Apple Podcasts gains web playback ahead of a dedicated Podcasts app in macOS 10.15

Apple has refreshed the Podcasts Preview interface on the web with improvements like a built-in player, streamlined navigation, enhanced design, updated navigation and more.

Before today, Apple Podcasts Preview would provide a list of a show’s episodes along with their short description, but there was no way to play an episode without opening it up in iTunes.

As 9to5Mac points out, you also couldn’t view full show notes and other episode details. Now you’ll spot a Play button next to each episode that does just that, no iTunes needed whatsoever. To get more information about a show’s episode, simply click its title.

What you won’t get is any sort of playback controls.

Icons for upcoming Podcasts and TV apps nested between iTunes and Books icons

You can get to these web-based previews by doing a Google search for your favorite show, followed by “podcast iTunes”. For instance, running the query “Let’s Talk iOS podcast iTunes” should result in our own podcast being listed at the top of your search results.

Simply click an entry to preview the show in question in a browser.

A Privacy screen in the unreleased Podcasts app for Mac

These web-based previews now use a dedicated podcasts.apple.com URL instead of the standard itunes.apple.com URL scheme.

Aside from podcasts, iTunes Store has had its own browser-friendly web pages for years now, allowing you to listen to 60-second song samples, preview Apple TV apps, as well as iPhone and iPad apps, open music content in Apple Music and more.

As we reported recently, the Cupertino tech giant is planning to preview a standalone Podcasts app for Mac at WWDC 2019. In fact, Apple will release dedicated apps for not just Podcasts, but Music, TV and Books as well when the macOS 10.15 update drops this fall.