In iOS 14.5 – the forthcoming and highly anticipated iPhone software update currently in beta testing – Apple is making a small but significant change to the Podcasts app.
Instead of “subscribing” to a podcast if you want to automatically download new episodes, you will now “follow” it, Podnews writes. Apple is simply switching verbs.
The reason for the change is that many people associate the word subscribe with something that costs money. A survey conducted by Edison Research found that 47% of those who don’t currently listen to podcasts – in other words, the non-believers that Apple needs to convince – believe that subscribing means they have to pay.
Apple is not the first to make the switch; Spotify and Amazon have already changed their language to “follow”. But Google and the popular iOS podcast apps Castro and Overcast still run with “subscribe”. In the latter two cases, mind you, there’s probably not much chance that someone who buys a third-party app to listen to podcasts doesn’t know how it all works.
Apple is expected to launch a new Podcasts+ subscription service on 20 April. Read more here: Apple to launch Podcasts+.
Talking of which, here’s our guide to the best iPhone podcast apps.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.