iPhone: Listening to podcasts

Learn how to use a podcast app to find and listen to pre-recorded radio programs, called podcasts.

Before you begin

Before you start, make sure the iPhone is switched on, fully charged, and showing the Home screen. Your operating software should also be up to date.

While there are many different podcast apps, this course demonstrates how to use the free ABC Listen app to download and listen to podcasts.

Podcast apps like ABC Listen can be downloaded from the App Store

How to download an app from the App Store

Open the App Store from the Home screen and tap the Search icon in the bottom right of the screen.

Search for ABC Listen
On the page of search results, find ABC Listen. It may not be the first search result listed
Tap the Get button, and, from the pop-up box that appears, tap Install
You might have to enter your Apple ID password and tap Sign in to start the install process
The installation is complete when an Open button appears.

Using the ABC Listen app to explore and stream podcasts

Open the ABC Listen app from the Home screen. The top of the main page shows radio stations you can tune into. Podcasts are shown below, organised by category.

Latest and Best can be scrolled to show more podcasts that are available
The whole page can be scrolled to show more categories
Tap a podcast to listen to it
Use the Browse option to find podcasts by topic, for example News
All Programs and Audiobooks shows a full list of available podcasts
Use the Search bar to find a podcast you already know the name of
For example, search for The Health Report, then tap on the top result. The Health Report podcast screen appears
Tap Play to listen to the latest episode, or scroll down to see list of previous episodes you can also play
When you tap Play, the podcast will stream to your phone as it plays. If you aren't connected to Wi-Fi, this will use some of your mobile data allowance.

When streaming a podcast, remember to stop playback when you've finished listening. Apps like ABC Listen could keep working in the background and use up your data.

Using the ABC Listen app to download and subscribe to podcasts

Tap the Download Podcast icon next to a podcast episode to make the podcast available for you to listen to later. When a small tick appears, the download is complete.

To find downloaded podcasts, tap the Favourites icon at the top of the ABC Listen app screen, and choose Downloads
Tap any podcast in the Downloads list to play it.
There are also controls to Pause the podcast, skip 15 seconds ahead and 15 seconds back
To get new episodes of a podcast automatically, you can Follow it (can be called Subscribe in other podcast apps)
On a podcast's main page, tap the Follow icon. If the app asks if the podcast should Save to an account, you can choose Not Now
When asked if you want to Listen to new episodes offline, tap Enable Auto-download
To stop automatically downloading new episodes, turn off the pink Auto download new episodes switch on the podcast's main page
Find the podcasts you Follow on the Favourites screen
To delete episodes once you've finished listening to them, tap the Personalise Settings icon, and find the Downloads option under Listen Later
Tap to open the Downloads Settings screen, and then turn on the Delete 24 hrs after listening switch.

How to set a timer for a podcast to stop playing

Tap the Sleep Timer icon at the top right of the screen to see some options. Choose the option to stop playing at the End of the current episode instead of starting the next episode automatically.