Advertisements Are Unnacceptable
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I bought this app back before it went freemium. I also subscribed to the Pro version at the $10 price point despite not valuing the features because I wanted to support the developers.
When the price change went through a couple years ago I got the “glitch” that wasn’t going to grandfather me into the correct price. I reached out to support as per the still-pinned (as of writing) thread, but received NO response. With the date of change approaching, I cancelled my Pro subscription. After all, I wasn’t using any of the features.
Now there are ads in the app that I already paid for. For me, this is non-negotiable. $40 a year is far too much just to remove ads, and I still have no use for the other features. I’d be willing to pay the $10 annually that I used to in order to remove the ads, but otherwise I intend to find another app.
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Im really disappointed to report the same. I bought this app back in 2015 both for iOS and android.
I’ve been a near daily user of this application since then and recommended to friends regularly.
If I am now to be shown adverts and reminded regularly to pay more for an app unpaid for in their early days then I cannot use that app. I don’t believe customers should pay twice for the same thing.
Yes software is expensive to develop, yes there are bills to pay, yes it’s hard to maintain an app without a revenue stream.
The business model reflects the culture. Treat your loyal customers how you would like to be treated. Don’t disrespect loyalty and early followers.
Fix the decision please and allow those who paid for the app to have a lifetime ad free experience as a thank you for their early belief in the product.
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I bought the app in 2017 and have been using it ever since. It had everything I needed. I never needed any of the “plus” features, because, let’s be honest, they’re kinda lame.
However, from Pocket Cast’s knowledge base, it says:
Purchases of the Android or iOS app prior to September 18, 2019 do not qualify for Pocket Casts Champion status, which includes lifetime access to Pocket Casts Plus. However, you’ll still have access to all the mobile app features you previously paid for, even without Pocket Casts Plus.
Being ad free was one of the features that I bought the app for. I loathe ads. I could have taken any of the 100s of free podcast apps at the time and had ads, but instead I decided to pay for and support this app.
I am not willing to pay 45 Euros a year to remove ads, because that’s the only feature I’m interested in here, I don’t care about any of the plus features. However if you add some good features, I might be persuaded.
Also, regarding the price, why the hell does the app cost 45 EUR but 40 USD??? If you convert that to USD, that’s almost $53, more than 30% more expensive!
If the ads aren’t removed, I’ll move to a different app and even pay for it, if it has a reasonable price. But this price and the enshittification of the app seems like just another cash grab at the expense of loyal users.
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Thank you for your feedback about the banner ads in the free version of the app.
If you would like us to check your specific account for subscription options please reach out for support at https://support.pocketcasts.com/ -
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I have the EXACT same experience as the OP. I paid for the app when you didn’t need to and then somehow lost access to those features when it went to subscription. I swallowed that and continued to use Pocket Casts. Now this banner ad appeared and if it’s not gone in 2 weeks, I’ll migrate entirely to use spotify, or something else, and never be back.
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Yep – I’m in the same position. I was a long-time, paid Pocket Weather user, and loved it. Pocket Weather closed, and as a show of support – at the developer’s suggestion – paid for the ‘extra/pro’ (I can’t remember the exact term) version of Pocket Casts; I think this was in 2019. I supported as much as was possible to do so then.
@staff-eleanor, I think there’s a key difference in understanding in your sentence: “Thank you for your feedback about the banner ads in the free version of the app.” We are users of a paid app. If the paid app no longer exists, what did we pay for?
From the Pocket Casts blog:
We’re not in the ad sales business. We’re not in the ad tech business. We’re in the building great products that people love business. We have no intention of changing that. We believe podcast producers all over the world need ways to make money, and while advertising is one of those ways, it’s not an area we’re interested in.I get that times change, and businesses have needs. This just feels very disloyal to the people who supported you – it’s a gross feeling, and I’m really disappointed.
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The AI bot who responded to my email (this is not my opinion, it self-identified as an AI bot), doesn’t understand what @staff-eleanor is offering, either.
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It’s also the worst ad placement. If it loads a second too slow, I can click on a podcast and then the ad loads and acts as if I clicked it. More subtle ads buried in the UX would be tolerable (to me) at least, such as on the search page, but where it is sucks so bad.
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Same story here. I tried many apps before I settled on pocket cast. I chose it and supported it back in the day. Now I feel annoyed and betrayed and will be testing out the competition again. Does anyone have any early preferences in the race to a new podcast app?
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Came here to complain about the ads, like everybody else. I feel a tiny bit better to learn that, so far, the only “ads” I’ve actually seen have been for the Pro subscription, or links to the company’s other apps. Would still rather not have them, but still don’t think a podcast player (even a great one!) is worth a subscription more expensive than what I spend on my Nintendo family plan.
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It’s a classic en****ification of an acquired product unfortunately.
New features, but many are unnecessary. Nobody has ever needed cloud storage as part of a podcast app. Or shuffle or icons. You are really going to annoy your loyal users up to this point.
I wouldn’t like to lose 309 day listen time, the stats are fun. but I will happily move on
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We have removed the banner ads, and they will not be displayed to app purchasers in the future. Thank you for your continued support of Pocket Casts.
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Sorry to say it @staff-dexter, but it’s too little too late. I’ve already migrated to AntennaPod and I don’t think I’ll ever be using any Automattic products ever again, especially not paying for it. Automattic has completely destroyed any trust I had in the company.
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Automattic has completely destroyed any trust I had in the company
… by putting a link to one of the company’s other products in the app you gave them 5 bucks for almost a decade ago? I mean let’s try to keep a sense of scale here.
I think the banner was a mistake, but they’ve reversed course after backlash, which is better than I expected. Maybe the bar is low because so many formerly-great products and sites have been bought out and run into the ground by private-equity douchebags, but this feels like a win to me.
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It’s the principle of the matter.
The app was sold to me with lifetime access. When Automattic took over, they promised that we would still have access to the same features. Then they arbitrarily decide to renege on their promise.
This is unacceptable to me. This means that they could and would renege on any promise they make. I don’t care if the app cost $5, $50 or $0.50. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
I’m glad you feel it’s a win, but I don’t feel like they deserve any praise just because they went back on breaking their promise.
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It’s hardly fair to call a rollback of the offending change “too little,” but “too late” is entirely subjective. I also decided to try out Antennapod the other day after not receiving any response (besides the AI bot) to my email to support for over 24 hours (it’s now over 60 hours without a response and counting, but that’s way lower tha. The 2.5 years going on my last email).
I appreciate that the offending ads have been rolled back, but I am not impressed by the conduct of the company, nor the speed of their responses.
staff-eleanor · Staff <time datetime=”2025-09-22T18:08:15-03:00″>September 22, 2025 5:08 pm</time>
“Thank you for your feedback about the banner ads in the free version of the app.”
but I don’t have the free version of the app, I have the paid version; and if the price change to the legacy Plus subscription had a) worked correctly or b) been resolved by support when I contacted them, I would have stayed subscribed to it. I would STILL be subscribed to it, and therefore, I would never have noticed that ANY of this happened. We would all be happier.
Now, I’m currently watching another of my support tickets be ignored, although to be fair, with the ads rolled back, I’m unlikely to resubscribe to Plus right now given this whole mini-fiasco.
I’m gonna try Antennapod for the rest of the week, but I’ll amend my play store review and consider whether Pocketcasts is, ultimately, a better user experience.
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I’m happy that the banners have disappeared, thanks for listening to our complaints. I had moved to another app but I’m back.
Pocket Casts Forum 