Categories
Feedback

Apple Adds Dedicated View for Up Next in TV App

Earlier this summer, I filed a Feedback report to Apple under FB12491762 with the title “The Up Next queue should have a dedicated full view,” something they’ve now added in iOS 17.4 developer beta 1 to the TV app.

In my report, I included the following description:

TV app users who take advantage of the Up Next queue might find themselves with a long queue and only a single-file list on the main Watch Now tab in order to view the full list.

I propose that Apple add a “tap-in” for the Up Next queue that brings you to a grid view of the shows/ movies, allowing users to see their whole Up Next queue at once.

What was previously only a sideways-scrolling view in the TV app now has a sub-menu, represented by a sideways chevron (>) showing that you can tap in and see a dedicated view.

In that view, which is a single column on iPhone and a double column on iPad, you can see the show art, title, status (recently added, next, continue), as well as the streaming service (if applicable) – and a menu button that lets you act on the TV show or movie.

Currently, there are no swipe gestures in this view, which could have let you remove items from the list quickly – perhaps that doesn’t work in the dual-column view on iPad.

My original report also included a reference to another Feedback report—FB12491737 (The “Up Next” queue in the TV app should be user sortable)—that I filed separately asking for the Up Next list to have a manual sort option.

Right now, this new dedicated view is determined by the order you add things to the list, and you can’t change it later without removing things and re-adding them. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t add this manual sorting functionality either – something I hope they consider in future versions of iOS.

Even still, this just goes to show – you should file Feedback to Apple asking for features you want added!

Categories
Editorial Feedback

Transcripts Are Great; Add Timestamp Links to Apple Podcasts Next

Yesterday, Apple began adding transcripts to Apple Podcasts, detailing the change on the Apple Podcast for Creators site and making them available for in iOS 17.4 developer beta 1.

This change is a huge win for accessibility, will surely improve searching in the Podcasts app, and makes quoting your favorite podcast an easy task by letting you copy and paste the text out – something I’ll definitely have to turn into a shortcut soon.

All these benefits are great in their own way and will make podcasts more shareable as a whole, allowing us to unlock so many people’s great ideas that are currently stored within hours of audio files and obscured behind URLs that point only to the show or episode as a whole.

However, I think Apple needs to go one step further in their next step and add timestamps to Apple Podcasts, a long-overdue feature that’d enable users to share links to individual moments within a podcast, directly to a specific point in the transcript.

Similar to what’s already now available for Transcripts, listeners could tap on a paragraph, seek to the beginning of a sentence, and the use the Share sheet to not only “Copy” the text, but “Copy link at timestamp” – something I’m surprised didn’t come along with this feature.

Apple Music has a similar implementation on the Lyrics page, which lets you select one or more lines – and the Copy Link at Timestamp feature is already available in the Apple Developer app as well.

Other podcasts apps like Overcast have already created their own implementation, letting you open an Overcast link into a podcast at a specific moment – developer Marco Arment uses a timestamp function appended to the URLs to create the deeplink to a specific moment that reads like this: https://overcast.fm/+4dUt3SDKg/38:23.

Apps like YouTube instead use the total seconds progressed in a video, a perhaps more-functional version for implementation (but less user-friendly to type out manually, if need be) – their URLs end in ?t=181 to represent 3 minutes and 1 second, like this: https://youtu.be/O2BOOdUCe90?t=181.

Whichever method they decide on, I propose Apple adopt a timestamp protocol for Apple Podcasts, append the information the URL, and make a new system that lets anyone link to a specific moment in a podcast, share that with others, and let that new listener enjoy the same moment in their Podcasts app.

I’ve filed this to Apple in their Feedback app as FB13561512 (Add timestamps to Apple Podcasts to allow linking to specific moments) – if you think this is a good idea, send a duplicate of my feedback and mention my # in your report to Apple; or, share this online if you agree.

Maybe we can get timestamp links added too!