The most excellent podcast player app for you to search, subscribe to, stream…
Castbox.FM - Radio & Podcast & AudioBooksFrom our automated analysis, 7 Oct 2026. Every label links to its evidence in the full report below.
This analysis describes version 9.17.0-260909124 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-07 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 9.17.0-260909124, updated 2026-09-12.
Store screenshots supplied by the developer.
The most excellent podcast player app for you to search, subscribe to, stream, play and download all of your favorite podcasts and audiobooks, etc.
You can quickly transfer subscriptions from other podcast apps to our app by using OPML Import feature.
★ 🇺🇸 135 countries Editors' Choice featured by Google Play ★
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We got everything you want (audio books FM music streaming radio podcasts) for free. Podcast is with you by providing audio content covering both entertainment and education during daily playback scenarios (commute, sport, chores, relax, etc.)
Listen to the best podcasts on Podcast Player, including News & Politics podcasts, Music-related podcasts, Games & Hobbies podcasts, Sports podcasts, Technology podcasts, and Talk Shows, etc.…
From the developer’s store description.
For developers and the curious
The evidence, sources, measurements and versions behind every label above.
Findings that met the published evidence standard.
Bundles 10 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, BidMachine, Fyber / Digital Turbine Exchange and 6 more
The package embeds several distinct advertising or mediation SDKs — a stack built for ad volume, not for a single house ad.
Package artefact
Appworthy
sha256:363ef66dcc15eed118f7e8efaf7023f8ba02839c781040278b7892109af6d93aSpecific evidence of a useful property, within the stated scope.
The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
Open observations that have not cleared the evidence bar.
Aggressive ad load: raised by 32 distinct reviewers (7.0% of 456 reviews scanned)
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
456 reviews read for this analysis. Each observation keeps the sample and store it was based on.
This used to be good but it has been inshitified. i generously gave it 2 stars for formerly being good. Everytime you open it or change the podcasy, a big popup ad takes over the screen and it's impossible to clear it. If you're not…
They added too many ads. Ads when you pause your podcast - and they make sound - is too much. I understand the need for ads, but that is so annoying. update, I went to the app to pause my podcast, however an ad popped up with music and an…
this started out as a great app, however the queue no longer will continue to play at the end of a podcast and the ads are so ridiculous that the pods will not play over them and you can't close them. I have adjusted my settings so many…
A sampled review illustrates one person’s experience. It does not establish a finding on its own.
Supporting measurements. They are not a complete list of possible harms or positives. “Not assessed” means we could not measure it — never zero, never a pass.
Android package 9.17.0-260909124, scanned 27 Sep 2026. These describe that package, not the current store version.
Measurement vocabulary 1.4 · how these are measured
This analysis describes version 9.17.0-260909124 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-07 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 9.17.0-260909124, updated 2026-09-12.
Each store’s release notes, as the developer wrote them. They are the developer’s words, not ours.
No release notes were provided for this version.
podcast-player-google-com-podcast-podcastsAssessed 2026-10-07 from 456 user reviews, the app's package, the store listing and its privacy label.
What the stores publish. Store ratings are the stores’ numbers, not Appworthy’s, and are never averaged across stores.
This assessment is produced automatically. Six independent signals are read — user reviews, SDKs in the app package, the app's own on-screen text, the app manifest, the store listing and the store privacy disclosure — and each candidate finding is filed under the sources that support it.
No charge stands on one kind of evidence — with one published exception. A finding is either a measured fact that anyone can reproduce (an ad SDK is in the package; every subscription bills weekly; the privacy label omits a tracker we can see), or it is an interpretation — and an interpretation needs independent sources to agree before it reaches the catch list. The exception is a harm only users can see: a charge may publish from reviews alone, as “Reported by N users”, once enough reviewers raise it to clear that charge’s own published bar. That agreement rule is what replaced the human reviewer, not a model’s confidence.
There is no overall score, on purpose. A 0–99 number was published here until 2026-09-15. It was withdrawn because it discriminated too weakly to be the instrument — 44.7% of every pair of apps tied — and because a single number is a verdict where a count is an observation. What publishes instead is a row of measurements, each of which says what was counted and, where we could not look, says that instead.
Findings under One source only are real reports we do not stand behind as findings. They are shown because withholding them entirely would hide a genuine complaint, and labelled because publishing them as charges would be an accusation off a single source.
Write to [email protected], or use the form. Name the finding, the app version and the evidence that needs correcting. Factual corrections are free and never depend on buying anything.