How chapters work on Apple Podcasts and Spotify (and how to use yours)

Chapters let listeners jump straight to the part of an episode they care about. The catch is that podcast apps don't all read chapters the same way, and Apple Podcasts and Spotify each added their own automatic chapters recently.

This article explains what each platform does and how to make sure your chapters are the ones people see.

New to chapters? Start with What is a podcast chapter? and How to add a chapter.

What RSS.com does with your chapters

When you create chapters in your RSS.com dashboard (up to 10 per episode), we add them to your RSS feed in two open formats at once:

• Podcasting 2.0 chapters (<podcast:chapters>), the rich format that carries titles, images, and links.
• Podlove Simple Chapters, the format Spotify reads.

Those chapters show up automatically on your RSS.com web player, on Podcasting 2.0 apps (Podverse, Fountain, Castamatic, and others), and, because we include the Podlove format, on Spotify. They're also baked into the video when you publish to YouTube via PodViz. For the full breakdown of which apps show titles vs. images vs. links, see Chapter element support across apps.

Below is how the two big apps handle chapters specifically.

Spotify

Spotify reads the chapters in your feed. Because we include Podlove Simple Chapters, the chapters you create on RSS.com appear on Spotify automatically, no Spotify-side setup needed (Spotify: enabling chapters, which tells creators hosted elsewhere to “use Podlove chapters in your RSS feed”).

Your chapters take priority over Spotify's automatic ones. Spotify also auto-generates chapters for some shows (currently English only, limited rollout), but per Spotify, “if you add manual chapters, they show instead of your automatic chapters” (Spotify: episode chapters), and your feed chapters count as your chapters.

A few Spotify specifics:

• Spotify shows chapter titles only, not chapter images or links.
• Spotify's rules: at least 3 chapters, at least 30 seconds apart, the first chapter at 00:00, and titles in plain text (no emojis/HTML), ideally under 40 characters.
• Spotify may also add AI-reworded “chapter hooks” to titles for discovery; you can turn those off per episode or for the whole show.

Apple Podcasts

Apple Podcasts supports chapters through a few different routes, and it auto-generates its own (English only, full and bonus episodes 10+ minutes, starting with iOS 26.2 in late 2025). When chapters aren't provided, Apple shows its own set with an “Automatically created” label. Apple's documentation states that when you do provide chapters, “they'll always be displayed in Apple Podcasts.”

Apple documents three ways to provide chapters:

1. Timestamps in your episode description: write your chapter times and titles into the show notes (starting at 00:00:00, at least three of them) and Apple turns them into tappable markers. This is the simplest, most reliable route for an RSS-hosted show today, and it works alongside the chapters in your feed.
2. The <podcast:chapters> tag in your feed: Apple documents reading this from your hosting provider, including chapter images and links.
3. Chapters embedded in the audio file (ID3/MP4 markers): added to the file itself before upload, using a tool like Forecast.

Practical recommendation for an RSS.com show: add your chapters on RSS.com (so they're in your feed for Spotify and Podcasting 2.0 apps), and also add the same chapter timestamps to your episode description, that combination is what reliably surfaces chapter navigation on Apple Podcasts today. If Apple is especially important to you, embedding ID3 chapters in the audio file is the most bullet-proof option. See Chapter type support across apps for the step-by-step.

Apple's chapter recommendations: start the first chapter at 00:00:00, include at least three, keep them no shorter than two minutes (and no more than ~6 per hour), and keep titles under 45 characters.

A note on formats (why we use both)

There's no single chapter format every app reads. Apple's documented feed format is Podcasting 2.0 (<podcast:chapters>); Spotify's is Podlove Simple Chapters. Rather than make you choose, RSS.com puts both in your feed automatically — so your chapters reach the widest possible set of apps from one set of clicks in your dashboard.

Still stuck? Email support@rss.com with your show and the episode and we'll help you sort it out.