Podcast App Crashing

I had the same problem but could resolve it easily (after having two weeks frustration).

Just press the Podcasts app for one long second. Now you can choose one of your podcasts. It starts playing.

Go back to your normal screen and you can open the Podcasts app normally. It will not crash anymore (at least on my phone).

Yep, I've been having this same issue, amongst others. Today (12/9/2019) was the first day it has crashed repeatedly (5 times and counting). Other than the crashing, the two biggest issues I've had with the app since iOS 13:

1. The app routinely "forgets" all the episodes that have already been downloaded (it shows the "cloud"/download icon by the episode) and takes a minute to remember that they have already been downloaded.
2. Handoff to HomePod has become shambolic. Half the time, it doesn't keep track of where in the episode I stopped playback on HomePod, but instead resumes on the iPhone from the point I initially handed off to the HomePod.

I suspect it is a memory issue; I think the app is using too much memory, forcing it to page data, or perhaps it is suffering from a buffer overflow bug. Perhaps both.

@Apple, this really shouldn't be a hard fix. Given that it seems to be a widespread problem, why has it not been addressed yet? Wasn't iOS 12+ supposed to be all about stability? Given all the other issues with iOS 13, the company really needs to take a hard look at its QA operations.

Similar issue but not resolved by above fix. App doesn’t crash but actually seems to lose connection to server and account. All podcast program icons don’t disappear and episodes can’t be accessed. At other times even downloaded episodes are not accessible or volume and other controls are lost. The other day the iPhone X on which I was listening to podcast began to get hot to the touch. None of the podcast app controls would respond and the episode continued to play. Turned the phone off and rebooted. Issue not resolved. With my limited knowledge I would suspect that this is an issue beyond the app and linked to the IOS 13.1.3 and a loss of service connectivity issue. Loses connectivity hardware works really hard to try and achieve connectivity hence over heating. Resolution thoughts?

I have tried these work arounds to no avail. My phone either heats up or the app closes after 2 seconds. I even removed the app and reinstalled and same result only now the app won't even open at all. I live by my podcasts! How much longer before Apple creates an update with a fix?

Have the exact same problem.

The suggested workaround does not work for me because as soon as I start downloading the podcast episode the app crashes after a few seconds. The app is pretty much completely broken at this point. I've also tried to uninstall and reinstall the app but doesn't help either.

As previously stated above the issue continues. One of the work around work. As with other posters App crashes on opening or during operation. App fails to respond when operating with volume and other controls lost. Phone just continues to heat up alarmingly so. When a podcast plays it does so it stutters and a word is skipped. Weird behaviour occurs within the app itself like just randomly returning to main library screen when trying to navigate downloaded section. I could go on and on but I think we get the gist. Apple used to have a reputation for flawless design and extremely robust resilient product and software. Not any more every time an update to IOS occurs I shudder as to what functionality will be lost with the update. Sadly the pod app is the latest in the half baked product releases.

Additional to all of these issues. I also can’t go into the App Store as it crashes when I look at the podcast app. This is utterly annoying.

why is there no response from apple on this. Very frustrating.

I've also started experiencing this this morning. One of the podcasts I'm subscribed to appears to have messed up its dates and the podcast app went ahead and listed the few hundred episodes since 2013 and I register ~620 unplayed episodes. On top of that, the app keeps crashing so I can't play anything for more than 30s or delete any of the new/old episodes.

Same issue for me, just started crashing today (12/09/19). App will sometimes play a podcast for a minute or two, then shuts down. Sometimes it only play a podcast for a few seconds, then shuts down. I've deleted app and re-installed which did not resolve the crashing. I am thinking of installing another Podcast app at this point.

Same issue here (just updated to 13.2.3 last week; iPhone XR) and no fix outlined here seems to work consistently. I've tried the "enter Podcast app via long press" (never worked), and the "reset Network Settings" fix, which worked for about half an hour and then the app started shutting down again.

Update from Cupertino, please.

This is super annoying. At first, I would start the podcast, then it would exit out of that screen, show my home screen, then stop playing. Another 2 times, it was just a black screen of death. I tried the other user's suggestion of holding down for 1 second and I could play from there, but again, it would crash. When it WOULD play, anytime I got a banner notification, it would skip out. My podcasts are what get me through my hour and a half commute everyday! Anyone know if Apple has a fix yet? Seemed to happen after installing the latest software update. Resolving issues my a**.

I just updated my phone to 13.2.3 as well, and the podcast app won't work either! It pauses the podcast every few minutes. Nothing I have tried works.. I have restarted my phone, uninstalled the app, forgot and rejoined the wifi .. etc.

I have 8 plus. My podcast crashes either instantly or up to 25 to 20 seconds after playing. If I get the podcast downloaded and then put it on airplane mode it works. Seems to be whenever something runs in the background it shuts down.

12/9/19

This problem just started happening to me today. How very annoying. For me it is with downloaded episodes. They will play for a random amount of time and the podcast app will crash. Happening on an iPhone 11 Pro Max. I’ve tried soft reset, force quit app, and 1 second press to pick a podcast from home screen. Nothing fixes it.

I have a similar problem. All my podcasts are downloaded ahead of time, but when I start listening to them, the app shuts off and closes repeatedly. In addition to that, after I pause it, it will randomly start playing again. If that isn’t enough, today it started shutting off when I got a notification. It’s getting really annoying