Comparison

PodShocker vs podcasts.so

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

Head to head
About

PodShocker

A focused podcast player designed for ease of use and organization. Discover new shows, manage your listening with custom queues and playlists, and even import your own audio files. Offers advanced playback controls and CarPlay integration.

Highlights
  • Discover trending and categorized podcasts
  • Stream or download episodes for offline playback
  • Persistent queue and custom playlists
  • Bookmark moments and add notes
  • Import and play your own audio files
  • CarPlay integration for hands-free listening
  • Advanced playback speed and skip intervals
Features
Read full description

Built for people who actually listen. PodShocker is a focused podcast player for iPhone and CarPlay — quick to learn, easy to organize, and designed to stay out of your way. No subscription. No tracking. No ads. Just a great way to find, queue, and play the podcasts you love. Discover your next favorite show: - See the top charts in your region or what's trending right now - Browse 16 categories — Comedy, News, True Crime, Science, Tech, and more - Search by show name, host, or topic across the entire iTunes podcast directory - Subscribe to any RSS feed, including premium feeds from Patreon, Supporting Cast, and other paid networks Listen your way - Stream or download for offline playback - A persistent queue plus your own playlists for different listening modes - Bookmark moments inside episodes and jump back to them anytime - Tile or list view for your subscription library - Customizable skip intervals from 5 to 90 seconds, continuous play, resume-rewind on pause, and a sleep timer with end-of-episode awareness - Episode chapters when the feed provides them - Variable playback speed from 0.5× to 3× - Import your subscriptions from another app via OPML, or export to take them elsewhere Bring your own audio - Tap "Save to PodShocker" from the Files app, Dropbox, OneDrive, or any audio app - Connect Dropbox, OneDrive, or iCloud Drive to browse and play audio you've stored there — audiobooks, conference talks, lectures, your own recordings CarPlay-ready from day one -A clean CarPlay interface for hands-free listening: subscribed shows, recent downloads, and your queue, all available without unlocking your phone. Unlock more with PodShocker Premium Premium is a one-time unlock — no monthly fees, no subscription to manage. It adds: - Auto-Pace — automatically compresses silence and pauses in conversation, saving 15 to 30 minutes a day of listening time - Auto-Level — normalizes voice volume for clearer playback at low levels - Per-podcast speed memory — set 1.2× for one show, 1.5× for another, and PodShocker remembers - Smart Playlists — auto-populating playlists by rule: unplayed, by podcast, by length, by date - Podcast Folders & Filters — group subscriptions into color-coded folders and filter your library with one tap - Skip Intro & Outro — set per-podcast trim lengths and skip them automatically every episode - Listening Stats with full history — total hours, episodes completed, current and longest streaks, time saved by Smart Speed, plus a list of every episode you've recently played - Clip Sharing — share 15 to 60 second clips from any episode as audio or as an audiogram - Episode Transcripts — view, search, and tap-to-seek when the feed includes them - Bookmark notes — add notes to any bookmark and search across all of them - Cloud Backup — back up downloaded episodes to OneDrive, Dropbox, or iCloud Drive Private by design PodShocker doesn't collect data, run analytics, or operate a backend. Your subscriptions, listening history, bookmarks, and progress live only on your device. Cloud connections authenticate directly with those services — your credentials never touch us, and there are no servers of ours that could be breached. Made independently, PodShocker is built and maintained by UrsaWorx, LLC an independent developer based in the United States. No venture capital, no growth team, no quarterly engagement targets — just an app made for listening to podcasts, the way they should be.

About

podcasts.so

Discover podcasts based on your interests, not just show titles. Explore trending topics and find episodes that mention specific people, places, or subjects. Features a built-in player with transcripts, offline listening, and CarPlay support.

Highlights
  • Discover by interest (people, places, topics)
  • See episodes mentioning followed interests
  • Interactive map of podcast mentions
  • Player with transcripts and search
  • Offline listening
  • CarPlay support
  • Cross-device sync
Features
Read full description

podcasts.so is podcast discovery that works the way your curiosity does: by interest, not just by show. Most apps make you already know which podcast to open or use the same categories everyone else does. podcasts.so reads across the whole podcast universe and finds the episodes that talk about the things you care about: a person, a city, a book, a team, a topic. Follow an interest once and every show that covers it comes to you. DISCOVER BY INTEREST • Follow people, places, books, teams, and topics — not just shows. • See every episode across all podcasts that mentions what you follow. • Trending topics show what the podcast world is talking about right now. • Show-to-show recommendations. • Shop your favorite shows (when they have a store). A MAP OF WHAT PODCASTS ARE TALKING ABOUT • Explore an interactive map of the places podcasts mention. • Tap any place to see the shows that actually cover it — ranked by how much they focus on it, so local voices rise above national name-drops. • Spot the shows you already follow at a glance. A REAL PLAYER, DONE RIGHT • Smooth scrubbing, chapters, and artwork. • Read the transcript as you listen — and search inside episodes. • Download for offline listening. • CarPlay support for the drive. • Your place in every episode syncs across your devices. • Control what plays next — pick a show, clear your in-progress, or build a queue. • Sleep timer so you don't doze through a whole series. Find the conversation you didn't know was happening. Download podcasts.so. PRO SUBSCRIPTION podcasts.so Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription: • Pro Monthly — $2.99 per month • Pro Yearly — $19.99 per year Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Terms of Use: https://podcasts.so/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://podcasts.so/privacy.html

Screenshots

PodShocker4 screens
podcasts.so4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: podcasts.so at 3 against PodShocker's 1. podcasts.so also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.6). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. PodShocker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and podcasts.so sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for PodShocker against 5.0 for podcasts.so. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PodShocker ships an update every 5 days, podcasts.so every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
PodShocker versus podcasts.so: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPodShockerpodcasts.so
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB51 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperUrsaWorx, LLCIona, LLC

Customer experience

PodShocker

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

podcasts.so

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

PodShocker

One-time1
  • PodShocker$9.99
2 purchases

podcasts.so

Subscriptions2
  • podcasts.so Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • podcasts.so Pro Yearly$19.991 Year

Questions

Is PodShocker free?
PodShocker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is podcasts.so free?
podcasts.so is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PodShocker or podcasts.so?
PodShocker and podcasts.so are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do PodShocker or podcasts.so have ads?
Neither PodShocker nor podcasts.so shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PodShocker or podcasts.so?
PodShocker ships an update every 5 days, and podcasts.so every 4 days. Most recently, PodShocker was updated on October 7, 2026 and podcasts.so on October 28, 2026.

Other comparisons