies about that! Someone had told me about this setup a bit ago, and I noted it down to give it a try later on - I definitely should've tested it before mentioning it here.

But all is not lost - GPodder looks to have a release for all of the PC platforms, and is compatible with the gpodder.net sync service (which is what the nextcloud apps are based off of) and AntennaPod can still use that sync backend as well.

Are you sure NextPod can't play the episodes? Because it lists it as a feature on their github https://github.com/pbek/nextcloud-nextpod
- Ah, well now I feel silly. I didn't notice the triple dot menu button at the end of the "Episodes" entries. However, it does look like you can only do this from a podcast you've already started playing from elsewhere, bringing up the "Podcasts" section and clicking the menu buttons on each podcast only lets me view the podcast's home page, or its RSS feed directly (instead of letting me see a list of episodes and choosing one from said list).
  
  So it seems like you could do Mobile (start episode) -> Web (resume episode, then pause again) -> Mobile (finish episode) but you can't do Web (start episode) -> ...
  
  However I could be of course overlooking something again 😅

Another vote for AntennaPod for Android You can use MusicBee on PC

Just I don't think you can sync podcasts or progress between the two

I use AntennaPod, Mainly because it's open-source and supports RSS podcasts.

They are also on fediverse! https://fosstodon.org/@AntennaPod

I support Pocket Casts because it's made by Automattic, the makers of WordPress, Tumblr, and WooCommerce. Their CEO, Matt Mullenweg, is someone who seems to really care about the freedom and diversity of the internet. As far as players go, it's got all the features you'd want for an Android app.

I seldom listen on my PC, but if I want to I can usually find the stream on whatever service the podcast has chosen (their own site, or whichever embedded player they elect to use).

I too love PocketCasts and love what Mullenweg has done, but want to point out that Automattic bought PocketCasts from NPR - https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/16/22580023/automattic-pocket-casts-podcast-app-tumble-wordpress

Automattic themselves didn't/don't make PocketCasts.

Edit: Fixed type (lost > love)
- Who got it from Shifty Jelly :)

I use Podcast Addict on Android (both phone and tablet) and it's excellent. I'm using the paid version so it's ad-free. It has a good set of widgets too. Five stars.

I used to use Podkicker Pro, but the paid version started showing ads. So I switched to Podcast Addict Pro and it's excellent.

Podcast addict is both incredibly customizable and feature rich. Absolutely worth trying.

Personally, I'm using Pocket Casts, but you can't use it on desktop without their premium subscription, which I don't need. Antennapod is a good Android App and supports sync through gpodder.net, but there are no good iOS apps supporting gpodder, so I stopped using it. But I thought you don't need Spotify Premium to listen to podcasts on there. It might be easiest for you to just keep using it for that.

I know it's kind of niche, but I absolutely love many of the features of Podcast Republic.

Being able to have multiple queues and have them automatically chain together by priority is an irreplaceable feature for me.

Google Podcasts app works well enough for me

And it's accessible from both your computer and your mobile devices.

Podcast Republic. It's great.

PocketCasts was pretty much perfect for me for a long time and recently (past couple years maybe?) they did a big update which made it noticeably worse. I tried a few other apps and they had even bigger issues. I'm still using PocketCasts and they've fixed some of what they messed up but it isn't perfect.

They have a good library of podcasts built in but also allow you to add custom rss feeds for any smaller shows they don't have or if you have private feeds from patreon or elsewhere.

I've seen both AntennaPod and PocketCasts mentioned; I've used both over the years. I liked AntennaPod; the only reason that I stopped using it was because I switched to Spotify since that let me pick up listening from where I left off on my desktop. I moved to PocketCasts afterwards because I've been slowly trying to get off of Spotify (and because they open-sourced their mobile apps). I don't like that they require premium to have it sync with the webplayer, but it works.

Another Podcast Addict user here. But I don't think they pay the Podcasters anything if that's your concern. If you're listening to Joe Rogan, don't pay him a penny. Pirate the shit out of his podcasts. But maybe you should consider giving to Patreon if you don't already. They take a cut but at least you know its going to the podcaster.

Also you really should know that Tidal isn't paying anyone any better, no platform is. They're all beholden to rights holders, and that is mostly record labels and their parent companies. No platform pays per stream, that's a myth. Spotify just distributes all the money left after their 30%. Blame the labels for making audio so unprofitable and for the average listener for treating music and podcasts as disposable,

Before you think I'm defending spotify, I'm not. They tried to make an unprofitable product profitable and they did it by selling out to record labels. Spotify could have made them irrelevant but chose not to.

Welcome to Tidal! I came from Spotify myself and the improvement in audio quality alone means I haven't looked back!

I use Google Podcasts to fill the gap

I would also recommend Google Podcasts. Pretty basic, but does it all very well. Queue continuity across the app and web is great. However, Google being google, they are likely to be sunsetting it soon in favour of rolling podcasts into YouTube Music (which I would also suggest in place of Spotify).
I use Google Podcasts and it works great for me. I'm not looking for audiophile-level uncompressed audio with podcasts, the way I normally would be for music.

Didn't Tidal end that program a few months ago? Or is it different than what this article is talking about: https://musically.com/2023/03/01/tidal-shuts-direct-artist-payouts-scheme-after-paying-500k/

BeyondPod

I've been using it for years. I have the paid version of it.

I'm sure I barely use any of the features. At the end of the day it lets me download my podcasts and prunes them as I listen (as I've configure it).

I feel like I need to buy it again to give the dev some money.

I used the paid version of BeyondPod for many years, but it doesn't seem to be supported anymore. The last update was January 2021, and it doesn't play well with newer versions of android.

I finally switched to AntennaPod and it has been such a better experience.

Still love Pocketcasts and would use nothing less (though I have a lifetime membership since I beta'd the web player when it first launched, so YMMV)

I love pocket casts, but their recent price hikes are wild. AntennaPod is a nice open source alternative that I've been enjoying the last few weeks.

If synchronising your episode progress and subscriptions is important, I'd use google podcasts for a commercial solution. I used it for a while and it worked great.

I've since moved on to audiobookshelf, for a self hosted option that achieves the same sync across devices.

I've been using podverse for a while now and it's been great except for a few quirks with the queue

I switched to Podcast Republic awhile ago because I like the playlist feature and being able to have different "channels" for similar types of podcasts. Very customizable too! They have the android app and a website, though I've never used the website

newpodcastapps.com

On Android I use Podcast Addict and on PC I use Podgrab running from Docker. I haven't found a.way to sync them

Guess not what you're after, but I switched from Spotify to Deezer which has podcasts built in. So I only need one app.

Spotify also has podcasts built in
- I believe not all of them, and sometimes pod casts with e.g. music are removed. I am a big fan of the Uplifting Trance Sessions by DJ Phalanx and they got removed from Spotify quite often. The guy said that Spotify was removing them because of licensing issues or something like that.
  
  With Deezer that has never been an issue.

I’ve had good experiences with Castbox.

Old post, but if you connect your phone to your PC using bluetooth, you can play audio to your PC from your phone, at least this works for me on KDE plasma. I use this to continue listening to music/podcasts from my phone without having to set up any sort of sync solution.

Previously, I was usin scrcpy, an adb based solution to route audio from my phone to my computer.

On desktop I use Tildes. It's fairly minimalistic in terms of features, but very smooth and attractive UI. It does what I need with no headaches and looks great doing it. Like many others here I use AntennaPod on mobile.

What's Tildes? Please share a link to try it.
- I actually noticed recently that it's no longer maintained so I'll have to find another desktop solution.

I use Stitcher

I’ve been very happy with Podurama for the last few months.

I didn't see it in the comments but I am very happy with Podcast Guru om android.

If you like taking notes, I and found Snipd recently. To take a note you hit back twice on your headphones and it uses AI to create a transcript and summary of what they just said. So far seems pretty good but I've only tried it on thr Huberman podcast. It's free right now but they will try to monetize in future.

Snipd is surprisingly solid, but I wound up going back to Pocketcasts because I missed trim silence, web player, and the UI.