When comparing Podcasts vs Player FM, the Slant community recommends Player FM for most people. In the question“What are the best podcast apps for iOS?” Player FM is ranked 8th while Podcasts is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Player FM is:
Functional web app that shares settings with Android app.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Comes pre-installed
Pro Sleep timer
Pro Free
Pro Can auto-download new episodes
You can set the app to automatically download new episodes. Additionally, you can set how many episodes should be stored locally.
Pro Saves podcasts to the iTunes directory
Pro Web player
Functional web app that shares settings with Android app.
Pro Seamless offline support
Latest episodes from Subscriptions and Play Later are automatically kept offline.
Pro Discovery
Can follow whole topics and search individual episodes.
Pro Cloud sync
Subscriptions and favorite topics sync across devices and the web.
Pro Best online support
Pro No ads
This shows a responsible attitude about in-app ads.
Cons
Con Very slow searching through podcasts catalogs
Con Makes my iPhone hot when using with associated battery drain (iPhone 11 Pro)
Still not fixed in iOS 17. Finally have to give up on this app.
Con Random shutdowns
A few people have issues with the app randomly deciding to shut down or not starting.
Con Next played episode is wrong sometimes
On some podcasts when an episode ends the player "jumps" to the last episode or even to an entirely different podcast.