Review Insights · App Store
Podcast App & Player - Castbox
Guru Network Limited · 197,615 ratings · ★ 4.9
4.9
★★★★★
197,615 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 38 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"
12 negative reviews mention this · 32% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Lacking a critical function. This app lacks the critical function of automatically adding downloaded subscribed podcasts to your playlist. You have to go in and add each and every episode to the playlist manually" - Sempei74
2
"every"
9 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Lacking a critical function. This app lacks the critical function of automatically adding downloaded subscribed podcasts to your playlist. You have to go in and add each and every episode to the playlist manually" - Sempei74
3
"episodes"
9 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Keeps replaying old episodes. The app keeps playing episodes that I’ve already listened to which is frustrating." - djdhrbdudueheu
4
"podcasts"
7 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Lacking a critical function. This app lacks the critical function of automatically adding downloaded subscribed podcasts to your playlist. You have to go in and add each and every episode to the playlist manually" - Sempei74
5
"episode"
7 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Lacking a critical function. This app lacks the critical function of automatically adding downloaded subscribed podcasts to your playlist. You have to go in and add each and every episode to the playlist manually" - Sempei74
6
"another"
6 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Down the drain. This used to be a superb podcast player. Lately it’s been going down the drain. Just a few months ago i gave this one a fabulous review now i have to eat my words because i have encountered one problem after another with this one. Lately,…" - Niki959
7
"frustrating"
6 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Down the drain. This used to be a superb podcast player. Lately it’s been going down the drain. Just a few months ago i gave this one a fabulous review now i have to eat my words because i have encountered one problem after another with this one. Lately,…" - Niki959
8
"castbox"
6 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "NOT FREE. It is NOT free, with or without ads it is forcing me to pay them to use the app. Last app that charged me took me for a financial ride that took months to resolve at the loss of over $150 in 3 weeks. Deleted CastBox immediately." - ADigitalParadox
9
"been"
5 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Down the drain. This used to be a superb podcast player. Lately it’s been going down the drain. Just a few months ago i gave this one a fabulous review now i have to eat my words because i have encountered one problem after another with this one. Lately,…" - Niki959
10
"years"
5 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "DO NOT GET THE UPDATE. I am heart broken. I have loved using Castbox for the past nearly 11 years now. I got the update because the app was glitching when I would try to share a podcast. Biggest regret. I lost EVERYTHING. All my history, my favorites, my curated …" - sonia.co
11
"restarts"
5 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "App crashes. The app constantly crashes, won’t work with my earbuds and when I open the app it’s frozen. You have to close out of it and when it reopens it restarts your episode and you lose your place." - Fyathyruo
12
"player"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Down the drain. This used to be a superb podcast player. Lately it’s been going down the drain. Just a few months ago i gave this one a fabulous review now i have to eat my words because i have encountered one problem after another with this one. Lately,…" - Niki959
📋 All 38 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").
Lacking a critical function
This app lacks the critical function of automatically adding downloaded subscribed podcasts to your playlist. You have to go in and add each and every episode to the playlist manually
Down the drain
This used to be a superb podcast player. Lately it’s been going down the drain. Just a few months ago i gave this one a fabulous review now i have to eat my words because i have encountered one problem after another with this one. Lately, since latest iOS update, it freezes after playing only one cast; very frustrating. I have hang in there long enough, hoping that they will fix the issues but now must recommend that this app is no longer worth the effort or money.
Automatically downloads 20 GB of Podcasts without your permission or awareness
Automatically downloads 20 GB of Podcasts without your permission or awareness
This app sucks
Sucks
Bad
Episodes are being automatically added to my downloads without my consent, even though I have not subscribed to the podcast. This is frustrating and not properly controllable. It also unnecessarily takes up storage space. I expect better transparency and proper control over automatic downloads in future updates
Ads on Premium
Why am I seeing ads as a Premium subscriber? What happened to the “no visual ads” part I’m paying $35 for?
I used to recommend this app for friends and family now i lost interest in it myself
I unsubscribed from so many channels yet still I can’t subscribe to new channels, not one !!! They are acting like i need to upgrade but not knowing this makes us leave the app for good .
Ads and homepage trash
Constant ads and home page is filled with bizarre trash.
Keeps asking for upgrade
It is almost unusable
Good app, awful ads
The app itself is functional. However, it will serve you full screen gambling ads every other time you navigate between menus which require multiple button presses to dismiss. Frankly, dirty websites have less intrusive and jarring ads. Should be a source of shame
Up next
Adjusting the order of your up next episodes still is glitching. I try to move a show up in the order and it moves an episode two above it instead.
NOT FREE
It is NOT free, with or without ads it is forcing me to pay them to use the app. Last app that charged me took me for a financial ride that took months to resolve at the loss of over $150 in 3 weeks.
Deleted CastBox immediately.
Deleted CastBox immediately.
DO NOT GET THE UPDATE
I am heart broken. I have loved using Castbox for the past nearly 11 years now. I got the update because the app was glitching when I would try to share a podcast. Biggest regret. I lost EVERYTHING. All my history, my favorites, my curated playlists, my subscriptions, the last decade of my life on this app of media that shaped me and helped me be who I am today.
Contains scam ads
I went to search for a podcast and an ad popped up that replicated the general look of an iPhone screen. It told me memory was full (it is definitely not even close to being full) telling me I needed to purchase something. This ad is obviously a scam meant to fool people. I uninstalled Castbox immediately.
The ads are awful
The ads are so overdone and obnoxious
App crashes
The app constantly crashes, won’t work with my earbuds and when I open the app it’s frozen. You have to close out of it and when it reopens it restarts your episode and you lose your place.
Updated and now app crashes upon opening.
Just updated to newest and then app can’t start anymore.
Auto-download doesn't work at all!
They say it's because of "iOS" limitations, but it works fine on Overcast. LAME!
Bait and Switch
Claimed to offer 14-day free trial, but was immediately charged $37.
Shockingly bad UI
You can’t bulk select episodes to Mark them as played. You can’t even swipe an episode to Mark it as played, it takes a swipe and then a tap. It’s insane. There’s, and this is absolutely mind blowing, there is no freaking way to manually delete an episode. I can’t even fathom the thought, or lack there of, that went into this.
The entire app is just one giant ad to try and convince you to subscribe, but why in the name of God what I subscribe to remove ads when the player itself and library management are so abysmal. Every time you open the app you’re pestered to subscribe.
There are a shocking number of awful podcast apps on iOS, but this one might actually take the cake.
The entire app is just one giant ad to try and convince you to subscribe, but why in the name of God what I subscribe to remove ads when the player itself and library management are so abysmal. Every time you open the app you’re pestered to subscribe.
There are a shocking number of awful podcast apps on iOS, but this one might actually take the cake.
Every update is worse than the previous one
This is my third one star review for this app. The devs can’t stop getting in their own way with bad updates. Now episodes start from the beginning every time I try to fast forward. Other people have been reporting it but apparently there’s no urgency to resolve. Good thing there are great competitive apps instead.
Episodes restart halfway through
Castbox has been my #1 go to podcast app for years now, and I recently sprang for the yearly membership to upgrade and now as of the few days, episodes are restarting from the beginning after an ad break halfway through the episode. I haven't been able to complete a full episode across multiple different shows since in several days now! Super frustrating
Episode restarts after every ad break.
Title explains it all. Can’t finish an episode.
Playback errors
Having issues with the podcasts either restarting after every ad break or breaking in randomly with an ad and then restarting. It’s always the same ad too, canned smartwater.
Sudden Playback issues. Keeps playing ads
Recently, every time I try fast forwarding or rewinding through an episode, the app restarts at the first ad break. I cannot skip around in the content. Have tried closing the app, unsubscribing and resubscribing to a feed, but no help. This has been going on for a few days now! Please fix. Listening is not feasible. (I’m a paid subscriber!
Disconnection
Sometimes it is impossible to connect to the servers to download podcasts. No matter how much I try. And I am sure that my internet connection is not the problem.
联不上网
如题，使用魔法也联不上
Ads?
Podcast player with ads?! No thanks. Immediate uninstall.
Just the worst
Can only import from the Apple podcast app which is just another bad app. Uninstalled.
So many ads now
New review: so the ads went away. But the problem lately is that the player freezes but keeps playing the podcast. Even when I close the app it continues to play!!! Reopening the app refreshes it and seems to fix the problem, temporarily.
Old review: I’ve been using this app happily for years, until recently. There are suddenly a lot of ads. It feels like every 10 minutes in my podcast it’s being interrupted with ads. I shouldn’t complain since it’s a free service, but I’ll look around for another app that doesn’t do this so much.
Old review: I’ve been using this app happily for years, until recently. There are suddenly a lot of ads. It feels like every 10 minutes in my podcast it’s being interrupted with ads. I shouldn’t complain since it’s a free service, but I’ll look around for another app that doesn’t do this so much.
Doesn’t work
App doesn’t work most of the time. I can inter to the app but I can’t play podcasts
Paid premium, still see ad banner
Paid premium and still see an ad banner on top. Ridiculous.
Keeps replaying old episodes
The app keeps playing episodes that I’ve already listened to which is frustrating.
Fast forward broken and it’s impossible to report
I hate this app so much!!! I keep using it bc I can’t find another podcast app that has the badges clearly indicating what episodes are new but wow this app stinks. I have playback issues every time I use it, sound just cuts off. Today episodes won’t even start. My kingdom for another podcast app that adopts this UI so I can delete this app forever
Long-Time User Disappointed by Recent Updates
I’ve used CastBox for years and always loved it, especially the ability to download episodes and listen offline. But after the recent updates, downloaded episodes no longer play without an internet connection. This was never an issue before and as someone who listens during commutes, travels, and times when internet is unavailable, this change has made the app unusable for me.
I hope the team fixes this, but until then I’m switching to another podcast app that still supports real offline listening.
I hope the team fixes this, but until then I’m switching to another podcast app that still supports real offline listening.
Glitching
The app restarts the podcasts after the second add. It’s getting frustrating to use and I’ll probably cancel my paid subscription and find another app to use.
Disappointed
The podcast plays and then restarts for unknown reasons so you never get the end. I finally gave up. Never did this before frustrating and disappointing!
Used to be great
But now it doesn’t even update the list of my favorite podcasts, even though I know there are new episodes. Why not bring back Castbox from 2 years ago? It worked just fine.
Sentiment summary
98%
Positive (4-5★)
1%
Neutral (3★)
1%
Negative (1-2★)