If you enjoy radio shows, but want a more curated experience, you might want to get into podcasts. Having become popular during the early days of the iPod (hence the name), podcasts are audio/video shows whether you’re into news, sports, comedy, music, technology, art, design, programming, food or just about anything else, there’s a podcast just waiting for you to tune into. Here’s how you can delve into the wonderful world of podcasts on your iOS device.
How do podcasts work?
Think of a podcast as a radio or TV show, with episodes released on a schedule. Each episode is nothing but an audio or video file that you can download to your device, or to your computer. You can then play these whenever you like, or sync them between your desktop and mobile devices to save for later. By using an app like Podcasts bundled with iOS, you can simply subscribe to any podcasts that tickle your fancy and automatically download episodes as they’re released to your device or computer.
Podcast fans will find something for everyone in the iTunes Store
Finding podcasts
Most of the best podcasts from around the web are available via iTunes for free, and you can find them easily in the Podcasts app. There are three ways to do so: by browsing through categorized podcasts in the Featured tab, checking out the Top Charts for the hottest podcasts around and by using the Search tool to find specific podcasts by name or topic.
Browse by category
- Launch the Podcasts app from the home screen.
- Tap Featured at the bottom of the screen to view popular podcasts in your iTunes Store.
Visit the Featured tab to find great podcasts
- To filter podcasts by media type, tap Audio or Video at the top of this screen. Audio podcasts are great for when you want to listen along while running errands or commuting; video podcasts are perfect for relaxing on the couch when you can keep your eyes on your device screen.
- To filter podcasts by category, tap Categories at the top of the screen. You can then select a topic you’re interested in, such as Comedy, , Games & Hobbies, Music, or Sports & Recreation to find podcasts you’ll enjoy.
- Tap on a podcast to view a description and available episodes for that podcast.
- Tap the i button next to each episode to view a summary for that episode, or the download button to save that episode to your device memory to enjoy offline.
- To stream the episode without downloading it, tap the episode title.
- If you like what you hear, tap Subscribe to automatically download new episodes to your device as they are released.
View the details of a podcast and subscribe to it
- You can also view Reviews or find Related podcasts by tapping the respective buttons below the podcast title.
Find the best podcasts on iTunes
- In the Podcasts app, Tap Top Charts and then tap Categories at the top of the screen.
Find the best podcasts from a variety of topics
- Select a category, like Arts, Education, or News & Politics and then select a sub-category. There are several topics in each to choose from.
- Tap Audio or Video in the resulting list to toggle between your preferred media type.
- Select a podcast you like and tap Subscribe to receive its latest episodes, select individual episodes to find out more, stream or download them as described above.
Search for specific podcasts
- In the Podcasts app, tap Search and then enter a query to look up podcasts by subject, host or podcast name.
Find podcasts and specific episodes using Search
- Select a search result to subscribe to the podcast, or stream/download episodes from that podcast.
Where are my subscribed podcasts?
- Tap My Podcasts to view all the podcasts you’ve subscribed to.
Manage your subscriptions in the My Podcasts tab
- To view the episodes in a podcast, tap the podcast you’d like to check out. You’ll find a description of the podcast as well as available episodes to stream and download in a list.
Delete episodes from a podcast
- Tap My Podcasts, and then the podcast you want to delete episodes from.
- Swipe to the left on any downloaded episode and tap Delete to remove the episode file from your device memory.
Swipe left on an episode to delete it
Unsubscribing from podcasts
- Tap the My Podcasts button at the bottom of the screen, and then tap Edit at the top left corner.
- Tap the X next to each podcast you’d like to unsubscribe from.
Creating a playlist from your podcasts
- Tap My Stations, and then tap + New Station… and give this a name.
The My Stations tab lets you create playlists of podcasts to enjoy
- On the next screen, select all the podcasts you’d like to add to your playlist.
- Tap any podcast on this playlist to launch it, and play podcasts continuously in order.
- To change the playing order of podcast episode in this playlist, tap Edit and then tap + hold the icon to the right of each podcast episode and drag them to reorder. When you’re finished, tap Done to save your changes.
- To remove episodes from your playlist, tap Edit on this screen and then check off episodes by tapping the circles to the left of each episode and then tap Delete.
Playing podcasts
Once you’ve subscribed to a podcast or two, you’ll find it in the My Podcasts tab.
- Tap a podcast to select an episode to stream it, or play the downloaded episode.
Control playback speed of an episode
- To slow down or speed up the rate of playback, tap Speed 1x at the bottom left of the screen to switch between 1.5x, 2x and 0.5x of the playback speed.
- To stop playback after a certain amount time, tap Sleep Timer to select how long you’d like this podcast to play before it stops. Select a time period from 5 minutes to 1 hour and tap Done to enable auto-stop.
That covers the basics of using the Podcasts app in iOS to find and enjoy podcasts. What are your favorite podcasts to tune into? Let us know in the comments!
