Shutterstock You can listen to over 700,000 different podcasts on your iPhone.
- You can listen to podcasts on an iPhone as a great source of information, entertainment, and education. There are now well over half a million active podcasts in production.
- Apple's Podcasts app is a free and easy way to find, download, and subscribe to your favorite podcasts.
- If you prefer, there are many other podcast apps to choose from. You can even download podcast episodes from your computer to the Music app via iTunes.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
There's something of a podcast boom taking place right now.
Currently, there are over 700,000 active podcasts in Apple's catalog.
Most podcasts are free, and you can subscribe and listen using Apple's Podcasts app or any number of alternative apps.
Check out the products mentioned in this article:
iPhone Xs (From $999 at Apple)
How to find, download, and listen to podcasts on the iPhone
1. If you don't already have Apple's Podcasts app installed on your iPhone, you should start by downloading it from the App Store.
2. Start the Podcasts app and tap "Continue" at the welcome screen.
3. Use the "Browse" button in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen to look for podcasts you want to listen to. If you know the name of a podcast, tap "Search" and enter its name. Tap the podcast name when you see it in the search results.
Dave Johnson/Business Insider
Find podcasts with the search function.
4. On the Shows page, tap the podcast.
5. For most podcasts, you have several options when the podcast page appears:
- To start listening to a particular episode, scroll down to find an episode you like, and tap it.
- To download the episode to listen to it later, tap the plus sign to the right of the episode. The plus sign will become a cloud to indicate it's queued to download to your library.
- To subscribe to the podcast - and let the app automatically download new episodes as they are published - tap "Subscribe" at the top of the page.
Dave Johnson/Business Insider
Download and subscribe to your favorite podcasts.
6. After you have subscribed to some podcasts or downloaded episodes, you can find them by tapping "Library." There, you can choose episodes to listen to.
Dave Johnson/Business Insider The Library is where you can find and play all the episodes you have downloaded.
Alternatives to the Apple Podcasts app
While Apple offers the simple and functional Podcasts app for managing your podcast library and listening to episodes, many people prefer other apps, which offer more customization and a better design.
Some of the most popular podcast apps include Overcast, Castro, and Spotify. If you're surprised to see Spotify on the list, don't be - you can find most podcasts in the app along with music, follow your favorite shows, and listen to episodes.
Dave Johnson/Business Insider Alternative apps like Overcast sometimes deliver extra features or convenience not found in Apple's Podcasts app.
Finally, you have one other way to listen to podcasts on your iPhone: You can download podcasts as MP3 audio files from the web. Most podcasts are hosted on a web page which you can find by searching in a web browser. When you find the podcast, click the "Download" link to save the episode to your computer.
From there, you can copy the file to iTunes and sync it with your iPhone. This isn't the most straightforward way of listening to podcasts, but if you would rather use the Music app than a podcast app, it will work in a pinch.