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I'm looking for an app to listen to podcasts. Ideally it should be able to download episodes for later playback (when network connection won't be available) and be able to resume from where I left off (if I pause an episode).

I'm not too concerned with features for channel discovery. RSS feed subscription is enough.

Preferably without advertisements, even if it's a for-pay app.

The app should have a decently looking UI and developer support (not abandonware).

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    I had to read this 3 times until I found where to make the "break": should be able to download episodes for playback without a network connection (there's no "download..without network" ;) Did you take a look at BeyondPod? I'm not using it myself, so I cannot tell if it fits your needs. Here's a video demo, and there are also some special hints. – Izzy♦ Jun 24 '14 at 9:30
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Podkicker Podcast Player is free; Podkicker Pro is cheap; and both are rated 4 stars or better on Google Play.

I'm currently subscribed to around 35 podcasts and I typically have in excess of 1GB of audio downloaded/managed by the app on my Nexus 7.

Features I like/use:

  • Pause point for each podcast is saved/maintained separately
  • Pause/stop on the Android security screen (Pro version only, I believe)
  • Pause/stop controls in the system's notification pulldown
  • Live update of update/download progress in the system's notification pulldown
  • Ability to apply multiple tags to each podcast subscribed to, so that the listings can be filtered (sometimes you're in the mood for politics, sometimes sports, sometimes humor, etc.)
  • Full display of the description text from the RSS feed is available
  • Display of 'time since' an episode was published
  • Display of space used/left on the device, so I'm aware when house cleaning is needed
  • Ability to export selected episodes to the Android file system for transfer to other devices
  • Ability to stream &/or download podcasts
  • On demand update of the list of episodes available (auto-update + notifications + auto-download are available, but I don't use them)
  • Playlist is separate from the list of downloads & the order of the playlist can be revised via drag-and-drop gesturing (drag-and-drop on Pro-version only, I believe)

The app has been around a while and has a stable (debugged) feature set.

It's not the fanciest, but it works very well; and I use it every day.

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  • This answer looks pretty spammy at the moment. Could you flesh it out some more? – Seth Jul 1 '14 at 4:18
  • Updated with the list of features I use (including what the OP mentioned). Is this more on topic? – GJoe Jul 1 '14 at 5:44
  • Yes! Much better! – Seth Jul 1 '14 at 12:37
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Check out Pocket Casts. I can download podcasts for use later offline listening, does resume podcasts where you left off, and it has the best UI of any podcast app I've seen.

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After trying several players in the past, I settled on Podcast Addict. It matches your criteria:

  • Ability to download episodes for offline listening
  • Tracks your progress so you can resume later (this works for multiple episodes)
  • Supports RSS subscription and searching podcasts by name
  • Has two versions (both have the same features):
    • an ad supported one (no pop-up ads, just a banner)
    • a "donate" version with no ads for 2,49 €
  • Nice looking customizable UI (list or icon view), plus a home screen player widget for quick access

enter image description here

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I settled on BeyondPod. I tried DoggCacher and some of the suggestions here too.

Both had a trial period to test them out. Both allowed updating and downloading feeds at night and have the content ready for later when net connection is not available.

They both had some issues with bluetooth and wired controls (music player would play when trying to use podcasts, or the other way around). But I think this is more about the phone. Both podcast apps allow disabling the controls.

I went with BeyondPod because it had support for Feedly, and that is a nice convenience for me (although it wasn't in the original post).

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