Saved podcast episodes not syncing with Apple Watch

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Level 1

9 points

Saved podcast episodes not syncing with Apple Watch

Apple recently released a feature for the podcast app where you can "save" episodes and then flag the saved episodes for download onto your Apple Watch. However, this feature does not work very consistently. Many times it will not download whatever episodes I have saved, and often the Watch app on my phone will say there are no episodes to download. I am using iOS 15.1 and WatchOS 8.1, and am using an Apple Watch series 3. I have tried all the usual "brute force" methods -- restarting watch, restarting phone, turning off/on BT, disconnecting/reconnecting BT, force quitting the podcast app on my phone and watch, etc.

Every now and then it will download the episodes I have saved, but there's no rhyme or reason why it works some times and not others. If I save a new episode on my phone, put both my phone and watch on the charger and go to bed, the majority of the time it will not be downloaded to my watch the next morning.

I got an Apple Watch for the sole purpose of listening to podcasts while I run and without having to carry a phone with me, so if this fails to function reliably then it pretty much negates my entire reason for having the watch.

Apple Watch Series 3, watchOS 8

Posted on Nov 17, 2021 11:42 AM

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Answer 1

jibae77 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 27, 2021 9:42 PM in response to ASTRO24

OK, to be clear, this is no longer an Apple Watch problem anymore. In order to fix the podcast episodes not downloading to my watch, it was recommended that I delete the Podcast app from my phone and re-install from the app store (which I did). Since I have done that, the Podcast app no longer downloads episodes *to my phone*. When I download a podcast episode, it shows a progress indicator which stops updating after a while. If I try to cancel the download, it does nothing. If I try to download new episodes, the app ignores the command.

The Podcast app on my phone was working perfectly fine until I did the delete and re-install, and now it doesn't download. I tried deleting and re-installing again, logging out of my phone and logging back in, force quitting and re-starting the app, re-starting my phone, etc. Nothing.

I decided to give the Overcast app a try and it works perfectly. I can listen to all my podcasts, it downloads episodes to my phone and watch without any problems, does everything I want to so far. Apple's podcast app is no longer a reliable app for me.

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Answer 2

ASTRO24

Community Specialist

Nov 20, 2021 4:54 PM in response to jibae77

jibae77,

Check that the time and date are accurate on iPhone and Apple Watch. If your Apple Watch is Wi-Fi only, try connecting to a different Wi-Fi network. If you do not have another network available, restart your router and/or modem.

From iPhone, go to Settings > [your name] > Media & Purchases and sign out and sign in again. If you're an Apple Music subscriber, note that this will remove all downloaded content, but you can add it back to your iPhone once you are signed back in. Disable any VPN connections you have in Settings > General > VPN.

Regards.

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Answer 3

ASTRO24

Community Specialist

Nov 18, 2021 10:07 AM in response to jibae77

Hi there jibae77,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.

We understand that your podcasts are not saving consistently and you have performed several troubleshooting steps. If you haven't, try deleting the Podcasts app and download it back to Apple Watch. This will not remove podcasts, only the app. Next unpair and pair Apple Watch. A backup of Apple Watch will be created prior to unpairing from iPhone. Check out the support articles linked below.

Delete built-in Apple apps from the Home screen on your iOS 14 or iPadOS device or Apple Watch

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch

Regards.

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Answer 4

jibae77 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 20, 2021 10:06 AM in response to ASTRO24

This doesn't work. In fact, deleting the podcast app and doing the pairing/unpairing with the watch has created more problems. With the newly downloaded podcast app on my phone, it doesn't finish downloading anything anymore. When I select a podcast episode to download, the download progress shows that all the data has been received (e.g., 50 MB of 50 MB), but the status is still shown as downloading, and it's not listed as a downloaded episode. Canceling the download doesn't work either. The app seems like it's stuck.

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Saved podcast episodes not syncing with Apple Watch

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