The Best Podcast Player Apps for 2025

Available for Android, the open-source AntennaPod is completely free to use and has a straightforward, customizable interface without any ads. It’s a little light on discovery tools and has just one playback queue, but you can easily search for and subscribe to whatever podcast you want to listen to. The playback screen has all the standard controls you might expect (including changing the playback speed, eliminating silences, setting a sleep timer, and viewing episode descriptions), though you miss out on some advanced features like vocal audio boosts. If you are after a no-fuss podcast experience for your Android phone, it’s hard to beat AntennaPod.

Castro’s free version is somewhat unimpressive. However, upgrading to Castro Plus gets you the Sideload feature, which lets you import any external content you want to play via the app, including audiobooks and talks from conferences. The rest of Castro’s features are average, including the ability to customize settings for each show in your feed, a button that trims dead air from your listening experience, a dark mode, and a voice booster setting. If you’re interested in a Plus account, you can try it for a week before paying. Castro Plus costs $3.99 per month or $24.99 per year and is for Apple devices only.

Downcast is among the best podcast apps for Apple devices. You can get it on your Apple Watch, iPhone, or Mac. as well as use it via CarPlay. You pay once for the app ($4.99 for macOS and $2.99 for the other platforms). It’s easy to subscribe to podcasts on Downcast, whether you add them via a URL feed, browse suggestions, or search for specific shows. Rich settings let you automatically start your favorite podcast a set number of seconds in or end early to bypass lengthy intros or closing ads. A main list collects podcasts you’ve either subscribed to or downloaded; entries indicate how many episodes are in your queue, when the most recent episode debuted, and whether you are subscribed to download the next release automatically.

Overcast is for Apple devices only (Apple Vision Pro, Apple Watch, iPad, iPhone, and Mac). It has a few unique features, the standout of which is clip sharing. With clip sharing, you can tell a fellow podcast lover about a show you love by sending them an audio or video clip from an episode, up to one minute long. I also like that you can create playlists of podcast shows so that each new episode appears in the list (called a Smart Playlist) or those just with specific episodes you want to hear. The developer overhauled the code and design of the app in 2024. The free version contains ads and has a few feature limitations but no showstoppers. The premium version goes for $14.99 per year.

One of the most popular podcast player apps, Pocket Casts is available for free on desktop (macOS and Windows) and mobile (Android and iOS) platforms, as well as the web. This app has a tidy interface and great features. It’s easy to see what’s on your subscription list and which episodes you’ve started but still need to finish. It offers 0.1 increments for increasing or decreasing the audio speed, so you can gently adjust the playback pace. Upgrading to the Plus tier ($39.99 per year) gets you access to the app on wearable platforms (WatchOS and Wear OS), along with 20GB of cloud storage, folders and bookmarks, and exclusive app icons and themes. The Patron level ($99.99 per year) expands cloud storage to 100GB and unlocks early access to features, among other perks.

Many readers of this article have commented that they swear by Podcast Addict, a free (with ads) podcast player app for Android. Being free and uncomplicated are its selling points. In testing, I found the interface to be cluttered and the features light. For example, you can create just one active audio playlist, not multiple ones that automatically repopulate daily. So, if you want a Morning News playlist that repopulates every morning and a separate Dog Walk playlist, you can’t do that. That’s an option in most other podcast player apps. You can pay a one-time fee of $9.99 to get rid of ads or $9.99 per year to unlock features such as real-time updates of new podcast episodes, the ability to customize the opening screen, and more themes, among other things.