Breaker is Joining Twitter

Breaker announced that the Breaker team is joining Twitter. In the blog post, Breaker made it clear that they will be shutting down Breaker on Friday, January 15, 2020. There are some instructions on Breaker’s blog post about how to transfer your podcast subscriptions to another podcast listening app. They recommend trying Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or Castro.

Here at Breaker, we’re truly passionate about audio communication and we’re inspired by the ways Twitter is facilitating public conversations for people around the world. We’re impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit at Twitter and enthusiastic about the new experiences that the team is creating.

Is your podcast on Breaker? The company has brief instructions on how to export it. “If you are currently hosting a podcast on Breaker, you can transfer your podcast to another hosting service by using the RSS feed. You can find your RSS feed link on the Distribution tab. We recommend trying out Anchor, Simplecast, or Transistor for your podcast hosting depending on your specific podcast needs.”

TechCrunch reported that the deal between Breaker and Twitter to help “improve the health of public conversation” on the service. Breaker’s team will also work on Twitter’s new audio-based networking project, Twitter Spaces.

I think it was a very smart choice for Breaker to give its users time to move their content elsewhere before January 15, 2020. I suspect that end date for Breaker might have been imposed by Twitter, so its possible that Breaker cannot extend that deadline.

Breaker is the Social Podcast App

Breaker is a social podcast app that is available now on the App Store and coming soon to Google Play. Breaker is community built. They listen and act upon user feedback, building what a podcast listening app should be (for everyone).

We love podcasts and think it should be easier to share them with your friends. With Breaker you can see what your friends are listening to, tap a heart to “like” and episode, send it to a friend, and join in the comments. You can also see the top episodes the entire Breaker community is liking and listening to right now. It’s everything a modern-day podcast app should be.

Features include:

  • Discover: Personalized recommendations for you. Discover the most popular episodes by day, week, and month.
  • Save Episodes: Download new episodes from your favorite shows.
  • Follow your friends: Follow your friends and see which episodes they listen to and like.
  • Skip silences: Save time by skipping silences and listen from 1/2x to 3x.
  • Share: Share episodes on Twitter and Facebook or send to a friend on Breaker.
  • Sleep timer: Set a sleep timer for 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes, or the end of the episode.
  • Inbox: Send episodes to friends and chat about them in your inbox.

Podcasters can sell their podcasts on Breaker. Listeners can pay to unlock your content instantly. You get to choose what content you offer on Breaker Upstream. Common uses include ad-free streams, exclusive early-releases, special edition content, or behind-the-scenes episodes.

Any podcaster, big or small, can monetize their content with Breaker Upstream. There is no minimum audience size or requirements to join. Whether you have an audience of 1,000,000 or 1. Podcasters can choose their own price, can charge for individual episodes or a monthly subscription free.

For any Breaker Upstream account created before the end of 2018, Breaker will take a low introductory fee of 4% of sales. Payment processing fees from Stripe and Apple also apply. Breaker says that the majority of payments will go to the podcaster.