If you’ve been wanting to download the podcast app Pocket Casts but you were put off by the price tag, then we have good news for you. The developers have now decided to make the app free instead of the $4-$10 that they charged users, depending on the platform and the OS. While the basic and even advanced features will now be available for free, in case you want even more advanced features, they are now offering a monthly and yearly subscription service as well.
Basically, the Pocket Casts mobile app is now free on both Android and iOS after “the backing of some amazing partners”. All features will now be freed from the firewall and they promise to keep adding new things and functionality to this free tier. They assure users that the privacy policy remains the same and just because the app is now free it doesn’t mean that user data will be sold to third-parties. The business model is now a combination of direct funding from partners and those loyal users who will subscribe to their new service called Pocket Casts Plus.
The subscription service is for podcast users who want more out of their podcast app. You get access to desktop apps, customized icons, and themes, 10GB of cloud storage in case you want to upload your own video and audio content and then listen/watch them through Pocket Casts. And if you previously bought the desktop app, you will automatically get three years of Pocket Casts Plus for free and you don’t need to do anything to activate it. It’s already there on your web/desktop app.
If you subscribe to Pocket Casts Plus, you’ll be able to access it on any of the supported platforms. You will only have to pay $0.99 per month or $9.99 per year to subscribe. But if you’re satisfied with the free tier, then you don’t need to shell out anything and just download the Pocket Casts app.
We now have a lot of podcast apps to choose from, from Spotify to Google Podcasts, to Stitcher, and of course Pocket Casts. All of them have their own advantages so just check them out first before deciding on your podcast app of choice.
