I love listening to podcasts and I am constantly trying to find a player that works for me. I like Castbox because if it’s simplicity and for the most part it does what I want and helps me control how I want to listen to podcasts. However there is one thing I wish it would do, I wish it would give me the option to download not the new seat episodes, but the oldest episodes. One thing I really do not like is going through a manually choosing the episodes I want to download. I don’t want to automatically download the most recent. I had a player that I love, it was the RSS Radio player. The option of choosing which episodes to automatically download and it would automatically build my playlist for me in the way I wanted it. I had to get rid of it because since the last update it did no work very well. It was extremely slow or unresponsive, the app kept shutting down, and it would get rid if my podcasts so I had to find them again. If Castbox would give me the option of choosing which ones to automatically download and build my playlist for me, I would consider this perfect. I have chosen to upgrade for now, but I will keep looking for the player that allows me control of how to download and listen. Also, this keeps crashing whenever I’m trying to work on my lists. Thanks for this app overall. You have a great selection and I love that you have old episodes of some of my favorite podcasts.

I had been using Apple Podcasts, but the overall design was getting to me. Is it just me or has Apple gotten a bit lazy more recently with the design of some of their apps? Anyway, I tried another app that looked like a winner as the app itself looked more like something Apple could have created but it just didn’t seem to have any reason for why the put certain things within certain sections (example, it had a section for recommendations but in the podcast section, it had recommendations as well). That’s when I decided to try Castbox, boy was I blown away at the design, just wish it wasn’t so big of an app. It looks like something Apple could have designed. The only issue I have is that is when you click on a podcast under library section, under details, the suggested shows that show up aren’t always even the same type of show. For instance I listen to Steam Deace Show and none of the suggested shows are even closely related to his shows. There are many Blaze podcasts that should probably show up there instead. How are we suppose to discover similar podcasts that we might be interested in, if they don’t show up for us.

It might be the one. Like many people, from time to time I just get too frustrated with Apple’s Podcasts app and I go searching for something better. I think I’ve tried basically every alternative, and there’s always some reason why I go back to Apple. But Apple just can’t seem to get it right. I don’t understand. I really like Apple products and software design in general. Anyway, I’ve only just started using this one, but it appears it’s just perfect for me. It’s got the right balance of clean, attractive design, easy usability, and general features. It doesn’t have the fullest set of features out there, but I have found that the ones that do are just more complicated than what I want to deal with for podcast management. For me, I like a clean interface, intuitive management of downloads and playlists, and, most important, a great searching platform that makes it easy to find both podcasts to subscribe to but also individual episodes that feature people or subjects I’m interested in. This one seems to have it all—and no ads! (My other favorite, “Podcast App,” was just as good but had annoying full screen pop-up ads.)

This app has been wonderful for years running with virtually no issues plus it’s a fairly intuitive (easy) layout. Unfortunately recent updates have really disappointed! Ads are more often & recently becoming very intrusive-claiming the screen while you’re in the middle of interacting with the app. This has really taken away from the experience! Now today as I open the app an ad immediately took over. After finally finding it’s close button I think “well, at least the ad is out of the way” thinking I won’t have to deal with another for awhile. BUT swear-to-God another ad pops up just seconds later! I understand ads help pay the developers but this is too much. Recent updates also ended the ability for the app to play in the background. Why would a developer allow their good app to fall to this level? Podcast apps are in great supply & I’m starting to try out others. Just check out all the recent bad reviews this app has received. DO NOT download this app. There are better alternatives. This used to be a 1st class app but now it’s just another bloated glitchy waste. :(Edit (2 months later): checked back to see if developer responses meant things would improve-NOPE! They haven’t fixed anything. Judging from all the negative reviews this app is simply unusable. I’ve found another app that works fine & deleting this app.