Apple Podcasts is no longer behind the tech giant's walled garden

Apple Podcasts on Microsoft Edge
You can now access Apple Podcasts through a web browser, including Microsoft Edge on Windows 11. (Image credit: Future)

What you need to know

  • Apple Podcasts can now be used through web browsers, including browsers on Windows 11.
  • The service is accessible through Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and other browsers.
  • Apple Podcasts does not require an Apple account to use, though having an Apple account will let you sync listening progress across devices.

Another Apple services is now accessible to Windows users. The tech giant just launched a web version of Apple Podcasts, giving people on PC an easy way to listen to Apple Podcasts content without having to use another device. The addition continues a trend of Apple services becoming more web-friendly and follows shortly after the beta version of Apple Maps hit the web. Notably, Apple Podcasts on the web is not in beta.

Opening Apple Podcasts on the web is easy, only requiring you to navigate to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/browse in your browser of choice. The experience is very similar to using Apple Podcasts on a Mac or iPad, which raises some questions about why it took so long to ship to browsers.

Our friends over at iMore have tested Apple Podcasts with Arc browser and had a good experience. There's a good chance that the experience will be the same on any modern browser.

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Closing the App(le) gap

Apple Maps on Windows

Apple has released several apps for Windows and made more services accessible through the web. (Image credit: Future)

Apple and Microsoft are rivals, but the former has warmed up a bit to Windows lately, at least in terms of providing Apple services on the PC platform. The company rolled out official apps for Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices earlier this year. Apple Maps also made its way to PCs, though in a different way. You can access the beta version of Apple Maps through your browser.

While I'm glad to see more apple services make their way to Windows, it's still wild to me that it took Apple this long. The company forced iTunes to remain relevant for far too long, and several of its services should have had web apps at launch. On one hand, it's easy to say "better late than never," but I'm still confused why those appear to be the two choices Apple has had to pick between.

Microsoft has been much more open to putting apps on devices made by competitors, at least for the last several years. Microsoft even had apps ready for Apple Vision Pro right after the device launched. That change took time, however. Perhaps Apple is opening up to the idea in a similar way to how Microsoft evolved.

Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com.