Quick verdict
- What it is
- Store information collected; independent summary not yet available.
- At a glance
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- Free to download
- In-app purchases
Categories and search queries
Official categories
- News
- Entertainment
AppCorpus categories
Key functions
| Function | Availability | Access | Scope | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Sharing | Yes | Unknown | App Store | Store published |
| Free app | Yes | Free | — | Store published |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Limited free | — | Store published |
| Siri Shortcuts | Yes | Unknown | App Store | Store published |
Screens
App Store
21 store screenshots
Pricing & paywalls
App Store
- Free to download
- In-app purchases
Ratings & reviews
App Store
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5/5I love this app
I love everything about this app. The design—I love how compact the episodes are in the queue. So many other podcast apps are bloated design-wise, where you can only see 3 or so episodes at a time. I hate that. I don’t want to be inundated with info. I just wanna see the titles. I love the drag and drop (in particular the ability to move multiple items at once.) The inbox is brilliant. There some podcasts with multiple formats of which I only like one. This allows me to archive the others without having them dumped in my queue and downloaded. But my hands down favorite features are the archive & history. There are some podcasts that I don’t listen to on a regular basis but like to check in on every so often. This allows me to follow them so that I don’t forget about them but to go find an episode when I want to. And of course history. I’m usually on the go when listening and don’t have time to note episodes I really enjoy. With the history I can do back and see what I heard. Sometimes the impact of an episode doesn’t hit for a week or more. With history I can still go find them. Simple but essential. And the dates they were listened to on is saved as well! —just an impressive level of care. Fingers crossed for smart speed/silence skipping, a speed between 2x & 3x and custom playback settings for individual shows — nobody should listen to Song Exploder at 2x.
ChadAHall · 31 Jul 2026
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4/5Used to be my favorite podcast player until...
This used to be my favorite podcast player, after using apple’s podcast app for the longest time. I even purchased the app back when it cost money to own and use, not sure if its free now or not. I loved the clean, hassle free functionality of the app and it was the only podcast player on my phone for the longest time. This was definitely a 5 star app back when they didn't require you to pay for a subscription in order to use all the functions of the app. Now, I understand that everything is moving to the subscription thing because every service tries to continue making money someway but I just opened the app today, went to the inbox and noticed that they added promoted adds at the bottom, which by the way totally ruins the clean look of the app but I also went into the options to see if this was something I accidentally turned on, but come to find out, its a new feature which can not be turned off without a subscription. This would be totally fine if this was a free app, but mined you, I purchased the app already and I have a problem with app creators who limit your functionality even after you purchased their product. So, because of this, the app has dropped down to a one until this is fixed. By the way, all functionality should be available for those that have already payed for the app. Your customers shouldn't have to pay twice!
Wastelander1369 · 31 Jul 2026
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5/5GigaPodcatcher
Used Daily & Unique: The iOS 26 refresh is looking more in line with liquid glass. I look forward to future iterations and refinements. Transcripts are very useful and helps avoid relistening to the same segment. Discover and advanced search, especially by episode versus podcast is spectacular. Show art full screen previews are very appreciated, especially with shows that feature dynamic art changing throughout the week. Show notes are even more useful and easy to navigate, along with the chapters selector. Episode management with episode limits is easy and stress free. Search in History, Library, and Starred is awesome for finding old gems. Sideloads is next level for listening to video podcasts that you want to save. The only features we lack are from podcasting 2.0. Features that worked perfectly that were inexplicably removed or changed drastically: I cannot see where I’m at in the podcast without the timeline on the playback screen. It was removed from the bottom of the app screen when in Castro, outside of the playback screen. The scrub bar is so thin now your thumb covers it. There is a ton of negative space left between the timeline and controls as a result.
The K-Pub · 31 Jul 2026
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3/5I want to be able to recommend...
I really like Castro. But I can only give it 3 stars. I pay for the premium level, annual. But here's what happens: random podcasts that I subscribe to, they will stop auto downloading (they won't auto add to my queue playing next) in this app. Most of the time I can go to the podcast home page on the Castro app and add the latest episode to my queue. I've unsubbed and subbed to the podcasts that it happens to. Doesn't work. The episodes are really there in podcast-land, because I can listen to them in Apple Podcasts. But Castro decides I don't need to listen to them. I refuse to use Apple Podcasts again because it's too easy to accidentally destroy your queue of playing next. And lately now in Castro, there is one podcast that refuses to download recent epsiodes. It's a daily podcast. Castro displays the red banner about being unable to download that episode. But the episode is really there in Apple Podcasts. It's a pattern I've noticed for a while. I've emailed Castro support about this, and the response I get is "Remove the app and re-install". I can't really recommend this app due to this; it's not a sustainable way to carry forward. I will not remove and reinstall the app just to hope it works more stable. But, it's a great app... Just wish it handled better, users like me that have many subbed podcasts and a queue of 90+ epsiodes from as many or more podcasts subbed to. I have the latest version of the Castro app on the latest stable iOS version as of this writing, on a regular iPhone 12. Cheers.
Dan Kueck · 31 Jul 2026
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2/5Castro: Good but Falling Behind Quickly
I've grown to love listening to podcasts through the Castro app. Way back when, I tried the Apple Podcasts app and almost didn't come back to listening to podcasts based on the experience. Enter Castro--easy to learn and navigate, elegant, and great for discovering podcasts without committing to all episodes. I love the triage concept and the inbox. So what’s not to like? For starters, syncing between devices is still not enabled, so you can’t listen on multiple devices and pick up where you left off in an episode. It’s like the Watch and phone are two separate platforms. Syncing to the watch is finally enabled through Castro Plus, but poorly executed. The Watch app is buggy: it doesn’t properly resolve playback speed, skips backwards during episode playback, and audio drops at times and is noticeably worse vs. the phone app. I am so unhappy with it that I’ve downgraded back to my regular Castro product. I’ve used Overcast as well in the past to sync to the watch and the process was inconvenient, but heads and shoulders above the Castro Plus experience, which is painfully slow and inconsistent. I know part of this is due to how the Apple Watch handles syncing content, but again, I don’t remember so many issues with Overcast sync vs. Castro’s implementation; it’s just horrible. I used to love Castro. However, the new ownership has just not done the app justice and now that the features I have been waiting for have been executed poorly, it’s probably time to look elsewhere for a podcast player.
CCfmATL · 31 Jul 2026
Privacy & accessibility
App Store
Privacy
- Data Not Linked to You — Analytics — Search History Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Analytics — Usage Data — Advertising Data Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Analytics — Usage Data — Product Interaction Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Analytics — User Content — Other User Content Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — Diagnostics — Crash Data Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — Identifiers — User ID Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — User Content — Other User Content Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — Usage Data — Advertising Data Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — Usage Data — Product Interaction Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Developer’s Advertising or Marketing — User Content — Other User Content Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Product Personalization — Search History Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Product Personalization — Usage Data — Product Interaction Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Product Personalization — User Content — Other User Content Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Diagnostics Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Identifiers Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Search History Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Usage Data Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — User Content Developer declared
Accessibility
No accessibility labels collected yet.
Versions
App Store
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2025.10
- Major app size improvements - Fix watch app playback speed slider and syncing issues - Fix some appearance issues, especially on the folder screen in dark mode - Changes to paywalls / Castro Plus - Fix an issue where after scrubbing to the end of an episode, there would still be time remaining in that episode - Fix an issue where now playing button text would be cut off on certain devices like an iPhone 15 Pro - Fix a crash that could occur when activating CarPlay before the main app starts up - Fix an accessibility issue with adding to folder from the queue - Fix an issue with sync where finishing an episode might not update the time remaining on other devices - Many other crash fixes. Seriously so many crash fixes
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2025.10.1
- Pumpkin Icon - updated some plus icons - fix an issue with the podcast search results navigation - some refactoring and cleanup to prepare for future improvements - fix 2 crashes
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2025.10.2
2025.10.1 - pumpkin - some refactoring in the audio stack to prepare for future improvements - updated some plus icons to be consistent - cleaned up some old networking code - fix an issue with the podcast search results navigation - fix 3 crashes
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2025.11
Fixes some bugs with playback speed and the sleep timer, as well as various crashes.
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2025.11.1
- Storekit 2 support / new paywall - Fix some issues with the widgets and make widgets function even if the app is not running - Fix an issue where episode would not be marked as played if you scrubbed until the end - Some refactoring around playback and audio - Fix some possible race conditions around startup - Add back jack-o-lantern icon - Make Castro green icon the default again - Fix an issue where slower playback speed would skip from 1.0 to .8 - XCode 26.1 - Link to newsletter - Fix some crashes
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2025.11.2
- Storekit 2 support / new paywall - Fix some issues with the widgets and make widgets function even if the app is not running - Fix an issue where episode would not be marked as played if you scrubbed until the end - Some refactoring around playback and audio - Fix some possible race conditions around startup - Add back jack-o-lantern icon - Make Castro green icon the default again - Fix an issue where slower playback speed would skip from 1.0 to .8 - XCode 26.1 - Link to newsletter - Fix some crashes
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2025.11.3
- Storekit 2 support / new paywall - Fix some issues with the widgets and make widgets function even if the app is not running - Fix an issue where episode would not be marked as played if you scrubbed until the end - Some refactoring around playback and audio - Fix some possible race conditions around startup - Add back jack-o-lantern icon - Make Castro green icon the default again - Fix an issue where slower playback speed would skip from 1.0 to .8 - XCode 26.1 - Link to newsletter - Fix some crashes
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2025.11.4
Some bug fixes and improvements to features introduced in the last release.
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2025.12
Happy Holidays! Introducing Castro 'Wrapped'! Also: - Make the watch app free - Many improvements to widgets, fixing playback speed, more performant updates, etc - Fx an issue with event syncing that could cause multiple old episodes to appear back in your feed - Fix various issues with clearing items from the grids in inbox and queue - Fix an issue where the app would hang if started without connectivity - Fix an issue where the catalyst app would crash on older versions of Mac OS - Many smaller bug and crash fixes
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2025.12.1
Happy Holidays! Introducing Castro 'Wrapped'! Also: - Make the watch app free - Many improvements to widgets, fixing playback speed, more performant updates, etc - Fx an issue with event syncing that could cause multiple old episodes to appear back in your feed - Fix various issues with clearing items from the grids in inbox and queue - Fix an issue where the app would hang if started without connectivity - Fix an issue where the catalyst app would crash on older versions of Mac OS - Many smaller bug and crash fixes
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2025.12.2
Happy Holidays! Introducing Castro 'Wrapped'! Also: - Make the watch app free - Many improvements to widgets, fixing playback speed, more performant updates, etc - Fx an issue with event syncing that could cause multiple old episodes to appear back in your feed - Fix various issues with clearing items from the grids in inbox and queue - Fix an issue where the app would hang if started without connectivity - Fix an issue where the catalyst app would crash on older versions of Mac OS - Many smaller bug and crash fixes
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2025.9.2
- Improvements to the now playing screen, especially on iPad - Fix an issue where an invalid podcast episode could cause an entire feed to not load - Improve episode details for small devices - Improve animation on tutorial dismiss buttons - Bug and crash fixes
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2026.1
- Listening Stats! See detailed listening history charts, and if you’re an OG it might go all the way back to 2020 - Massive performance improvements! Fixing some of the biggest issues that have plagued Castro for years, with more to come soon - Fix a crash on the watch app, which was Castro’s biggest crash by far - Fix an issue with the watch app synchronizations setting being lost - Fix an issue where if a podcast releases multiple episodes at once, Castro might not mark one of them as new - Improve widget refresh logic - Fix an issue where the notification toggle might not immediately reflect the server state - Fix an issue where the artwork in the collapsed controls could be the wrong image - Fix an issue where podcast author instead of name would be shown in now playing info - Fix an issue where requeuing something would not remove the played state - Fix continuous play toggle on watch + Many more bug fixes and performance improvements
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2026.1.2
- Fixes for stats - Improved stats share image - Fix some issues around sync, including an issue where an unsubscribed podcast would get resubscribed - Crash fixes
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2026.2
- Fix various issues with stats involving timezones/locales - Fix some background thread / view issues that may cause crashes in some circumstances - Fix an issue with sideload imports having the wrong date - Add stats % complete - More crash fixes
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2026.2.1
- Fix sideload titles - Add some German translations - Add folders to backup files - Fix some issues with stats and timezones/locales - Security updates - Small UI fixes in explore - Improved episode details actions - Major performance and crash improvements If you like Castro please help us out by leaving a kind review. It makes a huge difference!
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2026.2.2
- fix an issue with shortcuts not showing up - fix an issue with folder counts - fix issue with theme being messed up - fix for non-square artwork - fix for a rare issue where device could become out of date after turning off sync - add a few more top picks on larger screens - more efficient queue widget updates - many other performance improvements - fix issue where trim silence or enhance voice per-podcast setting could be lost If you like Castro please help us out by leaving a kind review. It makes a huge difference!
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2026.3
Important fixes for sideloading along with other bug fixes.
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2026.4
- Sideloading: UI tweaks, more reliable downloads, better metadata, support for descriptions, support for sideload thumbnails as episode artwork, and more - More actions in list views, with additional options on iPad - Fix issues with download only on Wi-Fi, switching between Wi-Fi and cellular, and changing settings - Major CarPlay updates including audio settings, starring, and more - Improvements to syncing and resyncing - Database infrastructure changes to resolve crashes - Season and episode numbers now shown in episode lists and VoiceOver - Fix VoiceOver issue when opening the main chapter list on the Now Playing screen - Linked to Xcode 26.4 - Fix alignment issue with author in episode details - Fix issue where episode descriptions in the inbox wouldn't have spaces - Fix issue where episode descriptions shown in the inbox wouldn't appear on the notes page for certain podcasts - And more!
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2026.4.1
- Rewrite the database infra to make the app more performant - Fix an issue where episode artwork color might not show - Fix an issue where sideloads might be republished - Fix crashes - Fix an issue with sideload ordering oldest/newest - On the podcast details page, make the episode actions align with inbox/queue pages for inboxed/queued items - Fix an issue where playback progress could be lost when streaming an episode - Fix an issue where per-podcast playback speed might not be applied on startup - Fix various issues with backup / restore - Fix issues with feed migrations or duplicated podcasts - Add show more to listening stats If you like Castro and are glad that it exists, today is a great day to subscribe.
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2026.5
- Fix a crash related to the watch app - Fix a crash related to bad data in the database - Fix an issue where watch sync would require Castro Plus Castro is funded directly by those who love it. If you love Castro, you should subscribe.
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2026.5.1
- Fix now-playing not following top-of-queue in certain cases - Add ‘All’ tab to listening stats - Add more items to listening stats episode dialog and fix some text that wasn’t centered - Fix an issue where syncing a secondary device could fail due to database errors - Fix an issue where playback could stall and get stuck
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2026.6
- Fix the biggest crash in the app - Fix several performance issues, particularly when the app is starting up - Add some French into the app - Localize certain time/date information - Fix an issue with cached dates, so the lists might say 'Today' but it was actually yesterday - Add an MCP server to the website so LLMs can parse Castro information more easily
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2026.7
Important fixes for sideloading along with other bug fixes.
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2026.7.1
· 15 Jul 2026
Revamp downloads - Fix a number of issues where files wouldn't be deleted properly - Fix "grace period" and make it apply in more situations - Add episode downloads menu in settings to review your downloaded files - Add option to manually download file in inbox or past queue length
Alternatives
- Overcast Podcast App — Same category + similar ratings
- Podcast Player - Video & RSS — Same category + similar ratings
Availability by market
- US
Data quality & evidence
- Page completeness
- Live store listing
- Last verified
- 31 Jul 2026
- Sources
- App Store
- Independent summary has not been published yet.