American Idol 2024 watch guide: When to expect Hawaii, live shows, season 22 finale, and more

The audition rounds on American Idol are of course very important and a great look at all the talent that comes through. The judges, Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie, have to then make the difficult decision of who has that star quality to continue on in the competition, and who has to head home. At least to a certain point. Then, it's in the hands of America when we start to vote for our favorites!

American Idol season 22 voting officially begins Sunday, April 7, 2024, according to the show's voting page. And for those of you who need a refresher, live voting begins when the contestants head to Hawaii at Disney's Alauni Resort. While we don't have the exact schedule for all the rounds of American Idol 2024 yet, we do have some confirmed dates from ABC, as well as expected ones based on previous seasons, when voting begins this time around, and when the finale is expected to be.

Confirmed American Idol season 22 schedule so far

Here's what's been confirmed by ABC so far. The show begins moving to two nights on Sundays and Mondays starting Sunday, March 31 with Hollywood Week. This will be followed up by the Showstopper/Final Judgment round on Monday, April 1. Then, it's the time for us all to shine! Voting officially starts on April 7 when the Top 24 head to Hawaii. Last year, American Idol surprised us with making it the Top 26 actually. I wonder if there's going to be more prizes in store this time around!

We'll find out soon enough, so be sure to bookmark this page as we'll be updating it with the latest info as it comes:

• Auditions, Part 5: Sunday, March 24
• Hollywood Week - Idol Arena: Sunday, March 31
• Showstopper/Final Judgment: Monday, April 1
• Top 24 at Disney's Aulani Resort in Hawaii Part #1: Sunday, April 7 (live voting begins)
• Top 24 at Disney's Aulani Resort in Hawaii Part #2: Monday, April 8
• Top 20: Sunday, April 14
• Top 14 Reveal: Monday, April 15
• Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Top 12 revealed): Sunday, April 21
• Billboard #1 Hits (Top 10 revealed): Monday, April 22
• Top 10 (Top 8 revealed by end of night): Sunday, April 28
• Judge's Song Contest, Top 8 perform (Top 7 revealed by end of night): Monday, April 29

Speculated dates

The rest of the dates and rounds listed below are still speculation, though as mentioned we're going off the schedule from the last couple of seasons, as well as On Camera Audiences (OCA). Per the website, it's a "full-service television audience company based in Burbank, CA" that is "directly contracted by television production companies to manage all aspects of their studio audiences." It seems to be legit though we're not 100% sure so please keep that in mind.

Based on our predictions from previous seasons and the dates listed on the OCA site, we're expecting the American Idol season 22 finale to be on Sunday, May 19, 2024. Per ABC, we do know that the Top 24 will become the Top 20.

However after that, it's hard to know how many contestants will go home each week. After the Top 20 round in previous years, we've either gone to the Top 14 next, or last year it went down to the Top 12 instead. This time around it's Top 20, Top 14, then Top 12. So the rounds we've listed below have been categorized by 'confirmed date by ABC' and 'expected date' based on what we know (and don't):

How to vote this season

Voting officially begins Sunday, April 7, 2024 when the chosen Top 24 head to Hawaii. The first 12 will be singing their hearts out that night, and our votes will determine who makes it into the Top 20 and heads to the live Hollywood stage. Voting opens each week at the start of the episode at around 8 p.m. ET and closes at 6 a.m. ET the next day.

There's three ways to vote this year: online through the show's website, on the American Idol app, or via text. For texting, you enter the number of the contestant, which will appear during the episode's broadcast, and send to “21523.” If you decide to vote online or through the app, then you're going to need an account, which you can sign up for here. Voters can submit up to 10 votes via each method for each contestant for a total of 30 votes for that contestant.