Pocket Casts: The Best Podcast App for Android

Puppies, ninjas, and podcasts, are just a few things that I love. However, I’m not here to talk about Ninja puppies. I’m here to tell you about Pocket Casts, the best podcast player and manager for Android. With a beautiful interface, huge podcast directory, lockscreen controls (Android 4.0 only) and great notifications options, Pocket Casts really outshines it’s competition. Hit the jump for this Guru’s full review.

Pocket Casts looks great! From the icon, to the podcast directory, the developers have paid attention to every detail. The dark gradients and bright reds really make this app stick out in a good way. On your podcasts screen, album art is shown on a  dark gray background which makes each podcast “pop”. When you drag down the notification window, you see the current podcast playing with text and full album art. Its a really nice touch and a bit of polish to the experience.

 Pocket Casts isn’t just a pretty face, this app packs awesome functionality inside. My personal favorite feature is that it will periodically check for new episodes and alert you when they are available. You can set Pocket Casts to check and download new episodes manually, at multiple intervals or you can schedule a specific time. You can also set specific parameters for downloading. For example you can choose for new episodes to be downloaded automatically on 3G/4G or only on WiFi. That way if you have a capped data plan you can schedule you updates for when you know you will be in WiFi. There is also no limit on download size while on 3G/4G. If you want to download that 250MB video podcast while on the go, you can.

Other noteable features include a sleep timer, 4×1 widget, variable speed playback, playlists, ability to stream and not just download episodes, and share what you listening to via multiple networks.

Pocket Casts costs $2.99 in the Google Play store and is worth every penny. Whether you listen to just a couple or a ton of podcasts, this is the Android app you need! After you download it, head over to the Gadget Gurus Network to load up on some great shows!