Apple Podcasts launches new video experience

Apple launched iOS 26.4, and with it, access to the new video experience within Apple Podcasts. Apple also confirmed additional podcast hosting companies will support HLS video: Podspace, Riverside, Ausha, and Firstory have been added to the list (see our story for the full set).

Your iPhone will offer an update within the next few weeks; but you can update it today by following Apple’s instructions.
One of the podcast hosting companies supporting it, Transistor, has posted a guide; in a video, Stephen Robles shows the iOS experience.

The absence of support from Spotify/Megaphone at launch may mean that many users won’t see the shows they’re expecting in video within the app (including shows like Joe Rogan and The Ringer titles); Apple says more content will roll out throughout the year. John Spurlock reports just 48 shows available in video at launch; the majority with Acast.

The availability of video podcasts isn’t promoted within the iOS update overview, though it is promoted when a user opens the Apple Podcasts app for the first time after upgrading. The Apple Podcasts web app (which also works on Android) has been updated to offer full video support; but the Apple Podcasts macOS app doesn’t support HLS video. In the most glaring omission, the Apple TV doesn’t support HLS video podcasting either.
In a piece written in December 2024, Eric Johnson reminds us that video comes with trade-offs.

About a quarter of Americans claim that they have never consumed a podcast. Sounds Profitable’s Tom Webster today shares The Last Quarter, examining the people who haven’t, yet, tried a podcast - and whether we can still reach them. Nearly 6 in 10 of them are using ad-supported premium video streaming, we learn; and 57% of them are using YouTube.