iOS 17.4 Includes Podcast Transcripts

[MacRumors]

The iOS 17.4 beta that Apple seeded to developers yesterday introduces major app ecosystem changes in the European Union, but there are also a handful of other features that have been overshadowed. Once such new addition is a transcript option in the Apple Podcasts app, which is similar to the lyric feature in Apple Music.

Recent uploads in the Podcasts app have a new transcript icon, and if tapped, it shows a full transcript of the entire podcast. As with Apple Music, the transcript scrolls as the episode plays.

Transcripts are automatically generated, but appear to be fairly accurate. The transcripts take just a few seconds to generate when a new podcast is played, so they can be useful for determining whether the content in a show is something worth the time to listen to. Searching for a specific word or phrase is supported, and tapping on that word or phrase jumps to that spot in the episode.

Note that not all podcast episodes have transcripts right now, but Apple says that transcripts for back catalog episodes are being added over time. Transcripts are available in English, French, German, and Spanish, and podcast hosts also have the option to upload their own transcripts rather than using the automatically generated version.

iOS 17.4 is available to developers at the current time, and Apple plans to release it to the public in March. Other features include sweeping updates in Europe, hints of new features coming to the updated CarPlay experience, and more, with details available in our iOS 17.4 beta 1 feature guide.

Article Link: iOS 17.4 Includes Podcast Transcripts

 

[TychoX]

I wonder if third-party iOS apps will be able to access the transcripts as well, or if this will be exclusive to Apple's Podcasts app.

 

[steve09090]

Super handy feature. So many times I have gone to the podcast website to try and find a transcript on a small part I want to copy for information.

 

[antiprotest]

Back to reading!

 

[shamino]

I'd like to know more about how this is working. If the podcasts are automatically generated, but not available for all episodes, what exactly does that mean?

I assume the transcripts are not generated on-device, because if they were, it wouldn't matter where the episode came from - it would just be generated after the download. So I assume they're being pre-generated by an Apple server as a separate download, fetched by the Podcasts app. Which strikes me as a bad idea, in the long run, given the massive amount of podcast content that exists.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Will they also transcribe the ads? "Betterhelp is an online platform to allow you to reach your highest potential! [insert wall of text from excessively long ad]"

 

[sos47]

i like it. getting information is faster when reading the transscript. i do that on YT on many channels

 

[darngooddesign]

Excellent for people with hearing issues.

 

[Schtibbie]

Maybe this decade they can finally fix the podcast setting “continuous play” that keeps TURNING ITSELF ON in Settings despite me turning it off daily. For more than a year now. Seriously, Apple. Fix this.

 

[icanhazmac]

Finally some good news instead of the EU crap.

A very useful feature for those with hearing or accent issues as well as documenting info as @steve09090 stated.

 

[timeislove]

I wonder if third-party iOS apps will be able to access the transcripts as well, or if this will be exclusive to Apple's Podcasts app.

It is nothing new!

The live caption in accessibility setting could do exactly the same. Live caption maybe even more flexible becos it works for all apps and displays as a floating bubble dialog.

Transcript in podcast looks like a live caption in its UI.


Currently live caption is in beta and limited to English only. You can enable in accessibility setting.

 

[timeislove]

Finally some good news instead of the EU crap.

A very useful feature for those with hearing or accent issues as well as documenting info as @steve09090 stated.

Check for live caption. It could do the same and works for all app. Enable it in accessibility setting.

 

[icanhazmac]

Check for live caption. It could do the same and works for all app. Enable it in accessibility setting.

Thanks for the info but that option is probably not useful if you are trying to cut and paste a bit into something else.

 

[steve09090]

Do we know if it’s context aware? YouTube is horrible at this. I guess it’s not trying to be good at it. But it would be nice.

 

[Jimmy Goodwood]

Seems not possible to copy & paste the whole transcript. I tried, there is no select all command, so you have to select the whole transcript with the blue dots selection tool, that is tedious, then when I copied and tried to past in notes or word, it only pasted a few paragraphs. So looks like this needs some more tweaking to become very useful.

 

[J.A.K.]

I wonder if this is going to hinder or help podcasters who provide transcripts already? Like, is the text extractable? Saveable? If so, they'll still have to have someone check over the script before making it 'official'.

Also, who is responsible for mistranslations/transcriptions? Like, what if someone says something and the transcription presents something else that misrepresents what was said, possibly in an offensive manner?

Maybe this decade they can finally fix the podcast setting “continuous play” that keeps TURNING ITSELF ON in Settings despite me turning it off daily. For more than a year now. Seriously, Apple. Fix this.

Hah! If this is your only issue, count yourself lucky. I get constant syncing issues between devices, constantly random resetting of settings, and occasionally get unsubscribed from shows I've followed for years and listened to every week, and yet can't seem to unsubscribe from shows I haven't listened to for years, i.e. I'll unsubscribe only to find some random time later that I've been resubscribed.

 

[svish]

This is a very useful feature. Very happy to see this being rolled out with the next update

 

[TheApplenator]

What they should do is revamp the entire podcast app. Well, not revamp it, but update it and add more features. I really think they should do some kind of subscription that applies to all podcasts, where it removes all advertising from all podcasts, and kind of pays to podcasts like how Apple Music works.

 

[scrapesleon]

about time this should be good

 

[CarAnalogy]

Seems not possible to copy & paste the whole transcript. I tried, there is no select all command, so you have to select the whole transcript with the blue dots selection tool, that is tedious, then when I copied and tried to past in notes or word, it only pasted a few paragraphs. So looks like this needs some more tweaking to become very useful.

It’s probably not possible to do the whole transcript on purpose. Either that or just another example of poor text handling in iOS.

 

[shamino]

What they should do is revamp the entire podcast app. Well, not revamp it, but update it and add more features. I really think they should do some kind of subscription that applies to all podcasts, where it removes all advertising from all podcasts, and kind of pays to podcasts like how Apple Music works.

Much easier said than done. Apple doesn't host podcasts. They just provide an index to them (and provide some kind of subscription tracking). The podcast itself is still an RSS feed on a third-party server containing links to the media, also hosted on a third-party server.

Ads are placed in the podcast by the creator. They're not inserted by Apple the way YouTube inserts ads into other people's videos. So Apple can't remove them, and the creators would be (very correctly) angry if they tried.

And I absolutely don't want Apple inserting their own ads and then making me pay to get rid of them. That's sleazy Google-type thinking.

 

[TheApplenator]

Much easier said than done. Apple doesn't host podcasts. They just provide an index to them (and provide some kind of subscription tracking). The podcast itself is still an RSS feed on a third-party server containing links to the media, also hosted on a third-party server.

Ads are placed in the podcast by the creator. They're not inserted by Apple the way YouTube inserts ads into other people's videos. So Apple can't remove them, and the creators would be (very correctly) angry if they tried.

And I absolutely don't want Apple inserting their own ads and then making me pay to get rid of them. That's sleazy Google-type thinking.

They could just make it a policy, and make it where users can report if they have ads, but only let the report button show up if they have the premium. Or they could build out their own ad network for podcasts and insert them themselves.

 

[shamino]

They could just make it a policy, and make it where users can report if they have ads, but only let the report button show up if they have the premium. Or they could build out their own ad network for podcasts and insert them themselves.

So you're saying that Apple should start exercising editorial control over third-party content, even when it isn't hosted by an Apple server? And I assume refuse to let their app present content from sources that don't want to permit this?

Well that would completely kill off the Podcasts app. I guarantee you that everybody would stop using it and would move to any of a dozen other apps that don't force content creators to submit to that kind of control.

 

[Reason077]

Ok, but have they fixed the bug in the Podcasts app where the “continuous playback” setting keeps silently turning itself back ON every few days? This has been infuriating me for the past 2 years or so and is still present in iOS 17.3

 

[timeislove]

Seems not possible to copy & paste the whole transcript. I tried, there is no select all command, so you have to select the whole transcript with the blue dots selection tool, that is tedious, then when I copied and tried to past in notes or word, it only pasted a few paragraphs. So looks like this needs some more tweaking to become very useful.

Any copyright concerns not to enable copy and paste of the transcript of a podcast.