Pocket Casts, You Altered The Deal, So I Will Alter Your App By Matthew Brunelle, Sep 18, 2025 Tags: Open Source, Android, Thoughts --- Summary The blog post criticizes the podcast app Pocket Casts for introducing ads and changing their business model after promising lifetime ownership to paying users. The author uses the fact that Pocket Casts' mobile apps were made open source in 2022 to create a modified version that removes ads from the app. --- History of Pocket Casts’ Business Changes Pocket Casts launched in 2011 as a pay-once app (Android, iOS, Web), with lifetime usage after a single purchase. NPR acquired Pocket Casts in 2018. In 2019, NPR moved to a subscription model for all users, including those who had already paid, but grandfathered existing users with a "lifetime plus membership." NPR reported a $800k loss in 2020 running the app, leading to its sale to Automattic. In 2024, "Pocket Casts Lifetime Members" were renamed "Pocket Casts Champions," signaling upcoming changes. Recently, Pocket Casts introduced in-app advertisements. --- Open Source and Removing Ads Pocket Casts opened their mobile app code in 2022. The author forked the Android app's GitHub repository to remove ads. Ads appear as banners in the now playing section, controlled by feature flags in the app code (Feature.BANNERADS). The ad feature flag was split into two: BANNERADSPLAYER and BANNERADSPODCASTS with default values set to true. By changing these flags' default values and disabling remote overrides, ads can be removed. The author compiled and installed a debug version of the app without ads. The debug build also offers a feature toggle UI, allowing users to enable/disable features (including ads) without modifying code. This approach may become harder due to upcoming Android security restrictions on loading APKs. --- Critique and Suggestions The author calls Pocket Casts’ monetization "extreme" and questions the high operating costs. Refers to NPR’s 2020 financial report showing significant loss. Suggests more transparency and leveraging the open source community to help reduce costs. Notes concern about Automattic’s potential pullback on open source contributions, as seen with WordPress earlier in 2025. --- Alternative Option Recommends self-hosting podcasts using PinePods and using the AntennaPod app for synchronized web and desktop playback. The author hints at potentially abandoning Pocket Casts due to the new changes. Provides link to personal podcast recommendations. --- Additional Resources Pocket Casts’ official posts about acquisition and subscription changes. GitHub repositories and pull requests showing feature flag and ad integrations. NPR’s financial reports. Related blog posts about apps kept or discarded on GrapheneOS and new podcast recommendations. --- Related Posts on the Blog "Learning About Municipal Open Data with a Cambridge Workshop" "Fond memories of a high school personal project - cross country race analysis" "I appreciate that my high school had a senior project" "Setting up my new Framework Laptop 13 DIY Edition with NixOS" "Framework 13 DIY Edition Hardware Thoughts" --- For more details and images showing ads and the patched app, visit the original blog post.*