Audiobooks and podcasts have managed to become quite popular in the last 10 years or so. Many of you are probably still looking for the right app in order to enjoy such content. That is why we’ve decided to compile a list of the best audiobook and podcast Android apps. Do note that this list represents our favorite applications, and does not have to reflect your choices, of course.
In the list down below, you’ll be able to find five audiobook Android apps, and five podcasts Android apps. You’ve probably already heard about some of these apps, as these are the best of the best out there, pretty much. Now, do note that for some apps it says that they have no in-app purchases, but that relates to the app itself. We don’t have access to the exact cost of content that you can get, only stuff that the app itself offers in terms of its functionality.
Some of the audiobooks apps offer content for you to enjoy, while there’s one specific app that is only a player for audiobooks, basically. We’ve also listed one app that offers from content, in case you’re looking for something like that as well. In any case, you’ll find quite a few audiobook and podcast Android apps down below. So, if you’re interested, check out the list.
Top 10 best Audiobook & Podcast Android apps 2020
Below is a quick overview of the top 10 best Audiobook & Podcast Android apps for 2020, including any download and in-app purchase costs.

Download Cost
In-app cost (per item)

Audible
✕
✕

Scribd
✕
$10-$14

Free Audiobooks
✕
✕

Audiobooks.com
✕
✕

Sirin
✕
$9

Pocket Casts
✕
$1-$12

Google Podcasts
✕
✕

Podcast Addict
✕
$5

Anchor
✕
✕

Stitcher
✕
$2.5-$57

Top 10 best Audiobook & Podcast Android apps 2020 downloads
Below is a little more information on each app, a suggestion for the type of user the app is best suited to, and a direct link for easy downloading.
All download links go to the app’s Google Play Store listing. Users are always recommended to download apps from Google Play or an authorized app store.
Best audiobook Android app for most users

Audible

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: No
Android version: 4.1+

Audible is quite probably the most popular service for audiobooks. The company’s app is really good, and that goes for the service itself. This app has been rated almost one million times in the Play Store, and it is currently holding a 4.6-star rating. It worked perfectly fine when we used it, and the design is also really good. This is probably the best all-around app for audiobooks in the market, at least for most people.
For those of you who don’t know, Audible is an Amazon-owned company. It has the backing of one of the largest companies in the world, and it offers a ton of content. It has some best-selling audiobooks from a ton of genres, including sci-fi and fantasy, mysteries, self-motivation, memories, ebooks, and so on. Audible gives away two Audible originals every month as well.
There’s plenty of exclusive content available on the service as well. The company does offer a 30-day free trial. That should give you plenty of time to try out the service, before you decide to commit to a membership. The design of this app is in line with the latest standards, and those of you who like dark mode will be right at home here.
Download Audible
Best Audible alternative

Scribd

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: Yes
Android version: Varies with device

Scribd is yet another popular service with audiobooks, and it’s the best alternative to Audible. This service has been around for a long time, and it’s quite popular in its own right. Scribd, much like Audible, offers a 30-day free trial for its users. You can get a good grasp of what the service has to offer before you commit to monthly payments. Even when you subscribe, you can cancel it at any time.
If you do become a paid member, however, you’ll have unlimited access to audiobooks across all genres that the app has to offer. Those genres include personal growth, true crime, business, travel, non-fiction, contemporary fiction, sci-fi, and so on. There’s plenty to choose from. You’ll also get access to unlimited sheet music selections that cover every musical genre, says the company.
That’s not all, though. Unlimited articles from hundreds of magazines including People, New York Magazine, Time, The Atlantic, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, and more are included. You can also tweak the narration speed in this application, and set a sleep timer. Audiobooks can be cached offline, if you anticipate that the internet won’t be available where you plan to listen to your content.
Download Scribd
Best audiobook Android app for free content

Free Audiobooks

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: No
Android version: 4.1

Free Audiobooks app is… well, self-explanatory. This application will offer you a selection of free books that you can listen to. There are over 14,000 audiobooks available inside of this application, so chances are that you’ll find something you like. This app is great to try out audiobooks before you commit to a subscription elsewhere. Though, this app is really good in its own right.
To make things even more compelling, the app does come with Chromecast support. Amongst the offered content are some classics, such as Sherlock Holmes books, Moby Dick, The Art of War, Dracula, Romeo and Juliet, Heart of Darkness, and so on. You can even download these books, and listen to them offline if you want. That is a great feature, and a must-have for many people.
You can search for books by name and author, or simply browse through the catalog based on the genre. You can control read speed rate, and set a sleep timer as well. The interface of this application is extremely simple, anyone can use it, basically. Those of you who like dark modes will probably enjoy this design.
Download Free Audiobooks
Best Android app that offers both audiobooks & podcasts

Audiobooks.com

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: No
Android version: Varies with device

Audiobooks.com service and app are a great choice for someone who wants to have one app for both audiobooks and podcasts. This is also a paid service, but when you sign up, you’ll get two free audiobooks. Before you sign up, though, you can use the app to browse through the catalog, and see if there’s something you’d be interested in… and chances are there is. This app has a huge catalog of audiobooks.
There are over 150,000 titles to choose from, while about 8,000 of them are free. You’ll also get access to over 700,000 top podcasts once you start using this application. You can also download both audiobooks and podcasts for offline listening, that is also something this app offers. A sleep timer is built in here, as is into most major audiobooks applications out there, and it can be quite handy.
The design of this app is fairly simple, and straight to the point. All focus is on the content here, and audiobooks and podcasts are shown inside white cards. All in all, finding the book or podcasts to enjoy is not a problem at all. This application is currently holding a 4.4-star rating in the Play Store, and has over 30,000 reviews.
Download Audiobooks.com
Best audiobook player Android app

Sirin

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: Yes
Android version: 5.0+

Sirin is a bit different than the other audiobook apps on this list. This is an audiobook player, not a service that is meant to sell you audiobooks. Sirin does come with a built-in torrent client, though. That should make it easier to download some audiobook content. Do note that this audiobook player allows you to listen to content in a number of different audio formats, so it’s up to you.
It supports mp3, Apple m4b, flac, ogg, opus, wma, wv, etc. The app will automatically analyze audio files metadata tags that you download, and that includes both chapters and cover art. So, using this app, you can listen to audiobooks from your phone’s storage, after you download them. Grouping audiobooks into series is also available for better library organization.
This player allows you to use gestures to fast forward or rewind, which is quite useful. A sleep timer is built into this player, and the same goes for the narration speed adjustment. The app is very simple to use, and a dark mode is set by default. This app also has a really high rating in the Play Store at the moment, it sits at 4.7 stars.
Download Sirin
Best Podcast Android app for most users

Pocket Casts

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: Yes
Android version: Varies with device

Pocket Casts is one of the most popular podcast apps for Android. The app has been having some issues since the recent redesign, which is why its rating in the Play Store dropped considerably. We did not have any issues with the app, however, and it still works as well as ever. This application looks great, works great, and it’s also not heavy on the battery. that is a great combination for every app, basically.
You can choose between light and dark modes inside the app (even one for OLED displays is available), and the UI is also very friendly. You can either stream podcasts, or cache them for offline listening, whichever works for you. There are tons of podcasts to choose from here, and you can, of course, subscribe to those you’re interested in. This app also offers support for Android Auto, Chromecast, Alexa, and Sonos.
Such options are always great, and it just means that you can listen to your podcasts anytime, anywhere, any way you want. You can build a playback queue of your favorite show in this application, and trim silence from some episodes. You can even tweak the play speed from 0.5 to 3x if you want, while a volume boost option is also available. These are only some of the features the app offers, there are plenty included here.
Download Pocket Casts
Best Podcast Android app for purists

Google Podcasts

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: No
Android version: Varies with device

Google Podcasts is also a very popular app for podcasts, which is not surprising considering this is Google’s app. This application is currently holding a 4.4-star rating in the Play Store, though it’s not the most feature-packed app on the list. This application will offer you all the standard features you’d expect out of a podcast app, but those more advanced ones are not included.
To the vast majority of people, that won’t represent a problem, though. You can find, listen to, and subscribe to your favorite podcasts. Custom recommendations are available in the app, as the app will suggest podcasts that are based on your listening history. You can, of course, manually browser various categories as well, until you find something you’re actually interested in.
This app allows you to queue up episodes as well, and also check out your listening history. You can listen to your podcasts via multiple devices, without losing your place. You can even set the app to auto-download specific shows, so that they’re always ready to go, even when you’re not online. This app’s UI is in line with Google’s design language, so most of you will be right at home.
Download Google Podcasts
Best Pocket Casts alternative

Podcast Addict

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: Yes
Android version: Varies with device

Podcast Addict is yet another great app for podcasts, and one of the best alternatives to Pocket Casts. This app is currently holding a 4.7-star rating in the Play Store, and is one of the best-rated podcast apps on the platform. The app has been rated over 500,000 times, by the way. This app offers over 950,000 podcasts to listen to, and in addition to that, you also have access to both radio stations and audiobooks.
Over 120,000 radios are available, and over 20,000 audiobooks. Podcast addict is not the best choice for audiobooks, there are dedicated apps for that that we talked about, but it can be of use, of course. That’s not all, though. You can enjoy YouTube, Twitch, and SoundCloud channels via this app, and also RSS News feeds, believe it or not. This app is trying to do a lot of things at the same time, and it does them well.
Podcast Addict offers automatic cloud backup for your content, and you can search for podcasts as well, using the search tool. You can always browse podcasts via categories, while both Chromecast and Sonos are supported. This app also gives you custom settings on per-podcast basis, while advanced playback features are also available. Features like shuffle mode, loop mode, sleep timer, and so on. This is one of the best apps on Android that offers both podcast and audibook content.
Download Podcast Addict
Best Android app for recording podcasts

Anchor

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: No
Android version: 5.0+

Anchor is a bit different than other apps on the list. This application comes with a rather different UI, and its focus is on recording podcasts. The thing is, it’s different, but that’s not a bad thing, not at all. The UI is extremely simple to navigate, it basically pushes you in the right direction. It’s also quite colorful, and that is something many people will appreciate, especially getting used to more „boring” designs.
You can create high-quality audio using this application. You can either use your phone’s microphone, or plug in an external one, it’s up to you. Anchor even allows you to take voice messages from your listeners, and add their questions / submissions to your next episode. You can even add a variety of transitions and sound effects to your podcasts with this app. Now, if you’d like to add a song from Spotify, that’s not a problem either.
Trimming and editing your recordings is a breeze as well. All in all, this is a very competent podcast recording studio included inside an app. Analytics are available here as well, and they allow you to track the growth of your channel. Anchor is the best podcast-recording app that we’ve stumbled upon thus far, hands down.
Download Anchor
Best podcast Android app for beginners

Stitcher

Price: Free to download
In-app purchases: Yes
Android version: 4.2+

Stitcher is a podcast-listening app that has a really friendly UI. It’s really easy to navigate, and chances are this is one of the best recommendations for people who are starting to listen to podcasts. It’s also a good choice for non-tech-savvy people. It’s actually back-to-back with Google Podcasts in that regard. The UI is really simple, you have four tabs on the bottom, and using them you navigate through different parts of the UI.
This app is free, though a 'Premium’ subscription is also available. Finding new podcasts to listen to is really simple here as well. You can either use the general search that is available, or browse through many categories until you find something you like. Stitcher also has an exclusive back catalog podcast episodes of My Favorite Murder, True Crime Garage, Conan O’Brien, and so on.
Listening to podcast episodes offline is a possibility here as well, and you can even create custom podcast playlists. This app can connect with your Sonos speaker thanks to an Amazon Alexa skill. Android Auto is supported here, and the same goes for Waze. All in all, Stitcher is one of the best podcast apps in the market, and it’s worth trying out.
Download Stitcher
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