When comparing Spotify vs Podcasts, the Slant community recommends Podcasts for most people. In the question“What are the best podcast apps for iOS?” Podcasts is ranked 9th while Spotify is ranked 11th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Huge collection of music and fast access to newly released songs
Spotify has over 20 million songs and arguably the largest collection out of its competitors and usually has the fastest access to new music.
The Spotify desktop client allows local music files to be imported with the option of syncing with a mobile device which largely mitigates the issue of missing artists.
Pro Related artists
Helps to find new authors based on your previous picks
Pro Client's functionality can be extended via third-party apps
Spotify desktop client allows for third-party apps. They extend the functionality of Spotify and many of them offer new ways of discovering music. Noteworthy apps include Moodagent, Last.fm, Swarm.fm, ShareMyPlaylists, The Hype Machine, We Are Hunted, Shuffler.fm.
Pro Curated playlists
Public playlists on Spotify created by other people are great for finding new music.
Pro Has a free version
A free, ad-supported account allows streaming from an extensive library of music.
Pro Weekly Discover playlist uses a great algorithm
A playlist generated by Spotify based on your listening habits and released every Monday. The algorithm used by this playlist is great and stands out from its competitors.
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
Cons
Con Free account have lots of ads
If you hate commercials, you would buy Premium or go on using something else.
Con Discovery is terrible
The discovery algorithm is poor and does not learn fast enough. Not obvious how to train it.
Con Poor audio quality
There's a high range of bitrates and most of vary from average to bad.
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.