To search Apple’s massive library of podcasts and subscribe to them (which is free, by the way):
- Tap the Podcasts icon to open it.
- There are three ways to discover podcasts:
- Tap Browse at the bottom of the screen; there you’ll find podcasts that are featured by the good folks at Apple.
- Tap Browse at the bottom of the screen, swipe down to Top Shows or Top Episodes; tap See All and you’ll be greeted with lists of the most popular podcasts. Tap the All Categories button in the upper-right corner to sift through the podcasts based on the category (such as Arts, Health, or Music).
- Tap Search and then tap the Search field at the top of the screen. When the keyboard appears, type the name or subject of a podcast to see a list of results.
- Tap Browse at the bottom of the screen; there you’ll find podcasts that are featured by the good folks at Apple.
- When you find a podcast that intrigues you, tap its name to see its information page.
- Tap the Subscribe button. The podcast will appear in the Library section of the app, and the newest episode will be downloaded to your iPhone.
- Tap Library in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and then tap the name of the podcast you subscribed to and view its information screen.
- Tap the More button (looks like a circle containing three dots) and then tap Settings to see the settings for the podcast. From here, you can customize how the podcast downloads and organizes episodes. Tap Done in the upper-right corner when you’re finished with the Settings options.
How to Play podcasts on your iPhone
Playing podcasts on your iPhone is a breeze, and works very much like playing audio files in the Music app.- Open the Podcasts app and tap Library at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the name of the podcast you’d like to listen to.
- Tap the episode you want to play. The episode begins playing; you can see the currently playing episode near the bottom of the screen, just above the toolbar.
- Tap the currently playing episode to open the playback controls.
- Drag the line in the middle of the screen to scrub to a different part of the episode, or tap the Rewind or Fast Forward buttons to the left and right of the Pause/Play button, respectively.
- Adjust the playback speed by tapping the 1x icon in the lower-left of the Play controls. Each tap increases or decreases playback speed.
- Adjust the volume by dragging the Volume slider near the bottom of the screen, or using the Volume buttons on the side of your iPhone.
Tap the Listen Now button in the toolbar at the bottom-left of the app’s screen to see a list of the newest episodes that have been automatically downloaded to your iPhone.