Announcements

Help Wizard

Step 1

NEXT STEP

[Podcasts] Push Notification for new Episodes

All of us Podcast lovers would definitely welcome a push notifications for new podcast episodes. Please consider! 

Updated on 2021-08-25

Hey folks,

 

Thanks for coming to the Spotify Idea Exchange and voting to make this happen.

 

We're happy to announce that we've implemented New Episode Notifications and they're now available on iOS and Android mobile devices only.

 

How will New Episode Notifications work?
Starting August 17th, a Push Notification will be sent when a Show that users subscribed to releases a New Episode. Users won’t receive notifications for Episodes that they have already listened to.

 

How do I subscribe to New Episode Notifications?
From mobile, users can subscribe to receive notifications using the Bell icon on the Podcast Show page. If a user hits the Bell, they will automatically Follow the Show too. Users can also subscribe/unsubscribe by navigating to Notification Settings in the Spotify app, and selecting notification Settings, which displays all their followed Shows and subscription status. 

 

Once again, thanks for helping us make Spotify better, by participating here on the Community.

Comments
keveh

I would find this feature amazingly useful, I subscribe to podcasts via Spotify but then tend to revert back to my podcast app (Podcast Addict on Android) due to it notifying me. In answer to the questions asked:

 

  1. Within Podcast Addict I can choose whether to receive push notifications or not, there is a manual refresh option but more usefully there's a daily refresh that occurs and notifies me of new podcasts
  2. Some podcasts are strucutred in that they'll release new episodes every Monday for example. However, most tend to release new episodes on random days, so being notified of these is so useful, you can then click straight in to it and start listening.
DrHamsun

1. I really enjoyed that Google Play would give you the choice to receive notifications by each podcast. It's less essential for daily podcasts, but great for when a new season launches after a long pause.

2. Some podcasts have inconsistent schedules or take hiatus between seasons. Some I only listen to if they have a good topic or guest. Notifications would be a welcome way to know that there's something new, and to know what it's about to promote engagement.

Eds89

I would love to be able to do away with Pocket Casts for my podcast listening, and use Spotify instead.

 

What I like about push notifications, is I don't have to periodically check for new episodes, and can be sure I listen to them as soon as they are available, and in some cases, relevant.

 

Not all podcasts keep to a strict release timeline either, so it helps with this.

bmawhorter

 

  • Do you currently use push notifications for a different podcast app? If so, can you describe how you typically use them? Do you enable them for all of your subscribed podcast shows?  Every podcast app does this.  I listen to a lot of political podcasts and sometimes they are released on different days and I don't listen unless I get the push.  If this could happen I could delete all my other music streaming apps.  The last one I still have is the apple provided podcast app
  • Why do you think they are useful, what problem are they helping you to solve? How is your experience using podcasts now that you don't have notifications on Spotify?  I can never know when a new podcast goes up on Spotify.   So unless I'm constantly checking the podcast section, which I never do, I wouldn't know when it is ready.  The push comes from my podcast and then I tune in, I don't check in regularly 

 

ghelme

On other podcast apps, I use push notifications for when new episodes are posted. This is really helpful, especially for podcasts that have seasons and go on hiatus for several months out of the year. It would be helpful to have this be a separate option for other Spotify notifications, which I don't use. 

0j

1 yes

2 I tend to forget when my fav podcasts are released and not all of them have a frequency defined

stakendaheart

So there is still no push notification for new podcasts and they've removed the wonderful recently added podcasts list with this new interface.  Is the idea to make it MORE difficult to listen to podcasts?  

calebhayter
  1. Do you currently use push notifications for a different podcast app? If so, can you describe how you typically use them? Do you enable them for all of your subscribed podcast shows?
    1. I use push notifications on the Google Play Music app, and I use them to learn when a new episode from one of the podcasts I subscribe to is available. I enable them for all the podcasts I subscribe to.
  2. Why do you think they are useful, what problem are they helping you to solve? How is your experience using podcasts now that you don't have notifications on Spotify?
    1. When a new episode from a podcast that I subscribe to is available, I want to be able to decide immediately if it is one that I want to listen to. If it is, I download it onto my device for listening later. If not, I don't. I don't need to go into my podcast app, scroll through my podcast feed, find my show, see if there is a new episode, and then decide if I want to listen to it, which is what I have to do when using the Spotify app to listen to podcasts. It takes time and is slightly annoying.
jmdesin892
This would be great unless you follow a lot of podcasts. I would still love this feature!
  1. Do you currently use push noticiations for a different podcast app? If so, can you describe how you typically use them? Do you enable them for all of your subscribed podcast shows? Yes, which is why I do not use Spotify for Podcasts. All of the other apps allow you to get notifications when a new episode is released. You can also typically auto-download the episode for offline streaming.
  2. Why do you think they are useful, what problem are they helping you to solve? How is your experience using podcasts now that you don't have notifications on Spotify? It is useful because it lets you know when the episode is ready for listening. IGNs Podcast Beyond gets released every Tuesday, but who wants to check Spotify ten times on Tuesday to see if it was released? Additonally, some shows take a break for a few weeks, so when they return a notification would allow the user to know they show is back. Good example here is Hackable.