Listen to podcasts on iPhone
In the Podcasts app , you can play an episode, see what’s playing next, listen to an episode when you’re offline, set a sleep timer, and use the playback controls.
![The Now Playing tab in the Podcasts app, showing the podcast artwork, the episode title, the playback controls, and the volume slider. At the bottom of the screen is the AirPlay icon and the Playing Next button.](https://help.apple.com/assets/65E21662495F1A6C8701F50A/65E21663EF8273BE1D0C2734/en_US/37331e87226a8f55cd1373312d25f3b9.png)
Play a podcast
To start playing a podcast, tap the play button below the episode title (or tap an episode in the Up Next section). You can also do any of the following:
Jump to a specific time: Drag the slider below the episode information. (If the slider doesn’t appear, tap the player at the bottom to open the Now Playing screen.)
Resume playing a previous show or episode: Tap Home, scroll to the bottom of the screen, then tap an episode below Recently Played.
Choose what to play next
You can add episodes to Playing Next, then listen to them later.
Tap
for the episode, then tap Add to Queue.
Tap the player at the bottom of the screen to open the Now Playing screen, then tap
.
In the Queue section, do any of the following:
Play an episode: Tap the episode. The next episode in the queue plays immediately after the previous episode finishes.
Reorder episodes: Drag
to move an episode up or down in the list.
Remove an episode from the queue: Swipe left on the episode, then tap Delete.
Remove all episodes from the queue: Tap Clear.
If you listen to multiple episodes of a show in a row, additional episodes appear in the Continue Playing section of Now Playing. These episodes play after the ones you added to the Queue section, so you can easily pick up where you left off in a show. You can also tap an episode in Continue Playing to start listening right away.
Set a sleep timer
You can set a sleep timer so that playback stops automatically after a specified period of time.
Tap the player at the bottom of the screen to open the Now Playing screen.
Tap
, then choose an option.
View episode transcripts
When a transcript is available for an episode, you can read the full text of the transcript.
Do any of the following:
While playing an episode: Tap
. (You may need to tap the player at the bottom of the screen to open Now Playing.)
While viewing episode information: Scroll down to the Transcripts section. You can also tap
, then tap View Transcript.
From the Up Next section: Tap
, then tap View Transcript.
You can read along with an episode as you play it. Tap a word to jump to that time in the episode. Tap to find a specific word or phrase.
Note: Transcript availability may vary by language, and by country or region. See the Apple Support article Availability of Apple Media Services.
Use the playback controls
Tap the player at the bottom of the screen to open the Now Playing screen, then use any of the following controls.
Control | Description | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Play the current episode. | ||||||||||
![]() | Pause playback. | ||||||||||
![]() | Choose a faster or slower playback speed. | ||||||||||
![]() | Jump back 15 seconds. To change the number of seconds you skip back, go to Settings > Podcasts, then tap Back. | ||||||||||
![]() | Jump forward 30 seconds. To change the number of seconds you skip forward, go to Settings > Podcasts, then tap Forward. | ||||||||||
![]() | Set a timer for podcasts to stop playing. | ||||||||||
![]() | View the transcript for an episode. | ||||||||||
![]() | |||||||||||
![]() | See what’s playing next, or play more episodes from a show you’ve recently listened to. | ||||||||||
![]() | Choose more actions such as sharing or downloading the episode. |