Comparison

’sodes vs PodWhale

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

’sodes

A simple and intuitive podcast player designed for casual listening. Enjoy your favorite shows with a focus on ease of use, a visually appealing interface, and no complicated features. Perfect for those who want a relaxed podcast experience.

Highlights
  • Don’t-have-to-think-about-it visual design
  • No account required
  • No downloads to manage
  • Convenient home screen
  • Multiple color themes
  • Big, tappable buttons
  • Works with CarPlay
  • Siri Shortcuts integration
Features
Read full description

Howdy! ’sodes is a casual, cozy way to listen to the occasional podcast. There are no download queues or tricked-out audio features. Just tap a show, tap an episode, and listen. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ● Don’t-have-to-think-about-it visual design. – Made for folks who want podcast listening to be a casual habit. ● No account required. – Everything happens right on your device. ● No downloads to manage*. – Tap an episode and it starts playing. ● Convenient home screen. – The “home” screen of the app has convenient access to your most favorite shows, in-progress episodes, and a few of the most recent unplayed episodes. ● Multiple color themes. – Switch from the Light to the Dark theme with a two finger swipe, like flicking off a light switch. Do it again to switch to the Campfire theme for ultra-low-light goodness (useful for moms ’n dads up at 3am rocking babies to sleep). ● Big, tappable buttons. – The player screen has extra large buttons with ample spacing. This should help anyone who has trouble tapping the right button in a hurry (walking, jogging, cooking, etc). ● Works with CarPlay. – Keep your eyes on the road while you listen to your favorite shows. Stay safe out there, folks. ● Drop the needle using Siri Shorcuts. – Play a specific podcast, or just play whatever's the most appropriate next thing to hear, by using a Siri Shortcut. Requires iOS 12. ● Keep Screen Unlocked – A special feature for commuters who can't use CarPlay: if you keep your phone plugged into a dashboard mount on long road trips, and you don’t have or can’t use Bluetooth controls, try enabling the “Keep Screen Unlocked” option in settings. This keeps your screen unlocked as long ’sodes is open AND it is playing (not paused) AND the device is connected to a charger. Why? Because then you can quickly pause or skip without fumbling to unlock your phone. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• * ’sodes requires an internet connection in order to play audio. Once you start playing an episode, only the portions of audio data requested by the system will be downloaded. This data is stored temporarily on disk in order to limit network data usage and does not provide offline playback. Audio data is stashed in a directory that doesn't count against your iPhone’s local storage and which your iPhone manages for you automatically. ’sodes also periodically removes old audio data so the system doesn't have to.

About

PodWhale

Enhance your podcast listening with synchronized transcripts, translations, and chapter navigation. Discover new shows with personalized recommendations and curated top lists. Enjoy offline playback and a customizable player experience.

Highlights
  • Synchronized transcripts
  • Subtitles in your language
  • Chapter navigation
  • AI-powered recommendations
  • Offline episode downloads
  • Customizable playback speed
  • Sleep timer
Features
Read full description

PodWhale is the podcast app for people who really listen. Follow the shows you love, find new ones made for you, and get more out of every episode. LISTEN DEEPER WITH PODWHALE PLUS • Read along: the text follows what you hear, sentence by sentence. Tap a sentence to go there. • Subtitles in your language: listen to a podcast in another language and read along in yours. • Chapters: skip straight to the part you want, with a title for every part of the episode. • A line with every episode: in one sentence, why an episode is worth your time. Everyone reads along for free for 5 minutes a day. Try Plus free for 7 days. MADE FOR LISTENING • Home shows the new episodes of your podcasts, each with its own line. • For you: recommendations that tell you why they suit you. • The Top 10 of your country, updated every day. • A player that stays out of your way, in the colors of the cover: speed per podcast, your own skip times and a sleep timer that stops at the end of the episode. • Download episodes and listen offline. • Search millions of podcasts, by language too. • Made for iPhone and iPad, in light and dark. INDEPENDENT No ads, and we never sell your data. Plus keeps PodWhale going. Text, subtitles, chapters and the line with each episode are made automatically with AI and can contain mistakes. When in doubt, listen to the moment itself. PodWhale Plus is a subscription, billed monthly or yearly. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase, or when the free trial ends. It renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://podwhale.app/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://podwhale.app/terms-of-use

Screenshots

’sodes4 screens
PodWhale4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PodWhale at 5.0 against ’sodes's 4.2. PodWhale also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 4 months) and device support (3 vs 1). ’sodes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (111 vs 2). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PodWhale sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. ’sodes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PodWhale holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ’sodes has 111 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

’sodes ships an update every 4 months, PodWhale every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
’sodes versus PodWhale: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter’sodesPodWhale
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (111 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews63.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings111 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB102 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperNice Boy LLCThinkaholic

Customer experience

’sodes

All ratings111 ratings
Positive80.2%
Neutral9.0%
Negative10.8%
Written reviews73 reviews
Positive63.0%
Neutral15.1%
Negative21.9%

PodWhale

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

’sodes

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

PodWhale

Subscriptions3
  • Friend - Support the app$0.991 Month
  • PodWhale Plus Monthly$3.991 Month
  • PodWhale Plus Yearly7 Days trial$34.991 Year

Questions

Is ’sodes free?
’sodes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PodWhale free?
PodWhale is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ’sodes or PodWhale?
PodWhale is rated higher. ’sodes averages 4.2 out of 5 from 111 ratings, while PodWhale averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do ’sodes or PodWhale have ads?
Neither ’sodes nor PodWhale shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ’sodes or PodWhale?
’sodes ships an update every 4 months, and PodWhale every 9 days. Most recently, ’sodes was updated on November 2, 2026 and PodWhale on November 8, 2026.

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