Review Insights · Google Play
Podcast Player - Castbox
Castbox.FM - Radio & Podcast & AudioBooks · 375,702 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
375,702 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 60 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"podcast"
17 negative reviews mention this · 28% of all complaints
★★★★★ "updated review... it's now a big bloated piece of garbage that still struggles to do the most basic functions. too many menu options to "customize" listening but they can't do baseline things well like buffering properly to continue listeni…" - William Hattar
2
"screen"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Terrible. Used to be a great user- friendly app but increasingly intrusive and malicious ads have made it completely unusable. Cannot navigate within downloads without loud, full screen ads completely taking over you screen, and using your …" - Michael De
3
"unskippable"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be a great pod app, but way too many ads now. Ridiculously long unskippable ads for DoorDash, and others, every time you try to navigate within the app. Will be uninstalling, and moving to another, less greedy, pod app." - Martin Donaldson
4
"every"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be a great pod app, but way too many ads now. Ridiculously long unskippable ads for DoorDash, and others, every time you try to navigate within the app. Will be uninstalling, and moving to another, less greedy, pod app." - Martin Donaldson
5
"another"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be a great pod app, but way too many ads now. Ridiculously long unskippable ads for DoorDash, and others, every time you try to navigate within the app. Will be uninstalling, and moving to another, less greedy, pod app." - Martin Donaldson
6
"play"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "updated review... it's now a big bloated piece of garbage that still struggles to do the most basic functions. too many menu options to "customize" listening but they can't do baseline things well like buffering properly to continue listeni…" - William Hattar
7
"playing"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "was great but the ads are to much some taking nearly 5 minutes before you can click the x it also stop playing the podcast while ad plays, now it wont play the next podcast just starts to replay the same episode over once its finished, some…" - Mat Clark
8
"full"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Terrible. Used to be a great user- friendly app but increasingly intrusive and malicious ads have made it completely unusable. Cannot navigate within downloads without loud, full screen ads completely taking over you screen, and using your …" - Michael De
9
"years"
7 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Been using Castbox for years, better than every other podcast app! However, recently I am having error prompts when trying to download episodes, and for no apparent reason! So frustrating! Please fix this issue! (Android 16, app uppdated to…" - Kim Lindström
10
"find"
6 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "edit : do well to update the app description to exclude the radio feature since it's not on Castbox anymore. it's very misleading. Nice UI. But I can't find radio, kindly help. edit: I've mailed the problem but still no reply. Is There no m…" - AM Nabil
11
"without"
6 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Terrible. Used to be a great user- friendly app but increasingly intrusive and malicious ads have made it completely unusable. Cannot navigate within downloads without loud, full screen ads completely taking over you screen, and using your …" - Michael De
12
"other"
6 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be a great pod app, but way too many ads now. Ridiculously long unskippable ads for DoorDash, and others, every time you try to navigate within the app. Will be uninstalling, and moving to another, less greedy, pod app." - Martin Donaldson
📋 All 60 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
too many ads
Used to be a great pod app, but way too many ads now. Ridiculously long unskippable ads for DoorDash, and others, every time you try to navigate within the app. Will be uninstalling, and moving to another, less greedy, pod app.
Can't see date/time. I understand ad funding, but when ads become so distructive to the experience that they become counter productive. Currently, big noisy ad covers all controls, so you can't close it. Will be finding new app. Sent email. Becoming worthless app. Had to uninstall and now lost history. PS....Internet issues are NOT part of the problem. I understand the need for ads but if they make app unusable, or worse, block being able to pause to make important/urgent phone call...etc.
to perform any action on this app you have to wait through multiple unskippable ads I like that that lead you to scam products that you didn't ask for.. nobody likes ads so why are you doing this to us? scumbags
was great but the ads are to much some taking nearly 5 minutes before you can click the x it also stop playing the podcast while ad plays, now it wont play the next podcast just starts to replay the same episode over once its finished, some how still getting worst looks like its back to spotify
Horrible cookies half-refusal experience
I used to love this app.... the ads are getting ridiculous. 1 minute ad video just to select a different episode or look at my library
Terrible. Used to be a great user- friendly app but increasingly intrusive and malicious ads have made it completely unusable. Cannot navigate within downloads without loud, full screen ads completely taking over you screen, and using your data until you're forced to open a link (usually installing an app onto your device). I'm done. Don't bother with this.
don't try to drive while you're trying to listen to this app or you're going to crash due to the overloading commercials that just won't go away
these bast... use your sim data from frist time without any warning and download their adds and rubbish episodes
Used to be great and is now coasting on older reviews. Has become bogged down by ads. Extremely invasive ads that hijack your entire screen with no exit button. Do not recommend. Find a different podcast app. Edit: I won't submit a report for poor QA. I'll just use a better app.
not sure what the point of making a free app that automatically asks for your money when you open it.
Been using Castbox for years, better than every other podcast app! However, recently I am having error prompts when trying to download episodes, and for no apparent reason! So frustrating! Please fix this issue! (Android 16, app uppdated to latest version)
too many ads
It works pretty well. The only problems I have had with it is sometimes a downloaded podcast will have the warning before it plays that it's not downloaded. Another issue is that playlists won't auto play an episode that's added after the ones that are playing and downloaded together. ALSO AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF EVERY PODCAST EPISODE I GET A PODBEAN AI AD. IT'S MADDENING AND MAKING ME LOOK AT ALTERNATIVES AND AD BLOCKERS.
loved it until I found out they sold our data, specifically location, via ads and the sheer volume of the ads. they cover the whole screen and make it impossible to click the button to close them. you literally have to close the app and restart it. im done. deleted and uninstalled.
useless
2 days ago a white bar suddenly appeared across the top of the screen. Now I can't see any of the symbols on the top row
I've had this app for years and I'm officially uninstalling and finding a different podcast app. After using this app for more than 10 years, they've changed their ad structure to the point the free version of this app is nearly unusable. Update: To be clear, the audio ads are fine. It's your new extremely obnoxious visual ads that show up when attempting to navigate to a podcast from the library or discover tab. Restarting the app is often required and the only way to get past the ads.
The ads are so obtrusive I can't switch podcasts without opening another app by accident.
Completely unusable now. Full page, 3 minute ads after every tap! Rubbish
why does the X to close the window takes you to the ad website. Very deceiving. I don't have a problem with ads...it is the deceiving way of how the X to close the window does not work. If it is Google promoting this behavior then please let them know as it makes your app look bad.
even with it being a glitchy ad heavy mess I used it for years. until I switched phones, now I can't log in with the free version. uninstalled and done. too many good podcast players to mess with this thing any longer.
Genshin ad player. I've used this app for years and lately it has changed. Every click you get an annoying ad for genshin impact. The Devs just give a stock reply to all bad reviews. So I'm looking for another app. App now has adverts you can get away from unless you shut it down. Handy. How do you close the temu adds without exiting?
Excessive pop up ads, but good podcast player. Like, it's ridiculous cause they are full screen and unskippable. Then it opens the web browser. edit: I understand the need for ads, but unskippable and intrusive is too much. I'm going to have to make the switch.
The app keeps adding shows, including downloading episodes, that I don't want and have to delete and remove. It happened 3x this year, so I am uninstalling it. The app was great until they forced a bunch of bs productivity programs on me.
update: legitimately the worst and most annoying ads on any app I've ever used. they prevent you from actually using the app. please find another way to do ads. music will just play an interrupt over the podcast I'm listening to an interrupt navigation. The ads are just so annoying. The other day the ad just started playing with sound on top of the podcast ... really?!
byeeeeeee! I loved this app and I used it daily for 10 years. Recently I deleted it and pushed to familiarise with a new app. Why, because they decide to add unskippable, over 30 second ads before opening the podcast channel and or before starting to play the podcast. Ads are fine, but this style...it's too much
La pub est devenue insupportable
Ignore all old reviews. This used to be the best podcast app. Now an insane amount of unskippable ads have made it basically unusable. EDIT: Also didn't believe the company's replies. This isn't "a startup". They raised $30 MILLION in their first 2 years, & that was a decade ago. The app (likely sold multiple times already) is milking their dwindling audience for all it's worth. Look elsewhere.
just downloaded this app and all the shows want to listen to I'll give me the error "and unknown error has occurred please..." garbage app seems to have no problem trying to sell me it's subscriptions and ads. why would I pay any money when your service doesn't even work.
Used to be a four‑star app. Now it’s a one‑star uninstall. I can handle ads inside podcasts - that’s normal. What I won’t tolerate is being hit with forced, full‑screen ads just for opening my own downloads. It derails the entire experience. If I can’t access content I already saved without being ambushed, the app is no longer usable.
I don't use it enough to justify the cost
Castbox subscribing me to pods? I noticed a bunch of new subscriptions on my account and at first I thought I forgotten that I added them, but opening today, I was signed up for pods that I would NEVER listen to. I think I need to find a new platform.
I opened it up, went through a few prompts and then it wouldn't allow me to go away from the page that costs money. I'm going to try something else now. I don't know why this is an editor's choice. 🤷🏻🫤
not playing episodes anymore
This app keeps auto-playing as soon as my car connects to Bluetooth, even when I didn’t open it. I turned off every autoplay setting I could find, but it still does it. It feels intrusive and out of my control. I switched to another podcast app because of this.
There has been a change in the ads within the app. There are now Ads that cannot be muted or closed easily and have a timer for how long I have to wait before getting to my podcasts.
jampacked with unskippable ads, with google play links to install maliciously placed where the back button normally is.
this damn thing has been playing more and more aggressive ads, longer harder to click out of. now it's playing audio ads. time to throw it out and find a new one
oh my god, just keep subscribing you to endless channels, I deleted them all except the ones I want and 2 days later I'm subscribed to 12 more. TURN OFF AUTO DOWNLOAD, or all those channels auto download new episodes, including episodes from channels the app thinks you'll like, then also turn off auto downloads for subscribed channels too because there's two switches, they will fill your phone before you know it. made me mildly annoyed enough to go elsewhere.
I get needing to make money, but this app is entirely ads now.
recent set of ads is installing apps onto my phone and they're loud and annoying, can't be bothered to screen ad providers?
full page unskippable scammy looking ads,why would you ruin your app with these ads? put ads in there but wired full page scammy looking.why?
Dropped the app when it started repeatedly subscribing me to podcasts I didn't choose and have no interest in.
ads are out of hand
edit : do well to update the app description to exclude the radio feature since it's not on Castbox anymore. it's very misleading. Nice UI. But I can't find radio, kindly help. edit: I've mailed the problem but still no reply. Is There no more RADIO on Castbox ??
updated review... it's now a big bloated piece of garbage that still struggles to do the most basic functions. too many menu options to "customize" listening but they can't do baseline things well like buffering properly to continue listening while on the subway, hijacking Bluetooth and randomly restarting playback even after you close the app requiring a force close, and for gods sake if the podcast is 95%+ listened to just mark it listened to. why do I have to manually do that? terrible.
the ads make it where you can not even set up a play list. the ads are FOREVERly long and cannot be fast forwarded. you used to be able to skip them or at least make it shorter but now it's like EVERY other podcast you open or channel you check out.
ads have gotten unskippable
+ 10 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
93%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
6%
Negative (1-2★)