Apple launches important podcasts feature with iOS 17.4

Apple announced numerous changes yesterday, including a complete overhaul of the App Store to allow sideloading, as well as new fees for those who publish their apps through the store. Many other changes have already been introduced with iOS 17.4, but they may have been overlooked in favor of the bigger ones announced specifically for the EU. One of those new features that Apple added with iOS 17.4 corresponds to podcast transcriptions. Apple Podcasts has been around since 2012, although the Cupertino-based company has supported podcasts for almost two decades.

Transcripts allow Apple Podcasts listeners to read the full text of an episode, search the episode for a specific word or phrase, as well as tap on the text to play it from that point in the episode. 'episode.

This is a great feature that makes it much easier for anyone to access podcasts. Once transcriptions are enabled, each word is highlighted as the episode plays. Additionally, Apple Podcasts users can access transcripts from the episode details page. Simply tap and hold on a podcast episode and the option to view a transcript will appear.

Apple Remarks that it automatically generates transcripts after a new episode is published. However, there will be a short delay while Apple processes the transcription.

According to the company, if parts of an episode change with dynamically inserted audio, podcasts will not be able to display segments of the audio that have changed since the original transcription. It is also important to add that the music lyrics are not displayed in the transcriptions.

As for availability, transcripts are now available iOS 17.4 for podcasts in English, French, German and Spanish. Apple says more transcriptions are added to podcasts over time and the new feature is accessible in more than 170 countries and regions.