Podcast apps are one category where I feel it's worth spending a few dollars to get the right app rather than using a free one that may not live up to your expectations. Not all of the best Android apps are free, after all. Pocket Cast ($3.99) is the best podcast app for Android, and its one-time price is quite reasonable. It has excellent features and rich options in a good interface and lets you sync your listening experience across multiple devices. Pocket Casts is PCMag's Editors' Choice for Android podcast catchers and players.

The Pocket Casts Android app is similar to the Pocket Casts iPhone app; readers should refer to that review for a deeper dive of all the features. Below, I'll summarize the app and point out some of the features that are exclusive to Android or that differ from the iPhone app.

Podcast Catching
To get started with Pocket Casts, you'll need to first buy the $3.99 app from Google Play and install it. If you use other instances of Pocket Casts, such as the version for iPhone or Windows Phone, you'll end up paying for those separately. There's also a Pocket Casts Web app for Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer, for a one-time fee of $9.

With the Pocket Casts app on your Android phone, you can search for your favorite podcasts, or by importing an OPML file if you're migrating from another podcast catcher and player app. It's easy to start loading up your app right away with shows you like, as there are no sign-up barriers whatsoever. If you choose to sync the Android app with other instances of Pocket Casts, you'll want to create an account, but it's not required. You can find that functionality in the Settings.

The app includes features for creating custom lists, naming them and assigning each list an icon, automatically deleting episodes once you've played them, automatically skipping ahead a certain amount of time that you set for each podcast (my favorite feature), and more.

Detailed settings and options (some of them are pretty geeky) are what make Pocket Casts shine. An optional Android home screen widget puts skip and pause controls front and center on your phone.

When it comes to discovering new shows, Pocket Casts' section for exploring new and recommended podcasts is slightly above average, but nothing to write home about. Seeing as Android users don't have the option of using iTunes to find new podcasts, the search and exploration features in Pocket Cast are especially important on this platform. You can browse shows by category, as well as look at what's popular nearby, which is slightly more novel.

The Acast Android app delivers a more interesting cross-section of suggested podcasts primarily because it includes plenty of shows from the U.K. and Sweden. I like the idea of getting international recommendations (Acast is a Swedish company), but there are no language filters in Acast to help you eliminate podcasts in languages you don't speak. Still, if you can't find anything new or interesting using Pocket Casts, Acast is worth a shot. Plus it's free.

Stitcher also is in the business of recommending new podcast content to you, but it focuses on news and single episodes. It's a neat tool if you tap into podcasts that come from radio news organizations to stay on top of current events. On Android, it will even use push notifications to tell you about breaking news. On the flip side, that same feature is annoying if every time you want to listen to a storytelling show, Stitcher is trying to tell you what happened at The White House today.

Make Pocket Casts Your Podcast Catcher on Android
Because of its detailed settings and options, including the ability to sync your listening experience across multiple devices, Pocket Casts is our Editors' Choice among podcast catchers and players on Android.