How do I read podcast episode descriptions?

December 10, 2015 1:59 PM

I have an iPhone 5s. I have the apple podcast app. How do I view podcast episode descriptions? When I am on a podcast's "page" it has a list of episodes each with a snippet of description - "What happens when you combine an ax..." But I can't figure out how to read the rest! Any insight?
posted by pintapicasso to Technology (7 answers total)

Best answer: You're running iOS 8.x, right? In the iOS 8.x, I believe I could only ever manage to see episode descriptions when the episode was already playing. Annoying, right?

If you upgrade to iOS 9, the podcast app has been redesigned. Despite how all the reviews have talked about how great it is (or, at least, that it's a step in the right direction), I've been underwhelmed. Not so much that I won't get used to it eventually, but I really liked how the pre-iOS9 podcast app was set up. The default philosophy of the new app seems to be to play ALL podcasts in chronological order, whereas the old app was better at keeping the different podcasts separated. You can get that behavior in the new app, but it's not as obvious.

That said, the one thing that is better about the new app is that it's much easier to read the descriptions of the episodes.
posted by Betelgeuse at 2:06 PM on December 10, 2015

Best answer: If you're where I think you are, you tap where it says "more..." at the end of the description.

Yeah, it took me a while to figure that out. The new Podcasts app is terribly designed.
posted by General Malaise at 2:07 PM on December 10, 2015

Best answer: Are you on the older OS? On the newer OS there's a bold "more..." at the bottom of the description so if you tap the lower description area it all shows up. There's also a big "..." to the right of the podcast title for more options. One of those options is View Full Description.

Now, on the older one (which I don't have anymore so I may be incorrect) there should still be a "..." option somewhere to view more options. Either that or a little info symbol to get the description without playing the episode (a little i inside a circle).

I find the updates in the newer iOS9 to be a bit easier to navigate, even if it's kinda not the best podcast app so I'd vote for updating.
posted by Crystalinne at 2:24 PM on December 10, 2015

Best answer: I know you are not asking for a podcast app recommendation, but I just have to pop in to say that I am completely obsessed with Overcast. And you can read the whole podcast description from the app. Maybe give it a try if you are not too wed to the native app?
posted by Zephyrial at 3:20 PM on December 10, 2015

Best answer: 2nding ditch the default Podcasts app. It sucks. I've heard good things about Overcast; I'm super happy with Downcast. Seeing full descriptions (and doing lots of other things) is a lot easier with it. Well worth the small investment.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:19 PM on December 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: 3rding the ditch, seconding Downcast. Best app I ever paid for.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:55 PM on December 10, 2015

Response by poster: Thank you everyone, I've downloaded overcast and have been using it for the past week. Pretty happy with it!
posted by pintapicasso at 3:29 PM on December 17, 2015 [1 favorite]