Pocket Casts iOs Updates & Release Notes

Release Notes

Make it easier to watch a video full screen: a button over the video in the player zooms it into the full screen player, rotating to landscape for landscape videos on iPhone, and a matching button brings it back #4988

Fix the in-app support form failing with "Oops something went wrong" for some customers #5266

Fix a bookmark disappearing from the list before the deletion confirmation appears when you swipe to delete it #5273

Fix the app never compacting its database, so storage freed by removing podcasts and episodes is now reclaimed #5233

The network header artwork now extends under the navigation bar on iOS 26 #5066

Fix a crash when resuming some downloaded episodes partway through #5279

Fix the message on the empty Podcasts tab being cut off after one line #5176

Fix long episode titles running past the edges of the Now Playing row on the Apple Watch #5139

Fix VoiceOver reading image names instead of labels for the podcast Follow button, the Cast button, the player's chapter and Effects buttons, the Profile banner's close button, and the notifications permission checkbox #5178

Fix episode downloads still using the old file link after the podcast replaced it with a new one, which could make the download fail #5274

Add a What's New feed with announcements from the Pocket Casts team, opened from the Profile tab #5077 #5294 #5300

Fix memory leaks when leaving empty playlists, empty folders, the Files screen and the Add to Playlist sheet #5284

Reduce the memory the app uses for artwork #5291

Fix Auto Download not downloading episodes added to a manual playlist until the next sync #5080

Fix a possible crash with Voice Boost on when switching episodes #5296

Ask for confirmation before Close and Clear Up Next in the mini player menu clears the queue #5261

Fix a possible crash with Voice Boost on when switching episodes #5296 #5280

Make it easier to watch a video full screen: a button over the video in the player zooms it into the full screen player, rotating to landscape for landscape videos on iPhone, and a matching button brings it back #4988

Fix the in-app support form failing with "Oops something went wrong" for some customers #5266

Fix a bookmark disappearing from the list before the deletion confirmation appears when you swipe to delete it #5273

Fix the app never compacting its database, so storage freed by removing podcasts and episodes is now reclaimed #5233

The network header artwork now extends under the navigation bar on iOS 26 #5066

Fix a crash when resuming some downloaded episodes partway through #5279

Fix the message on the empty Podcasts tab being cut off after one line #5176

Fix long episode titles running past the edges of the Now Playing row on the Apple Watch #5139

Fix VoiceOver reading image names instead of labels for the podcast Follow button, the Cast button, the player's chapter and Effects buttons, the Profile banner's close button, and the notifications permission checkbox #5178

Fix episode downloads still using the old file link after the podcast replaced it with a new one, which could make the download fail #5274

Add a What's New feed with announcements from the Pocket Casts team, opened from the Profile tab #5077 #5294 #5300

Fix memory leaks when leaving empty playlists, empty folders, the Files screen and the Add to Playlist sheet #5284

Reduce the memory the app uses for artwork #5291

Fix Auto Download not downloading episodes added to a manual playlist until the next sync #5080

Fix a possible crash with Voice Boost on when switching episodes #5296

Ask for confirmation before Close and Clear Up Next in the mini player menu clears the queue #5261

Fix a possible crash with Voice Boost on when switching episodes #5296 #5280

Fix New Episodes push notifications still arriving after turning off Profile → Settings → Notifications → New Episodes #5039

Fix portrait video episodes overflowing the player artwork area, overlapping the controls and episode title #5058

Fix transcripts not showing for podcasts whose feeds serve them as plain text, such as those hosted on Transistor #5055

Playback failures caused by a full disk now report a storage error instead of asking you to check your internet connection #5056

Fix the Chromecast button being invisible in the fullscreen video player #5060

Fix a memory leak that kept the episode details screen, its views and artwork in memory after it was closed #5067

Fix the controls in the fullscreen video player being too small to tap reliably #5059

Add podcast networks to Discover: a "Networks" row on the Discover tab, the full grid of networks behind "Show All", and a page for each network listing the podcasts it carries #5026 #5064 #5065

Add networks to search: a matching network now shows up in Top Results, and a "Networks" filter appears when the term matches one #5036

Open a podcast's network from the podcast page, either from the author in the header or from the author row in the details below it #5040 #5075

[tvOS] Add networks to search, in Combined Results and in a tab of their own #5037

Fix a Smart Bookmark's captured passage not syncing when signing in on a new device #5103

Fix a crash when tapping the link in a Discover collection or network header #5160

Fix Listening History search showing "No episodes found" before the search had finished, and results not turning up until the query was retyped when history synced late #4984

Fix the app freezing and closing itself when creating a Smart Playlist #4993

Add a Bluesky link to the About screen alongside Website, Instagram and X #4998

Fix setting the sleep timer through Siri or Shortcuts while the device is locked #4812

Fix a rare crash when starting episode downloads #5001

Tapping a Discover collection's poster now opens the expanded collection, the same as tapping "Show All" #5028

Add support for "Networks" row in "Discover" #5026

Add networks to search, including "Combined Results" and a new dedicated tab/filter #5037

Fix the Download button doing nothing in Search and Discover episode results #4702

Fix a rare crash when the What's New screen was shown while another screen was still being dismissed #5003

Add Smart Bookmarks

bookmarks now suggest a title and capture the surrounding passage from the episode transcript, mark their spot in the transcript, and anchor their timestamp to the transcript's reference timeline so it stays accurate even when dynamic ads shift the audio #4761

Add swipe actions to bookmark rows (Share and Delete) in the Player, the podcast screen's Bookmarks tab, standalone Podcast bookmarks, Episode, and Profile bookmark lists #4900 #4912

Add a Sleep Timer Live Activity so users can see the remaining sleep timer countdown from the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. #4949

Tapping a bookmark's artwork now opens the episode the bookmark was made in #4928

Fix animations on the podcast screen's Bookmarks tab: rows now animate as they are added, removed and filtered, and highlight when tapped #4904

Fix bookmark multi-select losing track of a selected bookmark when it was edited or updated by a sync, leaving a wrong selection count and a row that could not be deselected #4913

Fix the bookmark multi-select long press options: Select all above/below now flip to Deselect all above/below once that range is selected, and are left out for the first and last bookmark #4915

Fix the podcast screen tabs being clipped when scrolled #4918

Fix the colors on the Bookmarks screen in Profile: the list no longer shows up as a light gray slab on the dark themes, the whole screen uses one surface, and the search field is legible on every theme #5007

Fix the About and Legal & More screens not following the app's theme, the Automattic family logos being misaligned, and legal pages (Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Acknowledgements) not expanding beyond the safe area #4887

Improve playback reliability when starting audio #4938

Optimize fingerprinting and features that depend on it, including synced transcripts and more #4846, #4847

[tvOS] Show Episode artworks on player, episode show notes and podcast episode list #4893

[tvOS] Add a Top Results tab to Search, now the default, showing a Featured row of matching video episodes followed by Episodes and Podcasts rows. The Episodes tab leads with the same Featured row whenever a search turns up video episodes #4926

Fix the Bookmarks multi-select layout: rows keep their text width instead of shrinking, the selection bar sits just above the mini player instead of floating too high, and on iOS 26 it hides the tab bar and mini player correctly #4819

Fix the day label in episode cells growing out of proportion at large text sizes #4818

[tvOS] Add audio-reactive waveform to TV now playing screen. #4853

Make the Up Next navigation bar consistent between the tab and player presentations: Select and a new "…" menu with Clear Up Next on the trailing edge, and a standard close button when opened from the player #4875

[tvOS] Add audio-reactive waveform to TV now playing screen. #4853

[tvOS] Fix VoiceOver accessibility issues across the app: unlabeled tiles, fragmented row/text reads, and missing announcements for toasts, sign-in, and pairing #4888

[tvOS] Add support for regular episode lists. #4852

[tvOS] Fix episode count on smart playlists #4905

Fix a crash when the sign in prompt was shown while another screen was still being dismissed #4903

[tvOS] Add support server driven home page layout #4854

[tvOS] Add support for HLS episodes previews in episodes video list #4921

Recognise more HLS content types in alternate enclosures #4935

Disable "Tab Bar Minimizing" by default – there is an option to opt-in in Appearance Settings #4950

Fix the Bookmarks multi-select layout: rows keep their text width instead of shrinking, the selection bar sits just above the mini player instead of floating too high, and on iOS 26 it hides the tab bar and mini player correctly #4819

Fix the day label in episode cells growing out of proportion at large text sizes #4818

[tvOS] Add audio-reactive waveform to TV now playing screen. #4853

Make the Up Next navigation bar consistent between the tab and player presentations: Select and a new "…" menu with Clear Up Next on the trailing edge, and a standard close button when opened from the player #4875

[tvOS] Add support for regular episode lists. #4852

[tvOS] Fix episode count on smart playlists #4905

Fix a crash when the sign in prompt was shown while another screen was still being dismissed #4903

• Fix the Bookmarks multi-select layout: rows keep their text width instead of shrinking, the selection bar sits just above the mini player instead of floating too high, and on iOS 26 it hides the tab bar and mini player correctly #4819
• Fix the day label in episode cells growing out of proportion at large text sizes #4818
• Add Smart Bookmarks: bookmarks now suggest a title and capture the surrounding passage from the episode transcript, mark their spot in the transcript, and anchor their timestamp to the transcript's reference timeline so it stays accurate even when dynamic ads shift the audio #4761
• [tvOS] Add audio-reactive waveform to TV now playing screen. #4853
• Make the Up Next navigation bar consistent between the tab and player presentations: Select and a new "…" menu with Clear Up Next on the trailing edge, and a standard close button when opened from the player #4875
• [tvOS] Add support for regular episode lists. #4852

Fix headphone and Bluetooth play controls failing to resume playback after pausing #4785

Enable HLS streaming playback #4775

Fix intro-skipped time not syncing to your account when it is the only listening stat that changed #4755

Fix Up Next multi-select keeping episodes selected after they leave the queue, causing a wrong count and bulk actions on episodes no longer queued #4709

Fix the Help & Feedback screen following the system/in-app dark theme and using incorrect colors in the navigation bar #4698

Add support for Flightcast JSON transcripts #4706

Episode details loads show notes and artwork a little bit faster #4714

Fix player opening on Bookmarks tab in RTL languages #4696

Fix Add to Playlist dropping selections made while searching #4712

Fix the Discover search screen background color and colors in filters on some themes #4719

Fix the Bookmarks tab being slow to open when bookmarks reference episodes that are no longer available locally #4721

Fix the mini player initial loading shimmer not showing up when Reduce Motion is enabled #4713

Fix options picker rows like "Sort By" wrapping their labels to multiple lines when there is enough space #4722

Fix the disabled Transcript action in the player being nearly invisible when the episode has no transcript #4729

Fix some actions that require loading a missing episode blocking the app for a brief period of time #4744

Fix non-square artwork being stretched in bookmark rows; it is now cropped to a square thumbnail #4746

Sync Apple Watch and phone playback progress instantly when you pause #4535

Fix misaligned time values in the Stats screen's Time Saved rows; they are now right-aligned and no longer wrap when there is enough space #4754

Fix the Stats screen getting stuck loading when the stats request fails #4753

Fix the mini player showing empty and stuck after opening the app from an episode notification or a deep link while the full-screen player was open #4757

Fix the New Episodes notification setting being reset when updating the app #4782

Fix the player not opening automatically when playing an episode from its details card with Open Player Automatically enabled #4781

Fix a crash when swiping down with VoiceOver on the first style in the share sheet; it now wraps to the last style #4783

Fix an issue where the now playing episode was not being auto-downloaded when setting was active for UpNext #4792

Fix the Playlists tab showing a blank screen instead of the empty state when there are no playlists #4794

[tvOS] Improve thumbnail algorithm for videos #4861

[tvOS] Show correct number of playlist items, and update playlists episode status on changes #4869

Fixes and Improvements

• Fix the Liquid Glass mini player controls and progress bar not using the podcast tint color #4701
• Make the Liquid Glass mini player's play button translucent with a springy bounce on tap #4677
• Fix the smart playlist and podcast page header showing the system light/dark appearance instead of the in-app theme when scrolling on iOS 18 #4662
• Fix episode lists jumping when a background download finishes #4648
• Fix a rare crash during playback when an audio buffer fails to allocate #4645
• Add a "Remove from Up Next" multi-select action outside the Up Next screen #4606
• Add a Star Episodes action to Up Next multi-select and show a star indicator on Up Next cells #4605
• Fix the Files navigation bar not being transparent #4604
• Fix Control Center timeline continuing to advance while playback is paused #4530
• Fix a crash on Apple Watch when a background sync starts while the app is being suspended #4622
• Fix non-square chapter artwork being cropped and losing rounded corners when opening the full-screen player #4621
• Fix a rare crash when loading embedded episode artwork #4619
• Fix the floating tab bar and mini player turning gray over the podcast grid under some conditions #4689
• Fix a rare crash when an episode is deleted while its download status is updating #4642
• Fix a potential rare crash when playback fails to start #4641
• Fix a potential crash and wrong-podcast taps when opening a Discover category list that shows a sponsored podcast #4652
• Show episode artwork on the episode details page #4616
• Fix "Select All" in Auto Add to Up Next resetting the setting on all other podcasts #4639
• Add support for generated chapters on episodes #4630
• Add Up Next queue sorting #4550
• Fix Autoplay stopping instead of continuing through manual playlists that contain episodes from podcasts you don't follow #4624
• Fix separator alignment and list background color on the Discover category list #4653
• Add episode sorting to the podcast screen on tvOS #4650
• Scale the mini player title with Dynamic Type under Liquid Glass #4676
• Add a Troubleshooting screen under Help & Feedback to find and remove orphaned duplicate episodes #4697

Fixes and improvements

Fix a rare crash when leaving a podcast page while it's still scrolling #4623
Fix "Download All" on a season not warning before using cellular data #4523
Fix Share swipe action not dismissing on episode cells #4522
Fix the Filters search header popping back when few episodes match #4527
Fix incorrect section heading when opening an episode on the Apple Watch #4528
Make the mini player controls larger #4566
Add a soft blur edge to the bottom of the podcast grid under Liquid Glass #4567
Add a Siri shortcut to mark the current episode as played #4591
Add context menus and Edit-mode reordering to the Folder screen #4590
Add Up Next queue sorting #4550
Fix the Playlists tab background in dark mode #4593
Show chapter artwork on the lock screen, Control Center, and CarPlay #4596
Tag Ask AI widget tickets for dedicated inbox routing #4227
Show episode count and time left in the Up Next header #4462
Drop iOS 16 and watchOS 9 #4521

Add Liquid Glass support #4302

Add context menus for Podcasts #4297

Show chapter art in mini player #4382

Update "Up Next" episode cells to show up to two lines of episode title 4398

Fix an issue with diagonal swipes not dismissing the player #4335

Allow podcast images in Widget to be tinted #4206

Fix player interactive dismiss gesture interaction with vertical scroll views #4349

Fix Show Archived toggle in Playlists during search #4329

Fix an issue where full player will occasionally show generic placeholder for artwork instead of using available smaller actual artwork thumbnail #4391

Hide the tab bar during multi-select to create more space #4364

Add animations when tapping backward or forward in mini player #4214

Improve search bar collapse animations #4212

Fix first reload of the Playlists screen always being animated #4228

Make it easier and faster to change smart playlist rules #4221

Fix an issue with episodes sometimes refreshing under you on the Playlist screen while your are performing swipe actions #4187

Fix an issue with pull-to-refresh sometimes skipping the refresh on the Smart Playlist screen #4187

Improve pull-to-refresh stability and polish on the podcasts list #4225

Car play progress fix #4147

Fix an bug where the sleep timer could run at double speed #4336