Apple’s Video Podcast Play: Consumption Solved, Creation Wide Open

Apple announced today that Apple Podcasts is getting video streaming support. Starting with iOS 26.4, you’ll be able to watch video podcasts right in the app, toggle seamlessly between audio and video, and download for offline viewing. It’s powered by HLS, supports dynamic ad insertion, and launches with a handful of hosting partners.

This is clearly a response to YouTube eating their lunch. Video podcasts have exploded, and Apple’s been watching from the sidelines while creators flocked to YouTube for the reach and Spotify for the features. This move makes sense.

But here’s what caught my attention. Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors:

Interesting, you know what Apple doesn’t have? A podcast creation app in its brand new creative suite. Hmmm.

He’s right. Apple just shipped a whole suite of creative tools, and podcasting — one of the most democratic forms of media creation — didn’t make the cut.

Consumption vs. Creation

Apple is really good at consumption. Apple Podcasts is a fine player. Apple Music is great. The TV app aggregates your streaming services. They’ve nailed the “lean back and enjoy” experience.

But creation? That’s a different story.

GarageBand is ancient. Logic is powerful but intimidating. If you want to record a podcast with a remote guest, sync up the tracks, edit out the ums, and export something clean — you’re cobbling together a workflow from five different apps and services.

The podcast hosting companies Apple partnered with today (Acast, Simplecast, etc.) handle distribution. But the actual making of the podcast? That’s still surprisingly painful, especially for anyone who isn’t already neck-deep in audio production.

The Gap

YouTube solved this by being YouTube — you just upload a video. The creation tools are wherever you already edit video. But for audio-first podcasters who want to add video, or remote recording setups, or anything more sophisticated than “point a camera at your face” — the tooling is fragmented and expensive.

Riverside. Squadcast. Zencastr. Descript. They’re all solving pieces of this, but there’s no simple, native, “it just works” solution. Apple could build this. They probably should. But today’s announcement suggests they’re more interested in the distribution side.

That leaves a gap. And gaps are interesting.

What I’m Watching

I think the podcasting tools space is about to get a lot more attention. Apple validating video podcasts as a format brings more creators into the space, and those creators are going to need better tools.

If you’re building in this space — or thinking about it — now’s the time.

I’m a Forward Deployed Engineer at WordPress VIP by day and an indie app developer by night. I’ve been thinking a lot about podcasting tools lately. More on that soon.