Ever since Spotify added podcasts, it has become one of the top apps for listening to podcasts on the go, but it’s still not a dedicated podcast app—and sometimes, it shows. Its main focus is, still, music. Now, though, it’s getting slightly better for podcasts.

Spotify has just launched a small handful of updates for podcasts. While they’re minor updates on their own, they’re both things that you’ll greatly appreciate if you listen to podcasts on Spotify on a daily basis. The main one you’ll notice is podcast recommendations directly on the Spotify Home. Now, your Home page will suggest to you podcasts the same way it currently suggests new music tracks. It can show you podcasts you’ve recently watched and suggest new podcasts based on your likes. The company reports that initial feedback for this feature indicates that this is a hit, with more people reportedly engaging with, saving, and liking podcast content with this.

There’s also a new “Following” feed dedicated to new episodes from subscribed shows. You will be able to access this dedicated space by tapping the “Podcasts” button at the top of the app, followed by a “Following” button, which is made to eliminate the need for users to manually search for new episodes from their favorite creators. Additionally, the platform will soon offer new tools for podcast creators, enabling them to recommend other content mentioned within a podcast episode. This feature will allow creators to link to other podcasts, songs, audiobooks, or playlists available on Spotify if it’s referenced through an episode, kind of like putting links to sources on the description of a YouTube video. If you use a specific song or reference it, you’ll want to link to it if it’s on Spotify.

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In addition to this, creators who engage with comments on their podcast pages will soon be able to use emoji reactions to respond to fan feedback. Creators retain control over the comment sections for their shows and individual episodes, with the option to enable, disable, or moderate comments through their Spotify for Creators account.

Spotify has supported podcasts for a while, but for some people, the app has always felt like a music app first and a podcast app second, and some people might prefer a dedicated podcast app because of this. This, however, should be very helpful at making the app actually feel like an appropriate platform to listen to podcasts in. These updates should roll out soon to your device, so keep an eye out for an update to your Spotify app.

Source: TechCrunch