The change may have been made to make it clearer to people that they’re not paying for Podcasts
Mar 10, 2021
12:41 PM EST
Apple has made a small change to how users can keep up with their favourite podcasts in iOS 14.5.
As spotted by Podnews, the latest version of iOS allows you to ‘follow’ a given show in Podcasts. Until now, you would ‘subscribe’ to a given podcast.
Apple hasn’t yet publicly addressed the change, but it appears to have been made to give users more clarity on what they’re actually doing in Podcasts.
As mentioned by Edison Research’s Tob Webster, nearly 50 percent of people who don’t listen to podcasts say they think cost money.
The word ‘subscribe’ might suggest to some that there’s a hidden charge behind Podcasts, whereas ‘follow’ — which is used often in major free social media apps like Twitter or Instagram — perhaps doesn’t have the same connotation.
It’s worth noting that Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher already use the word ‘follow’ instead of ‘subscribe,’ while Google Podcasts still has ‘subscribe.’
Via: Engadget