Podcasts app includes News+ and Apple Music content
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Customers with active subscriptions to Apple Music and Apple News+ now has access to exclusive premium content on Apple Podcasts.
During WWDC 2023, Apple introduced updates to many of its services that are being rolled out gradually, one of which was the ability for users to log into premium Apple Podcasts channels to unlock exclusive content.
On Monday evening, users who opened the Apple Podcasts app were greeted with a new splash screen announcing the launch of the feature. Apple News+ and Apple Music subscribers can now access premium content across channels Apple Podcasts.
The Apple Music and Apple News channels have been around for a while, but they lack premium content or music licenses. For example, this meant that users could listen to interview clips from Apple Music, but without the music.
With this latest update, that changes. Apple Music programs like “Time Crisis” or “Classical Connections Radio” are fully available on Apple Podcasts. And because they require an Apple Music subscription, they contain all the music used in the episode.
Apple News+ also launched a new show called “Apple News+ Narrated” on Apple Podcasts. This show requires an active subscription to Apple News+ and contains voice-over stories typically found in the News app.
Apple News+ Commentary
Much of this content is available in Apple apps such as Apple Music Today. However, discovering content required digging, and there was no way to track listening history or new episodes.
With Apple Podcasts, interested customers can finally subscribe to their favorite Apple Music radio shows, receive new episodes as they arrive in their queue, and mark episodes as listened when they're finished. What users have been asking for since the launch of the Apple Music radio show.
It's unclear why Apple can't provide users with proper queuing, scheduling, and subscription support in Apple News and Apple Music for their content. For now, integration with the Podcasts app is welcome.
