You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

One particular podcast won't play

I've been trying to listen to a podcast called "Never Binge Again," and have been unsuccessful, both on my iPhone XR (iOS 14.4.1) and on my MacBook Air (M1 2020, Big Sur 11.2.3, Podcast app 1.1.0).


On either the iPhone or my Macbook: When I try to play any episode, I get the message "Episode Unavailable; This episode is temporarily unavailable from "Never Binge Again."

When I look at the list of episodes on the app, it shows the cloud icon next to each episode. When I click on the cloud I get the message "Unable to Download Podcast; [episode title] cannot be downloaded. Please try again later."


I listen to other podcasts with no problems. I contacted the support person for the Never Binge Again program, and she said she had no problem on her end, but was only able to check on Google podcast or Spotify.


Thanks for any suggestions!





MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 27, 2021 3:41 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 30, 2021 11:44 AM

An update! I talked with Apple Support yesterday. They had me reset my network settings, which surprised me (and did not help). But today, I thought to try with Wifi off (connected to LTE), and, eureka! Success!


I don't know why this would work, but I'm guessing it's something to do with security. The originating podcast website has such bad security it's hard to use from my usual browser.


Thanks for your help, Cyberbiker!

Similar questions

5 replies
Sort By: 
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 30, 2021 11:44 AM in response to cyberbiker

An update! I talked with Apple Support yesterday. They had me reset my network settings, which surprised me (and did not help). But today, I thought to try with Wifi off (connected to LTE), and, eureka! Success!


I don't know why this would work, but I'm guessing it's something to do with security. The originating podcast website has such bad security it's hard to use from my usual browser.


Thanks for your help, Cyberbiker!

Reply

Jun 5, 2021 9:50 AM in response to IsabelAnne

Glad it’s working better in some situations. The Apple Podcast app is still bug-ridden. I’m sorry Podcast users have had to serve as guinea pigs for such a flawed version of the podcast app, but I t doesn’t make sense to invest time trying to answer questions about such an unpredictable piece of software.


On the Apple Podcast Server side new episodes for some Shows are listed three days after they are available on TuneIn, Stitcher, SoundCloud, etc.


On the Apple Podcast app side:

• Episodes sometimes mark themselves as played after just a few seconds,

• some Shows do not list the most recent unplayed episodes even when the Show settings are chosen to do so.

• Station lists sometimes do not list unplayed episodes available in Show lists, even though the Station settings do not limit episodes,

• some episodes download once in Show lists, others simply do not, even the toggle for Automatic Downloads in Show settings is On.


Hopefully some heads have rolled and clearer thinking people have replaced them and are trying to straighten the app out.

Reply

May 27, 2021 5:20 PM in response to cyberbiker

Thanks so much for the suggestion! I just tried that, same problem. Inspired by your idea, I tried deleting my Podcast app, restarting my iPhone, reinstalling the app. Searched for the app, tried to play an episode, and...same problem.


I was not able to delete the Podcast app from my MacBook, and I wonder if whatever glitch there is is being sustained on the MacBook.

Reply

May 27, 2021 4:51 PM in response to IsabelAnne

I just searched under the Apple podcast server and played today’s episode with no problem.


Try un-following Never Binge Again on your iPhone Podcast app, fully exiting the Podcast app for a couple minutes, re-opening it, searching for the Show, the tap the button to play latest episode.



Reply

May 28, 2021 12:41 PM in response to IsabelAnne

I’m confounded. The Podcast app seems to have retained data telling it episodes of that Show are not available to you.


Perhaps this will work on the iPhone.

  1. Unfollow Never Binge Again.
  2. Fully exit the Podcasts app.
  3. Turn off Sync Podcasts (left frame in pic below).
  4. Delete the iPhone Podcast app.
  5. In iPhone Settings>Podcasts. In iPhone Settings>General>iPhone Storage>Podcasts find Never Binge Again, swish it to the left and tap Delete.
  6. Wait a couple minutes, then reinstall the Podcast app. Never Binge Again should not appear in you Shows list. Provided it DOES NOT appear, death for it in the Apple Podcast Server and refollow it.
  7. If Never Binge Again never disappeared from the Shows list, the only other thing you might try is to delete the Podcasts app and all Podcasts data in iPhone storage.
  8. Open iPhone Settings>General>iPhone Storage>Podcasts. and choose Delete App (right frame).
  9. Reinstall the Podcasts app, Refollow all your Shows including Never Binge Again and see if you can play it’s episodes.


If that doesn’t work, live Apple Support is probably your only answer. Good luck!




Reply

One particular podcast won't play

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.