If you love listening to podcasts, then it’s highly likely you’ve heard of the powerful and popular app Pocket Casts. On Wednesday, November 14, Pocket Casts announced several new features in its major 7.0 update, including Siri Shortcuts support, major changes to the UI, and even more cross-device syncing to make your life easier.
The biggest and most immediate change has been to the central UI. Shifty Jelly, creators of Pocket Casts, has put a large amount of work into the Discover tab, investing heavily in both algorithmic curation and dedicated human curators to make it more likely that you’ll be able to find something new and interesting to listen to in no time at all. Once you’ve found something new to watch, you can listen to single episodes without needing to subscribe to that podcast — a helpful and very welcome addition to the app.
But it’s not all just about finding new episodes. If you’re looking for a specific older episode of a prolific podcast, you no longer need to scroll through a long list. Pocket Casts 7.0 introduces a new search function that will help you to find exactly what you’re looking for. If you want to corral specific options, there’s a new filter system that allows you to group certain podcasts together for easier navigation, and a listening history too.
One of Pocket Casts’ major strengths has always been its cross-device syncing capabilities. You’d be able to bounce between your phone, laptop, and desktop machines without missing a beat, with podcasts continuing exactly from where you left off. That’s been taken to a new level with Up Next playlist syncing, so you don’t need to rebuild your list every time you move between devices. Apple users will be getting even more extras, with new support for Siri Shortcuts, and improvements to the app’s Apple Watch support.
Pocket Casts has always been one of our favorite podcast apps for Android, and though Apple’s platform tends to dominated by Apple’s own iTunes, these new features could tempt some iOS users away. Pocket Casts 7.0 is available on Android for devices running Android 5.0 and above, and on iOS devices running iOS 10.0 and above.
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