How to Submit Your Podcast to Apple Podcasts in 2021

Apple Podcasts is a popular place for iOS device listeners to discover and subscribe to podcasts. For most podcasters, one of the most important early steps is to submit your podcast’s RSS feed to Apple Podcasts. Submitting to Apple Podcasts is easy when you host on Podbean! The process has changed slightly on how to submit your podcast to Apple Podcasts in 2021, but we’ve put together a quick guide (with a video!) to help you along.

Before we begin: You’ll need to publish at least one episode on Podbean with an iTunes supported file format.  If you have not yet published a podcast, check out our how to video.  iTunes currently supports mp3, m4a, mov, mp4, m4v and pdf filetypes for podcast episodes.

Just starting your podcast? Check out our full guide on how to start a podcast!

Here’s how to submit your podcast to Apple Podcasts.

1. Log into your Podbean account. 
   
2. On the top right corner column, click Podcast Dashboard.
   
3. On the left hand column, click Distribution – Podcast Apps.
   
4. Click the plus sign to the right of Apple Podcasts.
   
5. Review your podcast info for required fields in step 1 and ensure that you currently have one podcast episode published before continuing.
   
6. Under step 3, click on the Submit To Apple Podcasts button. This brings you to

https://podcastsconnect.apple.com

7. Log in using your Apple ID and password.  If you don’t have an Apple ID, you will have to make one before proceeding.  Per Apple: Verify that your Apple ID is fully activated by adding a valid payment method and agreeing to the Apple Media Service Terms and Conditions.
   
8. If you haven’t submitted a podcast to Apple previously, press the “Add Show” button. If you have, click the plus sign to the right of the “Podcasts” header and select New Show.
   
9. Select “Add Show with an RSS Feed”.
   
10. Type in your RSS feed from Podbean exactly as it’s written on Podbean. You can find your podcast’s RSS feed in your Podbean dashboard by navigating to Settings – Feed and copying the RSS feed on the right side of the screen.
    
11. Under RSS Feed access, click “make my feed publicly available”.
    
12. Use the User Access option to control who can view this show in your Apple Podcasts Connect account. People with Admin, Finance, or Legal roles in this account can access any of its shows, and they cannot be removed.
    
13. Click the Add Button.
    
14. Review your show details on the Show Information page to ensure everything looks correct.
    
15. Provide contact information for the show, so that Apple can reach out to you in the event that there is an issue.
    
16. On the left hand column, choose Availability and Rights.
    1. Under Availability, you can select what countries and regions you’d like your podcast to appear in.
    2. Under Content Rights, confirm that your show has rights to any third-party content it may contain. As stated on screen, Shows that contain third-party content must have all the necessary rights to that content or be otherwise permitted to use it under the laws of each country or region in which they’re available.
    3. Under Show Release, you can select whether your show will be released as soon as it’s published or you can select a date and time for it to release on Apple Podcasts.
       
17. When you’re done, Click Save.
    
18. Click submit for review.
    
19.  Your podcast has now been submitted to Apple Podcasts. Your podcast should be searchable in Apple Podcasts once your submission is complete. However, we always recommend 24-48 hours for your podcast to be indexed in any third party directory. 

Your RSS feed will be validated before it’s sent to Apple. If there’s an issue, a warning message will appear and must be resolved before you can submit the show.