Pocket Casts integrates with the third-party app Tasker on Android to perform commands when a certain activity occurs. For example, you can use Tasker to play the current episode in Pocket Casts when you plug in your headphones.
- Open the Tasker app
- Select System
- Then Send Intent.
- Into the Package field enter au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts
- Type one of the below codes into the Action field:
Play the podcast episode that is currently paused in Pocket Casts
au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.action.PLAY
Pause the podcast episode
au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.action.PAUSE
Play the next episode in the Up Next
au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.action.NEXT
Look for new podcast episodes
au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.action.REFRESH_PODCASTS
Jump forward x number of seconds
au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.action.SKIP_FORWARD
Jump backward x number of seconds
au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.action.SKIP_BACKWARD
Skipping by a custom amount
By default, SKIP_FORWARD and SKIP_BACKWARD jump by the skip amounts you’ve set in Settings > General. From version 8.20 of Pocket Casts for Android, you can override that for a single automation by adding an extra to the intent:
Extra: au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.extra.SECONDS
In Tasker, type it into one of the Extra fields as key:value, for example:
au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.extra.SECONDS:10
That skips 10 seconds, while leaving your normal skip buttons untouched. So you can keep a 45 second skip button in the app and still set up a 5 second nudge on a shortcut or a Bluetooth button.
On iOS, Pocket Casts supports the following URL schemes that can be used with apps like Apple Shortcuts or Launch Center Pro:
Open Pocket Casts
pktc://open
Play the podcast episode that is currently paused in Pocket Casts
pktc://play
Pause the podcast episode that is currently playing in Pocket Casts
pktc://pause
Open Pocket Casts and follow the podcast specified by the feed URL. Note: don’t include http:// in front of the URL.
pktc://subscribe/feed_url_without_http_goes_here
Pocket Casts Web supports a link that opens a podcast from its RSS feed URL — the web counterpart to the iOS pktc://subscribe/ scheme above:
Open a podcast in Pocket Casts Web from its feed URL
https://pocketcasts.com/follow/feed_url_goes_here
The feed URL can be included in three ways:
- as-is, including any query parameters —
https://pocketcasts.com/follow/https://example.com/feed.xml?format=rss - percent-encoded —
https://pocketcasts.com/follow/https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Ffeed.xml - without a scheme, which is treated as
https://—https://pocketcasts.com/follow/example.com/feed.xml
Opening the link shows a Finding podcast… message while the feed is looked up, then opens that podcast’s page in the web player. For a feed Pocket Casts hasn’t seen before, this may take a little while. The link does not follow the podcast for you — click Follow on the podcast’s page to add it to your library.
You don’t need to be signed in to open a Follow link, and opening one won’t sign you out of the web player.
If the feed URL is invalid, unreachable, or uses a scheme other than http or https, the link opens a This isn’t available page instead. Check the feed URL for typos, and if it’s a private feed, check that the URL and any access token it contains are still valid.
A Follow link contains the feed URL in full, including any private access token it carries. Don’t pass on a Follow link for a private or members-only feed you subscribe to — the token in it is tied to your own access.
