Pocket Casts, You Altered the Deal, So I Will Alter Your App
Key topics
The author criticizes Pocket Casts for altering their deal by changing their business model, and in response, they modify the app to highlight their grievances; the discussion revolves around the legitimacy of the author's actions and the value proposition of Pocket Casts' premium features.
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- 01Story posted
Sep 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM EDT
4 months ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Sep 19, 2025 at 3:38 PM EDT
5m after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
1 comments in 0-1h
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Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Sep 19, 2025 at 7:22 PM EDT
3 months ago
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Pocket Casts has no hope compared to the built-in players today. The premium version unlocks... bookmarks, transcripts, and folders?
I dare you to think of 5 people you've ever met who would pay for ANY of those features, given they're free in most built-in apps.
What I love about PocketCasts is that it does an amazing job at speeding up podcasts -- not just smooth higher speeds, but a nice silence-deletion feature.
If somebody else did that, I'd consider switching. But it would be rather a hassle.
Today most 3rd party podcast apps have a great trim silence feature:
iOS/watchOS: Castro, Overcast
Android: YouTube Music app, Podcast Addict, AntennaPod
Others exist but these are the ones I have used personally and can verify the silence-skipping feature is similar or better.