Podcasts not updating on watch

Hold off for a month on that.... maybe the new software will fix it. Due out in September I think. Maybe if we keep flooding this thread and get it big enough, Apple will take notice!

I love the products for the most part, but the Watch is a disappointment in several aspects

I had the same issue and called Apple Support yesterday. I had tried many of the steps you laid out and didn’t have any luck. They had me check a few other things and walked through what I had already done. The final recommendation was unpairing my watch and setting it up as new. As of this morning, it appears to have done the trick; my watch’s podcast app is populated with several downloaded episodes. I will say that this solution wasn’t a big deal for me because I’ve had the watch for less than a month; setting it back up from scratch and risking losing 2-3 weeks of data in some apps wasn’t a huge deal for me. This solution may not work for others who have had their watches for longer.

THIS. I'll add to this, it drives me up the wall. I've tried everything in the thread below. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

What really drives me nuts is; I understand the technology to be not quite there yet. I wish Apple would just be transparent about that. Even then, the user experience doesn't have to be so poor.

Audible audiobooks is the only app that has figured this out. Even that is spotty, but at least they have a 1:1 File --> Watch capability.

I can wait hours if I need to. I can do it overnight. Just let me go into the podcast app, choose an episode, choose to send it to the Watch, and then have a progress bar the entire way to tell me how far it is. And then, if it fails, tell me WHY it failed and what to do to fix it (restart, wait longer, etc).

Every experience seems to be "add podcasts to queue, create settings exactly right, then hope for the best" and if it doesn't work, we have NO idea why.

The tech isn't the problem, the user experience is.

Yes! I had tried it when it first launched and it didn't really work (possibly user error) but then I saw a long explanation of it on a Reddit thread and so far today it has worked perfectly! The biggest issue with all of these apps so far has been consistency so we'll see, but it's super promising so far.

Thanks for the tip. I just downloaded Outcast after fighting with my $500 watch for 4 months. This is really absurd. I have the cellular option - and the Apple podcasts still don't download to my watch. I have turned off Bluetooth to try to force the updates via wifi -- but nope. Doesn't work. C'mon Apple. You've got a $2 TRILLION dollar valuation and you can't fix this?

I tried outcast...worked the first time and now have the same problem...can only get (randomly) 1 episode if any at all to download to the watch....like many others...bought this watch for running...at this point, it's a defective product and I just want a refund

Thats too bad. I haven't had an issue with it at all. I do find this to be reliable in Outcast so far:

Change Settings --> Episode Primary Action --> to Download

Then just search for your episode on the Watch using Siri or Sketch and select to download. Make sure Watch is connected to Wifi and phone is on full airplane mode and it should download in 15-30 seconds.

I don't use the Outcast phone app for anything but deleting the episodes.

Apple Watch S4 GPS & iPhone XS Max

Add another to the list!!

Have had this problem since I opened the box late Dec 2019. In Jan 2020 I set everything up to download a few podcasts the night before a bike ride. Woke up to go on a 25 mi ride to the sound of the wind.

Have tried literally every single option/temp fix on this thread since your original post, over the last 9 months. Besides one... and I am not sure why. But just downloaded Overcast. Wish me luck in the morning. Not getting my hopes up.

Overall, I am in the exact same boat with you. At this point is more comical than anything else. Kept wishing with every watch and phone update it would get resolved but here we are... Let’s hope it gets fixed in iOS 14 and WatchOS 7.

Side note- would be nice to download Spotify playlists as well. Pretty sure this is a Spotify issue if I remember correctly?

I have been struggling with this issue ever since I bought the watch, a couple of years ago. Truly frustrating. Nothing I have tried works and I have tried every possible combination of settings. Time to switch to Samsung?

I haven’t had an to many issues since I have been using the wifi and not Bluetooth. Something I did notice yesterday is that it took about 30 minutes to download the three 40 minute podcast I listen to. I left my watch on the charger while the app said waiting. About 30 minutes later it said updating and 2 minutes later they were downloaded. The other two podcast I listen to downloaded within 2 minutes of it being plugged in. Things I have noticed is that my watch usually has to be above 35% charged and the podcast have to be on the watch with the cloud on them. If they’re not there they will take forever to download. I have an iPhone X and a series 3 watch. Goodluck everyone

Did not realize that you HAVE to pay for a $9.99 yearly subscription in order to download to your watch (not sure if I just skipped over that in previous posts)... got suckered into that.

I downloaded 3 podcasts to the watch that night. They appeared on the watch with no cloud icon, besides one, which was released about 2-3am. Tried playing directly from watch to AirPods... encountered a Bluetooth connectivity issue on the watch for about 5 minutes.

At that point I was annoyed and had to leave for the ride so I had to bring my phone. Will update later today when I have more time to figure it out before my ride.

Has anyone got a solution?

this is the most clumsy watch app and process ever developed by Apple. So so frustrating. 100hrs of phone, emails, data uploads.

still no solution ??? Why is this so hard to fix? WHY???

Outcast is the solution. It's been perfect for me for two weeks now. Change "Episode Primary Action" setting to "Download," turn phone to airplane mode and make sure Watch is connected to wifi, then search for your podcast via siri or sketch and choose the episode to download, watch it download on your watch in 20-30 seconds. It's been a godsend for me.