App Review: Pocket Casts

I believe at this point I have told everyone that will listen about this app, so now I'm telling you. It's everything that you want the built-in iOS Podcasts app to be, but better. It has features you didn't even know that you needed!

I use it in the car, while I'm working at my desk, when I'm doing chores in the kitchen or even when I'm doing my long runs. The way I have it set up means that there is always something to listen to with minimal interaction from myself.

Below are some screen shots that I took that I think help illustrate how useful the app actually is. Of course there are even more photos on the official apps home page at www.pocketcasts.com

In the left most picture, you can see what the homescreen looks like. Similar to the Podcast app, but a little bit more clean in my opinion. If you click on a podcast (middle picture) you can clearly see which episodes are downloaded to your device (Green check) and which episodes are in your up next queue (blue playlist icon).

As for the up next queue, you can easily drag episodes up and down to adjust play order, view how much time is left in each episode and remove the episode entirely if you wish.

You are also able to adjust settings per-podcast and set defaults as well. You get additional information such as your total listening history and can actually see which episodes you listened to in the past and when.

Keeping track of listened podcasts was one of my biggest issues with the built in app. Pocket Casts takes care of that for you without issue and you can even toggle seeing played episodes in a podcasts feed so there is zero confusion.

The features that I love the most are being able enable individual apps to use the "Auto Download" and "Add to Up Next" options. This makes it so that I will never miss an episode of the podcasts that I really enjoy and that I always have something in my queue to listen to without having to spend time sorting out a playlist.

The app features an iOS app, Android app, an OSX desktop app and a variety of other ways to use the app (I am particularly found of the Alexa Integration).

Did I mention that it's currently free?

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Some podcasts that I personally enjoy and would like to share with you are:

No Meat Athlete Radio is hosed by plant-based athletes Matt Frazier and Doug Hay. They cover topics related to food, running and overall health. They're down to earth and have plenty of advice and good tips from a seasoned ultra running veteran to the aspiring new runners.

Outside/In is part of New Hampshire Public Radio and they cover all sorts of topics related to the outside world. They do a particularly good job of covering things related to New Hampshire and Vermont - there is rarely an episode I hear and don't learn something useful.

Brave Little State is very similarly put on by Vermont Public Radio, but instead of the outside world, they cover user asked questions. You can visit their website and submit your own question which will be voted on by other listeners. They cover anything from strangely named road names to what a town constable actually does.

So there you have it, my recommended podcast app and 3 podcasts to get you started. Leave a comment down below if you have anything to contribute!