How to Submit Your Podcast to Apple Podcasts

Apple Podcasts remains the single largest podcast provider network by catalog size, hosting over 5 million shows as of Apple's own platform disclosures. Getting verified there is not optional for most podcasters — it's the step that makes a show findable to the roughly 28% of weekly podcast listeners who use Apple Podcasts as their primary app (Edison Research Infinite Dial 2023). This page walks through the submission process, explains how Apple's review system works, and identifies the decision points where podcasters most often get stuck.

Definition and scope

Submitting to Apple Podcasts means registering an existing RSS feed with Apple's provider network so the show appears in Apple's app and search results. Apple does not host audio files. It indexes them. The actual audio lives on a podcast hosting platform of the podcaster's choosing — Buzzsprout, Transistor, Libsyn, Anchor, and others all generate the RSS feed that Apple reads.

This distinction matters because a submission problem is almost always an RSS problem, not an Apple problem. Apple is reading a document the host generates. If that document has errors — a missing <itunes:image> tag, an invalid MIME type, an improperly formatted <enclosure> URL — Apple's validator will flag it before the feed ever enters the review process.

The scope here is limited to the Apple Podcasts provider network (formerly iTunes), accessible via Apple's Podcast Connect portal. Spotify, Spotify Anchor, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts operate separate submission processes, covered in resources like the distribution platforms overview and the Spotify-specific submission guide.

How it works

The submission process follows a predictable sequence:

1. Publish at least one episode. Apple requires a minimum of one published, publicly accessible episode in the feed before it will accept a submission. A feed with only a trailer or a blank episode shell will typically fail validation.
2. Confirm RSS feed validity. Use Apple's own Podcast Validation tool or a third-party checker like Cast Feed Validator to confirm the feed parses cleanly. Pay close attention to artwork specifications — Apple requires a square image between 1400 × 1400 and 3000 × 3000 pixels in JPEG or PNG format (Apple Podcasts artwork requirements). A full breakdown of image specs lives in the podcast artwork requirements guide.
3. Sign in to Podcast Connect. An Apple ID is required. If the podcast is being submitted for a brand or network, a dedicated Apple ID is worth creating — account access is how Apple communicates approval status, and mixing personal and professional accounts creates management friction.
4. Submit the RSS feed URL. Paste the feed URL into the submission field. Apple's validator runs immediately and flags any structural errors before the submission proceeds.
5. Wait for review. Apple's stated review window is typically 24 to 48 hours for first-time submissions, though the practical range runs from a few hours to 5 business days during high-volume periods. No notification is sent mid-review; the submitter must check Podcast Connect for status updates.
6. Receive the Apple Podcasts ID. Once approved, Apple assigns a numeric Podcast ID and the show becomes searchable in the app. This ID also becomes the basis for the show's canonical Apple Podcasts URL.

Ongoing episode distribution is automatic after that initial approval. Apple polls the RSS feed on a recurring schedule — typically every few hours — and adds new episodes without any further manual action from the podcaster.

Common scenarios

The feed fails validation before submission. This almost always traces back to four issues: malformed artwork (wrong dimensions or a non-square crop), missing or incorrectly typed <itunes:category> tags, episode audio files with incorrect MIME types (Apple accepts audio/mpeg for MP3 and audio/x-m4a for M4A), or a feed URL that returns a redirect rather than the feed itself. The podcast RSS feed explained guide covers tag structure in detail.

The show is approved but not appearing in search. Apple's search index can lag behind the provider network by 48 to 72 hours after initial approval. The show will be accessible via direct link before it surfaces in keyword searches. This resolves without intervention.

The show is rejected for content policy reasons. Apple maintains content guidelines prohibiting certain explicit content categories and requiring accurate metadata. A show whose <itunes:explicit> tag is set to false while the audio contains explicit language risks suspension after approval, not just initial rejection.

Transferring an existing show between hosting providers. RSS feed migration requires updating the feed URL inside Podcast Connect and, critically, placing a <itunes:new-feed-url> redirect tag in the old feed. Without that tag, Apple will continue polling the old URL, and new episodes will not appear. This scenario trips up more experienced podcasters than beginners.

Decision boundaries

The central fork in the submission process is whether to submit directly through Podcast Connect or to use a hosting platform's integrated submission tool. Platforms like Buzzsprout, Transistor, and Libsyn offer one-click Apple Podcasts submission inside their dashboards.

The integrated route is faster and reduces tag errors because the platform pre-populates required fields. The direct route gives the submitter more control over metadata at submission time and avoids any dependency on the hosting platform's relationship with Apple.

A second decision point involves episode categorization. Apple supports a two-level category taxonomy — a primary category and an optional subcategory drawn from Apple's fixed list. Selecting the wrong primary category measurably affects discoverability in Apple's browse interface. The podcast categories and tags guide maps the full taxonomy.

For shows starting from scratch, the broader context of feed setup, artwork, and category strategy is covered in the how to start a podcast section, which connects these technical steps to the broader launch sequence. The podcasting authority home also provides orientation across the full range of production and distribution topics.