Follow and play shows in Apple Podcasts on iPhone and iPad

Follow your favourite podcasts and control how you listen to them with playback speed, skip and more.

How to follow podcasts on iPhone or iPad

When you follow a podcast, new episodes will be downloaded to your device automatically. You can also receive a notification when new episodes are released.

  1. Open the Podcasts app.

  2. Browse or search for a show. Need help with finding the shows that you like?

  3. Tap the show to see its information page.

  4. Tap the Follow button.

To find the podcasts that you follow or the ones that you've manually added through a URL, go to the Library tab. Then tap Shows and tap Followed.

Want to listen to premium podcast content? Find out how to purchase Apple Podcasts Subscriptions.

How to unfollow podcasts on iPhone or iPad

  1. Open the Podcasts app.

  2. On your iPhone, go to the Library tab and tap Shows. On your iPad, go to Library in the sidebar and tap Shows.

  3. Tap a show to see its information page.

  4. Tap the More buttonNo alt supplied for Image.

  5. Tap Unfollow ShowNo alt supplied for Image.

    On an iPhone, the More Menu is displayed on a podcast after tapping the More button in the top-right of the screen. The More button looks like a circle with an ellipsis inside it. The More Menu’s first option is Unfollow Show.

  6. If you have episodes downloaded, you can choose to keep all your downloaded episodes, or remove them from your Library. If you choose Keep All Episodes, new episodes won't download, but episodes that are already in your Library won't be deleted.

 If you unfollow a show with premium content, your subscription is still active. Find out how to cancel a subscription.

How to choose the order that episodes play in

When you follow a podcast, you can play episodes in order, starting with the most recent or oldest episode.

  1. Open the Podcasts app.

  2. On your iPhone, go to the Library tab, then tap Shows. On your iPad, go to Library in the sidebar and tap Shows.

  3. Tap the show to see its information page.

  4. Tap the More buttonNo alt supplied for Image in the top right-hand corner, then tap Settings.

  5. Tap Oldest To Newest or Newest To Oldest.

    On an iPhone, the settings screen for a specific podcast. The first option is a Following toggle, then a Notifications toggle. After those, there are the Episode Order options. The first is Oldest To Newest and the second is Newest to Oldest, which is selected.

After an episode ends, the next episode of that podcast will play automatically. To turn this off, go to Settings > Podcasts, then turn off Continuous Playback.

How to filter seasons and episodes

For podcasts that have seasons, you can filter them by season. If you follow a podcast, or have saved or downloaded episodes, you can also filter it so that you only see your unplayed episodes, downloads and more.

  1. Open the Podcasts app.

  2. On your iPhone, go to the Library tab, then tap Shows. On your iPad, go to Library in the sidebar and tap Shows.

  3. Tap the show to see its information page.

  4. Tap Seasons or Episodes, then choose a filter.

    On an iPhone, the podcast show page is shown. Below the show banner, there’s a drop down arrow that’s selected that says Episodes. The Episodes menu shows the options All Episodes, Unplayed, Downloaded and Subscriber Episodes. All Episodes is selected.

How to speed up or slow down a podcast episode

  1. Open the Podcasts app and start listening to an episode.

  2. Tap the mini player at the bottom of the screen to expand the audio controls.

  3. Tap the Playback Speed buttonNo alt supplied for Image, then choose a speed from the menu that appears.

    On an iPhone, the mini player for Podcasts is shown. Near the bottom left of the player, the Playback Speed button, which looks like a “1x”, is selected and has the Playback speed menu open. The options in the menu are 2x, 1.75x, 1.5x, 1.25x, 1x and 0.75x. 1x is selected.

How to view podcast transcripts

  1. Open the Podcasts app and start listening to an episode.

  2. Tap the mini player at the bottom of the screen to expand the audio controls.

  3. Tap the Transcript buttonNo alt supplied for Image. If the Transcript buttonNo alt supplied for Image is greyed out, transcripts are not available for that episode.

    On an iPhone, a podcast transcript is shown with the mini player below it. In the bottom left of the mini player the Transcript button is on, which looks like a dark speech bubble with a quote mark inside and a white square highlight around it.

In the transcript view you can:

  • Follow along with your favourite shows while reading time-synced transcripts.

  • Scroll forwards and backwards through the podcast and tap to play the section you want to listen to.

  • Tap Search to find specific words and go directly to those sections.

  • Report an issue with the transcript by pressing and holding the section, tapping Report a Concern, then following the onscreen steps.

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