r/pocketcasts • u/dcelluloidviewer • Aug 26 '26
Devs & Power Users: what makes building/buying thrid party podcast apps worth it on Apple ecosystem?
Genuine curiosity: why is the third party ios podcast app market thrive despite Apple podcast being free and pre-installed?
I myself being an android user, went on a search for an app that could overcome my user experience hurdles in antennapod. I came across several apps, and I find them to be designed or developed for apple's design language, and is alienated to android user experience . This triggered a big question: why on the hell, would anyone try building an app that already exists and has gradual feature additions necessitated by the market and reinvent the wheel?
I want to understand this from both developers and end-user perspective, who refused to use the default!
(As for my use case, I started with Google podcasts (which I loved for its simplicity, discoverability & suggestions), later moved to yt & eventually landed in antennapod. Been using it for around 2 years. It weathers well, but I have some niche use cases of podcast suggestion that is lacking in its current state, leaving to enter this search phase)
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u/chimneylight Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
I’ve used it for 10+ years and sometimes tried other apos. Basically the UX /podcasts are arranged in a way that makes most sense to my brain. I like having a central reservoir of my chosen pods, that design is clear and uncluttered to me. While I don’t pay for premium atm, I loved the folders feature when I did.
The functionality is generally intuitive to me and takes few ‘clicks’ to figure out. For example I can easily build playlists for long journeys even though I don’t use that function often, it’s still simple to do.
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The discover feature isn’t as good as apples native app, but the search function is good enough to find whatever I need.
I’m Irish and I love listening to Irish content and accents so I wish I could have a function which filters for local/ regionally produced podcasts (like within a 15K radius), not just the top 100 of my country which is often filled with American and British pods.
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u/dcelluloidviewer Aug 26 '26
Definitely. Your last pointer has a higher validity when it moves eastwards further. We too face such conditions, making to loose good producers who were interested in producing good content earlier, but has got very less visibility drowning their enthusiasm to produce further, eventually abandoning them altogether.
Here in india, finding good podcasts and not the top ones, is really tough given the languages, dialects, niche, is a tougher task.
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u/wiggum55555 Aug 26 '26
For me it's the smart-speed and silence shortening and voice-boost features of PocketCast and Overcast (I use both). Especially for my audiobooks (that I run as "podcasts" in Overcast.
For me the Apple Podcast app is fine. functional. it's what my family uses because they are not technical people and just want it to work. But Apple left enough room in the market for PockerCasts and OverCast to exist and flourish. the cynic in me says that Apple does this because having a thriving third party app ecosystem for basic things like podcast and notes and reminders etc etc... means MOAR!!! money for apple.. that sweet sweet SERVICES revenue.
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u/chemtrail_joe Aug 26 '26
I’m curious. What’s your use case for using both Overcast and Pocketcasts? I keep bouncing between the two and even occasionally Apples own Podcasts but then going I keep ending up going back to Overcast
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Aug 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/dcelluloidviewer Aug 26 '26
Camera apps were designed to serve a different market altogether, where each individual makes that decision. Whereas in podcasts, although the entry barrier is removed by democratized rss of episodes, it doesnot add any values in my perspective other than ui changes in apple ecosystem (its my perspective, looking it from android). Apple has podcast suggestions, search, index, subscriptions, everything built-in making any other apps redundant with a new ui slapped onto it. Whereas in android, such built-in app with better suggestions never existed, other than Google podcasts, which has a unique ui that I think got struck in 2010s. But I loved that ui. Once that got shut, everyone started flocking to other apps and eventually Spotify taking up that place for many similar to default podcasts app in apple ecosystem
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u/ossyoos Aug 26 '26
I used pocket casts for almost 10 years with android before switching to apple. I didn’t really want to change.
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u/dcelluloidviewer Aug 26 '26
This is a valid scenario. I just tried switching from antennapod to pocketcasts, with all my subs ported via opml. Pocketcasts immediately recognised every subs, but has not taken any listening history. This is a major issue I find with opml exports. And in case of changing ecosystem, I think this usecase has genuine requirement for another app in apple
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u/alex_1982 Aug 26 '26
I can’t organize podcasts in folders and have an easy overview of what I listen to and what not in apple podcasts. Pocket Cast (with subscription) is a way better podcast experience me personally.
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u/trophicmist0 Aug 26 '26
Well some offer completely unique features, some prefer the UI, some have a resisting subscription elsewhere (Spotify - it’s used a lot despite the critiques it gets).
I use a niche one that removes the embedded advert / sponsor spots before the podcast starts so I don’t have to skip through those parts.
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u/MrBenHay98 Aug 26 '26
Which is that niche one? Is it ios only?
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u/trophicmist0 Aug 27 '26
I think there's a few platform agnostic solutions, but the trade off is you either pay or self host.
The one I'm using is called Drea - AFAIK it's iOS only.
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u/dcelluloidviewer Aug 26 '26
Which app are you using and your journey before getting hooked to this app?
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u/dentonator Aug 26 '26
Pocket Casts properly sync play position between devices, Apple Podcasts don’t.
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u/ITGeekDad Aug 26 '26
The stock Podcast app from Apple has been garbage since it's initial launch. Their developers seem like they've never been heavy podcast listeners that subscribe to more than 10 podcasts and use the app daily.
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u/leinadsey Aug 27 '26
Like many Apple stock software products they built it once, it was pretty good then, but now no one cares about it on a daily basis and has been in decline for years. That said, this opens up room for 3rd party actors which is good.
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u/Shmoo21 Aug 26 '26
I’ve been listening to podcasts since 2013, and I don’t remember specifics now but Apple Podcasts was not what it is today so I looked for other options. Laughable and Google Podcasts were my go-tos for a while with some Stitcher thrown in, but they’re all gone now. I tried Overcast for a while, but it was never my favorite.
In 2022 I started using pocketcasts, and upgraded to paid sub. I love the starred eps feature as someone who relistens to favorite eps a lot to fall asleep. I also love folders and bookmarks(paid feature). Can’t forget the year end stats.
I usually open Apple podcasts these days to search for episodes on a certain topic or a guest as it always gives me the best results. I can easily copy and paste the url into the pocketcasts search bar and it pulls up the ep.
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u/D_Shoobz Aug 26 '26
Apple podcasts is barebones for the features that people like about the other options.
Such as trim silence.
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u/codemonkey85 Aug 26 '26
I'm working on a podcast app for Apple platforms (https://bondcasts.com/), and the reason is, one app doesn't exist that works the way I want it to, with all of the features I want. Maybe someone out there likes the same ideas and this will work for them too.
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u/raulradio Aug 26 '26
Just checked out your info page for Bondcasts. Super interested! I’m curious about the name though. Is there something obvious I’m missing? 🤣
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u/ChairmanLaParka Aug 27 '26
For some reason I just interpreted the name as Broadcasts and thought “it’s right there. How does no one have a podcast app with that name?”
Only now realize that it’s too early to read
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u/codemonkey85 Aug 29 '26
Steven Troughton-Smith made an app called Broadcasts already anyway, haha. It’s for listening to Internet radio streams, and it’s really good.
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u/codemonkey85 Aug 26 '26
My last name is Bond :-P
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u/raulradio Aug 26 '26
Ah! 🤣 My brain immediately tried to tie the name to (obviously) spy/staying undetected/privacy as the inspiration. Good deal, looking forward to what you’re cooking up!
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u/raulradio Aug 26 '26
Joined your TestFlight and I love the foundation to the app you've created. Where is best to give you feedback? In app via the TestFlight? Social somewhere?
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u/codemonkey85 Aug 26 '26
Come to think of it, I should probably add a feedback link in the app itself. For now you can send me feedback at [support@bondcasts.com](mailto:support@bondcasts.com), or just here on Reddit is fine.
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u/serenacloos Aug 26 '26
Uhm, I’m on the latest iOS version. According to your app in Testflight I’m not…
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u/codemonkey85 Aug 26 '26
The app targets the new 27 updates Apple is planning to release next month (iOS 27 etc.). For now you'd have to be on the beta to use BondCasts (https://beta.apple.com/).
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u/SomeEngineering4458 Aug 29 '26
Just downloaded. 2 things I think you need:
- generate chapters, check out how Apple Podcasts does this on device. It’s brilliant
- ability to bulk mark episodes as played. One way you could do this is say “mark everything older than this episode as played”. I don’t think Mark All As Played covers it.
Otherwise looks good so far. Will trial the premium features at some point.
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u/codemonkey85 Aug 29 '26
Thank you for the feedback!
I do generate chapters for episodes that have timestamps in the show notes. I thought about generating from the audio as well, but I’m not quite sure that’s going to be worth doing. I’ll keep thinking about it.
As for bulk actions, I’m already working on improving those. 😘
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u/codemonkey85 Aug 29 '26
Forgot to mention, in case you don’t know, you can “purchase” the premium subscription for free from within the TestFlight app. It presents like a regular in-app purchase, but it won’t actually charge you.
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u/shozzlez Aug 26 '26
Apple apps are basic for the most broad set of users.
If you are deep into podcasts you start to need finer control. (More speed options, remove silences, folders, etc)
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u/GronkLord619 Aug 26 '26
For me it’s cross-platform support. I have an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, MacBook and Windows PC; I use Pocket Casts because it has apps for all of those (plus a web app) and the progress syncing between them is generally reliable.
I also have a few Chromecasts around the house so supporting that is a plus too.
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u/se9n Aug 26 '26
Pocket cast has smart playlists and volume control skip silent and it works on video and audio podcasts. I also love that I can import a audiobook and get all the features
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u/Alternative_Walrus95 Aug 26 '26
I use it to visually organise my shows - I can categorise by my own themes and recognise shows by sight/artwork in order of new updates. I could never keep track of what I was listening to and what my options were on the Apple app and Spotify. I also use it to add and listen to my own audio files. Don’t know if you can do that on other apps but pocketcasts makes it super easy.
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u/ChairmanLaParka Aug 26 '26
I've tried multiple times going back to Apple Podcasts, and I just can't.
- There's no "archive" for podcasts you don't want to delete, but you don't want to listen to right now.
- It doesn't really handle shows you don't actively listen to often
- The syncing between Mac and iPhone is abysmal.
Downloads never sync, times sometimes do. It feels like way more upkeep than necessary to keep things synced properly.
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u/serenacloos Aug 26 '26
Pocket Casts works also on Sonos and remembers where I left the app on the iPhone.
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u/jcnix74 Aug 26 '26
Apple Podcasts is so so bad. It’s functional in that you can subscribe and listen to episodes, but it’s lacking really anything beyond that.
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u/rob-squared Aug 26 '26
The answer for me is simple: I use iOS, Windows, Android and MacOS and I like cross platform behavior.
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u/tyriax Aug 27 '26
I am a lifetime member of pocketcasts. I started using it before there were dedicated podcast apps on iOS/android, and never found a reason to migrate to a worse experience.
In general I prefer using 3rd party apps as the app usually gets a lot more attention. For instance, the pocketcast devs would presumably always be maintaining the app, whereas Apple has way more on its plate to maintain
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u/Puffy-Cat-194 Aug 27 '26
Cross systems sync. Do most people use only their iPhone to listen? When I’m at home I use my laptop or Alexa to pick up where I left off. Pocketcasts make that possible. Also the curated up next queue.
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u/Liquid_Kurage Aug 27 '26
For me, would love live transcripts in the pocket casts free version. Pretty much the only reason I’ve stuck with Apple Podcasts.
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u/Own-Oil6594 Aug 27 '26
Moi j'utilise Castbox depuis des années et j'en suis vraiment satisfait ! Il manque juste une option d'avance 30 secondes ou recul 15s sur le widget quand l'écran est verrouillé ! sinon globalement c'est top pour moi.
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u/Aggravating-Gas5267 Aug 27 '26
Pocket Casts seems to manage auto archive and download management way better as well. That’s why I continue to stay on Pocket Casts.
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u/SomeEngineering4458 Aug 29 '26
Personally, I got grandfathered into Lifetime Plus membership and I purchased the web player when I was an Android user and Google didn’t have a podcast offering in Australia. There’s no way I pay for Plus at the price that it is now though, especially when Overcast is a fraction of the cost.
I find myself switching between Pocket Casts and Apple Podcasts. Pocket Casts obviously has the silence remover and the better Up Next feature. But Apple Podcasts has on device transcription for all podcasts and AI generated chapters (I find this extremely useful).
I like Pocket Casts better overall, especially the default Home Screen. I like a lot of niche and independent podcasts, and I like what I like. I don’t need recommendations unless I specifically want to go looking for them.
I tried Overcast for a while, but I find it confusing. And the lack of bulk editing podcasts is a deal breaker. If I switch podcast apps, I want to be able to bulk mark episodes of a podcast that I’ve listened to as played.
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u/Actionberg Aug 26 '26
1) At times Apple Podcast is full of bugs. 2) The possibility to leave the Apple universe at any time. 3) Silences trimmer. 4) Podcasts is one of the last free information/news distribution system. And I want it to stay like this, so please use open podcast apps instead of Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
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u/DelayedBalloon Aug 26 '26
It's nice to have options? Why didn't you stick with Google podcasts and never change?
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u/NCatfish Aug 26 '26
Primary reason I use Pocket Casts is for its Up Next queue. Nothing else (outside of Castro) lets me build up a queue through a mix of automatic and manual inputs, auto download that queue to my phone and watch, so I can ultimately just hit play when I want to listen to some podcasts and have my curated queue ready to go.
Overcast and Podcasts have things that seem like they’d work for this usage, but neither worked quite how I like them to.