Podcasts are my favorite way of consuming media. Whether I want to listen to the latest news, get opinions on a new product, or just want to pass some time listening to my favorite shows and interviews, podcasts allow me to do all that without requiring me to pay undivided attention to the programs. That means I can listen to them while I am traveling for work or cleaning my kitchen or doing anything else. Another thing that I love about podcasts is that 99% of podcasts are free and available on any app that you want to use. Since your experience of podcasts also depends on the app you are using, it becomes paramount to choose the right app. In this article, we are going to help you with that problem by showing you the 12 best podcast apps for iPhone that you should use.

1. Pocket Casts

I will start this list with one of the best podcasts apps that you can find on the App Store, and that’s Pocket Casts. In fact, the app is so good and popular that it was recently acquired by a collective group of some of the biggest names in the world of podcasting which include NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago, and This American Life. The app was also recently updated to version 7 which brings a plethora of new features. Now, not only you can search for podcasts but also for episodes inside podcasts.

Install: Free, $0.99/month

Overcast is possibly the most popular podcasting app on the App Store. Created by Marco Arment, Overcast is an app which is always on the front of podcast technology. From smart speed to Voice Boost to better Apple Watch support, Overcast is always one of the first if not the first app to support these features. I love the simplistic design of Overcast which makes it possible to use even by users who have just downloaded the app and haven’t used any other podcasting app before.

One of the newest features of Overcast is its unique ability to create sharable audio clips of the podcast. While I love the de-centralized nature of podcasts, it makes it hard to recommend them to anyone or share your favorite moments. With Overcasts’s new clip sharing feature, now it is possible. I use Overcast for this feature alone. It is one of the best podcast apps for iPhone and you are going to love it.

If you are someone who subscribes to a ton of podcasts and is finding hard to manage the feed then Castro 3 is for you. Castro 3 brings a unique triage feature which is not available on any other podcast app. This feature allows you to see all the new episodes and then either place them in your listening queue or discard them within seconds. Castro does that by using the concept of “Inbox” which hosts all the new episodes of podcasts to which you are subscribed. From here, you can use taps or drag and drop to sort through these episodes. You can either put them in your queue list or archive them. The whole process is pretty easy and I love it.

Install: Free, $18.99/year

Stitcher is a great place to find and listen to exclusive podcasts and episodes which you cannot find anywhere else. Remember when I told you that 99% of podcasts are free, well, if you want to find that missing 1%, Stitcher is the place you need to go to. While the free app of Stitcher is like any other podcast player on this list and allows you to subscribe, download, and listen to podcasts, it is the premium version which excites me.

5. Breaker

Downcast is a powerful podcast player which gives you a lot of control over how you want to consume your favorite podcasts. The podcast app is very powerful and works pretty well. From searching for your first podcast to streaming your 100th one, the app never seems to slow down. Talking about the features, the app lets you discover new podcasts, download episodes offline, create smart playlists, speed up playback, set sleep timers, control playback using AirPods, and more. The app even supports video podcasts if you are into that.

One of the unique features of Castbox is that it allows users to create their own podcasts and release episodes. Just create an account, record your episode, and release it to the world. Another unique feature of Castbox is the in-Audio search which matches your phrase to the content of episodes to give you most relevant results. The search learns from your usage so the more you use the app the smarter it will become. Overall, I quite like this app and you should definitely check it out.

Believe it or not, Apple Podcasts is the biggest podcast player on iPhone by user statistics. It might come as a surprise to some users as the app lacks many advanced features, however, it has many things going for it. And if you don’t need all the advanced features that are on the market, you can easily make do with the Apple Podcasts app because there are things that Apple Podcasts can do which no other podcast player can, no matter how powerful it is. Let’s start with the fact that Apple Podcasts is native to iOS, tvOS, and macOS (through iTunes) so you can use it to listen to your podcasts on all your devices.

Comes Pre-installed

TuneIn Radio is a little different than all the other podcast players mentioned on this list. It not only lets you listen to your favorite podcasts but also over 100,000 radio stations around the world. This is the biggest power of TuneIn Radio. With this app, you can listen to both your local radio stations and all the popular radio stations from around the world. If you are a sports fan you will also enjoy the direct integration of NHL, MLB, NBA, and other sports platforms.

10. Spotify

Spotify is not necessarily a podcast app as it primarily a music streaming service. That said, it’s great for users who just enjoy occasional podcast episodes here and there and don’t want to download another dedicated app for that. Spotify lets you access all the podcasts that you can from any other dedicated podcasting app on this list so it’s not that you are losing out on anything. It’s just that its UI is not meant to bring podcasts in the foreground.

11. The Podcast App

For a fully personalized podcast listening experience, you can bank on “The Podcast App”. Boasting an ever-growing catalog of over 500, 000 podcasts, it has got both a wide variety and huge library to let you listen to all sorts of programs including comedy, politics, education, news, and more. Moreover, it also provides curated lists of podcasts based on your interest. So, you won’t have to spend a lot of time to find out the sort of podcasts that you prefer to catch up with.

Frankly speaking, “Podbean” has never failed to impress me as a handy podcast player. One of the reasons why I have always found it quite good is the availability of a host of cool features that offer plenty of customization. For starters, it provides fully customizable playlists so that you can fine-tune each aspect as per your taste. Plus, it also comes with a sleep timer so that you can fall asleep while listening to your favorite episodes. To ensure your personal catalog always has some interesting podcasts to catch up with, the app offers recommendations based on the play history.

But my favorite Podbean feature is the CarPlay support which comes into play during a long drive. As I prefer to listen to some of my top picks on the drive to prevent boredom from creeping into the journey, I really appreciate this feature. Another feature that has called for my attention is the built-in audio recorder with a variety of sound effects. And with some easy-to-use tools like editing, splitting, merging, and exporting, you also have the flexibility to craft the post-production. Considering these notable features including a massive library of more than 50 million episodes of podcasts, Podbean becomes really hard to overlook.