Auto-Play in Podcasts app: How to set up continuous playback

With iOS 11 Apple introduced a revised Podcasts app. Among other changes, neither auto-playback within podcasts, nor playlists created in iTunes are supported. Both were often used for continuous playback of episodes.

Stations are the new Playlists

The easiest way to regain continuous playback is to use Stations. Stations can be set up on your device, or in iTunes, then synced. These instructions use iPhone screenshots to illustrate two different kinds of stations.

1a. Launch Podcasts app.

1b. Select Library view; Tap on Edit button.

2a. Tap on New Station.

2b. Name your station; Save.

3. This first example is set up to listen to unplayed episodes of a single podcast in reverse chronological order. Most suitable for "serials" and podcasts that are not time-sensitive.

4. This second example is set up to listen to a mix of unplayed episodes from multiple podcast subscriptions in chronological order. A good choice for news-centric podcasts.

Now what?

Double-tap on the top-most episode of a Station to start playback. Episodes will auto-play continuously until you pause, or there are no more episodes in the Station that meet the criteria set up above.

Notes:

1. Above instructions assume you have already subscribed to podcasts of your choice. The tutorial is meant only to show how to set up Podcasts app for continuous auto-play of subscribed episodes, not how to manage your subscriptions.

2. To automatically remove played episodes, use podcast settings accessible from the Shows view.

3. Instruction and screenshots are accurate as of iOS Podcasts app v. 3.3; iPad and iTunes steps are similar.