Podcasts are great, but they are even better together! Cooler is making podcasting fun, social, and interactive— with comments, reactions, leaderboards, streaks and shareable clips of your favorite moments.
What's up Product Hunters! This is Mike, CEO and co-founder of Cooler. On behalf of our small but mighty team of five, I'm excited to introduce Cooler to you!
Ever felt like podcasting is weirdly... lonely? Even though millions of people are listening, it still feels like this: 🦗🦗🦗—when really, it should feel more like this: 😂👏❤️🔥💬?
That's why we built Cooler—a podcast player designed to make listening more social, interactive, and fun.
With Cooler, you can:
Join the Conversation – Drop comments, react, and see what others are saying.
Show your fandom – Rack up streaks, compete on leaderboards and flex your listening stats.
Sharing is Caring – Turn your favorite audio clips into beautiful videos to share everywhere, recommend episodes, and see what your podcast communities are into.
And we're just getting started.
You see, the podcast industry is dominated by three players (Apple, Spotify, and YouTube), none of whom are actually podcast companies. Podcasts are not their primary source of revenue. So innovation has come at a glacial pace. The rest of the players are all fighting for the remainder of the market. While there are some really great players (shoutout Overcast!), it's been incredibly hard to break user's habits. That's why we need early adopters like yourselves to help us break through and usher in a new wave of innovation. Download the app, use it as a your primary podcast player for a couple weeks, and send me any feedback you have at mike@cooler.fm. We want to build this with and for podcast lovers like yourself!!
I am a huge fan of this idea. It is like "social-medialing" podcasting and broadcasting. If I understood correctly – people can rate and create communities over podcasts from Spotify and big players on the podcast market, right?
If the podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, it is already on Cooler.
For now people can "rate" podcast episodes in the form of reactions. You can leave as many reactions as you want while you listen to an episode. Others can judge if an episode is popular or not by how many reactions it gets.
Communities are created automatically when you follow a podcast and each episode is a space for the community to comment and interact with each other.
Cooler sounds like such a fun and innovative way to bring more social interaction into the podcasting world—it's about time podcasts became more engaging! How do you plan to expand the social features to make the experience even more collaborative, like community discussions or live interaction with creators?
@jonurbonas Thanks for the kind words Jonas! We started with the foundational stuff to community building - comments, reactions, leaderboards, streaks, and sharing. While it's currently all built around asynchronous interactions, we definitely think there's opportunity to incorporate live interaction and live content like you suggest once we've reached a level of critical mass.
One area we're spending a lot of time thinking about is how to make the comments section even better. We have purposely stayed away from reactions to comments because what we've seen with most social media is that because the reactions are such an easy way to respond to a post, people often write comments that "chase" these reactions to get that dopamine reward. But the comments that tend to get the most reactions are the comments that are more bombastic, brash, and less constructive to meaningful conversation. So that's an area we're keen to figure out how to build in a healthy way.
We have a very robust roadmap, but want to also build alongside our users and take it where the community goes!
Cooler sounds like a game-changer for podcasting! The social and interactive features are exactly what podcasts need to become more engaging. How do you plan to integrate feedback from users to improve the app over time?
@viktoriia_vasylchenko We love getting user feedback and are big believers in building alongside our community. We get people writing in with ideas, but also look at the data and how people are using the product in interesting and unexpected ways and follow that for ideas. But we also try to talk to people we meet who are podcast listeners and just better understand how they engage with podcasts today, and use that as inspiration.
@viktoriia_vasylchenko This is also something @aleeee has been on the front lines of as our Head of Design, so she might be able to weigh in more on this as well!
@viktoriia_vasylchenko this is something we're still figuring out. One of the ideas we want to test out is having a Cooler Podcast where we share product updates and open up the convo on upcoming features. We think this can be a great way to use our own product to build alongside the community and get valuable feedback.
Cooler sounds like a great way to bring podcast communities together! The leaderboards and streaks will really motivate listeners to stay connected and keep up with their favorite shows.
@chrismessina Yes I know!!! We've had that integration built and ready to go, but are just waiting for them to approve our app. Unfortunately it's been several months!! 😭 (and thanks for the kind words on design!!! That's the work of the amazing @aleeee )
I love the idea! I downloaded the app and really enjoyed the copy and smooth onboarding.
Congrats on the launch!
Just a small suggestion: it would be great to have a search option in the “Import your podcasts” section instead of having to choose from the staff favorites.
@morgane_prr Morgane, so glad you’re enjoying the app! Appreciate the feedback—after onboarding, you’ll be able to search for any podcast. (If the podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, it is already on Cooler) Thanks for giving it a try!
Cooler sounds like an awesome solution for making podcasting more social and interactive! 🎧 The idea of adding comments, reactions, and even leaderboards is a great way to engage with the content and the community. Plus, sharing audio clips as videos is a fun twist that makes it easier to recommend and promote favorite episodes. I love that Cooler is focused on innovating in a space that hasn’t seen much change, and I’m excited to see where it goes! Keep up the great work, and I’m definitely going to check it out. 📲
@williamrobertscott Thank you!! While there have been some great independent podcast players with really cool features (shoutout to Overcast, one of my faves), the three main ones have been very slow to innovate. We hope to be a part of introducing more innovation to my favorite medium. Let us know what you think and how it works for you!
This is a brilliant concept! Cooler adds a social layer to podcasting that’s been missing for far too long. The ability to share clips and track listening stats is awesome!
@yevheniya_afanasieva Thanks!! Yes, we're particularly excited about Clips. There are so many times where I'd listen to someone say something really funny or inspiring on a pod, and it's just a 30 second segment, but then I'd have to send someone a link to a full episode and tell them to scroll to a certain place, which all feels so clunky. So by letting someone turn it into an animated video of just the part that resonated with them, we hope to make sharing more fun and more frequent!!
Congrats on launching Cooler! I love the idea of making podcasting more interactive and social. The comments and reactions features will definitely make the experience more engaging!
Such a great way to interact with podcasts! I’ve always wanted a way to engage with other listeners, and Cooler’s comment and reaction features make it easy to do so."
Making podcasts a social experience sounds pretty innovative, especially the ability to share favorite clips and comment. Might make listening to podcasts less solitary - worth downloading to try it out.
@winrey Thanks for the feedback Winrey! Let us know how you feel about the "solitary" aspect after giving it a whirl! And if you have good engineering (or general) podcast recs, let us know so we can all listen together :)
Cooler is my favorite platform for discovering and sharing podcasts. The curated recommendations are always spot-on, and the interface is clean and easy to use. It makes exploring new podcasts and sharing them with friends a breeze. Highly recommend it!
I'm glad I found the cooler app. This app really helps bring in all of podcasts into one place and makes it more accessible and interesting. I love all of the features and cool designs cooler brings to my customized page. Awesome app!!
Replies
minimalist phone: creating folders
I am a huge fan of this idea. It is like "social-medialing" podcasting and broadcasting.
If I understood correctly – people can rate and create communities over podcasts from Spotify and big players on the podcast market, right?
@busmark_w_nika yes!
If the podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, it is already on Cooler.
For now people can "rate" podcast episodes in the form of reactions. You can leave as many reactions as you want while you listen to an episode. Others can judge if an episode is popular or not by how many reactions it gets.
Communities are created automatically when you follow a podcast and each episode is a space for the community to comment and interact with each other.
minimalist phone: creating folders
Thank you for making your tool more clear by explaining the processes :)
Fable Wizard
Cooler sounds like such a fun and innovative way to bring more social interaction into the podcasting world—it's about time podcasts became more engaging! How do you plan to expand the social features to make the experience even more collaborative, like community discussions or live interaction with creators?
@jonurbonas Thanks for the kind words Jonas! We started with the foundational stuff to community building - comments, reactions, leaderboards, streaks, and sharing. While it's currently all built around asynchronous interactions, we definitely think there's opportunity to incorporate live interaction and live content like you suggest once we've reached a level of critical mass.
One area we're spending a lot of time thinking about is how to make the comments section even better. We have purposely stayed away from reactions to comments because what we've seen with most social media is that because the reactions are such an easy way to respond to a post, people often write comments that "chase" these reactions to get that dopamine reward. But the comments that tend to get the most reactions are the comments that are more bombastic, brash, and less constructive to meaningful conversation. So that's an area we're keen to figure out how to build in a healthy way.
We have a very robust roadmap, but want to also build alongside our users and take it where the community goes!
Exciting to see social features added to podcasts! 👀
@shenjun Thanks Jun!! Check it out and feel free to send any feedback our way!
@shenjun It's what everybody's been waiting for I guess :)
Really
love the idea and concept. So happy to see you making podcasting world more interesting.
@feliciana_liu Thanks Feliciana!! Download it and give it a spin and let us know what you think!
Cooler sounds like a game-changer for podcasting! The social and interactive features are exactly what podcasts need to become more engaging. How do you plan to integrate feedback from users to improve the app over time?
@viktoriia_vasylchenko We love getting user feedback and are big believers in building alongside our community. We get people writing in with ideas, but also look at the data and how people are using the product in interesting and unexpected ways and follow that for ideas. But we also try to talk to people we meet who are podcast listeners and just better understand how they engage with podcasts today, and use that as inspiration.
@viktoriia_vasylchenko This is also something @aleeee has been on the front lines of as our Head of Design, so she might be able to weigh in more on this as well!
@viktoriia_vasylchenko this is something we're still figuring out. One of the ideas we want to test out is having a Cooler Podcast where we share product updates and open up the convo on upcoming features. We think this can be a great way to use our own product to build alongside the community and get valuable feedback.
Cooler sounds like a great way to bring podcast communities together! The leaderboards and streaks will really motivate listeners to stay connected and keep up with their favorite shows.
@hanna_kuznietsova Thanks!! That's the idea. It's fun for listeners, and for podcasters, it helps them build even more loyal fans!
@chrismessina Yes I know!!! We've had that integration built and ready to go, but are just waiting for them to approve our app. Unfortunately it's been several months!! 😭 (and thanks for the kind words on design!!! That's the work of the amazing @aleeee )
@emmanuelmchan Thanks for the support. Check out the Clips feature and let us know what you think!
ReadPartner Portal + Extension
I love the idea! I downloaded the app and really enjoyed the copy and smooth onboarding.
Congrats on the launch!
Just a small suggestion: it would be great to have a search option in the “Import your podcasts” section instead of having to choose from the staff favorites.
@morgane_prr Morgane, so glad you’re enjoying the app! Appreciate the feedback—after onboarding, you’ll be able to search for any podcast. (If the podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, it is already on Cooler) Thanks for giving it a try!
It looks really fun! I love it. Thank you for sharing this product!
Thank you Kay!!! Give it a go and would love to hear your feedback!
Elisi : AI-powered Goal Management App
Cooler sounds like an awesome solution for making podcasting more social and interactive! 🎧 The idea of adding comments, reactions, and even leaderboards is a great way to engage with the content and the community. Plus, sharing audio clips as videos is a fun twist that makes it easier to recommend and promote favorite episodes. I love that Cooler is focused on innovating in a space that hasn’t seen much change, and I’m excited to see where it goes! Keep up the great work, and I’m definitely going to check it out. 📲
@williamrobertscott Thank you!! While there have been some great independent podcast players with really cool features (shoutout to Overcast, one of my faves), the three main ones have been very slow to innovate. We hope to be a part of introducing more innovation to my favorite medium. Let us know what you think and how it works for you!
This is a brilliant concept! Cooler adds a social layer to podcasting that’s been missing for far too long. The ability to share clips and track listening stats is awesome!
@yevheniya_afanasieva Thanks!! Yes, we're particularly excited about Clips. There are so many times where I'd listen to someone say something really funny or inspiring on a pod, and it's just a 30 second segment, but then I'd have to send someone a link to a full episode and tell them to scroll to a certain place, which all feels so clunky. So by letting someone turn it into an animated video of just the part that resonated with them, we hope to make sharing more fun and more frequent!!
Congrats on launching Cooler! I love the idea of making podcasting more interactive and social. The comments and reactions features will definitely make the experience more engaging!
@marianna_tymchuk Thanks!! Give it a try, would love to know what features you enjoy and if you have any ideas or feedback!
Such a great way to interact with podcasts! I’ve always wanted a way to engage with other listeners, and Cooler’s comment and reaction features make it easy to do so."
@nazar_nosanenko Thanks!! What are your favorite podcasts to listen to?
Amazing concept and very much needed! Great way to make the podcast experience interactive - Congrats on a cool product team!
@milosmilosevic Thanks Milos!! Appreciate the kind words and support!! 🙌
Great idea to create communities of podcast listeners, can't wait to see Cooler continue to innovate and grow!
Making podcasts a social experience sounds pretty innovative, especially the ability to share favorite clips and comment. Might make listening to podcasts less solitary - worth downloading to try it out.
@winrey Thanks for the feedback Winrey! Let us know how you feel about the "solitary" aspect after giving it a whirl! And if you have good engineering (or general) podcast recs, let us know so we can all listen together :)
Cooler is my favorite platform for discovering and sharing podcasts. The curated recommendations are always spot-on, and the interface is clean and easy to use. It makes exploring new podcasts and sharing them with friends a breeze. Highly recommend it!
@jenny_wong73 yay! so glad you're loving it!!
I'm glad I found the cooler app. This app really helps bring in all of podcasts into one place and makes it more accessible and interesting. I love all of the features and cool designs cooler brings to my customized page. Awesome app!!