Pocket Casts is among the best podcast apps out there, supporting both Android and iOS. The contentious changes to the app several years ago and the corresponding ownership changes are well documented, but beneath these controversies, Pocket Casts is still a solid podcasts app. One thing missing from Pocket Casts’ solid portfolio is a Wear OS app, though. There was an app back in the days of Android Wear, but its development was halted amidst the aforementioned change of owners. It looks like a Wear OS app is close to release at this point, though, with the devs behind the service opening a GitHub thread last year detailing the current state of development.

The eagle-eyed folks over at 9to5Google spotted a project issue on Pocket Casts' Github repository posted a few days ago, titled Initial Release of Wear OS Watch App. It offers some tidbits on the course of the app’s development. One of the primary goals of the Pocket Casts Wear OS app’s initial release is to enable it to operate independently i.e., without a paired smartphone. As a reference point, the devs offer a detailed snapshot of the app's Apple watchOS version last year, highlighting every UI element (pictured below).

It’s worth noting that Pocket Casts has supported Apple’s smartwatch ecosystem for a while. So it’s no surprise that the devs at the Automattic-owned app want to replicate this functionality for the Wear OS version. Podcast downloads should also be supported, provided you have a subscription for the paid Pocket Casts Plus service.

The dearth of decent podcast apps for Wear OS is evident, and the arrival of a popular client like Pocket Casts would be welcome. Meanwhile, you can find our very own Android Police Podcast on the Android version of Pocket Casts, with this week’s edition taking a deep dive into Android 14.