Podcast app Pocket Casts has made its Web Player available to all users, free of charge. There’s no catch aside from a gentle nudge to create a free account to access a few extra features. All listeners need to do is head to the website, select a podcast, and start listening.

There’s a reason for the move. Officially, “[b]y making our Web Player available to everyone, we’re reinforcing our belief that podcasts belong to the people, not corporations.” Unofficially, well…

Out of Pocket Casts

There really are no catches for users who want a free podcast service at their fingertips. Making a free account is optional but adds the option to sync playback across multiple devices, the ability to save preferences, and the ability to manage a listening queue.

Why you’d use Pocket Casts will align with the company’s beliefs in how podcasts work. According to the service, “Discovery should be organic, not algorithm-driven. Users should decide what to listen to, not an AI that promotes what’s best for the platform.” That’s… not a bad idea. The search for a podcast of interest can be as entertaining as the podcast itself. Plus, accidentally opening that Xhöömi-focused podcast shouldn’t haunt you for the remainder of your days.

There is a touch of capitalism in the move, too. Another gentle nudge pushes free listeners in the direction of Pocket Casts Plus, which adds support for folders, the ability to bookmark your listening and 20GB of cloud storage. The cost? R860/year. There’s an additional tier for R2,150/year that ups cloud storage to 100GB and gives listeners access to new features first. But the basics? Those are all free.