Apple just added transcript support for its Apple Podcasts app, making podcasts easier to navigate and accessible to more people (via Apple). With this new feature, users will be able to read a podcast from start to finish, search the transcript for a specific word, and tap on any part of the transcript to start playing the podcast from that moment.
Only iPhone users with iOS 17.4 and iPad users with iPadOS 17.4 are currently able to use transcript support, and it's not clear yet whether it'll come to earlier operating systems in the future. All new podcast episodes in English, French, German, and Spansih will have a full transcript shortly after it's published, and older podcast episodes will be transcribed over time.
How to use transcripts in Apple Podcasts
If your device is running iOS 17.4 or iPadOS 17.4, you'll have access to transcript support in Apple Podcasts.
After opening the Apple Podcasts app and finding a podcast episode you're interested in, there are two ways to see its transcript. From the Now Playing screen that pops up when you're listening to a podcast, you can tap the Transcription button (a dialogue box icon with quotation marks inside) in the bottom left corner.
Alternatively, you can open a transcript without needing to play a podcast episode. From the podcast's page, tap on the three-dot menu in the top right corner and select View Transcript from the available options.
Once the transcript pops up, you can swipe up and down to read through it or search it for specific words by tapping the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner. If you're listening to the podcast while reading the transcript, you'll see each word highlighted as it's said.
This isn't the first major accessibility tool to come out of iOS 17, and it surely won't be the last. You can read more about the Assistive Access and Personal Voice accessibility tools in our iOS 17 review.
