Apple Podcasts app allows users to ‘follow’ new content instead of ‘subscribe’ in iOS 14.5 – EzAnime.net

Apple is making a small but noticeable change in the way listeners can sign up for updates on new podcast content, with the company changing the word “Subscribe” to “Follow” in the Podcasts app in iOS 14.5.

Podnews highlighted the wording change in the Podcasts app, and the site noted that the word “Subscribe” could have misled Podcast users into thinking that podcasts cost money to listen to.

In the current beta version of iOS 14.5, tapping the three-dot menu item when viewing a podcast allows users to choose to “Follow” a podcast instead of “Subscribe” to a podcast. The large “Subscribe” button has also been removed in the design changes made to the Podcasts app in the iOS 14.5 update, in favor of the “Last Episode” button.

Podcasts App Interface in iOS 14.4

When you tap “Last Episode,” the app now warns you that you have “Followed” a podcast instead of “Subscribed” to it.

Podcasts App Interface in iOS 14.5

Other apps like Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, and Stitcher also use the text “Follow” instead of “Subscribe.” Edison Research’s Tom Webster told podnews that Apple’s shift from subscribing to following could have an impact on the rest of the podcast industry.

“Today, Apple, Spotify and YouTube are the three most used services for playing podcasts, and now the word Subscribe means ‘automatically download free’ on exactly none of them. Podcasters will have no choice but to adapt their language accordingly or risk confusing listeners. ‘

Right now, the Podcasts app is free and Apple doesn’t have paid podcast content, but rumors have suggested that Apple is working on a paid podcast subscription service that would charge people to listen to podcasts.

With a paid subscription service, Apple could lure in high-profile creators with the promise of more money, stealing them from other platforms like Spotify. Changing the language makes it easier to later introduce a podcasting subscription service and will avoid confusion in the future.

Apple has made minor wording changes in the past to clarify how purchases and downloads work. In the App Store, for example, the “Free” label was replaced with “Get” in 2014 to make it clear that apps with no upfront purchase costs might have in-app purchase options.

–