Pocket Casts mobile podcast app is free and a paid subscription is coming
The Pocket Casts mobile podcast app is now available for free, which will be available for Android and soon for iOS. The desktop and web versions will be part of a new subscription form and will therefore cost money.
Pocket Casts reports that the app with version 7.5 for Android and iOS is free. This new Android version is currently available, but iOS users will have to wait a little longer. The iOS app is still on version 7.4; the new version is being reviewed by Apple and will be available soon, and the updates for the web and desktop version will be out on Wednesday. A few new elements have been added to version 7.5, such as the ability to easily add custom files to the Pocket Casts app and also the design has been changed.
Although the mobile app will be completely free and that version will continue to receive updates, the Pocket Casts Plus service will also be added. That is a subscription form that is available for $1.20 per month or $12.10 per year. The main feature of this service is the fact that the web and desktop app are now part of it. So they are no longer free. Anyone who has ever paid for the web or desktop version in the past will receive a three-year Pocket Casts Plus subscription by default.
Furthermore, Pocket Casts Plus allows users to customize their experience entirely to their liking, for example by adding certain themes and icons. In addition, cloud storage is a new feature, so any files that are not podcasts can also be played in the Pocket Casts app.
The company behind the Pocket Casts says it has felt for some time that asking for money for the app was not in line with its core values of being able to offer the service for free and make it accessible to everyone. Reference is also made to Pocket Casts’ partners, mostly organizations and companies from the world of public media, and they believe strongly in an open access approach, according to Pocket Casts. This mainly concerns the American companies NPR, This American Life, WNYC Studios and WBEZ Chicago; they acquired Pocket Casts in May of last year.