Podcasts not updating on watch

It was a strange solution I admit.

all six sharing spots were used four by my fam, and two by my sister and mum using my extra storage allowance.

tech told me to get rid sis and mum.

then create a dummy account with sharing and transfer my wife and kids to the dummy.

then basically clean my Apple ID back to nothing. No subs no memberships.

then reset all devices to factory with latest software manually via my Mac.

now sign in with my newly refreshed Apple ID and then transfer in the family with new sharing and payment. Do not add sis and mum again.

that’s it

Unbelievable. A full year of aggravation solved by turning off family sharing. Two days in a row of perfect updates.

im not sure I understand the part about the dummy account but since the only thing I was sharing was location with my 26 yo kid and since we now barely leave the house, I’m not even going to bother to recreate it.

happy that turning off family sharing seems to have helped some people, but I don’t have family sharing turned on and still had

issues. I used the directions from an earlier post where you refresh the podcast app, open the watch app and toggle on/off the podcasts that aren’t loading right, and then put your watch on the charger. Seems to be working for the most part for me, but annoying I have to do that most nights.

Si Guys where are Apple Genius? We are talking about this for ages now, without a tiny reaction from Apple and moreover a solution ! Genius, please solve basic issues before to think about creating new headphones!

It is blatantly apparent that whoever built this app for apple has never tried to use the app. It simply doesn't work. I have tried all the same thigs as above and I still can't get it to sync my podcasts. I like how they show you now Updated just now on the screen when in fact nothing updates,.

Can you please get this app working.

It’s kind of fickle. Delete all downloaded podcast on iPhone. Then unsubscribe from all podcast and close app. Go to settings, general, iPhone storage. Find podcast and delete. Make sure all data and documents are deleted. Closed podcast app on your watch. Restart both devices. When iPhone is on, download the podcast app. Subscribe to the podcast you want. Go to watch app on phone and go to podcast. Under “add podcast”, check custom, and turn on the podcast you want. Put watch on charger and it should start a sync.

I hope this helps and they fix this soon !!

Maybe this is dumb luck, but mine seem to sync despite itself. Twice in a row, with fingers crossed....

my iPhone tells me the downloads have completed, but no new episodes appear on my watch.

Then I turn watch completely off...power it back on, and there they are.

It's super weird because Apple's got some super bright developers. I kind of think there's something VERY complicated going on with the OS that's screwing everything up. Like the other day, I suddenly couldn't download anything to Outcast (my preferred podcast app for watch) through wifi. It just quit working. Then I saw that although the Watch wi-fi was on and it saw my network, it totally refused to join the network it - although it had been connected to it for months. Power cycled everything - router, modem, watch, phone, my temper - then re-entered the wifi password, still dead. Then, for whatever reason I switch on the Radio app on the watch and the **** thing instantly connects back to wifi. BAM, everything back to "normal". Gremlins in there running amok, I'm telling ya.

I got the Nike Apple Watch 6 for Christmas. I’m having the same problem not syncing podcast, but annoyingly it did sync the podcast I had on my phone at the time I set my watch up. I’ve since deleted that podcast and unsubscribed. I’ve now subscribed and downloaded to a new podcast but that will just not move to my watch despite trying all of the above. The old podcast however, that no longer existing on my phone, is still on my watch! There seems no way to delete the old and add the new. My phone tells me the podcast has updated, but on the watch there is no change. Any new ideas?

I’m also having issues trying to get Podcasts synced to Watch. Really surprised at how poor the Apple Watch is when it comes to transferring content for offline playback. Music works slightly better but is far from perfect. Why can’t we have the option to just manually select a podcast episode and “Send to Watch” ?

And why is the syncing/ transfer process not carried out using WiFi instead of painfully slow Bluetooth???

Like many others on here, I bought the Apple Watch (S5) for playing music/podcasts when running or in the gym but I’m really disappointed at how poor the offline playback process is.

Apple’s reputation for providing solid user friendly devices is slipping away and what’s really worrying is they don’t seem to be bothered fixing issues like the one above. Given the premium price Apple customers pay for their products, we deserve better.

Go to podcast app on phone, then library, delete from phone all individual downloaded podcast. Do not unsubscribe yet. Make sure there is not a podcast qued up to play. Once each podcast is deleted, unsubscribe from the podcast on the library page. Close podcast app and make sure it is closed on watch also.

On phone, Go to settings >general >iPhone storage >podcast. Delete the app from there including all documents and data.

Unpair watch and when completed, pair it back to phone. Finally, install podcast app back to phone and subscribe to podcast.

you should get podcast on watch now.

Sounds so easy. The problem is you will waste 2 hours with this and then it will work for a week and then your back doing this again and again. I downloaded Outkast for my podcasts and it works great. You select the podcasts you want then turn you phone onto airplane mode to kill the Bluetooth. Go to the app on your watch and download the episodes to your watch. Once done switch off airplane mode and your ready to go. It's fast because it is using WIFI rather than Bluetooth. Something Apple should look into. My other suggestion to to any apple developer on this is get the guy who figured out apple music. That works great. Slow but it works. Plus the guy that developed the App for Podcasts, get him a watch and have him try is own work. Or fire him and hire somebody else! It's a shame that so many people are having this issue and no fix from Apple. Maybe we have to pay $2000 for a phone to get it right?

Bigger is never better. Just look at the Federal Government. Unfortunately another company will develop a better phone and apple will disappear like Sears , Montgomery Wards, etc. Good luck I switched to Outkast and it works well.

Hi, had this annoying issue and tried to solve it for about an hour. Tried everything, suddenly I turned off my watch and phone, then turn both on and everything was working silky smooth like used to be. Hope this work.

@gdog1961

Thanks for the advice! I downloaded OutKast and have been using it for past 2 days - it’s great. Interface is a little clunky but the ability to download individual episodes directly to the watch is exactly what’s missing from Apple’s native app.

Even simple stuff like displaying the download progress as a percentage as opposed to Apple’s annoying “updating” message on the Watch App display.

Apple’s Podcasts app is at its worst when you’re trying to sync Series 1 of a podcast that has 2 or 3 series!!! No matter what I tried, it kept prioritizing the newest episodes from Series 3. Really frustrating. Anyway, I’ve deleted “Podcasts” app and will stick to OutKast for now!