“Nagged to death — I have been a long time user of this app and loved it. One of the only podcast apps to allow for .1 increments of speed increase. I even paid for the next tier years ago. Last week after an update the app moved the nag…”
Independent automated assessment · 3 signal sources · 514 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-04.
4.5 ★15,948 ratings
—Downloads
9+Age rating
168 MBApp size
Free · In-app purchasesIn-app purchases
About this app
Pocket Casts is the world's most powerful podcast platform, an app by listeners, for listeners. Our podcast player provides next-level listening, search and discovery tools. Find your next obsession with our hand-curated podcast recommendations for easy discovery, and seamlessly enjoy your favorite shows without the hassle of subscribing.
Here's what the press has to say: • Wired: "Pocket Casts Is the Podcast App Every iPhone User Needs" • iMore: "Pocket Casts is the best podcast app for iPhone"
PLAYLISTS Your listening, your way. Organize your episodes with our powerful Playlists feature: - Playlists: Curate your perfect mix. Combine episodes from different podcasts, build collections around specific themes or guests, and even add episodes from podcasts you don't follow. - Smart Playlists: We’ve upgraded our famous Filters.…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
This analysis describes version 8.21 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 8.21, updated 2026-09-28.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
2 themes reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
80–89% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence about the app, not a finding about it.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
Context 1
Measured and published because a reader would want to know — deliberately not a charge. The measurement alone does not show a harm.
Cheapest and priciest options are far apart
The disclosed in-app purchases span an unusually wide price range. Published as context: the cheapest and priciest items may be different kinds of product entirely, so the spread alone deducts nothing.
What we saw: In-app purchases run from USD 3.99 to USD 99.99 — a 25x spread across 7 items
One source only — shown, not confirmed 2
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
Reported by users: Upgrade prompts use guilt-trip wording
Declining an upgrade is written as a loss ('No thanks, I don't want to improve'), or users report being repeatedly pushed to subscribe during normal use.
What we saw: Constant upsell pressure: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (1.0% of 514 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Aggressive ad load: raised by 14 distinct reviewers (2.7% of 514 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Why are there ads now?! Why?? — I already bought the app before you made it free. Now you’ve added banner ads and you’re forcing us to subscribe to remove these ads which is insane. I’m not interested in any of the Plus features so…”
“Ruined a perfect app — The keep adding features I don’t need and now finally banner ads to push users to buy the subscription. I would be happy to pay a one-time fee for a good media player, but $40 EVERY YEAR is insane.”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 8.21.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown5
Lowest$3.99
Highest$99.99
Plus Monthly$3.99
Patron Monthly$9.99
Plus Yearly$39.99
Patron Yearly$99.99
Pocket Casts Plus - Referral$39.99