Podcasts in Macdio: Follow, Queue and Download Shows

Macdio plays podcasts next to live radio on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch and in CarPlay. You follow a show by searching a directory of 4.7 million podcasts, browsing your country’s chart, pasting a feed URL or importing an OPML file. Your shows, your place in each episode and your queued episodes reach your other devices through iCloud.

1. Open the “Podcasts” tab on iPhone or iPad.
2. Type a show’s name into the search field.
3. Tap “Subscribe”, or tap the row to open the show and listen first.
4. Tap an episode’s artwork to play it.
5. Long press an episode and choose “Play Next” or “Add to Up Next”.

On the Mac, choose “Podcasts” in the bar at the top of the main window. Each search result there has “Open” (listen first) and “Subscribe”.

If you do not know a show’s name, “Browse” on the Podcasts page has “Countries” and “Categories”, with your own country at the top, and “Popular” shows your country’s chart. A country with no Apple Podcasts store has no chart. The Discover tab finds shows too when you pick “Podcasts” next to “Stations”.

Paste the feed address (it starts with http) into the Podcasts search field. Tap Search on iPhone or iPad, or press Return on the Mac, and Macdio subscribes to that feed.

On iPhone and iPad, open the menu (three dots) on the Podcasts page and choose “Import OPML…”. On the Mac it is on the Podcasts header. Macdio then says how many shows came in and how many feeds could not be read. “Export OPML…” saves your list as “Macdio Podcasts.opml”.

On iPhone, tap an episode’s artwork to play or pause, and tap the row to read the show notes. The full player has buttons for the previous episode, skip back, play, skip forward and the next episode, plus a speed button, a moon for the sleep timer, “Chapters” and a transcript button. Next plays Up Next first, then the show’s next episode. On the Mac the player panel has the same buttons, and Space plays or pauses.

Macdio saves your place every 5 seconds and when you stop. Episodes you left part way wait under “Continue Listening” on every device, so you can start on the iPhone and finish on the Mac. Apple Watch lists them under “Continue”, and Apple TV shows them in the Top Shelf.

Long press an episode (right click on the Mac) and choose “Play Next” or “Add to Up Next”.

A live station can join the same queue. Long press a station, choose “Add to Up Next”, then “Until I Move On”, “15 Minutes”, “30 Minutes” or “60 Minutes”. That way you hear half an hour of news before the next episode starts. While a station plays, “Start Up Next” in the Up Next header (“Start Up Next…” on the Mac) offers “Now”, “After 15 Minutes”, “After 30 Minutes” and “After 60 Minutes”, and “Cancel Hand-off” takes it back.

Drag to reorder, swipe to remove. A queued station stays on the device where you added it, while queued episodes follow you.

“Sections…” reorders, hides and resizes the parts of the Podcasts page, and the layout follows you to every device.

On iPhone, iPad and Mac, choose “Download” from an episode’s menu or swipe. “Delete Download” asks first and keeps the transcript.

“Auto-download new episodes” on a show’s page (“Auto-download” on the Mac) fetches up to the 3 newest episodes since the last refresh, never the back catalogue. Settings > Podcasts > “Keep Downloads Under” (“Keep downloads under” on the Mac) sets a limit from 500 MB to 10 GB, and the oldest downloads go first when you cross it.

Speeds are 0.8x, 1.0x, 1.2x, 1.5x, 1.7x, 2.0x, 2.5x and 3.0x. The player’s speed button changes the current episode only. To keep a speed, set the default in Settings or give a show its own “Speed” on its page. A show’s speed syncs to your other devices.

Device	Speed	Skip back / forward
iPhone, iPad	Player button, “Default Speed”, show “Speed”	“Skip Back” 5 to 60 s, “Skip Forward” 10 to 90 s
Mac	Player menu, “Default speed”, show speed menu	“Skip back”, “Skip forward”
CarPlay	Rate button	The iPhone’s settings
Apple TV	The show’s speed, else 1.0x	Fixed at 15 / 30 s
Apple Watch	Always 1.0x	Fixed at 15 / 30 s

Skip intervals are set per device and do not sync. AirPods skip too, see AirPods and headphone controls.

Feature	iPhone, iPad	Mac	Apple TV	Apple Watch	CarPlay
Follow shows	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Search and play
OPML import	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Up Next	Episodes and stations	Episodes and stations	Episodes	First 3 items	Yes
Downloads	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Speed control	Yes	Yes	No	No	Rate button
Skip repeated segments	Yes	Yes	No	No	No

“New Episode Notifications” in Settings > Podcasts (“New episode notifications” on the Mac) is on by default. Notifications arrive even when Macdio is closed: Macdio’s server checks the shows you follow and keeps only your device’s notification address and that list. Apple Watch shows the iPhone’s notifications. Apple TV has none.

Yes, when a show repeats the same audio in every episode. Download two episodes, tap “Learn Repeats” on the show’s page, then turn on “Skip Repeated Segments” in Settings > Podcasts (“Skip repeated segments” on the Mac). The switch is off by default. Learning runs on the device and uploads nothing, and each iPhone, iPad or Mac learns on its own.

On iPhone, iPad, Mac and in CarPlay, say “Play the latest episode of [show] in Macdio”, “Resume my podcast in Macdio”, “Play my Up Next in Macdio” or “Open [show] in Macdio”. “Stop Macdio” pauses an episode and keeps its place. Siri knows the first 20 shows you follow, and the podcast phrases are confirmed in English only. More in Shortcuts and automations.

Episodes need a network unless downloaded. Feeds refresh at launch when more than 6 hours old, hourly while the Mac app runs, and in the background on iPhone. Transcripts, chapters and highlights have their own guide.

Paste the feed address into the Podcasts search field, then tap Search on iPhone or iPad, or press Return on the Mac.

Yes, with an OPML file. Choose “Import OPML…” from the Podcasts menu on iPhone and iPad, or from the Podcasts header on the Mac.

Yes, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Choose “Add to Up Next” on a station, then “Until I Move On” or 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

The player’s speed button changes only the current episode. Set the default speed in Settings > Podcasts, or the show’s own “Speed”, to keep it.

No, both stream. Downloads are on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Get Macdio on the App Store, or see the podcasts page first. One purchase, every Apple device, no subscription.