Using Bookmarks

On the iOS and Android mobile apps, you can add a bookmark through the full-screen player by following these steps:

1. Begin playing a podcast episode or one of your files.
2. Go to the full-screen player by either swiping up from the bottom of the screen or tapping on the mini-player at the bottom of the screen.
3. Check for the “Add Bookmark” action at the bottom of the screen. You may need to click the three-dot “…” icon to access “More Actions.” From the “More Actions” area, you can also make “Add Bookmark” a shortcut on the player by clicking “Edit” on iOS or the pencil icon on Android.
4. Tap “Add Bookmark.”
5. You will be prompted to enter an optional title to identify the bookmark you’re adding.
6. Tap “Save Bookmark.”
7. A notification at the bottom of the screen will pop up to confirm that you have added a bookmark. You can also click “View” on the notification, and it will take you to the Bookmarks tab, where you should see your newly-added bookmark.

On the iOS and Android mobile apps, you can add a bookmark using your Bluetooth headphones or speaker according to these steps:

1. Go to Profile > Settings (the gear icon on the upper-right corner of the screen) > Headphone Controls.
2. In the Headphone Controls screen, set at least one action from “Previous Action” and “Next Action” to “Add Bookmark.” Note that your settings here do not yet sync across devices. So, you’ll want to set these for each mobile device where you wish to add bookmarks with your Bluetooth headphones or speaker.
3. The “Bookmark Confirmation Sound” setting will be enabled by default. You can choose to turn it off. When “Bookmark Confirmation Sound” is on, you’ll hear a confirmation sound whenever you create a bookmark using your Bluetooth headphones or speaker.
4. Connect your mobile device with your Bluetooth headphones or speaker. The headphones or speaker must have controls for going to the previous and next tracks.
5. Begin listening to an episode or file.
6. Depending on which action you set to “Add Bookmark” in the app’s Headphone Controls, use your headphone or speaker controls to go to either the previous or next track. If you have the “Bookmark Confirmation Sound” setting enabled, you’ll hear a confirmation sound every time you add a bookmark.
7. If your screen is on and the Pocket Casts app is active, you can add an optional title to the bookmark before it is saved.

On iOS 8.19 and later and Android 8.22 and later, Smart Bookmarks uses an episode’s transcript to help you remember why you saved a moment. When you add a bookmark to an episode that has a transcript generated by Pocket Casts:

• The bookmark saves a short passage from the transcript (also called the bookmark’s transcript or quote). The passage covers about 25 seconds before to 5 seconds after the moment you bookmarked, extended to whole sentences.
• The app suggests a short title based on that passage. If you haven’t typed a title yet, the suggestion fills in the “Title” field for you. If you have already typed one, the suggestion appears below it as “Suggestion:”, and you can tap it to use it instead. On Android, you’ll see “Suggesting a title…” while the app works on it.
• The bookmark remembers its place in the transcript, so it plays the right moment even when dynamic ads change the length of the episode, for example on another device or after you download the episode again.

On the “Add Bookmark” or “Edit Bookmark” screen, the saved passage appears under “Transcript.” To choose a different passage:

1. Tap “Edit” in the Transcript section.
2. On the “Edit transcript” screen, tap a sentence to select it. Drag the ends of the selection to make the passage longer or shorter.
3. Tap “Done” on Android, or go back on iOS.
4. Tap “Save Bookmark.”

Choosing a different passage does not change the bookmark’s title or its timestamp.

You can also bookmark a passage straight from an episode’s transcript. Select the text you want, then choose “Bookmark” from the menu that appears. The bookmark saves exactly the text you selected, and its timestamp is the start of the line where your selection begins.

• If you close the “Add Bookmark” screen without tapping “Save Bookmark,” the bookmark is not added.
• Bookmarks you add with your headphones get their passage and suggested title automatically, without opening the “Add Bookmark” screen. You can change them later.
• A passage and suggested title need a transcript generated by Pocket Casts. Episodes without a transcript, episodes whose podcast provides its own transcript, and your own uploaded files get a regular bookmark with no passage. Unless you type a title, it is called “Bookmark.”
• If a passage is saved but a title can’t be suggested, the title stays “Bookmark” on iOS. On Android, the first few words of the passage are used as the title.
• There is no setting to turn off Smart Bookmarks or suggested titles. You can always type your own title, or change the title and passage later.

On the iOS and Android mobile apps, you can view your saved bookmarks from any of the following places:

• Profile > Bookmarks – this view will show all of your bookmarks
• The “Bookmarks” tab on the full-screen player – this will only show the bookmarks for the currently playing episode or file.
• The “Bookmarks” tab on a podcast’s page – this will be next to the “Episodes” tab, and it will show all bookmarks saved across all of the relevant podcast’s episodes.
• The “Bookmarks” tab on an episode’s screen – this will be next to the “Details” tab, and it will only show the bookmarks for the relevant episode.
• “Bookmarks” on a file’s screen – this will only show the bookmarks for the relevant file.

On iOS 8.19 and later and Android 8.22 and later, tap a bookmark to open its details. You’ll see a play button with the bookmark’s timestamp, the date you added it, its title, and its passage highlighted in the episode’s transcript. From there, you can also edit, share, or delete the bookmark.

On the iOS and Android mobile apps, there are two ways you can rename an existing bookmark:

Renaming a bookmark opens a screen where you can change its title. On iOS 8.19 and later, this screen is called “Edit Bookmark.” On Android 8.22 and later, it is called “Change title.” On both, you can also change the bookmark’s transcript passage there. You can also get there by tapping a bookmark to open its details and choosing “Edit.”

• Renaming from a list:

1. View your bookmarks from any of the following places: the full-screen player, a podcast’s page, an episode’s screen, or a file’s screen.
2. Long-press on the bookmark you wish to rename. This selects it.
3. Tap “Edit.” Note that “Edit” only appears when you have exactly one bookmark selected.
4. Enter a new title for your bookmark.
5. Tap “Save Bookmark” on iOS or “Change title” on Android.

• Renaming from the full-screen player:

1. Pause or skip playback to a point of an episode where you have previously saved a bookmark.
2. While playback is paused, tap “Add Bookmark.”
3. Provided that playback is paused exactly where you saved a bookmark previously, the app opens that bookmark instead of adding a new one, on the “Edit Bookmark” screen on iOS or the “Change title” screen on Android.
4. Enter a new title, then tap “Save Bookmark” on iOS or “Change title” on Android.

On the iOS and Android mobile apps, you can share a bookmark with anyone. Sharing a bookmark gives you a link to the episode that opens at the bookmark’s timestamp:

1. View your bookmarks from any of the following places: the full-screen player, a podcast’s page, an episode’s screen, or Profile > Bookmarks.
2. Long-press on the bookmark you wish to share.
3. Tap “Share.” Note that “Share” only appears when you have exactly one bookmark selected.
4. Choose how you would like to share the link.

On iOS 8.19 and later, you can also share a bookmark without long-pressing it: swipe right on the bookmark, then tap “Share.” This works in the full-screen player, a podcast’s Bookmarks tab, an episode’s Bookmarks tab, and Profile > Bookmarks.

Bookmarks you saved on your own uploaded files cannot be shared, because there is no public episode to link to. Bookmarks on private podcasts cannot be shared either. In both cases, the “Share” option will not appear.

On the iOS and Android mobile apps, you can delete a bookmark or even multiple bookmarks by following the steps below:

1. View your bookmarks from any of the following places: the full-screen player, a podcast’s page, an episode’s screen, or a file’s screen.
2. Long-press on a bookmark.
3. Select a bookmark you wish to delete. You can even use multi-select (iOS, Android) to delete multiple bookmarks at once.
4. Tap the trashcan icon.
5. You’ll be shown a dialog asking you to confirm whether you’re sure you wish to delete the bookmark(s) you’ve selected.
6. If you’re sure, tap “Delete” on iOS or “Delete bookmark” on Android. 

On iOS 8.19 and later, you can also delete a single bookmark without long-pressing it: swipe left on the bookmark, then tap “Delete.” You will still be asked to confirm. This works in the full-screen player, a podcast’s Bookmarks tab, an episode’s Bookmarks tab, and Profile > Bookmarks. To delete several bookmarks at once, use the long-press steps above.

On the iOS and Android mobile apps, you can sort your bookmarks according to these steps:

1. View your bookmarks from any of the following places: the full-screen player, a podcast’s page, an episode’s screen, or a file’s screen.
2. Tap the three-dot icon on the upper-right corner of the screen.
3. Tap “Sort By”
4. Select the sorting method you prefer.

No, there is currently no way to disable or remove the Bookmarks tab.

When the Bookmarks feature was first released, it appeared after the Chapters tab in the full-screen player if an episode had chapters.

Since version 7.53, however, we moved the Bookmarks tab to after the Chapters tab. So, if you’re still seeing Bookmarks before Chapters, kindly make sure your app is updated to the latest version available for your device.

On the web and desktop apps, you can add a bookmark by either clicking on the Bookmarks icon or using the Bookmarks Keyboard shortcut.

To add a bookmark on the web and desktop apps with the Bookmarks icon:

1. Click the Bookmarks icon – it will be to the right of the seek bar at the bottom of the screen.
2. You’ll have the option to change the bookmark’s title.
3. Click “Add Bookmark.”

To add a bookmark on the web and desktop apps with the Bookmarks keyboard shortcut:

1. Type the keyboard shortcut that applies to your machine’s OS: CTRL + B for Windows or ⌘ + B for Mac.
2. Two things will happen: (1) you will hear a confirmation sound, and (2) a notification pop-up that says “Bookmark added.” will appear at the lower-left corner of your screen.
3. On the notification, you can click “Show all” to see all bookmarks you have saved for the currently playing episode.

On the web and desktop apps, you can view your saved bookmarks from any of the following places:

• Bookmarks in the left-hand sidebar: this view will show all of your bookmarks
• The Bookmarks popover:
  1. Click the Bookmarks icon to the right of the seek bar at the bottom of the screen.
  2. If you’ve added bookmarks for the currently playing episode, the popover will display the three most recent bookmarks you have added.
  3. On the same popover, you can click “Manage all bookmarks” to see all the bookmarks you have added for the currently playing episode.
• An episode’s details:
  1. Click on an episode anywhere in the app to view its details.
  2. You’ll see Bookmarks information to the right of the episode’s duration.
  3. You can then click on the Bookmarks information, and you will see all the bookmarks you have added for the currently playing episode.
• A podcast’s page:
  1. View a podcast’s page in the app.
  2. You’ll see Bookmarks information to the right of the podcast’s episode count.
  3. You can then click on the Bookmarks information, and you will see all the bookmarks you have added for the podcast.

On the web and desktop apps, you can rename an existing bookmark with the following steps:

1. View your bookmarks from any of the following places: the Bookmarks popover, an episode’s details, or a podcast’s page.
2. On the row of the episode you want to rename, click on the three-dot “…” icon.
3. Click “Change title.”
4. Edit the bookmark’s title, and click “Change title.”

On the web and desktop apps, you can share a bookmark from the Bookmarks page. Sharing a bookmark gives you a link to the episode that opens at the bookmark’s timestamp:

1. Click “Bookmarks” in the left-hand sidebar.
2. Find the bookmark you wish to share.
3. Click the share icon on the bookmark’s row.
4. Choose how you would like to share the link.

Sharing is only available from this view. If you open your bookmarks from the Bookmarks popover, an episode’s details, or a podcast’s page, each row offers “Change title” and “Delete” only.

Bookmarks you saved on your own uploaded files cannot be shared, because there is no public episode to link to.

On the web and desktop apps, you can delete a bookmark by following the steps below:

1. View your bookmarks from any of the following places: the Bookmarks popover, an episode’s details, or a podcast’s page.
2. On the row of the episode you want to delete, click on the three-dot “…” icon.
3. Click “Delete.”
4. If you’re sure, click “Delete bookmark.”