Paid subscriptions added to Apple Podcasts

In the Apple Podcasts application, it became possible to support your favorite projects, receiving bonuses like exclusive episodes without ad integrations, early access and the ability to listen to old episodes hidden from the main list.

The corresponding plate has already appeared on the pages of some projects. It is difficult to confuse it with a subscription button for updates: next to it is indicated the cost and benefits that receive, and before paying, an Apple Pay window will appear indicating how much and for what you are going pay.

Apple charges a 30% commission for every payment made through the app. At the same time, the authors will not have the opportunity to provide additional content to users of the site if they donate money to creators on a third-party site like Patreon.

The service also has channels - separate pages with podcasts, united by one studio or publisher. Finding them intuitively through a regular search is unlikely if you don't know the name of the publisher or the podcast it publishes. Also a "Channel" section has appeared in the project information section so that you can listen to more from the same creators.

Channels can also be monetized by making some podcasts paid. In this case, one subscription will give access to all premium projects, there is a trial version.

Initially, they wanted to launch the new functions back in May along with the release of iOS 14.6, but they became available only now. Apple is promising more new features in the near future - likely with the release of iOS 14.7.