Pocket Casts
| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2011 |
| Product Type | Software |
| In Production | Yes |
| Official Website | https://pocketcasts.com/ |
Pocket Casts is a podcast player for Android, iOS, and Web.[1]
Consumer impact summary
[edit | edit source]Pocket Casts is free with a paid Plus tier and, historically, one-time "lifetime" license purchases (later branded Champion). Its owner Automattic introduced advertising into the app for paid and lifetime customers in September 2025, reversing a core term of the lifetime purchase, then removed the banner ads for one-time app purchasers in October 2025 following public complaints.[2][3][4]
Incidents
[edit | edit source]Showing advertisements to Champion/Lifetime users (September 2025)
[edit | edit source]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] which 9to5Mac noted "violates an agreement which promised them ad-free usage for life under what was initially branded Pocket Casts Lifetime and later rebranded to Pocket Casts Champion".[3] Support staff responded to complaints justifying the change as necessary to provide ongoing support and development of the app.[5][6]
Prompted by a Hacker News post about a fork of Pocket Casts without ads,[7] Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg posted in the thread claiming that showing ads to users that had purchased a lifetime subscription was a bug.[8] The Verge reported that Mullenweg described the ads as a bug "and will be corrected", while forum staff had described the ads as intentional.[2] On 2 October 2025, The Verge reported that Pocket Casts had turned the ads off for people who paid for old versions of the app, with the company stating "We have removed the banner ads, and they will not be displayed to app purchasers in the future."[4]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ "Listen to podcasts with the best free podcasting app - built by listeners, for listeners". Pocket Casts. Archived from the original on 2026-01-24. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Weatherbed, Jess (2025-09-24). "Pocket Casts is showing ads to people who paid for an ad-free app". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2026-02-15. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lovejoy, Ben (2025-09-24). "Pocket Casts Lifetime members being shown ads, conflicting info from Automattic". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on 2025-09-24. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lawler, Richard (2025-10-02). "Pocket Casts turns off the ads for people who paid for old versions". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2026-03-23. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
- ↑ staff-cara (2025-09-08). "The new advertisements seriously suck". Pocket Casts. Archived from the original on 2025-10-22. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
- ↑ staff-dexter (2025-09-22). "Ads despite being a paid customer". Pocket Casts. Archived from the original on 2025-09-27. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
- ↑ ruph123 (2025-09-23). "Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app". Hacker News. Archived from the original on 2025-09-23. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ photomatt (2025-09-23). "Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app". Hacker News. Archived from the original on 2026-11-04. Retrieved 2025-09-26.