Is Once Upon a Pod free?
The website is completely free to browse and listen. The app is $9.99/year and gives your kid their own safe space to explore — with a bedtime mode and sleep timer, offline listening, parental controls, personalized recommendations, separate profiles for multiple kids in a family, and a fun companion character along for the ride. You can try it free for 7 days from the App Store or Google Play Store.
My favorite podcast is missing. How can I add it?
You can submit it right from our Submit a Show page, or email any podcast recommendations to [placeholder]. We'll review your submission and if it's a fit, we'll add it to the directory.
I pay for a podcast through Apple Podcasts, Wondery+, Patreon, Pinna, or another service. Can my kid listen to it here?
Yes! In the app's grown-up settings, you can add your private podcast feed. It'll show up alongside everything else, filtered to your kid's age range and subject to the same parental controls.
How do you pick which podcasts are listed?
Every single show is personally reviewed by a real human — no algorithms decide what makes the cut. We listen for age-appropriate content, production quality, and whether it's something a kid would genuinely want to come back to.
How do you decide the age range for a show?
We listen to each show and place it in the age bracket where it fits best based on language, pacing, themes, and complexity — not just whatever the podcast says about itself.
What if I find something inappropriate?
Please let us know right away at [placeholder]. We take every report seriously and will review the content as soon as possible.
What data do you collect about my kid?
As little as possible. We collect a first name and birth year to personalize recommendations and filter content by age. We don't run ads, we don't sell data, and we don't track kids across apps. You can read our full privacy policy for details.
Who's behind Once Upon a Pod?
Just me — Katrina, a mom who wanted something better for her kid and decided to build it. Once Upon a Pod is a one-person project, not a big company. When you subscribe to the app, you're directly supporting an independent creator and helping keep this directory growing for every family. Thank you for your support!
Still have questions? Drop us a line — we'd love to hear from you.
