# Apple Podcasts Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-podcasts/ 7 people recommended Apple Podcasts in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 27 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. 4 of the 7 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Anthropic Cowork feature creates 10GB VM bundle on macOS without warning”. **Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Free app that plays podcast episodes reliably and is organized sensibly. Critics mainly cite unreliable downloads and promoted ads. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Downloaded episodes often missing (3 comments in the sample): "The iOS Podcast app doesn't allow me to delete certain podcasts from the downloads section." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47036751)) "it turns out it was the Podcasts app's cache, while the app itself reported no downloads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47237939)) "90% of the time the downloaded episode is not there even if you just downloaded it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46728852)) - Ads and promoted shows in suggestions (3 comments in the sample): "real human podcast listeners might suffer with spammy fake shows even on Apple Podcasts and Spotify" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48589109)) "It infuriates me that Apple Podcast slips in ads for podcasts I have no interest in as suggestions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50081827)) "You can blame apple podcasts for showing ads featuring random podcasts that apple is promoting." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50082444)) - Auto-downloads gigabytes of audio (2 comments in the sample): "There's no reason to default to downloading gigabytes of audio files if they could be streamed with no issue whatsoever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47219514)) "decided to download 120GB of podcasts for random reason and never deleted them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47218773)) - Janky navigation and Up Next (2 comments in the sample): "in Podcasts you can tap between Home and Library to see the selection jank around the middle New tab." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49641411)) "Podcast app's "Up Next" is a magical mystery list that can't be disabled or guided." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46752855)) ## Why people recommend it - Works well for many listeners (3 comments in the sample): "things like Safari and Apple Podcasts work really well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46754154)) "Works great for me. No subscription required." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47219144)) "It's absolutely fine, from what I can tell" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47219025)) - Downloads and plays files reliably (2 comments in the sample): "It's meh, but it plays podcast episodes reliably." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46590994)) "Apple Podcasts downloads the files fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50071070)) - Fast, sensible library organization (2 comments in the sample): "Apple Podcasts is organized like I'd expect a podcast app to be." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47219489)) "very fast for me now after library migration" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49708133)) ## Other podcast apps people recommend - [AntennaPod](https://hackerapproved.com/p/antennapod/): 12 recommend, 5 mixed, 0 criticize - [Overcast podcast app](https://hackerapproved.com/p/overcast/): 9 recommend, 6 mixed, 3 criticize - [Pocket Casts](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pocket-casts/): 6 recommend, 3 mixed, 2 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Podcasts", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-podcasts/ (7 recommend, 3 mixed, 27 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.