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8 best podcast apps on Android in 2024
Our selection to listen to the news, captivating stories, or to learn something new
So your friend has recommended you a podcast, but how are you going to listen to it? While some of the most popular podcasts are exclusive to a single platform you usually have a choice of apps to listen to and discover podcasts on. But just like the choice of music players on Android, it's hard to pick one.
How to play podcasts in chronological order on Android and iOS
Some podcasts need to be listened to in chronological order: Here's how you can make that happen
Do you listen to your favorite podcast on your iPhone or Android device? If you do, you know that keeping things in order is important. Whether it's a book podcast by the chapter, a true crime podcast where every episode counts, or a special miniseries about a particular topic, you'll want to listen to every episode in order.
How to record a podcast on your Android phone
You don't have to shell out thousands on expensive podcast equipment
Contemporary Android tablets and smartphones give you everything you need to make a podcast. They have a microphone, access to recording apps, and a camera, should you need one. It won't be a high-production podcast, but it'll do just fine, especially when you're starting out.
The Android Police podcast is back and better than ever
New hosts, lots of attitude, worth your listen
The last time the Android Police podcast aired was right before the world shut down, in late February 2020. Back then the show, along with the website as a whole, looked quite different, with a rotating cast of hosts publishing on Twitch, YouTube, and your favorite audio podcast player. It was a lot to handle, which is why it was unceremoniously shut down.
Spotify’s paid podcast subscription service one-ups Apple’s offering
Creators won't have to pay a cut for the first two years
With the video streaming market starting to feel a little saturated, audio and podcasts, in particular, could be the next big focus. Apple reiterated its commitment to the medium by introducing a paid subscription service. Shortly after, arch-rival Spotify has come up with its own subscription platform that one-ups the Cupertino giant in one major way.
In unusual move, Spotify to actually let podcasters make money
Spotify supposedly won't take revenue cuts from creators — for now
Apple introduced its new Podcasts Subscriptions this week, an Apple-exclusive platform that allows podcasters to charge listeners a monthly fee for access to some or all of their content. It looks like Spotify doesn't want to be sidelined. Just a few days after Apple's announcement, The Wall Street Journal reports that the audio company wants to introduce podcasts subscriptions of its own, but with a twist: It won't take cuts from content creators.
Apple and Spotify could spell the end of everything we love about podcasts
Podcasts, welcome to the current state of video streaming
During its first 2021 event yesterday, Apple announced "the next chapter of podcasting" with its Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. It's a new platform for podcasters that allows them to monetize their shows using subscription fees — conveniently only available to consumers through the Apple Podcasts app. Apple positions the new monetization method as separate premium products in addition to existing free or ad-supported podcasts, and there are already tons of studios and independent podcasters lining up to become part of the service.
Pocket Casts will go up for sale again, three years after acquisition by public radio group
No word on a buyer yet
Podcast player application Pocket Casts was acquired by a public radio group in mid-2018, right around the time Spotify started expanding into the podcast world. The service has had some ups and downs since then, but now it looks like Pocket Casts could have new ownership in the near future.
Twitter acquires podcast app Breaker to help build its audio chatrooms
The app will shut down on January 15
To stay relevant in an ever-changing world, it's important to experiment, and Twitter isn't resting on laurels — it is constantly looking for new ways to engage users. Shortly after introducing Stories-like Fleets to users around the globe, the San Francisco-headquartered company announced the testing of audio chat rooms, called Spaces. To help build the latter — which is seemingly a tougher nut to crack — the team behind podcast app Breaker is joining Twitter.
I listened to 37 seconds of Samsung's new 5G podcast so you don't have to
Spoiler: It's some of the most irrelevant promotional content imaginable
In its desperation to make 5G a thing anybody cares about — outside of conspiracy theorists who think it causes Covid-19 and kills people — Samsung is making a podcast. The promotional podcast is hosted by Britsh comedian Suzi Ruffell and Dr. Hannah Fry (she's a doctor, so you know you can trust her) as they aim to "uncover how 5G is transforming our everyday lives and building a better world."
Google will kill Play Music this year, launches YouTube Music migration tool
There is no firm date yet, and Google will provide "plenty of notice"
It took Google a long time to polish up YouTube Music, and there are still many die-hard Google Play Music users that aren't content with the company's new streaming product. But thanks to recent additions like file upload support and the Explore tab, Google deems YouTube Music to be almost ready to replace Play Music once and for all later this year. That's why Google has just started rolling out a migration tool allowing Play Music users to move over all of their content to the new platform, though they'll be able to access it on both services for the time being. There's also an additional workflow to move podcasts over to Google Podcasts.
Google Podcasts is already more than one and a half years old, but development is excruciatingly slow — not too dissimilar to YouTube Music. The podcast player has always been lacking an easily accessible web interface; it has only been available via Google search workarounds since March last year. Now, the company has finally rolled out a proper web version for a more complete podcast experience on podcasts.google.com, but it's still not on par with the Android app.
The Pixel 4a doesn’t need 5G, you probably don’t care about Motorola phones that aren’t the Razr, and get ready for the ultimate Chinese app store app collection…. Semicolon… tech podcast producer Adam Doud joins us on the Android Police Podcast.
Little by little, Google Podcasts is adding essential features that any podcast player should have. From multi-selection to auto-download, dark mode, and a web interface, we've seen small but significant improvements in the service, the latest of which is an option to time stamp the episode's link before sharing it.
Spotify-curated personalized playlists generally give spot-on music suggestions based on your listening history. Some of that algorithmic magic is now coming to podcasts as Spotify has announced a dedicated playlist for audio shows, called ‘Your Daily Podcasts’ that will sit alongside the existing Discover Weekly and Daily Mix music lists.
Many apps are rushing to add a dark mode now that Android 10 and iOS 13 have implemented it on the system level. Some apps, however, have had a dark theme for years and the only thing they need to change is to make it respect the system setting. That's the case for Pocket Casts, the popular podcast player.
Today is the International Podcast Day and Spotify, making strives toward becoming the world's number one audio platform through its Audio-First initiative, is now allowing all of its users to add podcasts in addition to music into custom playlists and share them with others.
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.
Google Podcasts is now automatically generating transcripts of episodes and is using them as metadata to help listeners search for shows, even if they don't know the title or when it was published.
Spotify started supporting podcasts three years ago, and now the service is one of the most popular ways to catch up on audio shows. Rumors began to circulate last week that Spotify might buy podcast production company Gimlet Media, and now that has been confirmed — along with the purchase of Anchor.