A podcast client, podcatcher, or podcast app, is a computer program or mobile app used to stream or download podcasts, via an RSS or XML feed.
Some of these podcast clients can also automate the transfer of received audio or video files to a portable media player.
Although most include a searchable directory of podcasts (usually populated by either Apple Podcasts or Podcast Index), they also allow users to manually subscribe directly to a podcast RSS feed by providing the URL.
[4][5] Podcasts were made popular when Apple added podcasts to its iTunes 4.9 software and iPod portable media player in June 2005.
[6] Apple Podcasts is currently included in all Apple devices, such as iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.