iOS 26.2 Quietly Fixed Apple Podcasts' Biggest Problem

The move to iOS 26.2 is a bigger upgrade than most people realize. Besides expanding Live Translation to European users, Apple's last operating system update of 2025 has several under-the-hood improvements that give the iPhone a boost. For instance, Apple improved the Apple Podcasts app by adding chapters. It's now easier than ever to find the exact part of an episode you want to listen to again or share with a friend.

Apple also says that this update does more to connect a podcast creator with their audience. For example, podcast creators can now add chapters in their episode description or in the RSS feed. They can also add chapters and even images for each chapter through their hosting provider.

However, the best addition is that for shows in English, Apple Podcasts automatically generates chapters, even if the creator didn't add them when they uploaded the episode. Apple also notes that listeners will be able to tell if the chapters have been AI generated via an "Automatically created" label in the chapter list. The creators do have the option to disable this feature if they prefer to only use chapters they've created themselves.

Even though Apple is an important part of the origin story of podcasts, Spotify has steadily became one of the most popular providers of the digital format. With shows first becoming available on the streaming service in 2015, followed by original content in the years ahead, Apple has had to play catch up with its biggest competitor, even in a market it initially dominated.

For example, Spotify started to offer the ability for creators to add chapters in 2023. Down the line, Spotify also added automatically generated chapters and other powerful tools, like AI translations, in 2024 and 2025. Now, with iOS 26.2, Apple is getting up to speed. 

Another interesting Apple Podcasts feature introduced in iOS 26.2 is timed links, which show contextual information on the screen when a podcaster is talking about a specific product, show, or book. While they need to add these timestamps themselves, Apple is testing the ability to add automatic timed links for other English-language podcasts. All of this should continue to help build momentum, as Apple said in a recent blog post that Apple Podcasts had its "best year yet" in 2025, with more listeners, plays, and people subscribing to shows than ever.