Public vs private podcasts: what visibility controls
What Public and Private mean for your podcast website, RSS feed, share links and directory listings, how to change visibility, and what happens to legacy Unlisted shows.
Visibility is a per-podcast setting that decides which parts of Publishing and Distribution can reach outside your team. New podcasts are Public or Private.
| Public | Private | Unlisted (legacy) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website | Online, indexed by search engines | Not found for everyone, including direct links | Online by direct link, not indexed |
| RSS feed | Served | Not found for everyone | Served |
| Share links and embeds | Available | No link or embed code; the Share dialog offers Make podcast visibility public | Available |
| Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube | Can be distributed | Not reachable | Studio asks you to make the podcast public first |
| Downloads from the Studio | Available | Available | Available |
Search engines index a Public website only after the podcast has a published episode. A Private podcast is a generation workspace: download episodes from the Studio instead.
Change a podcast's visibility
Open Edit Podcast, click Advanced, choose Visibility, click Done, then click Save Changes (see Editing Podcast Details). Switching to Private takes the website, feed and share links offline. Switching back to Public restores them.
Publish an episode on a Private podcast
The publish dialog shows This podcast is private, with two choices:
- Make podcast public gives you a website, RSS feed and distribution, then continues publishing.
- Keep private and publish finalizes the episode. The finished media is available to your API and integrations only, not to a website or feed.
Legacy Unlisted podcasts
Unlisted is retired for new podcasts. Existing Unlisted podcasts keep working and can move to Public or Private, but cannot be set back to Unlisted.
Archiving does not change visibility
Archiving a podcast only hides it in the Studio, and its visibility stays as you set it.
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