Playback 2023
Playback 2023 explores your Listening History and shows you snapshots of your journey with Pocket Casts over the past year in the form of stories. You can then preserve these unique stories as photos and share your journey with others across different platforms like Tumblr, X, Facebook, Instagram, and so on.
This feature is available on our Android and iOS apps from version 7.52.
FAQs
How does Playback 2023 work?
Your Playback 2023 stories are automatically generated from your Listening History.
Do I need to create an account or log in to see stories?
Yes, Playback 2023 uses your Listening History to generate your stories, so you’ll need to be logged in to your Pocket Casts account. Signing up for one is free!
Why are my stories missing a lot of data?
This normally happens if you’ve cleared your listening history at any point over the past year.
We don’t keep copies of users’ listening histories for privacy reasons. So, if the listening history has been deleted, we’ll only be able to create stories with data from after the deletion.
Why do I see slightly different results in iOS compared to Android?
Slight differences across platforms would be due to how the calculation is done. Specifically, some small differences might occur based on the synced data in the devices.
Will the stories update as I continue listening to podcasts in December?
Yes! All your listening data from 2023 will be reflected in your stories. So, if there’s a podcast you’d like to see highlighted in your stories, just listen to it!
The number of hours I listened to seems absurdly high. Is that right?
Yes and no.
We’re unable to track smart speed from Playback Effects, so what you’ll see is the amount of listening time in real-world seconds. This means that, if you listened to a 60-minute episode in 3x speed, we’d count it as 60 minutes instead of 20. We hope to improve that soon, however, to provide more accurate listening time.
Why are the Top 5 podcasts not ordered by listening time?
Unlike 2022, we ordered the top podcasts this year by taking into consideration both your listening time and the number of episodes you listened to. We wanted to avoid results that might be influenced by, say, a podcast with lengthy episodes that you only listened to a few times.
If you’re not too happy with the results of this change, however, do let us know!
Until when will Playback 2023 be available?
Playback 2023 will be available until the first version release of 2024, so around January 15. Until then, you can see your stories.
Are there stories exclusive to Plus and Patron users?
Yes. This year, we have the following two stories that are exclusive to paid users:
- Year over year – shows how your listening time from 2023 compares to 2022
- Completion rate: shows your episode completion rate throughout 2023
Any user, however, can start seeing and sharing these exclusive stories by subscribing to Plus or Patron right from the stories!