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Best Podcast Listening Apps for iPhone (2026)
Audible: Audiobooks & Podcasts is the top-ranked of 23 podcast listening apps on iPhone, at S tier with 4.9/5 from 5,611,140 ratings.
- 1
Free + IAP · ★ 4.9 · 5,611,140 ratings · score 99 - 2
Free · ★ 4.9 · 2,074,832 ratings · score 99 - 3
Free + IAP · ★ 4.9 · 200,457 ratings · score 97 - 4
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 309,478 ratings · score 97 - 5
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 3,387,868 ratings · score 95
What belongs in this list
Listen to podcasts and audio series on the phone.
Not here: an audiobook player alone; a radio streaming app alone; a podcast recorder or creation tool alone; a general audio player alone; a music streaming app alone
How we pick
For this list we ask the App Store the same searches a person would, in several countries, and keep every app it returns. A model reads each app's listing and rejects the ones that only mention the use case. Every app that stays is scored out of 100 from four parts, each 0 to 100 and averaged with no weights: its App Store rating, how many people rated it, where the App Store itself ranks it for this list's searches, and how recently its current version shipped. An app showing Apple's Editors' Choice badge gets a fifth part of 100, which can only lift its score. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier. Read the full method →
Compare every app
- 1Free + IAP · ★ 4.9 · 5,611,140 ratings · score 99 · best in class
- 2Free · ★ 4.9 · 2,074,832 ratings · score 99 · best in class
- 3Free + IAP · ★ 4.9 · 200,457 ratings · score 97 · best in class
- 4Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 309,478 ratings · score 97 · best in class
- 5Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 3,387,868 ratings · score 95 · best in class
- 6
Free · ★ 4.8 · 42,635,516 ratings · score 95 · best in class - 7
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 16,129 ratings · score 93 · best in class - 8
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 47,969 ratings · score 92 · excellent - 9
Free download · ★ 4.6 · 9,195 ratings · score 92 · excellent - 10
Free · ★ 4.8 · 7,366 ratings · score 92 · excellent - 11
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 53,951 ratings · score 89 · excellent - 12
Free · ★ 4.8 · 13,457 ratings · score 88 · excellent - 13
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 3,083,388 ratings · score 88 · excellent - 14
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 650,350 ratings · score 87 · excellent - 15
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 4,688 ratings · score 82 · good - 16
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 11,750 ratings · score 80 · good - 17
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 29,202 ratings · score 70 · situational · provisional - 18
Free download · ★ 4.9 · 3,000 ratings · score 68 · situational · provisional - 19
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 3,303 ratings · score 68 · situational · provisional - 20
Free download · ★ 4.5 · 92,323 ratings · score 68 · situational · provisional - 21
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 4,790 ratings · score 56 · weak - 22
Free download · ★ 4.6 · 4,132 ratings · score 42 · avoid · provisional - 23
$2.99 · ★ 4.3 · 2,675 ratings · score 41 · avoid · provisional
New in the last 30 days
- Audible: Audiobooks & Podcasts (S)
- Amazon Music: Songs & Podcasts (S)
- Pocket Casts: Podcast Player (S)
- Castro: Podcast App & Player (A)
- Podomatic Podcast Player (A)
- Spreaker Podcasts (A)
- SiriusXM: Music, Sports & News (A)
- Player FM - Podcast App (B)
- OnePlace: Christian Podcasts (B)
- LiveOne Music (C)
- WHYY Listen: News & Podcasts (C)
- Podcast & Radio - iVoox (C)
- Audacy: Radio & Sports Talk (C)
- Breaker - The social podcast app (D)
- Mirchi Plus-Bollywood,Podcast (F)
- Downcast (F)
Questions people ask
- What is the best podcast listening app for iPhone?
- Audible: Audiobooks & Podcasts, S tier, ranked #1 of 23, rated 4.9 by 5,611,140 people.
- Which podcast listening apps are free?
- 22 of 23 are free to download: Audible: Audiobooks & Podcasts (S), Apple Podcasts (S), Podcast App & Player - Castbox (S), Podcast App (S) and more. 12 of them sell in-app purchases. 4 report no in-app purchases.
- Which podcast listening app has the best App Store rating?
- Podcast App & Player - Castbox at 4.9 from 200,457 ratings.
- How many podcast listening apps reach S or A tier?
- 14 of 23. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier.
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