Podcast app not syncing in Catalina

I have one Apple ID.

I have manually deleted all podcast episodes on my iMac by physically removing the podcast files from the library, and then verified that they are no longer there by checking ~/Library/Group Containers/...

I have unsubscribed all podcast shows on my iMac.

I have uninstalled podcast app on my iPhone.

When I go to Finder to sync my iPhone's podcasts, the finder lists podcast shows and episodes that I no longer have. Some are from more than a year ago. When I resubscribe shows and download episodes anew, the list of shows and episodes will still not refresh. Can anybody help me?

I had the same problem. I solved it by going into Podcast on my iMac, clicked on Podcasts>Preferences>Advanced and noticed that 'sync subscriptions across devices' was not ticked. Hope this helps.

I have the same Problem: After updating to catalina, when i connect my iphone and sync within the finder, it shows a podcast i dont have ANYWHERE stored on my mac (Apple Keynote from September 2019)...and i cant delete it. did the same you did, no success. I logged out, logged in, even deleted my library (!) and created a new/fresh music library. And the Apple Keynote Episode STILL shows up under podcasts when i sync my iphone...

I also deleted all podcasts in the podcast app...

What is strange as well: If i add and download a Podcast through the podcast app, it does not show up in finder under podcast when syncing.

So, basically: I cant sync podcasts.its totally broken in catalina...sigh.

If I'm subscribed to a podcast, they seem to sync well. However if I simply add podcasts from individual show and are NOT subscribed to that show, the podcast may or may not show up on the Mac. I typically search for and add podcasts on the iPhone. It would be nice for them to be seamless again. iOS 13.2 MacOs 10.15.1

Well, i guess i found a solution:

I deleted everything with „podcast“ in the name under

Users/Name/Library/Containers/

Only deleting the other folder mentioned in a few posts earlier did not suffice, had to delete everything in the above mentioned as well.

And now the „old“ ghost podcasts are gone - finally!

Hi I have this exact same problem. Did this also fix your issue of the new episodes not appearing ready for sync in the finder>podcasts? I have the issue of the ghost podcasts and not being able to see the new episodes from the Podcast app in Catalina in the finder sync list.

Cheers

JW

Ok I tried deleting everything with podcast that I could see in Users/Name/Library/Containers/. No dice all my all ghost podcast episodes remain in Finder and the new Podcast episodes do not appear in Finder. The only way I can transfer Podcasts so far is to drag n drop from the download window in the Podcasts App to the iPod in Music. They then appear as 'songs' in the old coverflow etc after sync on the iPod.

Well, tbh, I did not try to download new podcasts yet and probably wont in the near future - not until Apple gets his sh** together regarding quality control. Sorry to hear that it didnt work for you.

Did you try creating a new macOs User account? If this works, you at least know that a complete fresh install would help ;) Or that somewhere in your existing account there are still remnants of some files which are causing these hiccups.

cheers

1) On iPad : Settings : Podcasts : PODCASTS SETTINGS : Sync Podcasts : Turn ON

You might discover that OLD MacOs Podcasts are added to your iPad / or you get duplicate podcasts.

No problem (this proves syncing is working this direction) : Delete these from your iPad library

2) On Catalina : Quit Podcast App : Open Finder : Navigate to Users/<your user name>/Data/Library/Containers/

Rename the following (eg add an 'x' in front of the follow files) :

PodcastsDB.plist -> xPodcastsDB.plist

PodcastsDiff.plist -> xPodcastsDiff.plist

3) Restart Podcast App in Catalina. It should (hopefully!) now have the same Podcasts as your iPad

If it all works -> Delete the renamed files (ie xPodcastsDB.plist & xPodcastsDiff.plist)

AJ

In the  menu bar, go to Account → Sign in then do so using the iCloud account you've used on your other device(s) to sync Podcasts.

So ... on my iMac, Users/<your user name>/ does not have a folder called data in it. If I go to Users/<your user name>/Library/Containers, there are several folders with podcast in their name that have data folders in them, but when I click on them, they show all the other apple products that sync but podcasts themselves do not show up.

Hi

I use iTunes for windows however I can confirm after testing that after I have updated my iphone 7 to IOS 13, podcasts that are downloaded to your phone on the podcast app are no longer transferred and showing up in tunes under saved podcasts.

I think it is by design and they've stopped it due to wanting to get rid of iTunes.

before on IOS 10,11,12 all my podcasts synced back to itunes. guess what my last "date added" date is.. the day I updated to ios13. on top of it I have two iphones, peroo and work and they are both showing the same thing.

with my test, I sync all podcasts in tunes. on the podcasts app, when browsing the episodes of the show, there is also a "synced from iTunes" section and it does not update when I do a new sync of the episodes I choose to download using itunes.. they do not show up in "my episodes"

however I did a new test and only selected one podcasts show to sync with it's episodes and it then synced them properly and updated the "synced from iTunes" section.

I am guessing there is a major disconnect between the podcast app, icloud and using itunes.

it's a real shame and just goes to show apple really doesn't have the customer front and center only themselves.. As I have a podcast series that only stores 1 weeks worth of episodes on their server, I've just lost them somehow on my phone and can no longer download the months worth I have lost. if itunes sync worked properly, I would have been able to get them back.

It does for me.

I am also not able to sync podcasts between MacBook and iPhone. Sync is turned on (checked) in both places. Have tried toggling on and off.