Pocket Casts announced that after many months of design, development, and hard work, the Pocket Casts Skill is now available on Alexa.
It adds to the other places you can use Pocket Casts: iOS, Android, CarPlay and Android Auto. The Pocket Casts Skill is currently only available in the US, UK, Australia and Canada.
Here is how the Pocket Casts Skill works:
- Head to the Skills section of your Alexa app on your iOS or Android device
- Search for “Pocket Casts” and install the Skill.
- In the Alexa app, link your Amazon account to your Pocket Casts one
So what kind of things can you do? Well, version 7 brought with it an important new feature: Up Next syncing. This means what you’re currently listening to is saved to your account, as is everything you’ve queued to play next. So getting your first podcast playing is as simple as saying “Alexa, ask Pocket Casts to play my Up Next” and what you were last playing will begin, right where you left off.
You can asks for a specific podcast by name. For example, “Alexa, ask Pocket Casts to play the latest episode of Radiolab.” Not sure what to listen to? Use the phrase “Alexa, ask Pocket Casts to give me a recommendation”. Pocket Casts will use your playback history to find something that is tailored just for you.
Other phrases include:
- “Alexa, open Pocket Casts.”
- “Alexa, ask Pocket Casts what’s playing.”
- “Alexa, ask Pocket Casts about the featured podcast.”
- “Alexa, tell Pocket Casts to surprise me.” Use this phrase when you want Pocket Casts to randomly pick an episode from your subscriptions without trying to be too smart about it.
- “Alexa help”. Use this phrase whenever you are interacting with the Pocket Casts skill and you are not quite sure what to do next, or what other things you can do.
