Apple Podcasts alternatives

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 78 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

1. [R5] Apple Podcasts 4/5 · US Great but…: This app works great. I’ve been using it for a long time but recently it’s had this glitch where without me touching anything it starts speeding up first two times speed then four then eight then 16 etc., and the only way to stop it is to manually delete and reinstall the app
2. [R16] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Video issues: The playback experience has become incredibly frustrating. If I pause a podcast and come back later, it often restarts from the beginning instead of resuming where I left off, causing me to lose my place. On top of that, there are times when commercial audio plays over the podcast audio at the same time, making it impossible to listen. These issues happen frequently and have made the
3. [R27] Apple Podcasts 2/5 · US This app has become incredibly buggy.: For over a year this app has become more and more buggy, and as of writing this review it appears to be in the worst state ever. The app has become unresponsive and unusable. Transcripts are unusable and podcasts constantly fail to load. It's not being addressed.
4. [R29] Apple Podcasts 2/5 · US New update glitches: Since the new update adding video (unclear why video is necessary for a podcast app) the app glitches so badly that it’s extremely hard to get through an episode. When you pause and come back your spot gets lost, the episode will start over, and there is constant glitching when skipping or rewinding. The app worked fine until this update.
5. [R1] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Worst app ever made by Apple: Just try doing a search / it’s the biggest piece of trash you could ever imagine. It is absolutely unfathomable how something that is used by so many people can be so unbelievably useless for things like search. Literally everybody who worked on this app should be fired.
6. [R3] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Love podcasts but this app is the bare minimum: The app itself could offer a far superior experience. They seem to only offer up Top Shows. Those are the easiest to find. Seems like it needs an overhaul so people can find shows they’ll like more easily.
7. [R4] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Can’t search for episodes: I can’t search any episodes for shows in this app. So if my favorite show had a topic or guest years ago, the only way to find that old one is to scroll and scroll and scroll. Crazy such a feature is missing.
8. [R7] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Do apple devs use this app?: This app lacks so many features other apps offer on their free tier. It makes it so confusing to listen to one podcast with only the unlistened episodes in any order new to old or old to new, it jumps to different podcasts when I want to listen a specific podcast episode after episode, it replays episodes I have already played…. I feel with a little bit of interest and
9. [R12] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Can’t control the queue: Is no one noticing that you can’t drag and drop the order of shows in the queue? You have to remove everything and then re-add in the order you want. I always end up ending this and then going to another device.
10. [R15] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Good organization/ bad download functionality: Non-explicit episodes labeled explicit for unclear reasons. An entire program went from played to unplayed inexplicably. The automatic download setting is somewhat broken… at the very least it is inconsistent. And the automatic play It’s generally a good app otherwise, but these are core functions that it fails at..
11. [R18] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Needs a History Feature: Overall not the worst app. For the most part it works, although transcripts sometimes get lost during and after ads, where spoken words do not match what the transcript is saying. The user interface is okay, although a bit clunky at times. I would highly suggest they add some sort of history feature, because if I’ve added a number of episodes to my queue and then accidenta
12. [R19] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US slow garbage: so slow to just switch between pages and shows on this - they broke something, junk
13. [R33] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Upgrade design and layout: I transferred over from Spotify and it’s been 8 months and Apple layout and design needs a major overhaul. It’s so BORING AND BASIC AND somehow confusing so much so that I’m thinking about switching back to Spotify. Apple, with all the money you got c’mon do better.
14. [R35] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US GARBAGE that FORCES podcasts I DON'T WANT to download: I DO NOT WANT *ANY* RECOMMENDATIONS EVER! I don't want to have to skip through random nonsense that I didn't ask for. This is MY phone and these are MY subscriptions, if I didn't subscribe to a podcast, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! NO MEANS NO! Consent matters Apple.
15. [R37] Apple Podcasts 2/5 · US Frustration.: Why do the icons move around each time a new episode of a channel I am following updates. It is frustrating while I am looking for something it keeps moving the location? Why do I have to start all over again while looking for a program and switch apps Apple podcast makes me start over again, looking for a program. Just let it be. Between the aforementioned moving of icons and hav
16. [R21] Apple Podcasts 2/5 · US Commercial, commercials, and commercials.: It's been a while since I listened to a podcast on my iPhone using the Apple Podcasts app, and I honestly can’t take it anymore. The commercials crammed into a single podcast are beyond excessive. It completely ruins my listening experience. At what point does enough become enough? Does every app have to squeeze every possible dollar out of its users?
17. [R43] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US The amount of adds is disgusting.: 3-4 minute adds every 15-20 minutes. It doesn’t push me to pay for any type of add free subscription, it pushes me to delete the app and never use it again. The adds are more aggressive then YouTube, Netflix or any other streaming service.
18. [R47] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Commercials are very loud and hurt my ears: New complaint: Every time I go to another app, when I come back to Apple Podcasts app it keeps reverting to the manager and then I go have to manually go back to the podcast. Really wish that podcasts that I subscribe to couldn’t push and download random podcasts thatI have to delete and then it keeps loading because I didn’t listen to. So i have to m
19. [R51] Spotify 1/5 · US bad bad bad: if you can: turn back now. tidal is better and spotify is only worth it if ur willing to pay for premium
20. [R53] Spotify 3/5 · US Too many adds: It’s great for making a playlist but way to many adds
21. [R55] Spotify 5/5 · US Forever Spotify: Spotify> Apple Music. Always. (No offense). It’s just truth. Spotify has such a great mash up of songs, collections, playlists. It’s the one subscription I will always keep. The music quality is great as well! Thank you, Spotify 🤘🏼
22. [R56] Spotify 3/5 · US REMOVE ADDS: Please remove these adds I get them every second
23. [R65] Pandora 2/5 · US Free listening: The songs played on pandora sound pretty clear but you can’t do much on the app unless you pay for a subscription. I was recently able to do replays by watching an ad and apparently that was because I accidentally started a free trial but now that it is over, the app is difficult to work with. If you leave the app or refresh it in the middle of a song it will skip the rest of the s
24. [R66] Pandora 5/5 · US Commercials?: I am a paid subscriber to Pandora…. Why am I now getting commercials on my feed? I will cancel my subscription if I have to pay for commercials
25. [R67] Pandora 3/5 · US Not Bad: They play the same songs over and over - I’ll even put on the 70’s station and it plays the same songs over and over even play today’s songs on the 70’s channel over and over .
26. [R68] Pandora 1/5 · US Same songs over and over: Same songs over and over
27. [R57] Spotify 1/5 · US Very bad: Make it unlimited skips and less ads it’s really bad and I’m going to swap to Apple Music
28. [R70] Pandora 3/5 · US Jojo: Wish I could go through and pick certain songs and wish I could search for just one single song and then added to a playlist but other than that, it’s a good app