Apple Podcasts

Apple has seemingly fixed a problem from over the weekend that caused the iTunes Podcast charts and the charts in the Podcasts app to display inaccurate rankings. Business Insider highlighted the issue today, explaining that numerous popular podcasts had been pushed down the charts by unheard of, low-reviewed podcasts.

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An update to the popular iOS podcast app Overcast has added some cool new features. First up, and available to everyone, are additional Siri Shortcuts. One of these is particularly useful …

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To help aspiring and experienced podcasters grow their audiences and create more engaging shows, Apple has developed a toolkit of Marketing Best Practices for Apple Podcasts. The guidelines arrive alongside the release of watchOS 5, which includes an all-new Podcasts app.

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Overcast 5.0 is a major update to the podcast player for iPhone and iPad — and now Apple Watch. The Overcast update for iOS 12 and watchOS 5 includes a cleaner Now Playing screen, support for Siri Shortcuts, the return of the standalone Apple Watch app which is now greatly improved, and more.

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Apple Watch has always been able to play music on its own — first by syncing with iPhone, then by standalone streaming — but podcast playback has been much harder to achieve. A few apps have helped reduce the friction, but official Apple Podcast support has been at the top of my wish list.

Starting with watchOS 5, currently in developer beta and likely released in September, Apple Watch Series 1 and higher will finally have its own Podcasts app. For podcast listeners, this update will make cellular connectivity even more compelling and make leaving your iPhone behind a bit easier.

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Castro, one of the more popular third-party podcast players for iOS, has been updated today with a pair of new features. With today’s update, Castro now supports sideloading podcast files, as well as chapter pre-selecting…

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Apple has removed five Infowars podcasts from the Apple Podcasts platform. Apple confirmed the decision to Buzzfeed News overnight, and is the first major tech company to blanket ban almost all of Alex Jones’ content. Apple said that it does not tolerate hate speech, and clear guidelines dictate the types of content that are accessible on its platforms. Companies like YouTube and Spotify have pulled select episodes before.

Apple is the leading podcast distribution platform and its more drastic approach naturally put pressure on other players to follow suit. Only one InfoWars show remains on Apple’s service, ‘Real News with David Night’. Apple did not say why this show alone was allowed to stay up.

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June 28th, 2005 might go down as one of the biggest days in the history of media. It was the day Apple announced they were taking podcasting mainstream by including support for Podcasts in iTunes 4.9 and with syncing to the iPod. As rumors continue to swirl of iTunes being dismantled on macOS (in favor of dedicated apps), I thought it might be fun to take a look back at this important decision.
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Outcast for Apple Watch debuted in January and immediately became my favorite way to listen to podcasts without my iPhone. Fast-forward to June and Apple unveiled that watchOS 5 would add Apple’s Podcasts app to Apple Watch and support third-party apps much better. While it sounds like Outcast has plans for watchOS 5 (which is currently in developer beta), Outcast 2 has shipped for everyone and includes two major features: episode streaming and playlists for continuous playback.

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Apple has made several improvements to its Podcasts app and service over the last year, and while features may still lack in comparison to popular third-party apps like Overcast, it’s hard to deny the sheer size of Apple’s podcast platform. Now, Fast Company reports that Apple Podcasts has passed a notable milestone in downloads and streams…

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Starting and producing a podcast on your own can be expensive. You’ll need to get your own microphone, let alone a software suite that you’ll have to both learn and manage to use in a short period of time.

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Anchor, an app that started out trying to create an audio version of Twitter, has now pivoted to becoming a one-stop app for podcasters. The relaunched app now allows anyone to record, edit, host, publish and distribute podcasts free of charge …

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9to5Mac Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts

Apple has reportedly acquired Pop Up Archive, a small Oakland-based company that builds tools for searching spoken audio including podcasts (via Peter Kafka). Pop Up Archive, which makes a tool called Audiosear.ch, shut its services down last month without an explanation.

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New for Podcasts in iOS 11: Apple is bringing a handful of new podcasts features to iOS 11, both for users and creators. The new features were highlighted during a developer session on Friday and include a redesign to the Podcasts design, updates to the Podcasts spec, and more…

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The schedule for WWDC 2017 has just been announced and includes a new ‘Podcast Studio’. From Tuesday, podcasters will be able to reserve one hour slots and record in a specially-made recording studio inside the McEnery Convention Center.

Apple says that the ‘fully outfitted studio’ allows for the creation of audio podcasts with up to four guests per show. Apple experts are on hand to provide support and podcasters are given a copy of their session to distribute freely how they see fit.

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Apple has today rebranded its iTunes Podcasts offering as ‘Apple Podcasts’, encapsulating the podcast directory and the client Podcasts app available on iPhone and iPad.

Although today’s announcement is merely a branding change, it may indicate a renewed focus by Apple on podcasting. Full marketing guidelines for podcasters can be found here.

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Marco Arment’s Overcast podcast player updated to version 3.0 this week and includes a new design with a novel monetization strategy: in-house advertising. Overcast has relied in in-app purchases and subscriptions in the past as well as Google-based advertising, but Arment is now rolling his own ads starting with the latest version.

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Castro, an inbox-based podcast player for iPhone, today released a major update (version 2.2) with a handful of new features. Along with a 20% price cut, the update headlines the addition of CarPlay, a new widget for the iOS 10 lock screen, 3D Touch Quick Actions, and more.

Get Castro for $3.99 in the App Store, but note it is only available for iPhone — there is no iPad or Mac counterpart. Here’s a look at what’s new in the latest update …

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