Pocket Casts has long been one of our favourite cross-platform podcasting tools, and there’s a new Android version out today with a Material Design overhaul and even more ways to cut down the amount of time it takes to burn through your podcast queue. You can also get statistics on the amount of listening time you’ve saved overall.
The new feature is silence removal: The app automatically cuts out chunks of dead space where it finds them, so unless you happen to be listening to a podcast that relies on pauses for comedic or dramatic effect it should prove a valuable addition to your time-saving tools. You can find it by tapping on the dial icon in the lower left-hand corner of the playback window.
Playback speed adjustment is available through the same pop-up, and you can also set your podcasts to auto-start at a particular point to cut out the regular jingle, sponsor message or intro section. To do this, choose a podcast from your master list, tap the Menu button and select Podcast Settings. You’ll see a Start all episodes from option you can adjust.
To see the time saved overall, head to Settings from the app’s main menu, then choose Help and Stats — each time-saving option is listed separately. There’s no word yet on a new version for iOS: The existing app doesn’t have the silence removal feature or the page of listening statistics, though you can still change the playback speed and skip intros.
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