Apple Podcasts
Adding Features to an iOS Mobile App
Helping Apple Podcast users organize and enjoy their favorite podcasts in a personalized, intuitive way.
Apple Podcasts is an audio streaming service application developed by Apple used for playing podcasts. It is one of the top audio streaming services in the industry, but the app currently does not provide a way for you to keep track of or create collections of podcast shows you previously listened to beyond subscription among other usability issues. I chose to add features to this mobile app as a part of DesignLab’s UX Academy certification course.
MY ROLE
User Research, App Audit, UX/UI Design, Branding, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Iterations
TIMELINE
80 hours to MVP
TOOLS
Figma, Miro, Photoshop, Google Forms
THE CHALLENGE
Apple Podcasts does not allow users to customize their show listing order, episode play order, and lists of shows or episodes in a way that is easy and intuitive for the user. User’s have abandoned using the app altogether due to the frustrating experience.
THE SOLUTION
I designed additional features that will allow the user to access desired episodes in the list quickly and easily with direct added pathways and additional filter and sort options that allow users to view and play show episodes in a way that makes sense to them. I also added a feature that allows users to create customized collections of shows or podcast episodes that can be shared with other users.
Empathize
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
To begin this process I wanted to learn more about the target audience through exploratory research. I found that while people of all ages listen to podcasts, the main demographic of podcast listeners were those ranging from ages 12-54 years old. I wanted to focus on podcast listeners who regularly used the Apple Podcasts platform to listen to podcasts, as well as those who had previously used the Apple Podcasts platform before transitioning to another platform.
Findings
Next I conducted exploratory research to better understand how users feel about the Apple Podcasts app. I found the Apple Podcasts app to be:
Easy and Convenient - iOS device users find the free app pre-installed on their device
Only Compatible with iOS - Incompatibility with Android devices impacts the app’s popularity of use
A Highly Popular Platform - Though there are many podcast platforms, the Apple Podcasts and Spotify platforms are miles ahead of their competitors in popularity
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
After identifying Spotify as Apple Podcast’s main competitor, I conducted a comparative analysis of features of Spotify as well as one other competing platform that is less popular, Google Podcasts. I compared feature availability in order to better understand what successful capabilities competitor apps may offer that Apple Podcasts could potentially emulate.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Building upon what I had learned during my exploratory research and comparative analysis, I developed an interview discussion guide to learn more about my user’s core needs, goals, motivations and pain points. Using a social media post to recruit participants, I interviewed 6 users in the target audience.
KEY INSIGHTS
After conducting user interviews, I used affinity mapping to synthesize my data and identify patterns around user needs, goals, motivations and pain points.
Define
USER PERSONAS
Utilizing my research insights, I created 2 user personas based on different listening behaviors to empathize with my target audience and generate design ideas.
MEET CLARE:
The long distance listener who wants to quickly and easily set up playlists of podcast episodes she wants to listen to on her roadtrips, she wants to create playlists in an order that makes sense for her. She’s not very tech savvy and wants to customize her app easily with elements that are easy to find and easy to use.
MEET DAVID:
The serial show listener who wants to sort and filter episode lists based on his intuitive play order so he can quickly and easily jump back in where he left off and listen with ease. He wants to quickly and easily share custom lists of his favorite shows with his friends directly through the app.
KEY FEATURES
In order to cater to all user personas, the following key features will be included in the solution.
USER FLOWS
I took all of the needs and goals of my user personas and compiled them into one key user flow. Creating this user flow helped me to visualize the the steps and thought process of my users.
TASK FLOWS
I took all of the needs and goals of my user personas and compiled them into one key user flow. Creating this user flow helped me to visualize the the steps and thought process of my users. View full Task Flows here.
Ideate
GETTING FEEDBACK EARLY
Before I began developing wireframes, I asked users for feedback on where within the existing design systems of the app the new features should be located in order for users to be able to intuitively find and use these features. I provided users with a list of potential locations and asked for users to tell me which locations made the most intuitive sense to them and why.
Adding the ‘Jump to Episode’ Feature
I designed a button to meet the user need of being able to quickly jump back to their place within a long list of episodes. Since this is a new feature without existing design patterns to emulate, I asked users to tell me which of the 5 pinpointed areas of the app interface made the most sense for this button to live.
75% of users felt the most intuitive place for this feature button would be in space 1, just below the ‘Resume’ button. This was due to accessibility and relation to the content of the episode playing rather than the episode list below.
Adding the ‘My Lists’ Feature
I designed a section for ‘My Lists’ to meet the user need of being able to create and listen to custom playlists and show collections. I asked users who to tell me where within the existing Apple Podcast interface made the most sense for this feature to live: as either it’s own icon within the navigation bar with it’s own separate screen or within the existing ‘Library’ screen where users can access other automated lists of their podcasts.
87% of users felt the most intuitive place for this feature would be in within the existing ‘Library’ screen. This was due the user’s existing mental map of where to store and access their personal podcasts and desire to have all of their possible lists in a single location.
WIREFRAMES
Using the existing basic UI and design patterns within the app, I began incorporating the new features in different spaces around the interface based on the user feedback I had acquired. In this way, I was able to understand my users’ mental maps to optimize the UI for an improved overall user experience before building wireframes and eventual high-fidelity prototypes.
Prototype
EXPERIENCE 1 - SORTING
THE CURRENT EXPERIENCE
Apple Podcasts currently allows users to sort the episode order from Oldest to Newest or Newest to Oldest, but the menu for doing so is hidden within a meatball menu that can only be accessed at the top of the show screen, within a second ‘Settings’ menu. Due to the unintuitive placement of this feature, many users were unable to locate the menu at all and believed sorting to be impossible.
THE NEW EXPERIENCE
Default Order Settings
Episodes being listed and played in an order that made intuitive sense to the user was a major need. To address this, I added default sorting settings so all show episodes will automatically match user preference. In addition to sorting by episode order, I included a menu for sorting by play order as well to address user’s frustrations.
Sorting Menu
In order to allow users to personalize their listening experience further based on their needs, I included a sorting menu in the intuitive and accessible space just above the episode list within a show. Should users want to adjust the sorting settings for each show individually, they are able to do so. This menu contains options for sorting both by episode order and by play order.
EXPERIENCE 2 - FILTERING
THE CURRENT EXPERIENCE
Apple Podcasts currently only offers 3 ways to filter podcast episodes by either ‘All Episodes’, ‘Unplayed’ or ‘Downloaded’. Users wanted more ways to filter through long episode lists to find their desired episode more quickly and easily.
THE NEW EXPERIENCE
Filtering Menu
I added a filtering menu in the intuitive and accessible space just above the show’s episode list and next to the new sorting menu for users to showcase episodes in more specific ranges. In addition to the existing filtering categories Apple Podcasts includes (now under ‘Episode Status’), I added options for filtering by ‘Season’, ‘Date Range’ and ‘Episode Range’.
EXPERIENCE 3 - JUMPING TO AN EPISODE IN THE LIST
THE CURRENT EXPERIENCE
There is not currently a way to quickly navigate to your place within a list of episodes which was a major pain point for users who were left to scroll through sometimes hundreds of episodes.
THE NEW EXPERIENCE
‘Jump to Episode in List’ Button
Using the user feedback on placement from the ideation stage, I added a highly visible and easily accessible button that would allow users to jump to the location of the selected episode within the episode list.
EXPERIENCE 4 - CUSTOM LISTS
THE CURRENT EXPERIENCE
Apple Podcasts currently has a feature called ‘Stations’ to which you can add shows you subscribe to which will then auto-update when new episodes from selected shows are released, but there is no way to create custom lists of just selected episodes or for any shows you are not currently subscribed to. Users described frustration with being unable to create custom playlists to which they could add episodes from any show of their choosing, and ways to create custom collections of shows regardless of subscription status. Users also wanted to be able to share multiple episodes and shows directly through the app which currently only allows you to share single episodes.
THE NEW EXPERIENCE
‘My Lists’ Feature
Using the user feedback on placement from the ideation stage, I added a ‘My Lists’ section to the ‘Library’ screen menu which contains ‘Playlists’ for adding and organizing custom episode lists and ‘Collections’ for adding custom show lists.
Adding New Lists
Users will be able to access and create new custom Playlists and Collections directly in the ‘My Lists’ screen by tapping the plus button.
Adding to Lists
Users can add any episodes they choose to their custom lists through the playlist screen or directly on the episode screen. Episodes in the list can be arranged using sorting, filtering or by dragging and dropping the episodes on the list. Once you hit play on an episode, the remaining episodes on the playlist will automatically play through based on your order settings.
EXPERIENCE 5 - SHARING MULTIPLE PODCASTS
THE CURRENT EXPERIENCE
While Apple Podcasts allows you to share individual podcast episodes directly through the app, there is currently no way to send more than one episode through the app. This was a major pain point for users who had no easy way to share more than one podcast episode at once.
THE NEW EXPERIENCE
Share Button on Lists
Users will now be able to share multiple podcast episodes or shows at once directly through the app using the new share button found on lists.
Test
THE TASKS
USABILITY TESTING
In order to validate my solutions, I had 5 participants in the target audience test the prototype by completing tasks.
Users were asked to complete the following:
Task 1: Customize a podcast listing and play order both as default order settings and on an individual podcast show.
Task 2: Filter a podcast episode list by year and by episode range.
Task 3: Create, add to and share a playlist of podcast episodes from a variety of shows.
Task 4: Play the next chronological episode in the episode list via the ‘Recently Played’ episodes folder to easily toggle episodes in the range.
TEST FEEDBACK
I was pleased to observe that all participants were able to successfully complete each task quickly and easily. I collected feedback from user tests and placed items in a feedback grid to synthesize what worked well, where to improve, and take into account user suggestions and questions.
Analyzing feedback by severity and frequency of issues, I prioritized iterations to determine next steps by placing feedback on a prioritization grid.
ITERATION PRIORITIZATION
HIGH PRIORITY
Make locating the ‘Account’ screen easier and more intuitive. 40% of participants participants struggled to locate the avatar and the ‘Account’ screen either due to lack of knowledge of avatar’s universal meaning or due to missing the avatar completely.
MID PRIORITY
Include an option to filter episodes by inputting a custom range. 20% of participants wanted to be able to input a custom range as they felt it would help them access their desired episodes more quickly and easily.
LOW PRIORITY / FUTURE NEXT STEPS
Consider including ratings of podcasts within ‘Collections’. 20% of participants requested this.
Consider including an additional path to access ‘My Lists’ that is even easier faster to access than going into the Library folder. 20% of participants requested this, though initial testing during the wireframe phase conveyed the most intuitive location for this feature was within the library screen.
Consider including ‘bubble’ categories features like Spotify. 20% of participants requested this based on their mental map being influenced most by their primary use of Spotify.
Consider adding a feature that allows you to transfer existing podcast listening history and data from other podcast platforms. 40% of participants expressed that this would be the only way that they would be willing to switch from Spotify to Apple Podcasts because they would not want to go through the process of finding and downloading all of their favorite shows.
ITERATIONS
Based on the prioritization of feedback above and the project timeline, I addressed the high priority and mid priority iterations first.
Adding Another Path to the ‘Account’ Screen
During usability testing, two users had trouble locating the ‘Account’ screen via the avatar as this universal pathway did not feel intuitive to them. To address this, I added an ‘Account’ label under the avatar to help users easily locate and navigate to the ‘Account’ screen in order to update default order settings for podcasts.
Adding ‘Custom Range’ Filter Options
One tester wanted to have an option for inputting a ‘Custom Date Range’ filter option to make locating the episodes in question even easier for users. To address this, I included a ‘Custom Episode Range’ option to the filter menu to allow users to input specific ranges of episode numbers for faster, easier navigation to the episodes they desire.
Final Prototype
Reflection
This was a really interesting case study to tackle. This design process allowed me to learn so much about the ‘why’ behind user journeys as each user detailed such a unique experience within the app based on their own needs and goals and what felt most intuitive to them. While my users shared many of the same pain points, this resulted from having very different mental maps of how items should be ordered and customized to fit their specific needs. Although the brief called for adding a single feature to an existing app, I was so inspired by designing solutions for my users that I ended up adding quite a bit more than just a single feature. In the future, I hope to set more realistic timelines and scope the design process down even further to more comfortably stay within the time constraints of the project. As a user of the app myself, I will be disappointed to return to using the app without these added features!
Thank you for taking the time to read my case study! If you have any feedback or would like to get in touch, please don’t hesitate to reach out.