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November 12, 2024:
    Pocket Casts is getting ready to change “Subscribe” to “Follow” in its popular podcast app, according to change notes for the upcoming next version. The word “Follow” is used by both Apple and Spotify.
November 8, 2024:
October 30, 2024:
    Pocket Casts has added a listening history feature, so you can remember where you heard that great joke. Find it in your profile.
October 28, 2024:
    Pocket Casts v7.75 now shows HTML transcripts in a web view, in case individual creators are not clever enough to create a VTT file.
October 7, 2024:
    Want to try a better podcast app? You’ve just two days left to grab a free year’s Pocket Casts Plus. (This isn’t a paid-for thing: we just asked them for a voucher code because we like it). Check how your transcripts look in there, too.
October 1, 2024:
September 26, 2024:
    Version 3.5 of podcast app AntennaPod now displays Podcasting 2.0 transcripts, joining Pocket Casts and Apple Podcasts.
September 25, 2024:
September 23, 2024:
    One of the most popular third-party podcast apps, Pocket Casts, now supports creator-made transcripts. If you’re producing your own transcripts on a supported podcast host, they will now automatically appear within Pocket Casts on both Android and iOS. Transcripts are searchable and show speaker names where provided.
September 18, 2024:
September 2, 2024:
August 21, 2024:
August 13, 2024:
    Pocket Casts will add the ability to rate podcasts to the next version of its iOS app, v7.70. Listeners need to listen to two episodes or more to vote.
August 6, 2024:
July 8, 2024:
June 28, 2024:
May 31, 2024:
    Pocket Casts is looking to add transcripts to their popular podcast app, according to Ellie Rubenstein in an interview today in the Podnews Weekly Review. “We're tailoring the UI and overall experience to make sure that transcripts feel natural and intuitive within Pocket Casts,” she told us. The app is also going to add “podrolls”, showing creator recommendations for other shows to listen to. Transcripts are also supported by Apple Podcasts and 17 others.
May 28, 2024:
    Fan of widgets? Pocket Casts on Android has three new widgets for your homescreen in v7.64; just updated.
May 16, 2024:
May 2, 2024:
    The closure leaves the Android platform without a natural default podcast app (we recommend either Antennapod or Pocket Casts). Apple Podcasts isn’t available on Android.
April 17, 2024:
April 16, 2024:
April 15, 2024:
    Does anyone pay for podcast apps? How many subscribers has podcast app Pocket Casts got? The answer, they tell us: over 50,000.
April 10, 2024:
April 5, 2024:
    New feature: if your podcast app understands an OPML feed, this is for you. Every page with a list of podcasts, like The Ambies winners or Edison Podcast Metrics top 25 for the UK for example, now comes with an OPML feed so you can import all those shows straight into your podcast player. Find the OPML feed linked at the bottom of the page: they work with Pocket Casts, AntennaPod, Overcast, Podbean, Castro, GoodPods and more.
April 2, 2024:
March 6, 2024:
    Pocket Casts users that upgrade to Pocket Casts + will receive a free year of Slumber Studios Premium. It’s one of the most successful paid podcast bundles, offering shows that help listeners relax and fall asleep. It’s also available for existing yearly subscribers.
March 1, 2024:
January 22, 2024:
    The Jordan Harbinger Show has four analytics redirects: but how many redirects is too many? John Spurlock has worked up a test feed to see. Apple Podcasts (directly, within the app) doesn’t like 20 or more redirects; Pocket Casts on Android doesn’t like 21 or more - try it in your app and let him know.
December 13, 2023:
December 11, 2023:
    Substack now has a video episodes feature. They’ve not called it a video podcasts feature, because the video doesn’t make it to the RSS feed, thus you’ll not be able to watch it in Pocket Casts or Apple Podcasts; and you can only watch in the iOS Substack app.
December 6, 2023:
November 29, 2023:
    Pocket Casts is rolling out its "thing-a-bit-like-Spotify-Wrapped", Pocket Casts Playback 2023. It'll appear in your app. Seemingly, our Editor likes "Adam and Dave" and "Todd and Rob". Anyway, we reckon Spotify's 2023 Wrapped will be along any minute now (looks at watch), and as last year, we gather they'll have a special Wrapped for podcast creators as well (looks at watch again).
November 27, 2023:
November 21, 2023:
November 20, 2023:
November 6, 2023:
    Popular podcast app Pocket Casts appears to have added a new payment tier. Pocket Casts Plus is US$39.99; while Pocket Casts Patron is US$99.99, offering "early access to features" and more cloud storage.
October 13, 2023:
September 19, 2023:
August 28, 2023:
July 25, 2023:
    Pocket Casts is adding star ratings to its popular podcast app. The ratings come from a variety of sources including rival app Apple Podcasts, and are treated with a proprietary algorithm: but you won't, yet, be able to add your own rating in the app.
July 12, 2023:
    Pocket Casts formally announced its Wear OS app for smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy watch range and the Google Pixel Watch. Now widely available for Pocket Casts Plus subscribers, it allows full playback, including speed control, silence skipping and volume boost: and (once you've downloaded a show) lets you leave your phone at home.
June 29, 2023:
    The latest version of podcast app Pocket Casts for Android users adds a Wear OS app for watches. For Pocket Casts Plus subscribers, it allows full playback, including speed control, silence skipping and volume boost. A capable and fully-featured podcast app on your watch, we tested it while walking the dog: it works well.
June 26, 2023:
June 6, 2023:
    "Apple Podcasts will support episode artwork for all shows." (See our episode artwork on the Podnews Daily). Episode artwork is already supported by Spotify and Pocket Casts.
June 5, 2023:
    Pocket Casts is to update its privacy policy (old, new). The new privacy policy is CC-SA, and goes into effect on 1 July. We don't see anything glaringly different.
June 1, 2023:
May 16, 2023:
    In spite of communicating that a 4x price increase was for new subscribers only, Pocket Casts subscribers are being given renewal notices from Google Play suggesting it's for everyone. The last pricing change for the app in 2019 was changed after users who bought lifetime packages complained that they weren't honoured.
May 2, 2023:
April 28, 2023:
April 17, 2023:
April 10, 2023:
    Popular podcast app Pocket Casts has increased its optional 'Plus' subscription cost to $39.99/year. Only four months ago, the company raised the price to $14.99/year, from its Sep 2019 launch price of $9.99/year.
March 28, 2023:
March 27, 2023:
    Because Mozilla's new podcast, ThunderCast, publishes its listening data in public, we can see what podcast apps its listeners are using in its OP3 page. The partially open-source Pocket Casts is #1 with 27% of all downloads; the wholly open-source AntennaPod is second, with 22%.
March 15, 2023:
March 13, 2023:
December 13, 2022:
December 7, 2022:
December 5, 2022:
    Pocket Casts released v7.27 last week, which appears to contain the AVURLAssetHTTPUserAgentKey fix, so it no longer calls itself AppleCoreMedia. We've confirmed (by listening to PodClock's S1E1 episode) that it now correctly calls itself Pocket Casts when playing on-demand shows.
December 1, 2022:
November 7, 2022:
October 20, 2022:
August 2, 2022:
    Popular podcast app Pocket Casts has launched a new feature, folders, in their latest update. A paid feature for Pocket Casts Plus subscribers, it allows you to have, for example, folders full of news podcasts or comedy podcasts.
August 1, 2022:
June 17, 2022:
April 29, 2022:
    Want more people to know about your podcast? Pocket Casts sends out a regular newsletter to podcast creators, highlighting how to get featured in the popular podcast app. Here's the latest edition, and here's where to sign up for it. The company was bought by Automattic last year, and say they are "working on a rather large update at the moment".
March 4, 2022:
February 9, 2022:
    Our very own daily podcast, Podnews, is now achieving over 100,000 downloads a month, we're quite excited to note. Our latest data tells us that many of those listens are on smart speaker news briefings, and that Pocket Casts is doing excellently well, though some less well - Spotify (27 listens on Monday), Facebook (20 listens), and Amazon Music (um, 20 fewer than Facebook).
January 28, 2022:
    Acast says: (our emphasis) "Acast+ will work on all podcast listening platforms that give their users the ability to add any RSS feed of their choice. This means that a few podcast players - like Spotify - are currently excluded because they work differently. However, we are part of their OAP programme and we are continuing to work with them on their approach to how they manage subscriptions to ensure that the end product meets what's best for Acast creators and the open ecosystem - which is for podcasters to have direct relationships with their listeners. Acast+ works on the majority of podcast apps and players including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and Castbox and is available to access for 80% of our listeners."
January 21, 2022:
December 24, 2021:
December 16, 2021:
    With the exception of Podcast Addict (see above), no major podcast app supports transcripts - Pocket Casts, Overcasts, or others. That seems an opportunity. Podscribe offers a transcript player which can be embedded on websites; Captivate's podcast player also includes transcripts.
August 24, 2021:
    The implementation adds ?t=(seconds) at the end of the URL. YouTube and Spotify use this too, as does Pocket Casts and Podfriend, and it works on Overcast. Google Podcasts works differently; Apple Podcasts doesn't let you do this at all.
August 18, 2021:
    A variety of NPR podcasts are now on an optional paid-for podcast subscription platform. NPR Plus is powered by Supporting Cast. Shows can also be subscribed-to via Apple Podcasts (here's Code Switch) at the same price; NPR Plus works on most podcast apps, including Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Apple Podcasts.
August 17, 2021:
    Good news - cross-platform podcast app Pocket Casts is "scaling back up", the company posts in an update. In a comment perhaps aimed at the buggy Apple Podcasts, they've revealed that the first thing they're working on is "how quickly you get new episodes after a podcast author publishes them". They're also working on app translations; Emmeline Berry is rejoining the team as Content Curator and Podcaster Liaison.
July 19, 2021:
    Podcast app (and website) Pocket Casts has been bought by Automattic, the owners of Wordpress and Tumblr. No terms were given; co-founders Russell Ivanovic and Philip Simpson, based in Adelaide SA, Australia, will continue to lead Pocket Casts as part of Automattic; WordPress says "we will explore building deep integrations with WordPress.com and Pocket Casts", which might mean they have aspirations as a podcast hosting company. (They understand RSS after all).
May 11, 2021:
February 12, 2021:
    We had 1,489 downloads yesterday of our podcast. Here's how people listen: Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Overcast are our top three podcast apps.
January 18, 2021:
January 15, 2021:
November 3, 2020:
October 21, 2020:
    Google Podcasts is now the third-biggest podcast app. Libsyn's Rob Walch unveiled the company's download statistics in The Feed. It is, though, still five times smaller than Spotify, the #2. According to Libsyn, which gets 62% of its downloads from the US, total downloads to Pocket Casts dropped below 1%.
October 15, 2020:
    Google smart-speakers use Google Podcasts, as you'd guess. But what if you use Pocket Casts, or AntennaPod, or even Spotify? A new "podcasts" setting section has been spotted by AndroidPolice, enabling you to change the default podcast provider in Google Assistant in future.
October 7, 2020:
September 3, 2020:
    Owen Grover, formerly of Pocket Casts and iHeartRadio, appears as a guest on Kinsider. Discover what he's doing now; and what he thinks of Joe Budden, indie podcasters, Apple, media, and more.
September 1, 2020:
August 17, 2020:
August 7, 2020:
July 27, 2020:

Thank you to more than 600 new subscribers so far in July, helping us reach 14,500 subscribers just before we published on Friday. Welcome to new faces from Veritone, Lawson Media, Pocket Casts, Oxford Road, Seeking Alpha, Spotify, Podimo, Nielsen, Tagesschau, the BBC, Wondery and Pandora. (Tell a friend!)

July 22, 2020:
    The open podcast ecosystem also does video podcasts: supported by Apple Podcasts and Pocket Casts, among others. Spotify's implementation, however, appears to be different. We've asked how it works.
July 14, 2020:
    We'd expect the announcement of a new CEO for Pocket Casts shortly: it's likely to be John W Gibbons. Based in LA, he's a strategic advisor to Podchaser, and worked at IMDb and Amazon for 14 years.
June 16, 2020:
June 11, 2020:
    Pocket Casts has confirmed a report in Podnews on Jun 5 that they've been removed from the Apple App Store in China. The company tweets that they were removed "by Apple, at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China. We believe podcasting is and should remain an open medium, free of government censorship. As such we won't be censoring podcast content at their request. We understand this means that it’s unlikely that our iOS App will be available in China, but feel it’s a necessary step to take for any company that values the open distribution model that makes podcasting special." Apple Podcasts continues to be available but only carries selected podcasts in the country.
June 5, 2020:
    Podcast apps Castro and Pocket Casts have both been pulled from Apple's App Store in China. Apple Podcasts remains available, but only offers a selection of podcasts to comply with Chinese government content rules. This time last year, they removed a number of shows for, um, some reason.
May 27, 2020:
    Pocket Casts has released Pocket Casts 7.9 in beta for Android. It offers new icons, and themes; properly supports Android's inbuilt account manager system; and bug fixes.
May 4, 2020:
April 29, 2020:
April 3, 2020:
March 30, 2020:
March 3, 2020:
March 2, 2020:
January 29, 2020:
January 23, 2020:
    Podcast app Pocket Casts has received an upgrade. Version 7.7 offers curated lists ("working with well-known podcasters and thought leaders"), and highlights from individual podcast networks including WNYC, Wondery and Radiotopia. Interested publishers should look here for more detail.
January 17, 2020:
January 8, 2020:
    Want to get to know the person responsible for featuring podcasts on Pocket Casts? Darian Muka, Content Creator for Pocket Casts, talks about how to get your show featured on the Podcasting Essentials podcast in the latest episode.
December 18, 2019:
November 27, 2019:
    Pocket Casts was 1.14% in August 2019. The app went free in mid September. It now accounts for 1.3% of all podcast downloads. In December 2018, it accounted for 1.4%. The move to free does not seem to have paid-off: yet.
November 22, 2019:
    Exclusive: US podcasts rule the world, according to new subscription data from Pocket Casts. The data shows the podcasts subscribed to most by Pocket Casts listeners in 2019: Podnews requested data for the UK and Australia. Pocket Casts is now free on Android and iOS.
November 12, 2019:
October 4, 2019:
October 3, 2019:
    In a talk that was praised as 'refreshingly frank', CEO of Pocket Casts Owen Grover spoke at OzPod 2019, an Australian podcast conference, earlier today. In a wide-ranging Q&A with ABC Audio Studios boss Kellie Riordan, Grover predicted a continuing decrease in Apple's influence, and said that Pocket Casts is planning for a future where there is no market leader in podcast discovery. "Spotify are helping non-podcast listeners to discover content: but we're fooling ourselves if we believe they'll indefinitely do this for the love of the medium," he said, highlighting the benefits of RSS. "We just got over what Facebook did to journalism - we don't want that to happen with podcasting." Asked whether Pocket Casts will share individual audience listener data in future: "No," he said, adding "We won't do that. Is that clear enough? No."
September 20, 2019:
    After criticism, Pocket Casts has reversed an earlier decision and will give lifetime access to their web app to people that had previously bought lifetime access to their web app. It was originally offered as a one-off payment of $9 - in a changed business model earlier this week, users were offered three years of Pocket Casts Plus instead, but will now get access for life.
September 18, 2019:
    Pocket Casts, a popular podcast app, is now free on Android and iOS. The company has also launched a way of playing your own files within the app, and has launched Pocket Casts Plus, an optional subscription for additional features, the web player and desktop app. Pocket Casts was US$3.99; if you bought the desktop/web app (a one-off $9 fee), you'll get Plus free for three years.
August 28, 2019:
    The Australian podcast conference OzPod will return on Thursday 3rd October. Speakers include Owen Grover, CEO of Pocket Casts; and scripted podcast writer and director Dan Blank ("Carrier"); and our Editor James Cridland "will share his insights into the current state of the audio industry based on brand-new data from the ABC Audience Insights’ Podcast Consumer Survey". Organised by the ABC, it's in Melbourne VIC: tickets
August 12, 2019:
July 29, 2019:
    It’s now day six without any categories in Apple Podcasts apps while the company reworks them. Omny Studio and Zencast has both announced that they are supporting the new Apple Podcasts categories. Pocket Casts say it intends to support them and suggest publishers adopt them. "Apple’s leadership in the space is still meaningful and the [new] categories do feel like a good step," the CEO Owen Grover told us.
July 19, 2019:
June 14, 2019:
May 6, 2019:
April 17, 2019:
    Play 99% Invisible in your Mazda or Nissan, and your radio might crash, according to a recent episode of Reply All. Both Podcast Addict and Pocket Casts have now been patched to stop this from happening; and on Reddit, the person who noticed it, a guy called Ben, pops up with more detail of the bug: and in the comments, a solution... it turns out that characters like %In (along with %jn and %hhn) cause the issue (it's an "uncontrolled format string", apparently).
April 5, 2019:
February 28, 2019:
    Pocket Casts now has a skill for the Amazon Alexa smart speaker. The company is particularly proud of "Alexa, ask Pocket Casts to play my Up Next", which plays what you were last playing in the app, and your list of upcoming podcasts.
January 30, 2019:
January 14, 2019:
January 7, 2019:
    Pocket Casts have said that they plan to allow users of Wear OS smartwatches to save podcasts on their watch (and therefore enable jogging with podcasts, and no phone).
December 26, 2018:
December 18, 2018:
November 22, 2018:
November 15, 2018:
    Podcast app Pocket Casts have unveiled an entirely redesigned app for iOS, Android and the web (including new macOS and Windows apps). Highlights include a brand-new 'discover' section which is geo-aware, listening history, and more. The iOS version is available now; the Android version is in opt-in public beta; there is coverage in The Verge and CNet Libsyn report Pocket Casts was the #7 podcast app in September, with 1.42% of all downloads; Anchor suggests it's the #5 app, with 0.9%; it's based in Adelaide in Australia, but owned by a consortium of US public radio broadcasters.
September 20, 2018:
August 31, 2018:
August 16, 2018:
    Our podcast pages now include recent chart information from Chartable, a new website that aggregates chart information from many different apps including Apple, Pocket Casts and Stitcher. The company offers email alerts for chart rankings and reviews. Search for your podcast within Podnews to see your information, including links to a variety of podcast apps like Google Podcasts, and technical advice.
August 14, 2018:
June 22, 2018:
    The Chief Product Officer of Pocket Casts, Russell Ivanovic, has publicly welcomed Google Podcasts. In a tweet, he says: "The more platform owners like Google an Apple do the hard work of introducing new people to podcasts, the more the entire podcasting ecosystem will flourish", and adds that when Apple launched their standalone podcast app, sales of Pocket Casts went up 30%.
June 20, 2018:
May 30, 2018:
    Apple was responsible for 62.5% of all podcast downloads; Spotify was second with 6.18% of all downloads. Other larger apps: Overcast (2.9%); Podcast Addict (2.1%); Castbox (2.1%); Stitcher (2.0%); Pocket Casts (1.5%). Rob points out that only around 20% of all Libsyn podcasts are listed on Spotify.
May 28, 2018:
    A profile of the nice folks who make Pocket Casts in Adelaide SA, Australia. On May 4 they were acquired by a consortium of US public radio broadcasters. "So [some investors are] looking for the Netflix of Podcasting, which is one privately held corporation actually controlling distribution for everybody, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing."
May 9, 2018:
    Pocket Casts have written a new blog post to allay concerns about its acquisition by a consortium of US public radio companies (and its new CEO). Meanwhile, it's the subject of HotPod 162 this week - Nick interviews NPR's chief digital officer Thomas Hjelm on the purchase. (He also interviews the BBC on its plans).
May 4, 2018:
    Pocket Casts, which is an iOS, Android and desktop podcast app, has been purchased by a combined public radio group of WNYC, NPR, WBEZ and This American Life. The team announced on their blog that they're all joining the new venture, and the ethos behind it will not change. Here's the full press release. Congratulations to Russell (who's a very nice man) and the rest of the team; of note: Owen Grover (ex iHeartRadio) will serve as CEO.
March 14, 2018:
December 19, 2017:
    iOS podcast app Castro v2.6 is released. The big feature is an automated backup into a user's own iCloud: the backup occurs every 24 hours, and ensures that user settings and progress are maintained. (Pocket Casts, for iOS and Android, also syncs).
November 27, 2017:
    Pocket Casts, the podcast app for Android, gets an update. Now supports variable speed playback on Chromecast devices, and "more fixes than you can shake an admittedly small stick at".
November 24, 2017:
    In an Australian podcast chatroom, news of a quiet but significant update for Pocket Casts on Android. Click on any "Subscribe on Apple Podcasts" link on your phone, and your Android phone will now offer to open that link within Pocket Casts instead. Shouldn't be any reason why other Android podcast apps shouldn't follow-suit; that would mean an end to the plethora of subscribe links. Here's an iTunes link to try it on.
November 6, 2017:
November 1, 2017:
    Pocket Casts on iOS gets some updates. It supports Apple Watch better, supports the iPhone X, loads podcast images better, and has some bugfixes.
October 5, 2017:
    Discovered today - users of Pocket Casts can paste an iTunes link into the search box, and it'll let you subscribe to that podcast. Neat.
September 15, 2017:
    The iOS version of Pocket Casts has had an upgrade. New features include auto-updating show notes (they didn't before, they do now); and the Dutch flag is now "the right way".
July 20, 2017:
July 11, 2017:
    Pocket Casts gets an update on Android. Notably in the excellent release notes: "Podcast title sort now ignores 'The'. You might think that's meh but wow you people wouldn't stop emailing us about it!"

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