Since March 2026, the ARD Audiothek has been called ARD Sounds. It is the audio app of Germany's public broadcasters, with live streams, podcasts, radio plays and audiobooks from BR, HR, MDR, NDR, RBB, Radio Bremen, SR, SWR, WDR and Deutschlandradio. If you already have a podcast app, though, you may not want a second one just for the morning news from tagesschau. Often you don't need one.
Short answer
- Many ARD podcasts have an open RSS feed. Those play in any podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Overcast and CLAUDIO. Checked on October 29, 2026: tagesschau's "15 Minuten", WDR Zeitzeichen, ARD Radio Tatort, Synapsen from NDR Info and ARD Hörspiel all delivered current episodes.
- Not every show has a feed. The editorial teams decide. Whatever runs only in ARD Sounds, you can only hear there.
- Live radio is not a podcast. For that, ARD Sounds or a radio app remains the better choice.
What ARD Sounds is
ARD Sounds is the shared audio app of the ARD broadcasters and Deutschlandradio, published on the App Store by Südwestrundfunk (SWR). It is free. It replaced the ARD Audiothek with version 4.0 in March 2026. Besides podcasts it offers live radio, radio plays, audiobooks, downloads for offline listening and a watch list. Some features need an ARD account, such as syncing favorites and listening history between devices.
In its App Store privacy label, SWR states that the app collects data linked to you: product interaction and other data for analytics, a user ID and product interaction for personalization, and email address and customer support content for app functionality. Tracking in Apple's sense is not listed. The developer provides these details; Apple does not verify them.
How to find an ARD podcast in your app
The easiest way is your podcast app's search. Many apps, CLAUDIO included, search the Apple Podcasts directory, and many ARD shows are listed there with their feed. Search for the name of the show, not for "ARD Sounds".
- Open your podcast app and search for the show, such as "15 Minuten" or "Zeitzeichen".
- Check the publisher: tagesschau, WDR, NDR Info, SWR, Deutschlandfunk or ARD.
- Subscribe. New episodes then arrive like any other podcast.
If the search doesn't find a show, either it has no open feed, or the feed isn't listed in the directory. In the second case the feed address helps: some apps accept it directly, and you'll often find it on the show's page at the broadcaster, not in ARD Sounds itself.
Learning German with ARD podcasts
Public radio is a good source of natural German. Deutschlandfunk's "Nachrichtenleicht" brings the news in simple German and has an open feed. For more challenging listening, WDR Zeitzeichen tells a historical story in about 15 minutes every day.
What a feed can't do
A feed only shows what the editors put in. On October 29, 2026, the ARD Radio Tatort feed held six episodes. Older episodes and longer archives are often only in ARD Sounds. For a radio play series you want to hear from the start, check the app.
Live streams and ARD Sounds' recommendations aren't available through a feed either.
The debate about open feeds
RSS is the open standard that brings podcasts into any app. According to turi2, the Save Social initiative criticizes ARD's plan to offer feeds only when the editorial teams want them, and calls for open feeds for all ARD podcasts. Its argument: if you listen via RSS, you depend neither on Spotify nor on ARD's own app. For listeners it mainly means that a show with a feed today can lose it. Your subscription then stops, even though the show goes on.
With CLAUDIO
CLAUDIO searches the podcast directory and subscribes to ARD podcasts like any other feed, free and without an account. You can also enter a feed address directly. The one-time Pro purchase downloads episodes, skips intros, trims long pauses and, for downloaded episodes, shows the spoken text as you listen, so you can read along with the German. On the App Store, CLAUDIO carries the "Data Not Collected" label.
For the broadcasters' live streams, ARD Sounds remains the right app. But if you listen to tagesschau as a podcast in the morning and a radio play in the evening, you don't need a second app for either, as long as the show has a feed.
FAQ
Is ARD Sounds the same as the ARD Audiothek? Yes. The ARD Audiothek was renamed ARD Sounds with version 4.0 in March 2026.
Do I need an account for ARD Sounds? For some features, such as syncing favorites and listening history between devices.
Can I listen to ARD podcasts in Apple Podcasts? Many, yes. Shows whose feed is listed in the Apple Podcasts directory appear there and in every app that searches that directory.
Why can't I find a particular show? Either it has no open feed, and then you can only hear it in ARD Sounds; the editorial team decides whether there is one. Or the feed isn't listed in the directory, and then the feed address from the show's page helps.
Can I listen to ARD radio live in a podcast app? No. Live streams aren't podcasts. For those you need ARD Sounds or a radio app.
Read on
Which podcast app suits you? → The best podcast apps for iPhone Beyond Overcast and Apple Podcasts? → Lesser-known podcast apps for iPhone What CLAUDIO does for podcasts? → Podcasts in CLAUDIO
Sources
All pages retrieved on October 29, 2026.
- ARD Sounds on the App Store (publisher, price, privacy label, version 4.8.1)
- iphone-ticker.de: ARD Sounds, Update und neuer Name für die Audiothek, March 9, 2026
- mobiFlip: Tschüss Audiothek, ARD Sounds soll Radio, Podcasts und Livestreams vereinen, December 15, 2025
- turi2: Initiative Save Social fordert Erhalt von Podcast-RSS-Feeds in der ARD
- Feeds checked: 15 Minuten, WDR Zeitzeichen, ARD Radio Tatort, Synapsen, ARD Hörspiel, Nachrichtenleicht
- Directory listings via Apple's iTunes Search API
Disclosure: I develop CLAUDIO. For live radio and the full archive, ARD Sounds is the right app. If you want your ARD podcasts next to music and audiobooks in one app, without an account or tracking, give CLAUDIO a try. Subscribing to and streaming podcasts is free.