Pocket Casts
Pocket Casts is a podcast player for Android, iOS, and Web[1].
Pocket Casts
| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2011 |
| Product Type | Software |
| In Production | Yes |
| Official Website | https://pocketcasts.com/ |
Consumer-impact summary
The company that bought the Pocket Casts app, Automattic, reneged on its promise to never show ads to Lifetime purchasers of the app.
Incidents
Showing advertisements to Champion/Lifetime users (September 2025)
- Main article: link to the main CR Wiki article
In 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
References
- ↑ https://pocketcasts.com/
- ↑ https://www.theverge.com/news/784429/pocket-casts-ads-lifetime-memberships-complaints
- ↑ https://forums.pocketcasts.com/forums/topic/the-new-advertisements-seriously-suck/#post-10923
- ↑ https://forums.pocketcasts.com/forums/topic/ads-despite-being-a-paid-customer/#post-11055
- ↑ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45354405