Pocket Casts 6.5: iOS Podcast App Emphasizes Graphics And Simplicity

An elegant update to a long-running app that keeps the interface straightforward and attractive.

- Glenn Fleishman

Do podcasts have a face that only radio can love, as the old joke goes? The Pocket Casts app (shiftyjelly.com; $4 in the iTunes Store go.macworld.com/pcasts) puts podcasts’ best face forward, with a default main view that shows large thumbnails of the podcasts to which you’re subscribed ordered by the most recent episodes released. You can opt to have Pocket Casts show per-episode art for podcasts that offer that, too. It’s an attractive and neatly visual way to scan what you have available to listen to.

The latest major release of Pocket Casts, version 6, shipped in July 2016, and I reviewed version 6.5, which includes a variety of minor and major updates. Version 6 was the app’s first complete overhaul in its long history providing podcasts to iOS users. The app is fresh, fast, and fits people who want rapid access and quick triage to add to a current queue of episodes.