As of January 2023, Spotify is rolling out a new player on iOS and Android mobile apps that includes chapters.
To make use of this, you'll need to add clickable timestamps in the episode description. If you've ever done this with YouTube it's a very similar system.
This also means Spotify isn’t supporting either ID3 embedded chapters or chapters via the new podcast tag "podcast:chapters", so for chapters to appear on your podcast on Spotify you'll need to use their own internal system.
Here's Spotify's help article on how to add chapter links, which we've copied in full below for reference: https://support.spotifyforpodcasters.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043932711-Linking-to-a-timestamp
In Spotify's words:
- You can use timestamps in your episode descriptions so listeners can start playing from precise moments. Include them in parentheses in your episode description and they’ll automatically link.
- You can use any of the following formats:
(m:ss); (mm:ss); (mmm:ss); (h:mm:ss); (hh:mm:ss); or (hhh:mm:ss). - For example:
(10:20) - will automatically link to 10 minutes and 20 seconds into your episode. - You can also use a combination to express a range:
(hh:mm:ss-hh:mm:ss).
Note: Timestamps are currently only clickable on mobile.