Podcasts are more popular than ever thanks to cultural sensations like Serial, but how are you supposed to listen to them? Google doesn’t even make its own podcast app for Android anymore. But for years now, outside developers have been filling the gap and producing stellar podcast apps with a ton of useful features. Which one you pick can say just as much about you as the shows you’re subscribed to.

At a bare minimum, these apps should help you find new podcasts that match your tastes, and remove all the hassle from subscribing, downloading new episodes, and making playlists for your commute or wherever it is you do your listening. But the best of the bunch go far beyond these basics and add other perks that can save you time, improve audio quality, and more. There are dozens of podcasts apps to choose from on Android, and whittling down the list can be difficult. But when it comes down to it, there’s only one best pick.

The Winner

The podcast player that gets our vote is Pocket Casts. It’s a feature-rich, powerful app that makes subscribing to shows and setting up automatic downloads a snap. It also syncs across platforms with the iOS version of Pocket Casts, making it ideal if you move between an Android phone and an iPad.

Above just being a vehicle for your podcasts, the standout aspect of Pocket Casts is definitely its design. It’s a tremendous showcase for Google’s Material Design, with fluid animations and color schemes that shift colors based on a podcast’s artwork. Your subscriptions are arranged in a tiled screen with big, beautiful artwork for every show, and Pocket Casts has a seemingly endless array of preferences, playlist filters, and auto-download settings, so you can tailor it fully to your liking. It also has functions for smart speed and volume normalization, but Pocket Casts doesn’t pull them off quite as well as some other apps.

Pocket Casts will work with video podcasts in addition to audio, offers full AirPlay / Chromecast support, and makes discoverability easy with trending podcasts, curated recommendations, and more. The entire package blows away every other option on Android — and that’s not to say those podcast apps are bad; it just speaks of Pocket Cast’s meticulous focus on design and user experience. There’s no free version here, though; the app will cost you $3.99. You shouldn’t hesitate in paying so little for such a powerful player.

The Others

Our review of Xavier Guillemane Podcast Addict (Android) Verge Score 7 out of 10 Though it’s got a decently long list of features and is also capable of pulling in your YouTube channels, Podcast Addict falls flat compared to Pocket Casts in design. Buy for $0.00 from Play Store

Our review of DoggCatcher Podcast Player (Android) Verge Score 6.8 out of 10 Another popular choice among Android users, DoggCatcher checks off all the major requirements of a podcast player, but it’s another case where nothing about it is exemplary. Buy for $0.00 from Play Store

Our review of qvga Podkicker Podcast Player (Android) Verge Score 6 out of 10 Podkicker has been around for years — and you can tell as much from its design, which hasn’t seen much change over that time. It’s a “good enough” player for most tasks, but isn’t the easiest to use. It also lacks the breadth of features you get with other apps. Buy for $0.00 from Play Store

Our review of Stitcher, Inc. Stitcher Radio for Podcasts (Android) Verge Score 6 out of 10 Another app with plenty of name recognition, Stitcher can’t really match the podcast apps from much smaller developers. It’ll handle the essentials (and is also completely free), but ranks pretty low on the overall list owing to its problematic user reviews and reported bugs. Buy for $0.00 from Play Store

Our review of BeyondPod Team BeyondPod (Android) Verge Score 5.5 out of 10 BeyondPod has received mixed feedback on its latest big redesign, and unlocking the app’s full feature set costs $6.99. We don’t often criticize app pricing, but that’s up there for a podcast player. Buy for $0.00 from Play Store