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The #1 Best Podcast Apps For iPhone (Free & Paid)
Love a good podcast? Curious about podcasts? Either way, you’re going to need a decent podcast app for your iPhone, and right now these are the best…
Best Podcast Apps iPhone
- Pocket Casts – Pocket Casts is easily the #1 third-party podcasts app on the planet. Used by millions of people, Pocket Casts is available for both Android and iOS and it works great on both. Pocket Casts is 100% free, so you can simply download and start listening. The interface is beautifully designed, so finding and organizing your content is a cinch. For 99.9% of people, Pocket Casts is all you’ll ever need.
- Overcast – Coming in a close second is Overcast, one of the most popular iPhone podcast apps on the planet. Overcast is packed with useful features like the ability to upload your own shows, twitter recommendations, voice boost, so you get better audio performance, and smart speed, which lets you speed up or slow down the recording. Overcast is a brilliant app that works great and is a definite must-have for all podcast aficionados.
- Google Podcasts – Google Podcasts is available for Android and iOS, as well as macOS and Windows, so you can get to your podcasts regardless of what device you’re using. Like all Google software, it follows a tight, material design that is easy to navigate around and features great controls. It’s not as feature-packed as Pocket Casts or Overcast, but it is still definitely worth a look if you’re just starting to get into podcasts.
- RadioPublic – RadioPublic is a free podcast app that does A LOT. Available on both Android and iOS, RadioPublic is designed for both consumers and producers of podcasts. You can upload your own, as well as curate and easily organize podcasts produced by others. All major podcasts are readily available and the layout and design of the app are superb. You can even download podcasts and listen to them later.
- Spotify – Did you know Spotify had podcasts? Well, it does. And while it’s not quite as seamless as the other option on this list, it is definitely worth a look if you’re already a paying member of the music streaming service. All major podcasts are present and accounted for. The only downside to Spotify podcasts is that it isn’t as well laid out as the other options on this list. Still, it works fine. And you can access tons of shows and content.
Please note, all of the above will work on Android phones too!
10 Most Popular Podcast Shows Right Now
Podcasts are big business these days. With millions of subscribers, plenty of podcasters have turned their passions into viable and extremely lucrative businesses. Take Joe Rogan, for instance, he’s reported to make around $150,000 per episode of his Joe Rogan Experience. Granted, he has tens of millions of users. But still, it shows just how powerful the podcasting platform has become.
If you’re brand new to podcasts, you might be wondering what the most popular podcasts are, the ones with the most monthly listeners. After a bit of digging, I managed to pull together a list of the 10 most popular podcasts on the planet right now (based on the number of monthly listeners). They are as follows:
- THE DAILY
- THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE
- STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW
- FRESH AIR
- THE DAVE RAMSEY SHOW
- MY FAVORITE MURDER
- TED TALKS DAILY
- UP FIRST
- THE BEN SHAPIRO SHOW
- POD SAVE AMERICA
Why You Should Listen To Podcasts Regularly
- It’s Easier Than Reading
- Learn New Stuff Every Day
- Find New, Interesting People To Follow
- Advance Your Knowledge on Any Subject
- Exposure To Different Ideas/Theories
- More Open & Truthful Than Mainstream Media
- Gives You A Nice Break From The TV
Radio was once the biggest medium through which people got their information. Then the TV happened. And the radio kind of died. Back in the early 2000s, podcasts started to appear online and since then they have grown massively. And the reason? Smartphones.
With a smartphone, a device that is constantly connected to the web, you can download and consume information all day, every day, regardless of where you are. But why are podcasts so popular? I think it has something to do with the medium. A lot of people find listening to podcasts easier than reading a book; podcasts are also less intrusive than video or TV. You can listen to a podcast while you work, as it’s not as distracting as having the TV on.
For me, though, the reason I listen to podcasts is simple: I have a few subjects that I am super-interested in. I want to listen to experts talk about things like history, technology, weird stuff, and politics, and the best way to do that is via podcasts.
Podcasts vary too; you have podcasts where its just one guy talking about something, like Hardcore Histories. And podcasts that feature a host and different guests each week, like the Joe Rogan Experience. Podcasts basically come in all shapes and sizes. And whatever you’re interested in, no matter how weird and/or niche it is, I can 100% guarantee you that there will be a podcast all about it.
And you can even stream podcasts to smart speakers too, so you can listen to when you’re relaxing in your home. I always listen to my podcasts in bed on my Amazon Echo; it’s been helping me get to sleep for about three years now!