Podbean is a podcast app that aims to deliver a top-notch listening experience for those who enjoy podcasts. It has a collective of podcasts from just about any genre and category from gaming to politics, so no matter what type of podcasts you enjoy listening to there is a chance that Podbean has you covered. You can browse through recommended podcasts or take a more pinpointed approach and search for a specific podcast that you want to listen to. Let’s take a closer look at Podbean and see what it has to offer, shall we?
Before you can get started, you’ll need to have the app on your device. To do so, simply head to the Play Store and install Podbean on your smartphone or tablet.
Upon opening the app you’ll be greeted with an optional login screen, but more importantly just beyond this point is the page to help you configure your personalized podcast experience. Here you can select what types of podcast topics you’re interested in and you simply have to tap on the ones you’d like to listen to before hitting done.
Once you’ve selected the topics you like, you’ll be taken to the main screen of the app which features a collective of recommended topics for you to choose from based on the ones you checked off in the beginning.
There are also tabs for the Hot Topics which is where you’ll find podcast topics that are trending and fairly popular. If you’re looking for something that others like but aren’t necessarily sure what you want to listen to, this can be a good place to start.
Alternatively, there is also a tab for the Top 100 podcasts, so if you want to listen to something which is among the most popular podcasts that are available, this is the tab you’ll want to start with, as you’ll find options like The Joe Rogan Experience, TED Radio Hour, Radiolab and more.
Podbean also allows you to “favorite” certain podcasts, and you can download them for listening offline when you have no internet connection. You can also see your podcast playlists if you have created any, and you can view the podcasts that you follow as well. All of this information can be found by tapping on the second button at the top of the app that looks like the podcast icon.
If you click on a particular podcast, this is where you can tap the button to follow it, and you can see the list of podcast episodes as well as how many followers they currently have and how many plays their podcast has. You can view their podcast episodes by ones you’ve downloaded, or view the entire list.
Under the settings menu of the app you’ll find various options to help you customize your experience with Podbean, like toggling the autoplay for the next episode or toggling the option for auto downloading new episodes as they’re uploaded to the podcast. Here you can also toggle the ability to stream and download podcasts over the cell network, as leaving them disabled will only allow you to stream and download via Wi-Fi.
As podcast apps go, Podbean appears to have all of the necessary features that one could want. It lets you select your podcast topics at the beginning to start you off with a personalized experience, and lets you further personalize it with options to favorite podcasts and follow the ones you like most. You can also search for podcasts if you learn of one by name that you haven’t heard of, and there are options to download podcasts for offline listening if need be. Podbean also features a material design style UI which is nice to have in apps these days. Although not a requirement, signing into Podbean with a social account or creating a Podbean account does offer some benefits and a more personalized experience that is worth considering.
Ratings
- Speed (5/5) – The app seems top open and function rather quickly and operate fluidly without issues.
- Theme (4/5) – The Material Design elements are a nice touch and should be appreciated by users.
- Features (4/5) – More than enough features to make it a relevant podcast app and an enjoyable one at that.
- Overall (4/5) – A decent podcast option that offers up plenty of enjoyable features and content.
Pros
- A good list of podcast topics to choose from
- A search function
- Download options for offline listening
- A Favorites list
- Top 100 and Hot Topics tabs to help narrow down options
Cons
- Podbean offers a decent amount of features, but has no onboarding tutorial which some users might find helpful if they aren’t used to podcast apps.
Podbean is a great application for listening to podcasts as it boasts a nice up to date UI as well as options for a personalized experience. While the Hot Topics and Top 100 tabs can be very useful, sometimes these still won’t have what you may be looking for which is why the inclusion of a search option is imperative, and luckily Podbean has you covered as you can search for podcasts nice and easy. If you know exactly what you want to listen to, you can add the podcasts you already know that you love to your favorites list as well as followed podcasts, and easily get to these each time you open the app by going straight to your lists. If you don’t yet have a dedicated podcast app, check out Podbean.