Podcasts keep stopping

My podcasts suddenly started pausing after random amounts of time (a few seconds to a minute or so), and I have to press play to restart them. *Really* annoying while jogging!

I am continuing tamikaldavis’s post from dec 2019 because it’s no longer accepting replies, but I think I may have a guess why it’s happening.

i believe the problem is headphone cable connectivity being lost. Of course when you pull the headphones out, it pauses automatically. I think whatever pin is communicating that they’re plugged in is getting its signal interrupted, either due to a dirty lightning port or damaged plug. A couple times I was able to unpause by just jiggling my cable. I then pulled it out and reset it well and was finally able to finish my podcast and run. Planning a good clean of the port. I recommend cleaning the port and inspecting the cable, maybe even trying another pair of headphones if you have them.

So, maybe a hardware problem, but a simpler one than the internal workings of the phone. Would be interested to know if others had a similar experience.