Does Apple Podcasts have ads?
Updated November 2026
Yes, in many episodes. The ads come with the episode itself: the show or its hosting company adds them, and Apple Podcasts plays the episode as it’s published.
Some shows sell a subscription in Apple Podcasts that removes the ads. Each show decides whether it offers one and what it includes.
How advertising works in Apple Podcasts
Most podcast ads are placed by the show, its network or its hosting company. Some are read by the host.
Apple Podcasts already played video podcasts. With iOS 26.4 it added an upgraded video format built on HLS, Apple’s streaming technology, which supports dynamic ads. Apple said it would charge the ad networks that take part an impression-based fee for dynamic ads in those episodes. 9to5Mac covered the announcement in February 2026.
Ad-free subscriptions in Apple Podcasts
Apple lists ad-free listening and bonus episodes among the benefits a show’s subscription can include. You subscribe from the show’s page with Subscribe or Try Free, and manage it with your other Apple subscriptions (Apple’s page).
If a show you listen to a lot sells one, it’s the best way to hear it without ads. The money goes to the show.
The ad-free version plays in the Apple Podcasts app. In other apps you hear the regular feed, with ads, as PRX’s help page explains.
Some shows sell their subscription through another company instead, like Patreon. Those give you a private feed link, which Apple’s page says you add with Add a Show by URL. Safi plays private feeds too: paste the link and the show plays like any other.
Other ways to skip ads
- Skip forward. Tap the skip button a few times when a break starts.
- A player that skips breaks for you. Safi finds the ad breaks in an episode and skips them while you listen, with one tap to undo. Skipping depends on the show and its host. Safi keeps promo codes and links from sponsor reads Safi skipped in Offers, when Safi can tie them to a sponsor in your copy of the episode.
The four ways to skip podcast ads, compared.
Listening to your Apple Podcasts shows in Safi
Safi plays any show with an RSS feed. Safi’s web player can’t read your Apple Podcasts library, so add your shows by searching for each one or pasting its feed link.
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