How to Get Rid of Ads on iHeartRadio Podcasts
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Can you get rid of ads on iHeartRadio podcasts?
Section titled “Can you get rid of ads on iHeartRadio podcasts?”Not inside iHeartRadio. Its paid plans don’t cover podcast ads, and the app can’t follow a show by RSS URL. Move the show to an app that can and follow its ad-free feed there.
Why Plus and All Access still play podcast ads
Section titled “Why Plus and All Access still play podcast ads”iHeartRadio Plus and All Access make hundreds of participating live radio stations commercial-free. Podcasts aren’t part of that. iHeartRadio’s help article on hearing commercials with a subscription says most podcasts are pre-compressed audio files, so ads “from the original recording will be heard and cannot be removed or disabled.”
That’s true of every podcast app. The ads are inside the audio file, whether the hosts read them or the show’s hosting service stitched them in. No player setting can switch them off. Cutting them out of the file does work, but the cleaned episode needs an app that will follow a feed you give it.
Why the fix can’t happen inside iHeartRadio
Section titled “Why the fix can’t happen inside iHeartRadio”iHeartRadio only plays shows from its own directory, and podcasters are the ones who submit shows to it. There’s no button for a listener to paste in a feed URL, so a clean feed has nowhere to go.
How to get rid of ads on iHeartRadio podcasts
Section titled “How to get rid of ads on iHeartRadio podcasts”- Pick an app that follows a feed by URL. Apple Podcasts is already on your iPhone. On Android, Pocket Casts and Podcast Addict both do it, and so do 47+ other apps.
- Follow your shows there. Search each one by name and follow it.
- Get the clean feed. Sign up at zeroads.ai and add a show. Your first 5 episodes play free in the ZeroAds web player. Subscribe and each show you add gets its own private clean feed URL.
- Follow the clean feed in your new app, then unfollow the original so episodes don’t show up twice.
In our accuracy tests against hand-labeled episodes, ZeroAds catches 97-98% of ad time. Every cut is listed with timestamps in an episode report, so you can check its work, and you can browse sample reports before you sign up.
Leaving Spotify too? The same steps apply, and how to get rid of ads on Spotify podcasts covers the differences.
Does iHeartRadio Plus or All Access remove podcast ads? No. The paid plans make participating live radio stations commercial-free. iHeartRadio’s own help center says the ads in most podcasts come from the original recording and can’t be removed or disabled.
Can I add an RSS feed to iHeartRadio? No. iHeartRadio’s podcast directory is filled by podcasters who submit their shows. Listeners can follow shows from that directory, but there is no option to add a show by its RSS URL.
Can I keep using iHeartRadio for radio? Yes. Only the podcasts move. Live radio and any paid plan you have stay as they are.
Every app we’ve written up, side by side: how to remove podcast ads, app by app.