Castro Podcast Player
Power tools for podcast fans
Free (iaPs) From Supertop Software, supertop.co made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch needs iOS 11.2 or later
The latest incarnation of Castro is packed with features to make your podcast experience better, and with support for both CarPlay and Apple Watch (albeit without offline playback) it’s useful on the move, too.
It’s a pretty thing, with both light and dark modes that you can toggle based on screen brightness. The new Top Picks helps you find new episodes based on your existing subscriptions, and the previously disappointing discovery section has been improved with new featured podcasts in the category charts, and a new feed of curated recommendations. Searching for podcasts is a lot faster than before, and you can now subscribe to a podcast from the search results screen instead of first having to open the actual podcast.
The interface is clear and uncluttered, although we occasionally found ourselves getting lost when we forgot which direction we were supposed to swipe in.
You can adjust playback speed, skip intros, and specify how many episodes should be on your device at any time. Where podcasts provide chapters, the app makes it easy to navigate between them, providing information on each chapter, buttons to move between them, and a chapter list for alternative navigation.
New episodes can be added automatically to your Queue, and you can choose whether they’re added in chronological order, or after the currently playing top item. You can also use Auto–Archive for the podcast equivalent of box sets, storing episodes without them appearing in your playback queue.
For $5.99 a quarter, or $18.99 a year, you get Castro Plus, a range of features including per-podcast settings, automatic trimming of client bits, and improved voice enhancement — compression that can make voices clearer and louder, which is useful for listening in noisier environments or on poor speakers. You can also sideload podcasts by dropping them into iCloud Drive.
We think that the Pro features really make Castro shine. While it’s a thoroughly excellent podcast player for any kind of listener, its podcast management and enhancement features are the things that will really delight serious listeners.
THE BOTTOM LINE. A fantastic, flexible player for every kind of listener.