How to Manage, Add, & Delete Podcast Subscriptions on iPhone & iPad
Do you listen to a lot of podcasts? Perhaps while you’re working out, doing chores, driving, or going for a jog? The Podcasts app that comes pre-installed on iPhone and iPad devices offers a free way to listen to audio stories that keep you entertained in one way or the other.
Apple’s Podcasts app is a home to over 800,000 active podcasts and accounts for more than half of all people who listen to podcasts in general. Since podcasts are usually aired in episodes, users will be notified when a new episode is available, provided they’ve subscribed to the particular podcast. Managing your podcast library is just as important as managing your music library, to maintain a quality experience.
Are you trying to switch to the built-in Podcasts app for listening to your favorite shows? Look no further, because in this article, we’ll walk you through the necessary steps to manage, add and delete podcast subscriptions on your iPhone and iPad.
How to Add & Subscribe to Podcasts on iPhone & iPad
Getting started with the Podcasts app on an iOS device is fairly simple, as you’ll use the Apple account that’s tied to the device for syncing podcasts across your other Apple devices. Now, without further ado, let’s take a look at how you can manage your podcast subscriptions.
- Open the “Podcasts” app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Head over to the “Browse” section to find the podcasts that you like or the ones you usually listen to. Tap on any of the podcasts that you want to subscribe to.
- Tap on the “Subscribe” option to make sure you’re notified when a new episode is available. Upon subscribing, the most recent episode will be added to your Podcasts library and automatically downloaded for offline listening.
- Now, head over to the “Library” section to see a grid view of all the shows you’ve added. Tap on any of the podcasts that are displayed here.
- In this menu, you’ll notice the most recent episode at the top, which is already downloaded for you. To view the previous episodes, simply tap on “See All Episodes”.
- Here, you can add any of the episodes to your library by tapping on the “+” icon as shown below. Tap it again to download the episode on to your iOS device.
Now that you know how to add and subscribe to podcasts, you’ll probably also want to know how to unsubscribe and delete podcast too. That’s also quite simple.
How to Delete & Unsubscribe from Podcasts on iPhone & iPad
Want to unsubscribe or remove Podcasts? No sweat:
- Open the Podcasts app again if you aren’t there already
- In order to remove any of the podcasts you’ve subscribed to, long-press on the podcast in the library section to access more options.
- Here, if you choose to “Unsubscribe”, you will not receive any more notifications from this podcast when a new episode is available. However, the episodes you’ve added to your library will remain there. In order to remove them, simply tap on “Delete from Library”.
That’s how you unsubscribe and delete podcasts in iOS and iPadOS, also quite simple right?
You also may be curious how you can manage notifications about podcasts, for example when new episodes are released or available.
How to Manage Podcasts Notifications
Want to adjust notifications for podcasts? That’s easy too:
- If you want to turn off notifications for certain podcasts you’ve subscribed to, just head over to the “Listen Now” section and press the “bell” icon.
- Here, you can use the toggle to selectively enable or disable notifications for your podcasts.
Now you know how to manage, add, and delete your podcast subscriptions on your iPhone and iPad. That wasn’t too hard, right?
Although the Podcasts app automatically downloads the most recent episode of a show by default, this can by easily changed by heading over to Settings -> Podcasts -> Download Episodes. You can disable automatic downloads if you’re low on internet data. Cellular downloads are blocked by default, but this can be easily changed within settings too.
If you own multiple Apple devices, your podcast library will be synced across all your devices that are signed in to the same Apple account. This could be useful in various situations. For example, if you were listening to podcasts on your iPhone while you were driving home, you can pick up where you left off on your iPad or Mac.
Don’t have a lot of time on your hands to listen to your favorite podcast? You can speed through your shows with ease by simply changing the playback speed within the Podcasts app on your iOS device. You can also set a sleep timer in Podcasts to automatically stop the playback after a designated period of time.
We hope you managed to keep your podcast library organized with Apple’s Podcasts app. What other apps have you used before for listening to your favorite podcasts? Do let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments section down below.
In the past there was a very useful option that would automatically delete a podcast once you heard it. That saved the need for specifically going back and deleting it. Too bad they eliminated it.