Podcast Player App - Castbox

4.8
AndroidiOSApp StoreGoogle Play

What it actually doesCastbox is a podcast player with search across a catalog of 95+ million episodes, offline downloads, cross-device synchronization, and recommendations, but suffers from persistent ads, download errors, and crashes on some platforms.

55%Marketing ≈ reality45%Stability98%Live project

Actually does

  • Podcasts95% of reviews
  • Video player
  • Поиск и рекомендации подкастов35% of reviews
  • Offline-first20% of reviews
  • Sync across devices5% of reviews
  • Subscription15% of reviews
  • Реклама в бесплатной версии(bonus)35% of reviews
  • Фоновое воспроизведение(bonus)10% of reviews

Claimed, but not confirmed by reviews

  • Регулировка скорости воспроизведения
  • Таймер сна
  • Поддержка Apple CarPlay
  • Интеграция с Amazon Alexa

Common complaints

  • Intrusive in-app advertising35% of mentions

    «The ads are absolutely overwhelming. A block of ads starts and then you have to tap the close button for 5 minutes straight to stop the ads.»

  • Loading errors and podcasts not playing32% of mentions

    «Many podcasts don't load, can't download episodes. The podcasts I need won't play and won't load.»

  • App crashes and freezes22% of mentions

    «Over the past year, the app has been crashing much more frequently, constantly encountering errors. Macbook M1 pro crashes instantly after start»

  • Unknown subscriptions appearing automatically8% of mentions

    «Strange political podcasts suddenly started appearing in my profile—podcasts I clearly didn't listen to and didn't subscribe to.»

  • Large app size (takes up storage space)8% of mentions

    «The app unexpectedly bloated to almost 8 gigabytes! Fixed it by reinstalling.»

What people praise

  • Huge selection of podcasts

    «Huge selection of interesting podcasts. Lots of podcasts, you can find practically everything.»

  • Ability to listen offline

    «Can listen offline, convenient sorting. You can listen even with the phone switched off.»

  • Background playback without subscription

    «You can listen in background mode and you don't need to buy a subscription for that.»

  • Convenient and intuitive interface

    «Relatively simple and convenient interface. Everything is very convenient and well thought out.»

  • Stability over 5+ years of use

    «I've been using it for over 5 years. The best podcast app! Been using it for 6 years.»

Where to install