5 of the Best Android Apps for Creating a Podcast

In recent years, podcasting has seen an explosion of adoption, becoming a mainstay for commuting, gym listening, and generally passive entertainment. If you already know the best apps for listening to podcasts, you may be wondering: what are the best apps for recording and producing one?

It’s true that it may be easier than ever to create and publish a podcast. This is largely due to the fact that software and technology are now accessible to so many people. Wireless microphones like the DJI Mic 2 allow content creators to focus, and phone peripherals also do such a good job that now might be the perfect time to consider recording one yourself. If you own an Android device, there’s good news for you: podcast recording and production apps are well represented on the platform. We’ll review a few of our favorites, including AI-powered recording apps, music creation tools, and even a full-fledged digital audio workstation right on your mobile device.

FL Studio, originally known as Fruity Loops, is a digital audio workstation (DAW) well-known in the desktop world. It doesn’t have quite the industry-standard market share that Pro Tools, Logic Pro, or Ableton do, but FL Studio has its share of loyalists. The FL Studio Mobile app is truly a complete DAW right on your Android, allowing you to add tracks, record directly to your device, add mixing and effects plugins, and tweak and edit recordings.

The great thing about having a full studio on your phone is that you’re almost never without the tools you need to record, mix, or master an episode of your podcast. The multitrack recording functionality is excellent, but its track-based GUI makes it much easier to cut and move parts of a podcast conversation. There will be a learning curve here, especially for those who have never used a full DAW before, but if you want something with a little more control than the recording and shipping alternatives, then FL Studio Mobile is a well-rounded choice.

On the other end of the control spectrum, you’ll find the Riverside Android app. If a DAW like FL Studio gives you complete control with granular effects and plugins, then Riverside aims to take that control away from you. It lets you focus on recording high-quality audio from you and your podcast guests without digging too much into a sea of ​​settings. Riverside is a bit like a video calling platform, such as Zoom or Google Meet, but it focuses on recording and quality.

The trick is that if you host a Riverside call, you can send invite links and those people will join using Riverside on their end (just like a Zoom call). Then you can click Save and Riverside will capture up to 4K video and 48 kilohertz audio. The app also records audio and saves it in WAV format, locally on your device. Once the call ends, it uploads the individual high-quality files to the cloud for easy access. It’s better than just recording a Zoom call, because you’ll worry less about spotty reception and compressed audio and video quality.

Once you’ve recorded your podcast episode and done the cutting and editing based on the timeline you want, you’ll then need to consider polishing it up and getting it ready to be published for the world to hear. For many podcasts, this can be a simple process, but if you have multiple guests speaking at very different volumes and using different levels of microphone quality, this can be an important step. Mastering music or podcasts can involve many steps, but the most important of them is ensuring that the dynamics, volume, and overall quality of the final product sound consistent and easy to listen to, with as little harshness as possible.

MasteringBOX is a unique, AI-powered approach to this important step. This application allows you to download your final podcast or music recording to its system. This system uses its algorithm to evaluate the characteristics of that file, then tweak it and prepare it for the average listener’s headphone or speaker. This is a solution to a problem that might otherwise require a lot of trial and error.

We focused primarily on recording podcasts, with a particular emphasis on recording speeches and editing those recordings into a podcast episode. However, many podcasts include many musical or sound components to really give them a brand and identity. Koala Sampler is a fun little app that gives you fun, mobile music creation tools right on your phone. The app has a lot of design similarities with some portable synths and samplers from brands like Teenage Engineering, as it lets you record sounds in the world (or just snippets of instruments or your voice), then shape and transform those sounds into real music and melodies. This is great for a podcaster because it allows you to be creative even when you’re not in a studio, and you can create theme music, transition sound effects, and more from your Android device.

Sometimes the easiest choice in production software is the application you already have. Most phones, Android or otherwise, come with a built-in audio or voice recording app. Although this app is mainly for recording quick voice memos or capturing an interview or conversation, the latest version of these apps actually gives you powerful recording features. Recorder is Google’s version of this type of app – and this Pixel exclusive can do more than just record with its powerful recording interface.

One of the coolest aspects of Google Recorder is that it transcribes the audio and voices you record in real time, displaying them as written text on the screen as you speak. Then, if you want to edit the audio file, you can do so simply by editing the text on screen, much like you would a Word document. This is truly one of the coolest and completely free apps, it’s a great choice if you own a Pixel.

Choosing apps for a list like this takes a bit of finesse. One look at the Google Play Store and it’s clear that there are plenty of apps vying for coveted space on your phone. The first priority for us in completing this list was to ensure that the apps are currently active with plenty of support and ideally offer solid usability and functionality for a wide range of Android devices.

Once an app hits this basic requirement, we also wanted to make sure that real users actually enjoy using that app. So, all the apps in this list are available on the Google Play Store with a good number of ratings and overall good reviews. This allowed us to verify whether an app actually does what it claims to do. Finally, a few of these apps are highly rated favorites on other forums like tech review sites and Reddit, so we can be sure that there is some level of critical support as well.