Podcasts are all the rage these days, even Spotify is heavily investing in the concept. When it comes to podcast clients, plenty of folks have been looking forward to the Android arrival of the popular iOS "social" podcast app Breaker, which lets you follow friends' listening trends and even chat about your favorite shows. That hotly anticipated Android version of the app is now in beta testing, and we have some screenshots and details for the curious.
Breaker isn't the only social-first podcasting app out there. Two of HipChat's founders have also spun up an app called Swoot, which is already available for Android on the Play Store. While Swoot may be first to Android, Breaker has been on Apple's App Store for nearly a year.
For those in on the beta, the app is live at this listing on the Play Store, though folks outside the beta can't access it.
Screenshots from the Play Store listing.
The full app description is just below:
New to podcasts? Or do you listen every day? Breaker is for you.
Every podcast is on Breaker! Over 500,000 podcasts available.
Follow your friends to see what they’re listening to, and discover new podcasts from the Breaker community. Like, share, and comment on your favorite episodes.
Breaker is perfect for listening:
- ½x up to 3x speed
- Skip Silences to save time
- Landscape mode
- Offline mode
- Download new episodes automatically
Breaker is the #1 social podcast app:
- Like and comment on episodes <3
- Discover hot episodes that everyone is listening to
- Chat about episodes with friends
- Profile with your favorite podcasts
- Share on Twitter and Facebook
Try out the best new podcast app and hear what everyone is talking about.
Privacy policy: https://www.breaker.audio/i/privacy
Terms of service: https://www.breaker.audio/i/terms
Questions? Feedback? Email us at feedback@breaker.audio.
Our tipster prefers to remain anonymous, but they also provided a handful of screenshots showing the app in action:
The app itself doesn't have an unusual design, though there are a few noteworthy features illustrated in the screenshots provided. Navigation takes place from a bottom bar with five tabbed sections: Home, Library, Search, Activity, and Profile. The app can import podcast subscriptions from Castbox, Podcast Player, Pocket Casts, and Podcast Addict. Shows and podcasts that your friends have recently listened to are listed in the Activity tab. It seems recommendations appear in both the Home and Search sections.
The playback screen seems standard on first glance, but it has a few extra features above most podcast apps. You can set a sleep timer for 15-minute increments up to one hour or the end of a given episode, and adjust playback speed from 1/2x to 3x. Social features are also front and center, with what appears to be a button to take you to an episode's comments section, as well as an indicator for the number of likes an episode has.
The app also allegedly has a snazzy dark mode, but that isn't pictured in our screenshots. Social features like chatting and sharing podcasts are also supposed to happen in the "Home" tab, but we don't have any screenshots of what that might look like.
If you're interested in giving the beta version of the app a try early, you'll have to sign up here. The app uses app bundles for distribution, so it can't be easily redistributed.
Some people get passionate when it comes to their favorite podcasts, and I've been an involuntary party in several drawn-out conversations on the subject. While the Android app is still just in a limited beta, social integrations like these may prove popular and further percolate through the podcast app community.