Apple Podcasts is preparing to introduce a significant set of enhancements designed to make both podcast creation and listening more intuitive, intelligent, and efficient. In the near future, the platform will begin automatically generating chapters for English-language programs, effectively segmenting episodes into clearly defined sections that help listeners navigate content with greater ease. In parallel, Apple will enable podcast creators to embed links tied to specific timestamps within their episodes, offering them a straightforward way to direct audiences to relevant resources or related content precisely at the moment of mention. Even more impressively, the system will be capable of automatically inserting these time-linked references whenever a host or creator happens to mention another podcast, ensuring that connections between shows are surfaced seamlessly without additional manual input.
Importantly, Apple is ensuring that creators retain full autonomy over how these new functions integrate into their work. Participation in either of the upcoming features will be entirely optional, as creators can choose to opt out of one or both at any time. Furthermore, the automated chapter generation tool will activate solely when a podcast lacks custom chapter entries—meaning it functions as a helpful fallback rather than a replacement for creator-defined structure. Whenever Apple’s system crafts these chapters on its own, the app will clearly label them as automatically generated, placing this designation above the episode’s list of chapters to maintain full transparency for listeners.
These innovations follow on the heels of a similar move earlier in the year by Spotify, which launched its own automatically generated chapters feature. Apple’s approach, however, appears to further refine the user experience by integrating enhanced interactivity through timestamped, content-aware links. With the introduction of timed links, podcast creators will be able to attach clickable references to destinations such as Apple Music, Apple News, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, or other supported services. These embedded links, appearing at just the right moment, will manifest visually on the Now Playing screen as a banner, while also being mirrored within the transcript and detailed episode description. This ensures that audiences can easily follow up on any mentioned topic or media source without interrupting their listening experience.
Both of these features—automatically generated chapters and timestamped dynamic links—are scheduled to arrive as part of iOS version 26.2, which is currently undergoing testing within Apple’s developer beta program. Once fully released, they are expected to streamline production workflows for podcast creators, enrich the discovery process for audiences, and further unify Apple’s broader ecosystem of media platforms into one cohesive and interactive experience.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/news/813817/apple-podcasts-automatic-links-and-chapters
