Pocket Casts
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Pocket Casts is a podcast player for Android, iOS, and Web[1].
| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2011 |
| Product Type | Software |
| In Production | Yes |
| Official Website | https://pocketcasts.com/ |
Consumer-impact summary
edit
- Business Model: Streaming service content, advertising overload
Incidents
editShowing advertisements to Champion/Lifetime users (September 2025)
editIn September 2025, the parent company Automattic changed the app to display advertisements to users who had purchased a lifetime license for the Pocket Casts app[2]. Support staff responded to complaints justifying the change as necessary to provide ongoing support and development of the app[3][4]. Later, the CEO posted on Hacker News claiming that showing ads to users that had purchased a lifetime subscription was a bug[5].
See also
editReferences
edit- ↑ "Listen to podcasts with the best free podcasting app - built by listeners, for listeners - Pocket Casts". Pocket Casts. Archived from the original on 24 Jan 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
- ↑ Weatherbed, Jess (2025-09-24). "Pocket Casts is showing ads to people who paid for an ad-free app". TheVerge. Archived from the original on 15 Feb 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
- ↑ jofzar (2025-09-08). "The new advertisements seriously suck". Pocket Casts Forum. Archived from the original on 22 Oct 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
- ↑ gmcmillan3 (2025-09-23). "Ads despite being a paid customer". Pocket Casts Forum. Archived from the original on 27 Sep 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ photomatt (2025-09-23). "Howdy! There might be a misunderstanding: Anyone who has ever paid for Pocket Casts, even before Automattic acquired it, should not see ads. If you did, that's a bug and we'll fix it". YCombinator Hacker News. Archived from the original on 27 Sep 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-26.