How to Get your own Transcript in Apple Podcasts - Using Libsyn & Temi

Jan 29, 2024

edited - 3/8/24

Apple just announced they will be supporting Transcripts in Apple Podcasts with the roll out of iOS 17.4 and this is for ALL podcasts big and small.  If you do nothing - your show will get the transcript Apple creates for your show.  And for most people that is good enough.  If that is you - you can stop reading here.

For all those that want to control the transcript users in Apple Podcasts will see - please keep on reading as I will go over how to get your own Transcript into AP if you host on Libsyn and use Temi.com for your transcripts. 

First - Here is Apples Post on this:

https://podcasters.apple.com/support/5316-transcripts-on-apple-podcasts

Which leads to another link talking about the RSS spec and what type of transcripts Apple will accept:

https://help.apple.com/itc/podcasts_connect/#/itcb54353390

The key part of that link is the following:

A link to the episode transcript in the Closed Caption format. Apple Podcasts will prefer VTT format over SRT format if multiple instances are included.

You should use this tag when you have a valid transcript file available for users to read. Specify the link to your transcript in the urlattribute of the tag. A valid type attribute is also requried. Learn more about <podcast> namespace RSS tags on the Github repository.

And from that the major takeaway is Apple will work with .VTT and .SRT formatted transcripts with .VTT being the top priority.  That said testing with .VTT and .SRT shows .SRT transcripts look better in other Aggregator apps.  So how do you get .SRT transcripts? Well if you have been listening to me the past few years you would have heard me recommend Temi.com for transcriptions.  I personally found them the most accurate (comparing to many many others) and their UI was the easiest IMO to use to for making edits / corrections.  There are other services out there to get you .SRT transcripts - but we are going over Temi.com here.  

First log into your Temi account and go to dashboard and your list of episodes:

Next click on "View Transcript" for the episode you want the .SRT file for.

Then Click "Download" in the upper right 

Then in the pop up box - select "Captions" and then click Export.  You will then have a .SRT file that will work with Apple Podcasts. 

Next you want to go to your Libsyn account and log in at the Libsyn 4 UI.  NOT the newer Libsyn 5 UI - but in the older Libsyn 4 UI here:  

https://four.libsyn.com

Or if you are a LibsynPro customer at:

https://login.libsynpro.com/XXXXX

(Where XXXXX = your custom Network Slug)

UPDATE - Libsyn 5 UI - now has a built in feature for Transcription support.  If you are using the newer Libsyn 5 UI to publish - you can go to this Tutorial now

Once logged In mouse over "Content" and select "Add file for Download Only" 

Then  select "Upload"

Choose your file and click upload.

Once it uploads - click "Publish" 

After it publishes you are brought to the award screen where you will then want to copy the direct URL for the .SRT file 

For example it would be in this format:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/SHOWSLUG/FILENAME.srt

You are going to then put that in the Podcast Transcript tag to be the following:

<podcast:transcript url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/sellingonebay/efb_279_no_music.srt" type="application/srt" />

Next you want to go the Episode in Libsyn this transcript is for (still in the Libsyn 4 UI ) and click "Edit" for that episode.

Then go to the Advanced Tab - and in the Extra Tags box - paste in the podcast:transcript tag for that episode.

And then click Publish. 

And that is it - that is all you have to do for each episode to add your OWN transcript into Apple Podcasts.

HOWEVER - ONE TIME - You do need to Log into your Apple Podcasts Connect account at:

https://podcastsconnect.apple.com

Once in go to your show - and on the left select "Availability" and then next under "Transcripts" change the button selected to "Display Transcripts I provide, or auto-generated transcripts by Apple if one isn't provided"

Then remember to Click "Save"

And that is it.  Or again you can do absolutely nothing and get a transcript from Apple automatically.  

If you have any questions email me - podcast411 at gmail dot com

PS - If you want to see how the Transcript looks when you provide it yourself - go to the eBay Seller Spotlight and look for Episode 27, 28 or 29 or newer. 

NOTE 1/31/24 - I have not tested this on iOS 17.4 as it is not yet out for public beta.  I have tested this on Podverse and PodcastGuru apps and it worked on those.  I did also test with .SRT format (eBay Seller Spotlight eps 27 and 28) and it looked better on those apps with .SRT.  Once Apple Podcasts comes out and I can test and confirm it works and I see if it is .vtt or .srt format that works best - I will then update this tutorial with those findings.  Please send feedback to my email above of any testing you do.