Do you love a good listen? The lend me your ears! Smartphones have triggered a podcast and audiobook revolution. There has never been so much variety and choice out there for those who enjoy the spoken word. And with these apps, you'll never run out of opportunities and ways to listen.
Whether you're looking for an app that will find your new favourite podcast for you or just organise your favourites in one place, whether you're looking for the broadest or the cheapest selection of audiobooks (or even free audiobooks), we've got an app for you.
Podcast apps
Pocket Casts
Available on: Google Play, App Store
If you're serious about podcasts, you're going to love Pocketcasts. This is perhaps the slickest podcast app around with a beautiful interface, a customisable playback list, auto-download for new episodes (optional), the ability to download or stream, auto-delete for episodes you've listened to, audio effects, a sleep timer and more. As well as allowing you to subscribe to your favourite podcasts, Pocketcasts is also great for discovering new shows, with support for over 200,000 and a discover button that will show you featured, trending and top podcasts, as well as podcasts by network and category.
This app does cost at $3.99 but we think it's worth the money.
Castbox
Available on: Google Play, App Store
If you prefer a free podcast player you can't do much better than Castbox. It does everything – you can discover podcasts, subscribe to favourites, browse networks, download, stream, create a playlist and more. Castbox also offers free audiobooks. As you'd expect, they're all classic novels in the public domain and they're read by volunteers rather than professional actors, but it's certainly a nice feature.
Spreaker
Available on: Google Play, App Store
The really different thing about the Spreaker podcast player is that, as well as allowing you to choose which episodes you listen to, you can also listen to channels. These are podcast assortments curated by the Spreaker editorial team, and they come in themes like "public radio", "comedy fun", "follow the money" and more. This is a great feature if you want something more like a continuous radio experience, love new discoveries or just don't like making choices all the time. Spreaker also has all the usual podcast player features you'd expect to see like the ability to subscribe to favourites, create playlists, download or stream, set a sleep timer, etc.
BBC iPlayer Radio
Available on: Google Play, App Store
BBC fanatics should add this app to their repertoire, because while you can get official BBC podcasts from most players, only BBC iPlayer also lets you catch up on recent BBC radio broadcasts, and listen to BBC radio live. You can listen to the latest radio documentaries, comedy, radio drama (yes, it's actually still a thing) and more. You can even use it as an alarm clock. This is catch-up radio. It works the same way as catch-up TV which means that shows don't stay online forever. So if you see something you want to listen to, don't wait too long.
ABC Listen
Available on: Google Play, App Store
Just want all ABC all the time? The ABC Listen app features all podcasts from the national broadcaster and also lets you listen live to ABC radio wherever you are. You can favourite programs, organise a playlist and use the app as an alarm. This is a particularly handy app to have if you want access to ABC's digital radio stations as well as the AM and FM content.
Audiobook apps
Audible
Available on: Google Play, App Store
If you've ever wished you had more time for reading then it might be time to get into audiobooks. No longer the unwieldy stacks of tapes or CDs of the nineties and naughties, audiobooks are now incredibly portable thanks to apps like Audible from Amazon which means you can fit reading in around just about any activity – exercise, household chores, etc. This app is probably the market leader when it comes to audiobooks and it's not difficult to see why. The Audible Australia library boasts thousands of titles spanning every genre, from bestsellers to more obscure works. All audiobooks are professionally read and produced and some even boast famous narrators like Stephen Fry.
As you would expect of high quality audiobooks, they're not free. But they are surprisingly affordable on a subscription which gets you one audiobook of your choice and allows you to buy extra audiobooks through the month for $14.95 each. You can also return any audiobook you don't like within three months, no questions asked.
Scribd
Available on: Google Play, App Store
Insatiable bookworms won't regret installing Scribd on their phone. Like Audible this is a subscription service, but unlike Audible the app offers unlimited access to audiobooks with the $8.99 per month membership fee. That is tremendously good value, especially when you take into account the fact that the Scribd membership also includes access to ebooks and magazines like TIME and The Atlantic. The Scribd audiobook library is not as extensive as Audible, but there's heaps of really good stuff.
Libby, by OverDrive
Available on: GooglePlay, App Store
If you have access to a local library, you may have access to free audiobooks on your phone through Libby, the library app. Your library will need to be a participating member and you will need to go in and get a membership card (it's free). But after that, all you need to do is download the app, put in your membership card number and get borrowing. Your library's Libby catalogue will be limited but you'll find there's usually some really great reads in the mix. Because Libby is a library service you have to borrow your audiobooks (and ebooks too, if that's your thing) which means you have a limited time to listen and if someone else has got the title on loan you'll have to wait til they're done. But the app is easy, beautiful and, of course, it's free.
Bolinda BorrowBox
Available on: Google Play, App Store
If your local library doesn't support Libby, you may find you still have access to free audiobooks on your phone through its rival app, Bolinda BorrowBox. Bolinda BorrowBox works on the same principle as Libby – your library needs to be a participating member and you need a library card. Once you're logged in with your library membership you can borrow or reserve any audiobooks (and ebooks) in the library catalogue and there's usually some really good reads in the mix. The BorrowBox app isn't as beautiful in design as Libby but it's just as functional and easy to use.
Jacqui Dent
Editorial Strategist
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