Episode filters

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  2. Episode filters

Episode filters

CreatingUsing Filters & Managing Filters

Pocket Casts features episode filters to help you organise episodes.

Creating Filters

Step 1 Tap the + New Filter icon on the Filters tab.

Step 2 Customise the filter – the filtering options are:

    • Podcasts (default is “All Podcasts” but you can toggle that off and select just the podcasts you want)
    • Episode Status (default is all episodes but you can change to “Unplayed” and/or “In Progress” and/or “Played”)
    • Release Date (default is “Anytime” but you can choose either: last 24 hrs, last 3 days, last week, last 2 weeks, or last month)
    • Duration (off by default – toggle on “Filter by duration” and set “Longer than” and/or “Shorter than”)
    • Download Status (default is “All” but you can choose either “Downloaded” or “Not Downloaded”)
    • Media Type (default is “All” but you can choose either “Audio” or “Video”)
    • Starred (default is all episodes included whether Starred or not, but tapping this will include only Starred episodes)

After you choose each option tap Update Filter. Once you have finished selecting filtering options, tap Continue.

NOTE: only episodes associated with a podcast to which you are subscribed can be included.

Step 3 Name the filter and select a colour and icon (please note these are visual selections only), then tap Save Filter.

Create filter Step 1 screen

Once the filter is created, you can tap the three dot menu to:

Screenshot highlighting where to find the vertical ellipsis to access the sub menu

  • Select Episodes: enter multi-select mode to perform quick actions in bulk.
  • Sort By : Newest to Oldest, Oldest to Newest, Shortest to Longest, or Longest to Shortest.
  • Play All : Create a new Up Next list with the episodes in this filter.
  • Download All episodes in the filter, up to a maximum of 100 episodes at a time.
  • Access Filter Options: here you can change the filter’s name and icon, add Siri Shortcuts, and turn Auto Download on/off – this is off by default; if toggled on you have the option of auto downloading the first 5, 10, 20, 40, or 100 episodes (set to 10 by default).

Filter settings screenshot showing auto download option


Using Filters

To get you started, by default Pocket Casts displays the following episode filters:

  • New Releases: all unplayed and in progress episodes released in the last 2 weeks
  • In Progress: all in progress episodes released in the last month
  • Starred: only Starred episodes are included.

Get creative with your own filters by grouping podcasts according to your weekly activities like driving, workouts/exercise or night time listening.

You can have more granular control over each list by utilising the Starred option. So if you have a selection of music episodes that are perfect for your nightly workout, your filter might look something like this;

    • Podcasts – 4 podcasts chosen
    • Episode Status – Played, In Progress (you’ve already listened to them or started listening to them to know they motivate you)
    • Release Date – Any Time
    • Download Status – Downloaded (you keep these episodes on your phone so you don’t need to worry about data costs or network reliability)
    • Media Type – All
    • Starred is on

Next time you’re ready to kick off your workout, your filter gives you quick access to all of your motivational episodes. Then you can play the whole filter (three dot menu > Play All), play individual episodes, or add episodes to your Up Next queue.

To change the selected filtering options of an existing filter, go into the filter then tap the filter’s name to bring up the options to change or choose from.

Multi-select mode

To enter multi-select mode you can:

  • Long press on any episode row.
  • Tap the three dot menu > Select Episodes.
  • Use the native 2 finger pan gesture.

This will bring up the multi-select action bar, giving you quick access to:

  • Play Next
  • Play Last
  • Download
  • Archive
  • Mark as Played
  • Star Episodes

While in multi-select mode, you can customise the action bar with your 2 most used actions and the rest are then only a tap away. To customise, tap the three dot menu in the multi-select action bar > select Edit and hold the ≡ handle to drag and drop the actions to your preferred location > tap Done to save the changes.

To quickly select all episodes in a filter, long press an episode > tap Select All. You can also select episodes in bulk by long pressing an episode > long press the episode again > tap Select all above or Select all below.

You can find more information on multi select actions in this blog post.


Managing filters

To delete a filter go the the Filters tab > swipe the filter row from right to left.

You can also tap Edit > tap the delete icon > Delete. From this screen you can also re-arrange the order of your filters by long pressing the handle and dragging and dropping filters to the preferred locations.

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