Google has been in the process dropping Google Podcasts. It has tried to enrolling users of Google Podcasts in YouTube Music. I did not want to use the YouTube service for anything except streaming video. I started to deal with this before Google Podcastsdisappeared. I deleted Google Podcasts and the BBC App.

Google Podcasts was adequate, although it sent many notifications, some pointless, and did not carry all the podcasts I wanted.

I tried Podcast Addict. The App developer complained about changes to Google Android software on my phone and began to suggest that I grant more permissions for more apps and Android services on my phone.

In February 2024, I installed the open source podcatcher AntennaPod, which seems to working smoothly. Podcast Addict and AntennaPod are each different from Google Podcasts. I had to learn interfaces and methods. I paid to remove ads from Podcast Addict, but decided not to pay for a subscription. Neither app can block ads that are inserted by podcasts’ producers, in the podcasts’ production processes.

The design of apps and services makes it easier for different interests to sell advertising and to prevent users from avoiding listening to watching ads. A podcast app works when the app can connect users to sites where a user can download or stream a podcast. A developer may try to give uses reasons to pay for a full featured “pro” app, or sell advertising. Some developers plan to make money by building a user base and selling the app as a machine to make money by selling ads. A developer may make its app collect data and sell user data to a broker or ad service.

The reviews of podcatcher apps or any Android apps in internet publications are limited. The Alphabet/Google Android Play Store mainly says how many time an app has been downloaded. A developer shares revenue with Alphabet, to get in the Google Play store but works on spec (i.e. hope). The user reviews in the Play store may note problems in whether an app seems to perform like a user may have expected. Play store reviews can be gamed.