Pocket Casts

Pocket Casts is a cross-platform podcast client focused on playback quality and subscription management rather than on hosting a catalogue of its own.

Its practical strengths are the playback controls — variable speed, silence trimming, volume boost — and reliable syncing of position across phone, desktop and web.

Because podcasting runs on open feeds, a client like this can subscribe to any show regardless of where it is published, which is the argument for using a dedicated app over a platform's own player.