Podcast episodes not loading

You might first want to try turning off Wi-Fi and see if the apps download over cell data alone.

If you search this discussion board, you’ll find several people had a similar stuck on opening type of problem. It seems to be a clash in the Podcast app instruction set and the coding of the app data files.

If you don’t Follow too many Shows, the easiest solution might be:

1) turn Off the toggle for Sync podcasts in iPhone Settings>Podcasts,

2) fully exit the Podcasts app,

4) delete the Shows in iPhone Settings>General>iPhone Storage>Podcasts,

5) restart your iPhone,

6) open the Podcast app and see if it loads,

7) quickly insure the settings for each Show are appropriate,

8) see if the newest episodes Appear in the show list.

In the iOS 14.5 Podcasts app upgrade some actions don’t occur instantly. You have to give them a few minutes to take effect.

Apple Discussions is a user-to-use your knowledge sharing forum and, as you can see, we are all sharing some of the pain with the Podcasts app upgrade. The best bet is for all to submit problems and suggestions to Apple at Apple Feedback, https://www.apple.com/feedback/apple-podcasts/

The iOS 14.5 & 14.6 Apple Podcasts app upgrades are still bug-ridden. I’m sorry podcast users have had to serve as guinea pigs for such flawed versions, it doesn’t make sense to invest time trying to answer questions about such an unpredictable piece of software.

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

On the Apple Podcasts app side:

• the app gets stuck in loading mode with some users when first opened,

• 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 users experience difficulty deleting episodes from lists,

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

• the app causes a heating problem and excessive battery draining, particularly when select other apps are open in the background or foreground,

• a change in key default settings in the iOS 14.5 Podcasts app upgrade caused numerous unwanted automatic downloads in Shows with tens or hundreds of episodes.

Hopefully, some heads have rolled for those responsible, clearer thinking people have replaced them and the bugs will be straightened out soon. Apple is an excellent company which has made this experience frustrate us more.

It's not worth the time. This app has never been developed or supported with user needs as a priority. It is very un-Apple. That said, they will probably fix it in time. My advice is don't wait - just get a different app and use it until Apple can be bothered. I have had a very good experience with Google Podcasts. It's free, and seems to load very fast. Of course, I'm starting to build my library of podcasts again, so it may have similar problems when the number increases. I believe the real issue is with the last update to the Apple app - performance really declined after that.

I'm experiencing something similar. My solution has been to just wait. Sometimes it takes 45-60 seconds at worst, but it does eventually load. I will probably switch to another podcast app, since the battery drain and the long load times make the default app nearly unusable for me now.

I am experiencing the same issues. Everything is slower and often seems to freeze. This just doesn’t seem like an app that Apple would allow to be used in their iOS. Very sad, looking for alternatives. Interesting article points out many of my disappointments. https://www.fastcompany.com/90645958/apple-podcast-app-disaster

Hopefully by now you’ve looked through the many messages in this discussion sub group and learned from others with the same ‘loading’ problem.

I had the same experience. Now, it takes forever.

It has become so frustrating that I just went looking for another app. The Google Podcast app seems to load podcasts very quickly.