This article will help you learn how to use these new podcast discovery features on Apple Music.
Apple Podcasts Has Added Personalized Recommendations
Apple’s iOS 15 update comes with personal recommendations features to personalize the content Apple shows you on the podcast app. These features can be found under Apple Podcasts’ Listen Now tab (which already existed on the app.)
The added features help you discover all that Apple Podcasts has to offer, introducing you to podcasts you didn’t know existed, but that you’re likely to enjoy.
With these features, you can expand your Apple Podcasts library so that you have a variety of podcast content to listen to at any time, over and above the content you already know and love.
How to Find Podcasts You Might Enjoy on Apple Podcasts
As with any other feature on Apple Podcasts or any of Apple’s other apps, finding the new personal recommendations features is pretty straightforward.
All you have to do is find the Listen Now tab on your app and you’ll see a set of personal recommendations.
Apple Podcasts personalizes your recommendations based on a number of factors, including your listening habits, what your friends have shared with you, as well as the podcasts you already follow. If you want to use these new features, make sure you have iOS 15 installed on your device.
Here’s how to use the personal recommendations features on Apple Podcasts:
Podcasts Your Friends Have Shared With You
Whenever your friends share podcasts with you, Apple Podcasts will save this content in a dedicated Shared with You tab on the app, along with details about that episode, show, or channel, as well as the name of the person who shared it with you.
All of this information will be visible when you scroll through the Listen Now tab and view the Shared with You section, even if you don’t open it.
In order for Apple to identify and categorize the podcast content shared with you, your friends have to send you the podcast link from the Apple Podcasts app on the Messages app. In other words, your friends also need an Apple device.
Follow the steps below to start using Apple Podcasts’ Shared with You feature:
Launch the Apple Podcasts app on your Apple device. Tap Listen Now in the bottom-left of the screen. Tap the Shared with You section on the screen, and then find the content you want to listen to that your friend has shared with you.
When you view the shared content, you’ll see a button with the name of the person who shared it with you. You can tap that button or section in Listen Now to go back to the moment it was shared with you in Messages, allowing you to reply to the message if you intend to.
If You Like This Podcast…
Not only does Apple Podcasts know what you like based on what you listen to, it knows what other listeners like based on their listening habits.
The If You Like feature recommends additional shows that other listeners of that show are listening to on the app. For example, the If You Like Marriage Today with Jimmy & Karen Evans section (as seen on the images above) recommends popular shows in the marriage category on Apple Podcasts.
Apple Podcasts will recommend more shows with a discussion format centered around that topic or that focus on improving marriages, any other shows from the studio that produces that particular show, as well as other shows that listeners of Marriage Today with Jimmy & Karen Evans are also following and engaging with.
Here’s how to find and use the If You Like feature on Apple Podcasts:
Launch the Apple Podcasts app on your Apple device. Tap Listen Now in the bottom-left of the screen. Scroll down and tap the If You Like section on the screen, and then scroll through to discover similar content.
You will also find sections with personalized recommendations based on the topics you are interested in to help you discover more channels and shows you might like. So if you enjoy shows categorized under sports, you may see sections with suggestions for shows around the NBA, NFL, and so forth.
These particular recommendations are based on how podcast creators categorize their content when uploading it.
While Apple Podcasts has added these personal recommendations features, you will also see the features that already existed under the Listen Now tab on the app.
This means that you still have access to the Channels To Try, Shows You Might Like, and Episodes You Might Like features that you may already be accustomed to, which—much like the iOS 15 features—also offer you personalized podcast content recommendations.
Apple Podcasts’ iOS 15 personal recommendations features are available to Apple Podcasts listeners in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Apple Is Making Your Podcast Experience More Personal
Apple is always improving its products to give you the best experience across its products and devices. Its iOS 15 software update has a focus on providing you with a more personalized experience across all apps, so you can get the most out of Apple products.
In particular, the addition of personal recommendations to the Apple Podcasts app is just another way that Apple is digging deeper to help you discover a whole world of podcast content that exists on the platform.
