HOW TO Pick and play your podcasts

1 Explore the app

Apple’s Podcasts app looks like the Music app because they have the same parent: iTunes. There’s a sidebar and search box (left), a Now Playing toolbar (top) and details of the currently selected podcast in the main window.

2 Start to subscribe

If you subscribe to a podcast, the app will automatically download new episodes as they’re released. All you need to do is find a podcast you like and then click on the large Subscribe button towards the top right.

3 Explore your episodes

If you click on the Listen Now link in the sidebar, you’ll see a screen rather like this one with big thumbnails of the podcasts you’re subscribed to. This shows the most recently updated podcasts in your subscription list.

4 Open the notes

When you click on a podcast, the Podcasts app will give you lots of info including details of the hosts and guests so you can find related podcasts. If you click on the ‘i’ icon at the top right you can also see any show notes.

5 Create a queue

If you ≈-click on a podcast episode you’ll see several options including Play Next and Play Last. This adds the selected episode to your playlist. You can add multiple episodes and they’ll appear in the Playing Next sidebar.

6 Adjust the order

In the Playing Next queue (which you can view or hide using the icon at the top right), you’ll see a ‘hamburger’ icon: this enables you to reorder your playback queue by dragging episodes into whatever order you’d like.

7 Never miss updates

Unless you turn them off, the Podcasts app will show you Notifications whenever one of your subscribed podcasts has been updated and downloaded. You can play the episode by clicking on the Notification.

8 Speed it up

If you’re in a hurry or find a particular podcaster talks too quickly you can adjust the playback speed by clicking Controls > Playback Speed. The ‘one and a quarter’ speed option is the least chipmunk-sounding.

9 Sync with iOS

If you go into Prefs > Advanced, you can enable or disable two key features: automatic deletion of episodes once listened to, and iCloud sync. The latter option keeps your iOS/iPadOS devices up to date with your subscribed podcasts.