AntennaPod
FreeAn Android podcast client that subscribes over RSS, with no platform in between
An open-source Android podcast client that subscribes to RSS feeds directly, with no podcast platform account involved. It supports automatic downloads, per-show playback speed, intro and outro skipping, chapter navigation, a sleep timer and OPML import and export, with subscriptions and progress stored on the phone.
Why we picked it
GPL-3.0, 8,161 stars.
Podcasting was built on RSS; decentralisation was the factory setting. The last several years re-centralised it: install a particular app, sign in, and what you listen to gets recorded to recommend you more. AntennaPod walks back — one RSS address is one subscription, with nobody in between.
Switching clients costs almost nothing. OPML import and export is a standard format, so moving from another app is a single file.
To be clear about:
- Android only; there is no iOS release.
- Discovery is weaker than a platform's. It searches the Podcast Index and the iTunes directory but has no algorithmic recommendations — a trade, not a defect.