Remove podcast subscription from iPhone or iPad without removing subscription or episodes from iTunes 12.8 on Mac

Past experience with iTunes 12.7 shows that attempting to remove podcast subscription only from iPhone also removed subscription AND episodes from my Mac running Sierra and then High Sierra. Does iTunes 12.8 allow me to manage iPhone podcasts without removing episodes from Mac? Can this be done from either the iPhone or from the Mac? I would like to have many podcast subscriptions on my Mac but only a few on the iPhone.

iPhone 6s, 12

Posted on Feb 10, 2019 10:47 PM

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Posted on Feb 12, 2019 11:23 AM

iTunes > Preferences > Store > Turn off Sync podcast subscriptions and settings. This should allow iTunes and your device to keep separate selections of podcasts without one affecting the other.


tt2

4 replies

Feb 12, 2019 8:34 AM in response to relh

Good morning relh!


I see that you're wanting iTunes and the iPhone to not sync podcast changes when you make updates to one of the devices.


Depending if the syncing happens over Wi-Fi, you may need to turn off Wi-Fi syncing. If the podcast syncing happens when the iPhone is connected to the computer with iTunes, you'll just want to make sure that normal syncing is toggled off. Here's the steps to do this: Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod using iTunes on your computer - Apple Support While these steps are for turning on iTunes syncing snd Wi-Fi syncing with iTunes, you'll just want to follow the steps and instead toggle the options off.


Take care.

Feb 12, 2019 9:40 AM in response to rose_10

Thanks, Sarah. Your suggestion is, of course, on target. I like syncing, just not the loss of podcast episodes on my Mac when I turn off subscription on iPhone. However, I may have stumbled on what I really need. Assuming that iTunes 12.8 still allows control of what types of files are synced (as 12.6 does), I can just select the subscriptions I want for each of my devices using the individual settings of iTunes for each type of file for each device. That is, just as I can choose what music or videos to sync to the iPhone or iPad, I can select what podcasts to sync. I had made those individualized choices so long ago that I had forgot iTunes does that (or at least 12.6 does -- I hope 12.8 still allows that kind of control).


My previous attempt to update (to 12.7) resulted in lost podcasts and lost videos. That is why I am being so conservative with this update (not to mention I still like to control apps using iTunes, which 12.8 no longer allows). However, since I faithfully keep multiple backups, I should be able to avoid that disaster this time around. Again, thanks for your response.


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Remove podcast subscription from iPhone or iPad without removing subscription or episodes from iTunes 12.8 on Mac

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