Spotify Adds AI Podcast Search via Text Queries

On April 7, 2026, Spotify expanded the Prompted Playlists feature to podcasts: Premium subscribers in the United States and Canada can now receive podcast episode curations based on text requests, not just music playlists.

How text-prompted playlist generation works

Prompted Playlists first appeared in December 2025 as a beta feature and initially worked only with music. A user enters a text request to "guide the algorithm" toward a specific genre or topic, and Spotify compiles a personalized playlist following the model of its own Discover Weekly format — a weekly recommendations playlist. The April 7, 2026 update extended this same principle to podcasts: the same text request can now be used to compile a collection of episodes on a desired topic, not just tracks.

"Guide the algorithm" toward specific genres or topics — this is how

Spotify describes the principle behind text requests in Prompted Playlists.

Before this update, Prompted Playlists remained purely a music tool for nearly four months, and expansion to podcasts was the first step beyond this category since the feature's launch in December 2025. Discover Weekly, the format that Prompted Playlists is modeled after, is Spotify's own weekly recommendation playlist, which the service generates automatically based on listening history; text requests add manual control over curation topic to this principle.

Who already has access to the feature

The podcast version of Prompted Playlists is still only available in beta mode, and Spotify has restricted access to English-language Premium subscribers in the United States and Canada. The company announced this in its Spotify Newsroom blog on April 7, 2026, without specifying when the feature will become available in other languages, for free users, or for subscribers in other countries.

• The update was released on April 7, 2026
• Prompted Playlists was first launched in December 2025, but only for music
• The podcast version is currently only available in beta mode
• The feature works only in English for Premium subscribers in the United States and Canada
• The user describes a genre or topic in text, and Spotify curates a collection of episodes

What this means

Spotify is applying to podcasts the same principle of text-request personalization that has been working for music for nearly four months — this expands content discovery tools beyond algorithmic recommendations built solely on listening history. Access is currently limited to beta testing and a single language in two countries, but the direction itself shows where the service is moving podcast discovery: instead of manually browsing the catalog, a user describes in words what they want to hear.

Frequently asked questions

How much does access to

Prompted Playlists for podcasts cost?

The feature is built into the Spotify Premium subscription, and the company has not announced any separate fee for it. Access is currently limited to English-language Premium subscribers in the United States and Canada — in other countries and on the free tier, the feature is not yet available.

When did the Prompted Playlists feature first appear?

Spotify first launched Prompted Playlists in December 2025 as a beta feature for music playlists. The podcast version was added nearly four months later, on April 7, 2026, with an announcement in the Spotify Newsroom blog.