# Castro: Podcast App & Player — user reviews > 597 indexed App Store user reviews of Castro by Bluck Apps, rated 4.60/5 from 9,166 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/castro-podcast-app-and-player/id1080840241/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/castro-podcast-app-and-player/id1080840241.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 7,277 · 4★ 974 · 3★ 307 · 2★ 187 · 1★ 421 ## What do users think of Castro? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Intuitive workflow - 👍 Elegant and polished UI - 📚 Effective podcast management - 🎨 Customizable playback options - 💯 Best podcast app for heavy listeners **Cons** - 🐛 Buggy behavior (freezing, crashes, playback issues) - 🔍 Lacking podcast discovery features - 💰 Expensive subscription model - 🔌 Poor Apple Watch integration - 📱 No iPad app **Commonly reported bugs** - Podcasts not updating properly - Playback not resuming after interruptions - Inconsistent behavior when switching audio sources - Podcast artwork not loading consistently **Most requested features** - Add chapter support - Implement silence trimming - Provide per-podcast playback settings - Introduce podcast transcript display - Add cloud sync between devices ## Newest reviews (14 of 597) ### 4/5 — Favorite Podcast Player, Buggy CarPlay Support *2026-07-28, version 2026.7.1* It’s still my favorite podcast player, even if I have to regularly quit the app from my phone because the CarPlay app froze or won’t play sound. ### 2/5 — Downloading Errors Recently *2026-07-19, version 2026.7.1* Made castro my default podcast player a few months back, and, until recently, it worked very well. But downloading errors have become the rule, not the exception of late. What’s more, when there’s a downloading error, the episode in question still leaves my inbox—as if it had been successfully downloaded, which it hadn’t. This means I have to manually find the show, locate the episode, and hope that it downloads this time. ### 2/5 — DINK!!! *2026-07-16, version 2026.7.1* Does someone on your design team think that the sound of a sharp, ear piercing ‘dink!’ is a pleasant thing to put in your head every time there’s an error? Especially when that error is merely transferring from an area of wifi to 5G or vice versa? Especially since it happens several times a day and every other podcast app doesn’t freak out every time you switch connections? Why do you willingly inflict pain on your app subscribers? Why does your app feel like you hate us? Stop stabbing me in the ears, please. And tell your app not to break down in tears every time I leave a wifi area. ### 3/5 — Bugs Have Appeared *2026-07-16, version 2026.7.1* I have lately noticed that about 1 in 10 of my queued, downloaded programs is immediately and silently skipped. I have also been getting a lot of errors trying to download. ### 3/5 — Very Buggy *2026-06-11, version 2026.5* This app is so buggy. It’s been buggy for years, so it’s not something specific to an update. New podcasts won’t load, you have to force stop the app a ton, you’ll press play and it doesn’t play and the play button disappears. Now I have to deal with the pain of transferring all my podcasts. ### 4/5 — Great app, sync hates me *2026-05-28, version 2026.5* Update 5/27/2026: Joined the test flight but it caused issues. Since leaving, my ability to sync across devices stopped working. It’s like I’ve fallen in an Apple Passwords/Keychain hole. Using Castro’s built in tools has not solved the issue, and support hasn’t been able to provide any other updates or suggestions. Still a fantastic app. If sync moves away from keychain I’ll come back and give a shot. Original review: Been on Castro since day one. Have seen the edge of demise multiple times. What the new owner has done is nothing short of remarkable. They brought back the app from the death, provide regular updates, and finally deliver an iPad (or Mac, where I’m writing this) with working sync. A modern feature that Castro fans have waited on for years! The sync is fast and I find myself getting through so much more of my podcast queue thanks to the feature. I’m glad to say goodbye to my grandfathered because the owner has provided so much value for my $$. ### 4/5 — Great but can’t use *2026-05-24, version 2026.5* Pocketcasts is constantly glitching so I’m trying to find a new player. I like Castro but the lack of automatic downloads makes it unusable for me. ### 2/5 — The worst app I pay for *2026-05-22, version 2026.5* The audio engine is really buggy and the app has difficulty gracefully dealing with spotty networks, but the inbox UX is what keeps me paying. ### 2/5 — lots of bugs *2026-05-02, version 2026.4.1* i want this to work for me but it crashes, fails to load or play podcasts, and lags almost every time i use it - probably gonna give it up ### 5/5 — The best podcast app *2026-05-01, version 2026.4.1* Look no further. I tried a bunch and this one is the best by far. Everything about this app is great, but the queue feature is everything. ### 5/5 — Perfection *2026-04-30, version 2026.4.1* This app lets me do so many automated settings that I can just press play on my headphones and hear all the podcast episodes I want without ever even having to open my phone or mess with anything! It is a podcast listening perfection. ### 2/5 — Very Buggy App *2026-04-27, version 2026.4* The app is very buggy and even on the newest iPhone runs with a major lag. There are better podcast apps out there. Also everything is pay walled ### 3/5 — Great but no tags or categories for subscription *2026-04-19, version 2026.4* I love this app, but as my subscriptions have grown so has their management, I’ve ended up swapping to Overcast. ### 2/5 — meh *2026-04-02, version 2026.3* every update changes ur settings, lots of delayed pods, endless ads even when paid, about half of downloads require vpn off etc etc etc ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — garbage search feature garbage user interface *2026-07-10, version 2026.7* Somehow it is still the best podcast app. ### 1/5 — Yet another rent seeking podcast app *2026-07-06, version 2026.7* I’d make a crack about podcast apps being super easy to squirt out, but this one wasn’t even written. The developer just bought a free app and started charging for it. Clever. ### 1/5 — has become almost completely unusable *2026-06-25, version 2026.5.1* Now it’s crashing every time I add a podcast to the queue. Every morning I have about a half a dozen new episodes from three or four different podcasts. Each time I go into a different podcast new episode list it hangs up and I have to exit the app and restart and go back in to add the episode and then go on to the next, where it crashes again. I have to do this three or four times each morning to set up my queue. ### 1/5 — lots of bugs *2026-06-15, version 2026.5.1* i want this to work for me but it crashes, fails to load or play podcasts, and lags almost every time i use it - probably gonna give it up UPDATE getting worse! Lately new errors including stuttering playback and randomly going silent. What’s up? ### 1/5 — F *2026-05-30, version 2026.5* Downloads do stay downloaded even when set to stay. Search is broken. Constant pushing at the top of bad right wing misinformation podcasts with no way of hiding them. ### 1/5 — meh *2026-05-21, version 2026.5* Have cancelled for end of contract period- will not renew Numerous issues go unresolved, so called "customer support" does nothing spend your money elsewhere - like Cuba, Castro is a unending failure ### 1/5 — Need to buy premium to skip intros *2026-03-20, version 2026.2.2* Don’t see why this is in premium mode podcast allow you to do this without paying for it ### 1/5 — Completely broken by recent update *2026-02-10, version 2026.2* The app hasn’t been working since the update two weeks ago. It either freezes or crashes on start up. ### 1/5 — You went and ruined it *2025-12-26, version 2025.12* Prompts to upgrade for $ every time you access the app. I’m not paying a dime for an app that’s supposed to be hassle-free. ### 1/5 — Banner ads anti consumer *2025-12-07, version 2025.11.4* I paid for this app back in the day. They now added banner ads to even me. That is horrible. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Incredible free version *2026-07-29, version 2026.7.1* Came from pocketcasts after they started using gen AI chapters. I feel like I wasted two years using it because Castro has been much less buggy for me so far! My only feedback is that the UI feels kind of messy, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Really amazing work, thank you!! ### 5/5 — Still the best *2026-07-17, version 2026.7.1* The "Inbox" metaphor is a great way to triage a lot of podcast subscriptions. ### 5/5 — It’s a breeze *2026-07-03, version 2026.7* Ordering the queue is a piece of cake. Love your podcasts! Take control. ### 5/5 — Beautiful app! *2026-06-15, version 2026.5.1* This app is gorgeous. Minimalism is refreshing. Doesn’t look and feel like an Android app like most others. Castro is full of customization and podcast features. You can smoothly import all of your Apple podcasts in a couple taps. Love the name too haha. Very cool and clever. The app is free to use but if you love it and want to deep dive into more features, the annual subscription won’t be annoying either. It’s incredibly reasonable unlike most premium subscriptions out there. It’s a win for me! ### 5/5 — Long-term relationship *2026-06-14, version 2026.5.1* Been using Castro from the beginning. It is fast, responsive to my diverse interests and pays for itself in multiples that make it an undeniable choice. ### 5/5 — No one else is even close *2026-06-05, version 2026.5* There was a brief dark time when Castro was not being managed, and I tried other podcast apps and none came close to what Castro offers. The queue is exactly how I want to listen to my shows. ### 5/5 — One of the great apps! (June 2026) *2026-06-02, version 2026.5* Castro is my favourite podcast player and one of my top 5 fave apps ever. I use it a lot every single day. I subscribe to hundreds of podcasts and the Inbox paradigm (triage: Queue or clear) works perfectly for me. Side-loading from YouTube is great. I really really love this app! Highly recommended. ### 5/5 — Very good podcast app *2026-05-08, version 2026.5* Castro is a very god podcasting app and is my favorite to use, even though there is a lot of competition. One feature I would request is to make it easier to add multiple episodes of a podcast from the episode search screen. Right now, you have to search, find the episode, click on the episode, queue the episode, and then repeat the above for each episode. ### 5/5 — Great podcast program *2026-05-08, version 2026.5* A great program with a lot of cool features I really like the ability to sync between my phone and my iPad. The only thing I would like to see is the ability to export a podcast as an MP3 file. Also, I think the $25 price is a little bit high, but the program does everything that I needed to do, so it’s really worth it for me. ### 5/5 — My favorite podcasts app *2026-05-02, version 2026.4.1* I’ve tried a TON of podcasts apps, like over a dozen. I stuck with Breaker for years, even after it was sold and development stopped, because I liked the user interface so much (and they removed the ability to export). But when I discovered Castro, i finally switched because I finally found a podcast app with a user interface i really liked that was regularly receiving updates and new features. I’ve been using it for a little over a month now and I can say without a doubt it’s extremely reliable, user-friendly, fast and works great on my car’s radio. If you’re a Breaker refugee like me, this is your replacement app, trust me. Literally only the 2nd podcast app I’ve ever used that I’ve been willing to pay for the premium upgrade version. And like I said, I’ve tried dozens. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-29.*