Feature Request-Dynamic Normalizer & Dynamic Loudness Control
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+1 for me as well, this would be a very useful feature especially given how inconsistent volume levels can be from podcast to podcast (and don’t forget the volume-boosted inserted commercials
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+1 This is so badly needed in 2026. Used to be an avid podcast listener at night but cant anymore due to the aggressive volume boosts on ads and promos. This is a killer feature and I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of a push already on it.
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Thanks for adding your vote, @elnoelio386a6ba752! I’ve made sure to record that for you.
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This feature has been consistently getting votes for a long time, which should make it painfully obvious that users actually care about it. Yet the only thing that ever appears here is the same copy-pasted “
Thank you for your feedback I added your feedback no more than piece of c…” line.
At this point that response doesn’t sound like communication — it sounds like a scripted way to shut the thread up without actually doing anything. Repeating the same line over and over again isn’t an update, it’s just noise.
If this feature is genuinely on the roadmap, then just do it rather than pretending it for over a year.
If it isn’t, then just say it plainly instead of pretending it’s sitting in some mythical copy paste answer.
Right now the whole process looks less like product development and more like a feedback black hole where requests disappear and the comment section gets the same canned response on autopilot every few months.
Get real will you! -
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Strongly support this one. I keep my phone volume low at night, and then a dynamically inserted ad blasts in at nearly double the volume — it’s jarring every time. Even a basic volume leveling toggle would make long listening sessions so much more comfortable.
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Thanks @bmartin19 and @believerdevotedly9596dc0bb5 for adding your voices here.
To be straight with you, since this thread has asked for that: Pocket Casts doesn’t have volume leveling today, on any platform. Volume Boost makes playback louder, but it doesn’t smooth out the jump between quiet conversation and a loud ad, so it won’t help with what you’re describing. I also can’t give you a date or a promise, and I won’t pretend there is one.
A bit of background on why those ads blast: the ad is mixed by the show’s hosting provider and dropped into the stream at whatever loudness they chose. The app plays the audio as it arrives, which is exactly why a leveler is the thing people ask for.
One thing that helps on iPhone in the meantime, especially for night listening on headphones: open Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Headphone Safety and turn on Reduce Loud Sounds. It caps headphone audio at a level you pick, so a loud ad can’t go above it. It’s an iPhone feature rather than something in Pocket Casts, and it only applies to headphones, but it takes the sting out of the ad breaks.
