Level 1

31 points

ios 13.2 deleting podcasts randomly

I recently upgraded to iOS 13.2 on my iPhone XS. Since then, my phone has deleted 1200 podcast episodes four separate times. These are podcast episodes I loaded onto my phone myself, not podcasts that I am subscribed to through iTunes. None of these episodes had been played. Twice it happened while I was listening to a podcast. Suddenly the podcasts just stopped playing and the episodes were gone. When I connected my phone to my MacBook, the episodes automatically re-synced to my phone since they were unplayed. My podcast settings have not been changed between iOS13.1 and 13.2 (or for years for that matter) -- they are set to auto delete off my phone once played, but again none of these have been played.

Seems like this is a bug in iOS 13.2. Has anyone else experienced this? Since I don't lose the files, it is more of an annoyance than anything to have to re-sync with my MacBook, but it is annoying nonetheless. Just another of the many bugs I continue to find with Apple products.

iPhone XS

Posted on Nov 5, 2019 6:36 PM

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jfyuga Author

Level 1

31 points

Posted on Aug 13, 2020 5:50 PM

I just wanted to update with my experience of switching podcasts over to audiobooks in an attempt to bypass these deletion problem.

I am running Mojave on a MacBook Air with the good version of iTunes before Apple destroyed it (and podcasts) in Catalina.

I converted all of my podcasts that were not part of an RSS feed over to audiobooks and play them through the Books app. I was able to edit the metadata as needed to get the files in the order I wanted and everything has worked perfectly. I am able to play them back at the speed I want, unlike being stuck with normal speed if they were classified as music. None of my files have deleted, and I am still able to use the podcast app for any podcasts I listen to that download through RSS feeds straight to my phone. I no longer worry about syncing podcasts with my MacBook Air.

The main reason I did not switch to Catalina when it first came out was because Apple destroyed the podcast functionality. You could no longer import your own audio files into Podcasts, and you cannot import files into Music and then change their classification to podcast to backdoor the files into the podcast app.

Once I figured out audiobooks is a good workaround, I decided today to upgrade from Mojave to Catalina. Mistake. Apple also destroyed the functionality of Books on the Mac. Now if you have an audiobook, you cannot see the chapter names in Books on the computer. All you see is the title of the audiobook and the length, and you cannot edit the metadata at all. So if you import your own files into Books, you will not be able to edit the metadata to make sure they are named right, in the right order, etc.

So I have downgraded back to Mojave and plan to stick here until Apple's developers decide to stop breaking things and trying to be so creative and "smart" that they forget about the end user.

If anyone has any workarounds to any of the problems I mention above in Catalina that I may be missing, please let me know.

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120 replies

Deadmeme

Level 1

8 points

Jun 23, 2020 7:43 PM in response to jfyuga

Please Someone test if It’s fixed on IOS 14 beta 1

Jun 24, 2020 9:21 AM in response to BethyBlue

You are awesome! I hope they realize that a lot of us are having this problem. We really appreciate all your time trying to get some attention on the matter.

jfyuga Author

Level 1

31 points

Jun 24, 2020 11:36 AM in response to BethyBlue

Thanks and good luck. They have told me twice tickets have been sent to engineers so hopefully this time it's true.

Deadmeme

Level 1

8 points

Jun 26, 2020 5:38 PM in response to BethyBlue

It can’t actually be a featured. I hope they misunderstood the problem.

It’s definitely a step up from not being acknowledged by Apple at all.

please keep at it an keep us posted. Thank you

Deadmeme

Level 1

8 points

Jun 26, 2020 8:54 PM in response to antimattr

That’s a very important point. If there is no cellular connection or any Internet connection for that matter. The iOS should not know which ones to delete and which ones to keep.

Jul 9, 2020 11:59 PM in response to jfyuga

ios 14 beta 2 will be deleted as well, but unlike ios 13, it seems that the data will be restored soon.

Deadmeme

Level 1

8 points

Jul 10, 2020 2:44 AM in response to DrMaccaroni

have You tested it?

Jul 10, 2020 2:55 AM in response to Deadmeme

Yes, I tested on iPhone SE (1st gen) and iPhone 6s.

Deadmeme

Level 1

8 points

Jul 10, 2020 4:10 AM in response to DrMaccaroni

Thank you for the explanation. Enjoy and have a nice day.

Aug 3, 2020 6:03 PM in response to giftenblue

How exactly would I do that? Do I move them within the media folder? Can i still do that?

jfyuga Author

Level 1

31 points

Aug 3, 2020 6:38 PM in response to giftenblue

That's great. I was considering this option if I upgrade to Catalina, since Apple destroyed podcasts in Catalina. Glad to know it works for you. Thank you!

Aug 21, 2020 9:39 AM in response to clockworkrevolution

Yes, if you read a few messages up, I posted a solution that's been working 👍🏽

Nov 16, 2019 2:57 PM in response to jfyuga

Me too. It happened to me after playing computer-synced episodes after upgrading to 13.2.2 (I believe I might have been on a 13.1.x build before it). Was listening and then it just stopped and all the more than 100 episodes, but not the show itself, were gone. Infuriating as I can’t resync them because I’m away from my PC on holiday.

At the exact moment they stopped/disappeared, I believe I was opening a new unread email in the mail app.

Apr 15, 2020 9:14 PM in response to jfyuga

I thought I was done with this issue.

I had it happen several times months ago. Then nothing. Then out of the blue earlier this week audio cuts out and I look and about 10 out of 35 podcasts, one of which I was listening to at the time... gone.

I haven’t backed up or synced my phone in months.

DonnaR

Level 2

159 points

May 18, 2020 1:23 PM in response to smamm

I just had hundreds of podcast episodes -- but not all of the show's episodes! -- seemingly randomly (not after an update or anything) disappear from my iPhone (in May 2020). The podcasts were all older but unplayed, and were originally subscribed to through iTunes. I have a Mac and was able to re-sync them.

I'm on iOS 13.4.1. I see that someone else was still having this problem in iOS 13.3. Anyone else on iOS 13.4?

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ios 13.2 deleting podcasts randomly