It’s a great app. Actually, it’s one my all time favorite apps for Android, and one that not a lot of people talk about (for some reason). Not only does it have 50,000 installs overall, but it deserves so much more.
Usage
I love podcasts, and I listen to them like clockwork. Day in and day out I have stuff to download and listen to. To my surprise, Podkicker Pro has the ability to automate this process. You’ll be able to go through your entire list of shows and tell the app if you want it to automatically download new episodes, give push notifications of new episodes for selected shows, auto refresh throughout the day (and at startup), as well as automatically deleting episodes when they’re finished playing.
Another feature that this app has that really stood out to me was the backup feature. Obviously Podkicker Pro is not the first podcatching app to feature a way to back up your shows, but I like how this app does it. It’s super simple. All you have to do is go into the settings area and you’ll be able to export your entire shows list to a small OPML file. This is great, because I use a cloud syncing service and frequently like to keep backups. This feature makes it real easy to keep track of my shows. The only real downside to the OMPL backup feature is that the code it generates is a bit sloppy and unorganized. This might seem like a weird, stupid complaint, but It’s a tad irritating to have to manually reorganize the markup so that I can import my backups into other podcasting programs. Otherwise, I love it. Along with the backup feature, the app also lets you specify exactly where you want to have podcasts download to. If you have an Android device that does not have a whole lot of internal storage (which is my case at the moment) this is especially handy if you have more storage on an SD card than on the device itself that you’re using.
Another feature that Podkicker Pro really shines with is its search feature. It was really easy for me to seek out podcasts I listen to regularly as well as finding new shows to listen to. Once you click subscribe, you’ll be allowed to use the search function. It goes out and looks through podcast directories and brings you exactly what you’ve searched for. From there, you’ll be able to subscribe to search for shows and subscribe to new shows. It’s awesome. And for the most part, downloading shows is great. Everything goes smoothly, and it even does a pretty satisfactory job on mobile networks (minus a few irritating things). For example: downloading on 4G/3G can sometimes be irritating, even if you turn off “WiFi only mode.” Sometimes, I have to click on a download again after it’s started to get it to go through.
Pros/Cons
Pros
Fantastic user interface that makes finding everything a breeze Great backup feature that makes re-loading the app easy Customizable download location area Powerful search feature Push notifications
Cons
Backup feature generates an OPML file that has unorganized markup Sometimes it fails on mobile networks.
Conclusion
Overall, Podkicker Pro is a solid app and one I’ve used for as long as I’ve used Android. It truly is an underrated piece of software. I love it’s simplistic, fluid design, as well as its many features and options. It’s great. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I’m what you’d call a podcast addict. This app makes my listening experience all the more enjoyable, and I wholeheartedly recommenced it. If you’ve been looking for a podcatching app and haven’t quite settled, this app might be just what you’re looking for.
