“The ads in this app are getting invasive. It inserts advertisements into podcasts, in the middle of sentences - these are definitely not the podcasts' ads. Unskippable ads appear while I'm navigating the app.”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 532 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-04.
Podcast Player - Castbox
Castbox.FM - Radio & Podcast & AudioBooksWith Castbox, you can find all your favorite shows, get the latest episodes,…
4.7 ★369,127 ratings
10M+Downloads
12+Age rating
—App size
Free · In-app purchasesIn-app purchases
About this app
With Castbox, you can find all your favorite shows, get the latest episodes, discover more recommendations, and customize your listening experience.
Castbox is the best FREE Podcast Player & Podcast App on Android.
Our OPML Import feature makes it easy to transfer your subscribed podcasts from other apps to Castbox. This ensures that you don't miss a beat in your podcast listening and can continue enjoying your favorite shows without interruption. Try it out today and discover why Castbox is the ultimate podcast app.
The best free podcast player and podcast app to find, save, download, and listen to your favorite podcasts (such as Crime Junkie, Stuff You Should Know, The Daily), FM, radio and audiobooks.
Castbox is an easy to use free podcast player for podcast lovers, offering a super clean layout and easy to navigate interface.…
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 11.25.0-260714314 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 11.26.1-260915290, updated 2026-09-15.
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 at least 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
1 theme 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
From the package we downloaded and read — version 11.25.0-260714314, scanned 2026-09-12.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
6 or more requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
1–2 found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
10 or more found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
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.
The catch list 2
Charges we publish at a strength we stand behind: measured from an artefact, agreed by independent sources, or reported by enough users to clear that charge's own published bar.
Multiple ad networks bundled
The package embeds several distinct advertising or mediation SDKs — a stack built for ad volume, not for a single house ad.
What we saw: Bundles 10 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, BidMachine, Fyber / Digital Turbine Exchange and 6 more
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: Raised by 38 distinct reviewers — 7.1% of the 532 reviews scanned on this store leg (Google Play).
Context 1
Measured and published because a reader would want to know — deliberately not a charge. The measurement alone does not show a harm.
Asks for more sensitive permissions than similar apps
The package requests substantially more of the device's sensitive permissions than the typical app in its category. This is a measurement, not an accusation: a permission is granted because a feature needs it, and a wide request list is a reason to look rather than a finding on its own.
What we saw: Requests 6 sensitive permissions (ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, CAMERA, READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, READ_MEDIA_IMAGES, RECORD_AUDIO); the median for 74 scanned apps in Music & Audio is 2
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
Developer says data deletion can be requested
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.
What we saw: 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
One source only — shown, not confirmed 4
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.
In the app's own text: A plan is pre-picked as 'recommended'
The purchase screen arrives with one plan already framed as the recommended or most popular choice, so the default is the app's preference rather than the user's. We do not compare the plans' prices, and only the app's own text evidences this, so it is shown, but never counted as a charge.
What we saw: Purchase screen steers the choice: "BEST VALUE"
In the app's own text: Pay to progress
Advancement or competition is gated behind spending money rather than playing.
What we saw: Progress itself is for sale: "Insufficient balance. Recharge to get more coins."
In the app's own text: Countdown-timer purchase pressure
The app's own purchase copy attaches a deadline to buying — a countdown, 'offer ends in', 'limited time' — or ships a countdown view on a purchase-screen layout.
What we saw: Deadline pressure in the app's own copy: "Limited time offer"
In the app's own text: Trial terms not stated in the app's own text
The app's own screens offer a free trial without stating, beside it, what happens when the trial ends. Read this as context rather than as a charge: renewal terms are normally shown on the store's purchase sheet instead, which we cannot see, and we can only observe one kind of evidence for this — so it is shown, but never counted as a charge.
What we saw: Offers a free trial ("Free Trial") with no renewal price, renewal date or auto-renew notice anywhere in the app's own text
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Frequent unskippable full-screen ads triggered by general interaction with the app, not just before playing an episode. There's other apps. There's no need to tolerate this.”
“This used to be the perfect app for my podcast needs. But lately it has become unbearable with ads. Full screen ads that come up while navigating, and are near impossible to close- long waits for the X to appear only for it to take you to…”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 11.26.1-260915290.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.