What you need to know
- Apple seeded the release candidate of macOS Monterey 12.4 to developers earlier today.
- The Release Candidate included a new feature for Apple Podcasts on the Mac.
- Apple Podcasts can now limit episodes stored on your Mac and automatically delete older ones.
Update, May 13 (8:20 pm ET): Correction added to the bottom of this article.
Apple Podcasts on the Mac just got a feature it should have had for a long time.
Earlier today, Apple seeded the Release Candidate of macOS Monterey 12.4 to developers and public beta users. In addition to including the marketed Studio Display wallpaper and support for the Studio Display Firmware Update 15.5, the Release Candidate includes a feature for Apple Podcasts that Mac users have been waiting for.
According to the macOS 12.4 Release Candidate release notes, the update includes a new setting for the Apple Podcasts Mac app. The setting, if turned on, will limit the number of podcast episodes downloaded to your Mac by automatically deleting older episodes.
- Apple Podcasts includes a new setting to limit episodes stored on your Mac and automatically delete older ones
- Support for Studio Display Firmware Update 15.5, available as a separate update, refines camera tuning, including improved noise reduction, contrast, and framing
Turning the feature on will ensure that Apple Podcast episodes don't continue to eat up more and more storage on your Mac, a helpful feature if you especially don't remember to delete downloaded episodes.
This feature, while new to the Mac, has been available for Apple Podcasts on the iPhone and iPad for a while now. Despite the feature being delayed on the Mac for so long, it is nice to see that it has finally arrived with the latest beta and should hopefully be available to everyone when macOS Monterey 12.4 releases to the public.
Update, May 13 (8:20 pm ET) — Correction
Towards the end of this article, we mentioned that this feature was already on the iPhone and iPad. This is incorrect. While the iPhone and iPad Apple Podcasts app has been able to automatically delete played episodes, they have not been able to automatically delete old episodes. This feature will be new to the iPhone and iPad as well and it set to launch alongside the Mac.
Bottom line: Professionals should open their wallets and purchase a 2021 MacBook Pro. All others might want to pause and consider last year's 13-inch model instead.
