Podcast Addict

Podcast Addict is the most-installed indie podcast app on Android, built and maintained by a single developer, Xavier Guillemane, since 2012. It's the closest thing the Android podcasting world has to an institution.

Origins

Xavier launched Podcast Addict as an indie project through his one-person outfit Bambuna in 2012, at a time when Android podcast apps were mostly rough or short-lived. It's now sitting at more than 10 million downloads with roughly a 4.7-star rating across half a million reviews, and, across the whole app's life, more than two billion episode downloads. All of that from a single developer, working on Podcast Addict as a full-time job funded by the paid tier, with no acquisition and no corporate parent.

What it does

Podcast Addict does the most in a single app of anything in this directory. Beyond RSS podcasts, it also handles internet radio, audiobooks, YouTube channels, SoundCloud, Twitch streams, and RSS news feeds, all queued into the same listening surface. That "one app to rule them all" ethos won't be for everyone (Overcast users find the interface busy on purpose), but for people who want everything spoken-word in one place, the app is unmatched.

Feature-wise: dynamic silence-skip, volume boost, sleep timer, Chromecast, Android Auto, OPML import and export, and dark mode, plus a strong per-podcast configuration story (auto-download rules, expiry, playlist targeting, and per-show volume offsets). Podcasting 2.0 spec support has been landing steadily as the tags mature.

Where you get it

Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and Aptoide, all Android. There's no iOS version; the codebase and Xavier's development environment are Android-first. The app is free at install, with a one-time Premium upgrade that supports the developer and unlocks background download rules. No subscription.

Current stance

Continuously developed since 2012, released on a steady cadence, and financially independent. If you're on Android and you want the most powerful long-lived indie player around, Podcast Addict is it. If you want a leaner, more opinionated take on the same open ethos, AntennaPod is the natural comparison. Podcast Addict does more; AntennaPod does less on purpose. Both are reasonable answers.