Castro: a beautiful new podcast client for iPhone

If you’ve been having trouble finding a podcast client that fits you, you may want to check out Castro. Castro is a beautiful new podcast app for your iPhone that backs up its good looks with powerful features.

I should tell you up front that the app is for iOS 7 users only. You could tell it was designed specifically for the OS, as it’s rife with transparent backgrounds, flat UI elements, and a smart, gesture-based interface…

Some of Castro’s more notable features:

– Gesture-based interface that puts content front and center.
– Episodes tab makes it easy to find the latest episodes of all your podcasts.
– Full screen themes make podcasts look as good as they sound
– Innovative player controls, optimised for podcast listening.
– Takes advantage of iOS 7’s background features to keep your podcasts fully updated, even when you’re not in the app. 
– Automatically downloads new episodes as they are published.
– Instant, clear, notifications when new episodes come out.
– Turn on News Mode to keep only the most recent episode of frequently updated podcasts.
– Fast search.
– Intelligent storage management — you set the size limit and Castro will delete old episodes as necessary to keep within it.
– Supports streaming and offline playback.
– Ability to play episodes without subscribing to the podcast.
– 5 Playback Speeds.

And a few more screenshots:

castro 3

Typically, when you have an app that is very well designed, it usually comes at the sacrifice of features, and vice versa. But Castro has managed to find a nice balance of good design and a strong feature set.

Now, I haven’t spent much time with the app, but I can say it’s worth looking at for folks who listen to podcasts and want to try something new. If you’re interested, you can find Castro in the App Store for $2.99.

And once you’ve installed the app, be sure you’re subscribed to iDB’s Let’s Talk iOS podcast.