Apple Podcasts

Category

Description of App

Introducing the Podcasts app, an amazing way to discover, subscribe to and play your favourite podcasts. Explore hundreds of thousands of free audio and
video podcasts in the Featured tab, or browse Top Charts to see what's popular right now. Add your favourite podcasts to personal stations that stay up
to date when new episodes become available. You can sync playlists from iTunes, or create an On-The-Go playlist to play just the episodes you want. iCloud
keeps your subscriptions, stations and play position in sync across all your devices, computers and Apple TV.

Discover
• Explore hundreds of thousands of free podcasts on a variety of topics, including art, business, comedy, music, news, sport and more
• Tap Subscribe for your favourites and automatically get new episodes for free as they become available
• Browse by audio or video podcasts, or see what's most popular in Top Charts

Play
• Enjoy all your audio and video podcasts in a single app
• Stream episodes or download to listen while offline
• Skip forward and back using simple playback controls
• Ask Siri to play specific shows or stations by name, like “play TEDTalks”
• Adjust the playback speed of your audio or video podcasts
• Turn on Sleep Timer to automatically stop playing a podcast while listening in bed
• Enjoy your favourite podcasts on your TV with AirPlay and Apple TV

Organise
• Create custom stations of your favourite podcasts that update automatically when new episodes become available
• Use the On-The-Go playlist to play just the episodes you want
• Choose to download new episodes automatically when they become available, even when the app is not open
• Save your favourite episodes to keep them on your device
• Subscribe to podcasts that require authentication — just enter the podcast URL into Search in My Podcasts
• Share your favourite episodes with friends using AirDrop, Facebook, Twitter, Messages and Mail

Sync
• Optionally sync episodes and playlists from iTunes on your Mac or PC
• iCloud remembers your place in an episode, your subscriptions and your stations, and keeps them up to date on your devices, Mac, PC and Apple TV.

Requirements:

• Requires a device with iOS 7 or later
• iTunes 11.2 is recommended for syncing podcast episodes
• Syncing subscriptions, stations and play position using iCloud requires iTunes 11.2 or later and Apple TV Software 6.0 or later
• Streaming or downloading episodes requires Internet access over a Wi-Fi or mobile data connection
• iTunes playlist syncing is not compatible with iTunes Match
• Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas

 

Version

2.1.1

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

Not Known

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

11

Accessibility Comments

As with most Apple apps. This is very accessible and easy to use.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Recommendations

3 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Carlos Taylor 6 years 4 months ago

Options

Comments

By Sandra on Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 20:33

When I am on the podcasts tab and perform a search, the screen is empty except for the two tab labels at the bottom of the screen. I can double tap the second one, but when I go back to the podcasts tab, the screen is still empty. I wouldn't call this accessible, since the search is an important feature in my view.

By Chris Bruinenberg on Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 20:33

I just subscribed to several podcasts. I didn't have this issue. sorry to hear you have had issues.

By AnonyMouse on Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 20:33

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

In reply to by Chris Bruinenberg

I'm not positive on this but I think the Search bar that you find on the main screen in the Podcasts tab is just a search for Podcast with in your already subscribed list. This is not to find podcast for you to subscribe. To find podcasts you can subscribe to is in a different area. Just double tap the Category button in the top left corner. From there there is a Search tab down in the bottom row. Located in the lower right hand of the screen. Now you can search for AppleVis for an example. However, the first screen of the Podcasts tab the Search bar is rather confusing to me because. When I do search for something on my list. I can't revert back out or to clear out my search on it. I'm stuck. I haven't found a way out of this. Everything else works well as far I can tell. There are a few bugs that will crash the app frequently when I do certain gestures. It is still very new and bugs will be in it. I'm still getting around to learn it myself.

By AnonyMouse on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 - 20:33

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Quite a few minor update to address the bugs and the stability of the app. What's New in Version 1.0.2 Podcasts 1.0.2 provides performance and stability improvements, including addressing an issue that may cause Podcasts to quit unexpectedly on launch. This update also included the following changes from Podcasts 1.0.1: • Podcasts in your library now show the number of unplayed episodes • Top Stations now show the podcast title if artwork is missing • Playback speed is now remembered when playing the next episode • Fix for a problem where the Subscribe button is inactive • Resolution of an issue where Top Stations artwork may not appear

By AnonyMouse on Friday, September 21, 2012 - 20:33

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Now has full support for IOS 6 and a string of new features. What's New in Version 1.1 Podcasts 1.1 adds support for iOS 6. This version also provides: • Automatically keep your podcast subscriptions up-to-date between devices using iCloud • A new setting to choose to automatically download new episodes only when on Wi-Fi • A new setting to choose whether to play episodes by oldest to newest or newest to oldest • Pull to refresh a subscription to check for new episodes on iOS 6 • Additional performance and stability improvements

By AnonyMouse on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 - 20:33

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
 

What's New in Version 1.1.2

 

Podcasts 1.1.2 includes a number of improvements, including:

• Tapping a podcast in Top Stations now reveals episodes you can play
• You can now easily turn on automatic downloads for all subscribed podcasts in Settings
• Addresses an issue where previously played or deleted episodes unexpectedly reappear as new
• Resolves an issue where Podcasts may unexpectedly play after a phone call or alarm
• Includes additional stability and performance improvements

By AnonyMouse on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 20:33

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Introducing Podcasts 1.2

• Create custom stations of your favorite podcasts that update automatically with new episodes
• Choose whether your stations begin playing with the newest or oldest unplayed episode
• Your stations are stored in iCloud and kept up-to-date on all of your devices
• Create an On-The-Go playlist with your own list of episodes
• Playlists synced from iTunes now appear in the Podcasts app
• The Now Playing view has been redesigned with easier to use playback controls
• Addressed an issue with resuming playback when returning to the app
• Additional performance and stability improvements

By Cliff on Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 20:33

In reply to by AnonyMouse

I'm very satisfied with Downcast... Is there any good reasons for me to try this one out? Any benefits to downcast?

By AnonyMouse on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 20:33

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

What's New in Version 2.0

Podcasts 2 introduces a stunning, all-new design for iOS 7 and adds useful features you'll love.

Designed for iOS 7
• Podcasts has a beautiful new look and feel that fits right in with iOS 7
• The Podcasts Store is now located in the Featured tab, making it easier than ever to discover great podcasts
• The new Search tab makes finding podcasts in the Podcasts Store fast and simple
• Top Charts now shows podcasts and episodes in a simple list, so it's even easier to see what’s popular
• You can now view your stations as a list of episodes, or group them by podcast

Stay up to date
• Podcasts now automatically update with new episodes — even while the app is not open
• Choose how often the Podcasts app checks for updates to get the latest episodes as soon as they become available
• iCloud now keeps your subscriptions, stations, and play position in sync with iTunes and Apple TV

This version of Podcasts also includes improvements to responsiveness and playback performance.

By AnonyMouse on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - 20:33

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

What's New in Version 2.1
This update includes several improvements that make playing your favorite podcasts even easier:

Improved Episode Browsing
• Quickly find episodes you haven’t listened to in the new Unplayed tab
• Browse episodes that are available to download or stream in the Feed tab
• Save your favorite episodes to keep them offline
• Episodes can now be automatically deleted after you play them
• Tap on links that appear in podcast and episode descriptions to open them in Safari

Ask Siri
• You can now ask Siri to play podcast episodes by simply saying “play podcasts” 
• To play specific podcasts or stations, just ask Siri to play them by name, like “play TEDTalks”
• Please note that Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas.

Additional Improvements
• Podcasts now supports CarPlay

By zdenek on Thursday, May 21, 2015 - 20:33

Hello: let us say that I am searching for all podcasts that have a name spanish in them. When I type "spanish" without the quotes in to the search field in search pannel, I get maybe 10 podcasts and then just the keyboard "q, w, e, r" and so on. Any ideas what to do in order to list all podcasts that have word "spanish" in them? Also when I get the result for instance "coffee break spanish" how do I quickly get to the podcast that I am looking for for instance "season one ipizod 5"? Also how do I get there with "siri" if I did not download any podcast? Many thanks. Zdenek

By Isaac Hebert (not verified) on Thursday, May 21, 2015 - 20:33

Hi if you want to see all podcasts for example that have to do with spanish swipe to the see all link and then double tap.

By Daniel on Thursday, January 21, 2016 - 20:33

Hello everyone, is there any current way to download all episodes of a podcast feed with the default Apple podcasts app?

By Misty Dawn on Saturday, January 21, 2023 - 20:33

How does one view show notes for podcasts in the latest version?

By Sebby on Saturday, January 21, 2023 - 20:33

Double tap the playing episode title near the bottom of any view to open the Now Playing card. There's a Show button next to "Show Notes" which reveals them.

By Holger Fiallo on Saturday, January 21, 2023 - 20:33

Try apple podcast. Did not care for it. To hard to move around it. Overcast is easy and not complicated.

By Sebby on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 - 20:33

As far as I can tell, the seasons filter is completely inaccessible, meaning you can't navigate to seasons previous to the latest. This is an utter disgrace for a first-party app. But there, accessibility is something to add to the checklist for Apple's feel-good PR purposes these days, and not an objective to be achieved. I am going to have to look at the other options again, will probably just end up going with Downcast.