Offline Podcast App: Player FM

A Google user

4 years ago

UPDATE: I opened the app today to find that all my subscriptions have been erased. This would be the second time that I have had to redo my subscriptions due to a malfunction with the app. I'm afraid that's one time too many. Good luck! / No ads, just suggests podcasts. Great intuitive interface. I especially appreciate "sleep" option that allows you to set the player to shut off after a certain amount of time.

Rudy Curatolo

8 months ago

2024- over the years this app has gone down in quality. FREQUENT Ads & popups are annoying. Today was over the top- I opened up the app and FIVE feeds that I did not subscribe to were automatically added to my downloads. Now that's a guaranteed way to go from 5 stars to 1 and run users off. 2015 Rating- 5 Stars After using Podkicker & Podcast Addict, I had to dump both of them - they were both too buggy, resource hogs, and crashed a lot. This one works very smoothly, has a very

Arthur

8 months ago

A good app with one shortcoming, one which makes it nearly unusable. When changing the play order of podcasts in the playlist, the app randomly changes the podcast being reordered to another podcast when I lift my finger after moving it, often creating double entries, making it functionally impossible to reorder podcasts. Infuriating. Problem no longer mitigated by reodering while not internet connected. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and find a better podcast app. Samsung Galaxy A32 5g.

C Leigh

8 months ago

I love how easy Player FM is to use! Despite the simplicity, I don't feel as if I'm missing any useful features. It's a precise balance, and they do it well. Edit 8 years later: this is still my preferred podcast player. I haven't found another app I like as much. I have simple needs and this app is perfect for me.

George Nica

7 months ago

Premium subscriber for years. I used to really like this app, I subscribed mostly to sync my listening across devices. It has worked mostly as expected, with only a few glitches. Recently I've found unwelcome subscriptions and downloads (pushed to the top of my list) for woke propaganda. Not something I'm remotely interested in as I'm trying to stay away from the political hysteria on both sides.

Avery Prevost

8 months ago

I loved this app but in the last week or so, the banner ads have started clicking on themselves: I hit play on a podcast, set my phone down, and then seconds later, PlayerFM has opened a spam site on my browser. It is very disturbing and I don't see a way to stop it. If this is not fixed, I will not be using the app again.

Michael Jones

6 months ago

I got this app through PlayPass, so I don't have issues with ads or popups. It's got the features I like for the most part. I really appreciate that I can add shows via RSS feeds when I can't find them in-app. I tried adding a private feed (the kind you get for supporting the artist, producer, etc.) today and it wasn't working. I reached out to the developers and they responded and fixed it within hours. That's the main reason for the 5 stars. Other than that, it works how I need it to.

Anton Dybal

7 months ago

The English language cannot describe how much I grew to absolutely hate this app. It became filled with tons of annoying popups + ads that would freeze the app and make it completely unusable. Your desired actions would be delayed by 10-40 seconds as it loaded the most annoying popups. It would crash constantly. **It got to the point where I'd be lucky if I could even perform the simplest of actions without it crashing.** Finally uninstalled it today + I'm happy to be rid of this garbage app!

Andrew Nelson

8 months ago

Loved this app since 2016, started paying for premium just because I loved their work. Now despite that, it's got ads everywhere, including us click bait for random apps, sponsored recommendation popups for random episodes, something called appbundle. I sent a support ticket just now assuming the best that it's a bug, but now reading reviews for the first time since I first downloaded it it's clear that they are doing it on purpose. Definitely not worth premium $, and I'm looking for a new app.

Edd Jones

7 months ago

Used this podcast app for years on Google Pixel, but recently began having issues - Small inconveniences like the resume button not working from the drop down/lock screen/widget. I reached out to the creators for assistance, their recommendation was to uninstall and reinstall the app. I eventually did, and not only did this not fix the issue, but now sometimes when I would pause a podcast, it would randomly go back about 10 minutes into the episode. Jumping shop at this point. Godspeed.

Andy The Bro

3 months ago

I have made many attempts to get the podcasts I subscribed to playing before the app crashes immediately (tried more than 10 times under 5 minutes before the podcast is playing fine ) and then it will play for a few and during those few minutes it will randomly crash. I hope a fix for the app crashing every time I play a podcast and randomly during the podcast can be added soon because it is bothering me every time I use the app

Anonymous Coward Insensitive Clod (Beowulf Cluster)

3 months ago

Requires a connection to a 3rd party sync server, which fails. I can play the few files I have already downloaded but can not download any more. Update: That server issue was temporary. Now there's a new reason for the 1 star review: Despite having paid for a premium version of the app I get advertising pop-ups in the app as well as getting random audio advertising slammed into my content.

Curran Bishop

5 months ago

Having to update the review: sorry player FM, after almost 10 years, I'm out. Having to listen to your advertisements every time I push play on top of the advertisements in the podcast themselves has finally pushed me over the edge. Will have to give Spotify or Amazon music a go. Original review: App-added ads on top of in-podcast ads are out of control! App is fine; better organized than Spotify, not as good selection but not bad. Starting to consider alternatives due to the extra commercials.

Jack Smith

3 months ago

I've used the free version of this app with ads despite paying for Amazon and Spotify for several years. I now have 2 mandatory pop-ups to bypass anytime I access the app in any way (even if it's running in the background). This is new and will eventually be a deal breaker. I'm fine with the ads but I'll never sign up for paid regardless of how many hoops I'm required to jump through. I will eventually get tired of the hassle and switch my subscriptions to one of the other apps.

Takayasu “Tucker” Abe

3 months ago

Update 2023: App crashes so much it is unbelievable. Will be looking to switch to a new app. Original: Absolutely amazing, I have tried so many podcasts apps and this by far has provided the best experience. Interface is super clean, well designed, very functional, and most importantly able to organize all the podcasts Im subscribed to in a clean way. Highly recommend!!!

Ryden Allen

3 months ago

I loved this at first because of the ultimate customizing to listening. Faster, slower (in minute amounts), skip silence, etc. But it's gone so downhill over the last couple years. Won't play down the list you chose, won't always play the episode you chose, stops randomly--in four minutes, it randomly stopped four times. And every time I open it now, even to press play after it's decided to stop, I have to exit an ad for them twice. Every time. Looking for a new app, this isn't worth it anymore.

Rebecca Jackson

3 months ago

Great app. Has a good amount of customization. More flexibility than say, Stitcher. No inner-episode commercials either. Update 2024: after it sold or something, there are pop ups every time I open the app, asking to pay to not have that pop up and and some other advanced options. There are also ads in the user interface now, but they are at the top or bottom so mostly out of the way.