iOS 16.4 keeps deleting my unplayed downloaded Podcast.
Per title, the new update broke the podcast app. It keeps deleting my unplayed downloaded episodes.
iPhone 13 mini
Has iOS 16.5 been released or are you on a Beta/RC version?
Question marked as
I can confirm that the 16.5 update has resolved the problem for me. I think it's safe to move forward with installing it as a fix. A couple of additional things to share:
There is NO MENTION of a fix for this problem in the release notes for 16.5. In fact, there is no mention of any changes having anything to do with the Podcasts app in the release notes. That said, I spoke to a friend of mine who until very recently worked as a developer for Apple in their Pittsburg office. My friend said that any .x.0 release (like this one--16.5.0) has "thousands and thousands of fixes in it", and he estimates that only 0.1% of the fixes get mentioned in the release notes. Exceptionally poor documentation and change management from Apple, but exactly the kind of egregious service we've come to expect from them.
Second, it looks to me like all of the other bugs remain intact. These include (but aren't necessarily limited to):
- Sorting downloaded podcasts by date order does not work correctly.
- Some downloaded free podcasts appear as premium podcasts and refuse to play without a subscription to a premium service (the same podcasts play without restriction in iTunes)
- Downloaded podcasts added to "Play Next" list do not appear in the list and may or may not actually play next
- Some downloaded podcasts that were NEVER added to the Play Next list suddenly appear on Play Next list anyway, sometimes even after they are removed.
- Not all downloaded podcast episodes for a show appear in the list of available episodes in Car Play.
Of course, this thread was about the disappearing podcasts, not all of the other bugs, so I'll either go look for another thread for them or start one of my own. But it appears that, as of 16.5, the Mystery of the Disappearing Podcasts (sounds like a title for a Hardy Boys novel) has been resolved.
26 replies
I'm experiencing the same issue. The only workaround I've found so far is to resync the episodes with iTunes and keep the Podcast app open at all times. If I close the app (swipe up) or restart my device, the episodes disappear again. It's quite frustrating.
I don't synchronize with my computer, but I'm noticing that quite often that if I switch from playing one podcast to playing another, it marks the previously listened to podcast as played. It is very annoying, and while I have had issues in the past with the podcast app marking something as played (even though I hadn't finished it), it is much worse now. I am hoping Apple will fix this because having to memorize where I left off is dumb, and that is what software is supposed to do. When I mark the podcast as unplayed, it doesn't remember where I left off.
Two other bits of strangeness I just noticed...
First: One podcast I listen to is called "Radiolab". The episodes released on 7/15/2022 and 7/29/2022 are both now appearing on my iPhone with the words "RADIOLAB+ ONLY" next to the release date. If I attempt to play them on my phone, I am redirected to an advertisement requiring me to subscribe to a service called "Radiolab+" in order to play the episodes. HOWEVER, there is no such designation in iTunes: both episodes appear like all other episodes and I can play them unimpeded in iTunes on my iMac. Furthermore, if I check the show in the Store, both episodes are listed as regular season episodes for which no special subscription is required. This originally happened only with the episode dated 7/15/2023, but after a recent re-sync, it's now happening to both dated episodes.
Second: There are a couple of episodes I've listened to previously that were marked as Played on my iPhone. I then turned off all podcast syncing iTunes and clicked the button to Remove all podcasts from my iPhone. Then, in iTunes, I marked those couple of episodes as Unplayed. I then re-synced them back to the phone. With the phone docked and selected in iTunes, in the treeview under On My Device, if I select Podcasts, they're all listed and designated as unplayed. However, on the phone they continue to appear in the Library under Downloaded as Played! (In the past, they would have appeared as unplayed.)
Yes, I am getting the same. It's like something that happened a few years ago when they first trried to puss towards streaming which i convenent for everyone. I think its disgraceful that either Apple are this useless or they are deliberately trying to sabotagethe way some users operate. iTunes circa 2005 was better than this.
I’m having the same issue. I have changed my setting in Podcast on my iPhone, to NOT Remove Played Downloads. I want these to stay on my iPhone permanently. I sync with my MacBook Pro, and then go one by one, saving each episode, and go to listen to an episode while I’m driving only to find it is not there.
this has happened at least four times now in the last 6 weeks. So frustrating.
HELP!!!
No deletion events since I installed the update three days ago on the 18th.
As another test, I rebooted my phone -- Podcasts still there.
I crashed the app by swiping up on the episode screen (see my previous posts for what this means) - Podcasts still there.
Don't want to jinx it, but so far so good.
Keeping it open doesn’t help. I was listening to my podcast and can see it deleting all the other episodes.
This is my exact issues as well. Have to note where I left off so I can start back in the correct spot the next day.
My latest update a couple of days ago loaded 16.5 bits that appear to be fully released.
Hi Jeff, How's the 16.5 update? I'm still on 16.3.1, wondering if 16.5 finally solve the issue without adding new issues as well.
iOS 16.4 keeps deleting my unplayed downloaded Podcast.