Podcasts are an informative and entertaining way to consume content. They have grown in popularity over the years, and there are a ton of podcasts now on almost any topic you can imagine.
Podcasts, like music and video, will use data if you stream them while you are on a cellular network, which is pretty likely if you aren’t at home or work. Therefore, if you know that you will be a situation where you will be on a cellular network (or maybe no network at all) then you might be trying to plan your entertainment.
The nature of podcasts makes them ideal for traveling, and it’s very likely that, as a podcast listener, you might want to download some episodes so that you can listen to them on a plane, train, or car.
You can download a podcast episode on an iPhone 13 by opening the Podcasts app, finding the episode, tapping the three dots under the episode, then choosing the Download episode option.
That episode will start downloading to your device, where you will be able to access and listen to it later so that you don’t use cellular data.
Our tutorial continues below with more information on downloading iPhone podcast episodes.
How to Download a Podcast Episode on Your iPhone
- Open Podcasts.
- Find your episode.
- tap the three dots.
- Choose Download episode.
Our guide continues below with more information on downloading podcast episodes, including pictures of these steps.
How to Save a Podcast to Your iPhone 13 (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed on an iPhone 13 in the iOS 15.4.1 operating system.
I am using the default Podcasts app in this guide. If you are using a different podcast app, then it may require different steps to download episodes.
Step 1: Open the Podcasts app on your iPhone.
Step 2: Browse to the podcast episode that you want to download.
Step 3: Tap the three dots at the bottom-right of the episode.
Step 4: Select the Download episode option.
Note that there is also a download arrow at the top of the podcast’s homepage. If you tap that you will see options to follow or unfollow the show, as well as an option to turn on or turn off automatic downloads.
Our tutorial continues below with additional discussion about download an episode of a podcast on your iPhone.
More Information on How to Save an iPhone Podcast for Offline Listening
The steps in this guide have focused on downloading podcasts through the default Podcasts app on the iPhone. However, some of the other apps where you can listen to podcasts also let you download episodes.
For example, if you have Spotify Premium you are able to download a podcasts episode there, too. Simply open the Spotify app, browse to the podcast episode you wish to download, then tap the down arrow in the circle underneath the episode.
Once you have downloaded songs or podcasts in Spotify you can select the Your Library tab, tap the Downloaded option at the top of the screen and see all of your downloaded content.
If you would like to be able to stream or download in the Apple Podcasts app when you are on a cellular connection, then you can go to Settings > Cellular > then scroll down and tap the button to the right of Podcasts to turn it on. This enables the use of data for that app when you are on a cellular network.
If you would like to be able to customize your cellular downloads in the Podcasts app then you need to go to Settings > Podcasts > tap the Cellular Downloads option and choose your preferred option. Note that there is also an option here to Remove Played Downloads. You can turn that on or off depending on what you want your iPhone to do with downloaded podcast episodes that you have listened to.
Additional Sources
Matthew Burleigh has been writing technology how-to articles and tutorials for over a decade. He has extensive experience in information technology both in small business and as a consultant.
His articles have appeared on dozens of websites and been read millions of times.
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