Longtime iOS podcasts app Castro has been down since Friday and its website no longer exists a month after the team behind Castro denied reports that the app was shutting down. Users started reporting on Friday that they’re unable to download new episodes or visit Castro’s website. When The Verge reached out to the contacts that were mentioned on Castro’s site, all of our emails were returned as undeliverable because the domain could not be found.
A Friday Reddit post is full of replies from people unable to use major parts of the app, and recent reviews from its listing on the iOS App Store tell the same story. When we downloaded the app to check, we were unable to connect to Castro’s servers to find shows to listen to.
The app has been visibly on the ropes since at least November, when the app was down for a few days because of a database problem that turned out to be more complicated than the team first thought. That same month, some outlets and blogs claimed that Castro’s shutdown was imminent, but Castro managed to get its service back up and running.
Shortly after that, the team posted on X (formerly Twitter) that any communications pertaining to its impending demise were “unofficial.” The post linked to a December 1st blog that’s no longer directly available as its site is now down.
An archived version of the post denied reports that Castro was shutting down, but admitted the company is “seeking a new home for Castro with new owners” after an unspecified number of staff departures. One such rumor came from a former Castro team member, Mohit Mamoria, who wrote on November 27th that the app would be “shut down over the next two months.”
Rumors of Castro’s shutdown come as big parts of the podcast business have been pruned away. Stitcher shut down last year and Spotify recently cut staff and cut high-profile story podcasts to focus on cheaper productions.
The Verge reached out to Castro parent company Tiny, but did not receive an answer by press time.