iOS 15 Podcasts app - Up Next gone screwy

Ok so I have been down and back with Support since the release of iOS 15 (contacted them day of release and been in contact since) and here's what we've found. If you ignore the message, PLEASE READ THE LAST TWO PARAGRAPHS. It's a call to action that needs to be done so Apple will prioritize this issue.

When the podcast app is force closed or is booted from the RAM (timed out due to not being used), the Playing Next queue mysteriously disappears. I use the word "disappears" because it's not technically gone. If you try to play a new podcast episode, it'll ask you if you want to resume with your queue after finishing the episode or clear the queue. That's because the queue still "exists".

So the podcast app timed out for the millionth time and your queue is gone again. Pick some random podcast episode and add it to the queue (either play next or play last, really doesn't matter) and boom, your queue with everything that you added to it previously will reappear. Every time this happens to me, I just add a random episode as "play next" and then go into the queue and delete it (I add a TON of episodes in advanced so this still saves me a ton of time).

The other weird thing about this is when doing the above trick to get the queue to reappear, if this is the first time you did it since that current episode has been playing, it will appear as a duplicate in the queue (like if you're listening to X episode 48 and it times out, you get the queue to reappear, and X episode 48 will show as the next show to play in the queue even though you're listening to it right now). Dunno why that happens but just be aware and delete it when it reappears in the queue. It's always next or second if you added a show to play next in the queue so it's easy to find and isn't hidden.

Support sent it to engineers and they pushed back saying they no longer work on Apple Podcast app. If you report the issue to Apple Support, NOTHING CAN HAPPEN. For everyone who is suffering from this issue (should be everyone), you have only two ways to report the issue that will actually be heard for it to be worked on. The first way is in the podcast app, go to any show or episode of a show, tap the three dots, then tap on "report a concern." Feedback type is "Broken Feature" and for "Broken Feature" I put other (seeing as the issue is the "Playing Next" queue, not the "Listen Now") and report it there. The second way is to go to the website on a browser (Apple's site /feedback) and under services, select Apple Podcast. It'll take you to the same place the app takes you. Make sure to use feedback type "Broken Feature"

The support agent made it clear they have no way to report the issue as their teams don't work on the Apple Podcast App anymore so everyone please report the issue using the method above. This is the only way they'll listen and actually prioritize/work on this issue. Also this will be where you report Apple Podcast issues in the future.

I’ve been using the b 3 t a since July. And I reported this issue in the first week of July. Not only do they know about it, but they’ve categorized the issue as “more than 10” people have reported it (“more than 10” is the highest category they have). But they still don’t have a potential fix in the pipeline.

A related issue is that Podcasts seems to be purged from the memory too quickly. That’s why you’ll come back to podcasts after a few minutes of pausing and it will have reset to the Listen Now page. This is the point at which the Up Next list disappears.

I’ve given up on adding multiple episodes to Up Next. I just add the next episode to Up Next during the last 30 seconds of the current episode. Maybe next year there will be a fix.

I may have overcome this issue (so far so good) by turning on background app refresh for the podcast app. Both my iPad and my iPhone had this issue, but they both seem to be holding on to the up next queue since I made this change.

I just upgraded to 15.2, and first impressions are that it is fixed. As soon as the upgrade finished, the false “queue” - multiple episodes of a single show that I never chose, that can’t be moved or deleted, and that always fall below an episode I tell the app to play “last” - vanished, and episodes I added to the queue last night were still there this morning. Fingers crossed. It would be really nice to this app working again. It’s been a pain to live with it for all this time.

I think I have validated the solution provided by another respondent. I'm sorry that I don't have the respondent's ID.

I turned on "Background App Refresh" in Settings > Podcasts. Previously, it was off.

The misbehavior has gone away. I still have occasional glitches, but the "Up Next Gone Screwy" seems to have gone away. I'm still wondering why Background App Refresh is now necessary, but that's for another time.

15.2 seems to have fixed this.

15.2 fixed everything for me. Using it since release. Queue is persistent as it used to be.

I got off a support chat with Apple. After giving me a bunch of troubleshooting steps including deleting the app and reinstalling it (which nuked my library and history) they found that this is an issue known to Apple and that it will be addressed in a future version.

Losing my library and history freed me from Podcasts it feels like, so I stepped over to Castro now.

Same problems as described by many users in this conversation. I switched to Overcast and I am well satisfied. I see no reason to return to the Apple podcast player even if Apple eventually fixes all the problems. Among other things, Overcast does a much better job at syncing my Podcasts across the two different phones that I use. When I switch phones, Overcast always resumes the same podcast in the same spot that I was listening to on my other phone. Overcast allows multiple playlists, but also has a default playlist that includes all unplayed episodes of all podcasts that I am subscribed to. On both the default playlist and user created playlist, it is easy to re-order the playlist just by driving a podcast to a new location. Using Overcast, It is much easier than when using the Apple podcast player to delete/remove a particular podcast I do not want to play. There are also more flexible options for playing speed. I have to think Apple for giving me the incentive to try a different podcast player. Were it not for the new bug, I would never have considered switching.

What I have to do to get my podcast playlist back is go to podcasts —> library —-> latest episodes —-> then select any episode to play later and my playlist will reappear. Waaaay too much work just to get the playlist back but it does work.

I had the exact same problem. I just upgraded to 15.2 and it is fixed.

Since moving to iOS version 15.2, it does seem the issue has been resolved.

I have exactly this problem and it is driving me mad. HOWEVER, I have found that if I find the play next queue cleared and then add another episode to the list, it will reappear. I can then just clear out any duplicates and keep listening - at least until I stop listening for a while and the problem reoccurs.

The other thing is that the episode I am currently listening to will also frequently appear as the first episode in play next so I just make sure I check the list and clear that first episode.

I have this issue as well, as I live in a rural area and can't rely on a data connection to stream episodes.

If you have the episodes downloaded, you should be able to go to "Library" and then "Downloaded" to re-add the episodes to the queue again (without wifi). This is the best solution I have found while we wait for a fix.

I've just noticed that if I download one new episode and add it to Play Next queue, a handful of the episodes that disappeared suddenly reappear! Ridiculous, but better than having to find them again in the Downloaded folder. Does that work for anyone else?