How long until iTunes, podcast apps, and subscribers receive my new episodes?

There are two answers:

  1. For iTunes and other directories—these are usually cached and when everything is working properly, it can take 15 minutes to a few hours for a new episode to show up in the directory listing.
  2. For subscribers—with a few exceptions (Stitcher, Google Play, iHeartRadio, and Spotify), when someone subscribers to your podcast in an app, they are subscribed directly to your RSS feed. Thus, whenever you publish a new episode, it is immediately available to your subscribers. Some subscribers will have the apps refresh feeds immediately or at certain intervals. As long as the new episode is in the feed, subscribers can download it the next time their app refreshes.

You're not using FeedBurner or any special caching system, so I'll say this for any other readers. If your feed it cached (especially if you're using FeedBurner—even in its vanilla state), this introduces an additional delay.

Lastly, invalid podcast feeds (with incorrect data, illegal characters, or other problems) will prevent most podcast programs from updating the feed. Here's how to validate your podcast feeds.

About the Author
As an award-winning podcaster, Daniel J. Lewis gives you the guts and teaches you the tools to launch and improve your own podcasts for sharing your passions and finding success. Daniel creates resources for podcasters, such as the SEO for Podcasters and Zoom H6 for Podcasters courses, the Social Subscribe & Follow Icons plugin for WordPress, the My Podcast Reviews global-review aggregator, and the Podcasters' Society membership for podcasters. As a recognized authority and influencer in the podcasting industry, Daniel speaks on podcasting and hosts his own podcast about how to podcast. Daniel's other podcasts, a clean-comedy podcast, and the #1 unofficial podcast for ABC's hit drama Once Upon a Time, have also been nominated for multiple awards. Daniel and his son live near Cincinnati.
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