Comparing iPhone podcast apps

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Rene Ritchie compares six podcast apps for iPhone users. Personally, I use Apple’s podcast app.



  • http://twitter.com/allanadjei Allan

    The best podcast app by far is and in my opinion will always be Instacast !!

  • http://twitter.com/allanadjei Allan

    The best podcatst app by far in my mind is Instacast !!

  • gjgustav

    I tried Apple’s apps, and while I only have a few podcasts, it would forget what it was playing sometimes, or not move to the next unread podcast, and often just mark heard podcasts and unheard and try to play them again.

    About a month ago, I switched to Downcast. It’s been working great so far, and Jim’s laugh on Amplified sounds just as awesome.

    • http://twitter.com/bmauter Brian Mauter

      +1 for Downcast here.

  • http://twitter.com/Yogi Jonas

    There’s simply no way to say that Podcasts is a better app than, take my favorite, Downcasts. I won’t have it.

    You can say “I’m fine with Podcasts, I don’t need to try something else”, but I won’t accept anyone who cares about their podcast experience to say they prefer Podcasts. I just won’t.

    Podcasts hurt me. I have not forgiven it. I would be sending hatemail to Apple, if my dissapointment in it didn’t lead me to find Downcast, which I love.

  • rj

    Apple’s app is terrible. The UI is laggy and often unresponsive, it quits unexpectedly, it forgets the currently played podcast, and the “played” status of podcasts. If you’ve got the podcasts app in the background and you’re playing a relatively long podcast, it won’t advance to the next podcast until you bring the app into the foreground. It doesn’t sync reliably with other iOS devices, and as far as I can tell it doesn’t sync with iTunes at all.

  • samdchuck

    This is barely a comparison, just a single picture per app, no more.

  • chjode

    I guess I’m old fashioned, but I use iTunes on the Mac to handle podcast subscriptions and downloads and periodically sync to my iPhone for listening. Old habits die hard, I suppose.

  • http://twitter.com/sockenhemd Thomas P.

    I believe Jim really can’t listen to Podcast that often on his iDevices then, because the Apple app is really terrible…

  • Andrew

    What is the point of Rene Ritchie’s article in the first place?

    It is simply taking screenshots that are readily available in the App Store, putting them in a grid, and then asking for the reader’s opinion rather than providing any opinions of his own.

    This isn’t interesting, it’s vapid tech writing.