How to autoplay next episode of an Apple Podcast?

This is the same thing I’m finding… for some reason when I’m playing a podcast that let’s say podcast A… it will finish episode 1 and instead of auto playing episode 2 which is available, it starts playing podcast B, then C… needs to be a way that you auto play next episode within a podcast, and not shuffle between all of our followed podcasts

I’ve experimented with various methods to keep a podcast show playing continuously. For instance, I’m a fan of the Levar Burton podcast, but when I press play, it only plays one episode and then stops, even though there are several more available. It seems impractical to create a playlist with the same episodes and add them to the queue just to have them play in succession.

My reasoning is that, just like playing an album in music, I expect to hit play and have the entire podcast series play continuously. It’s puzzling why this isn’t a standard feature for podcasts.

Furthermore, when I’m streaming a podcast through the HomePod, I can’t set a sleep timer, which adds to the inconvenience.

Is anyone else experiencing these issues, or is it just me?

Based on this Apple article -> Follow and play shows in Apple Podcasts on iPhone and iPad

Follow and play shows in Apple Podcasts on iPhone and iPad - Apple Support (IN)

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How to choose the order that episodes play

When you follow a podcast, you can play episodes in order, beginning with the newest or oldest episode.

1. Open the Podcasts app.
2. On your iPhone, go to the Library tab, then tap Shows. On your iPad, go to Library in the sidebar and tap Shows.
3. Tap the show to see its information page.
4. Tap the More button  in the top-right corner, then tap Settings.
5. Tap Oldest To Newest or Newest To Oldest.

• After an episode ends, the next episode of that podcast plays automatically. To turn this off, go to Settings > Podcasts, then turn off Continuous Playback.

Before iOS 17.1.1, I don’t have to go through the ‘selecting and adding to queue’ process. I simply pick an episode at Library, when it ends, the next episode will be continue automatically. But now I have to create a playlist list which is time-consuming.

I have had this same issue for quite some time now since several new Apple updates. The suggested fix does not work for me. “Continuous playback” in podcast settings is on but it still has this exact aggravating issue. I don’t know how many times I have had to find a way to fix this or re-figure out how to continue using the podcast app the way I have enjoyed since the beginning with every update.

[Edited by Moderator]

It’s a mess 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yes same experience. However there are a few random podcasts that populate the play next with their entire series for no apparent reason. I could not find any difference in the settings etc as to why this happens

SOLVED!

I’ve been struggling with this one, and just figured out how to get it to work on my phone.

I made sure the queue was already empty (for some reason I had a podcast, always popping up there that I didn’t want to listen to)

>library

find podcast >hold finger on podcast

menu pops up.

clock >add to queue

It worked!

note: “continuous play” selected in the iPhone settings

>home screen >settings >podcast >continuous play

and

Podcast set to play oldest to newest:

>podcast app >library >select a podcast > settings (…)

>⚙️ settings

>oldest to newest

My problem is NOT about auto playing next episode within the same show. My problem is how to enable auto play for the "UP NEXT".

I will have 2 episodes or more from different shows I am subscribed to in the up next queue and the podcast does not auto play next. I cannot find a control that addresses this issue.

Before iOS 17.1.1, I don’t have to go through the ‘selecting and adding to queue’ process. I simply pick an episode at Library, when it ends, the next episode will be continue automatically. But now I have to create a playlist list which is time-consuming.

I have that one turned on already, but it only plays unplayed episodes. And it skips from show to show.

for example:

if I play podcast A and there is only 1 unplayed episode, it will play it and then skip to podcast B and play it’s unplayed episode.

I’m trying to get it to stay on podcast A and play it continuously only. Similar to listening to an album in its entirety. Even if I hit shuffle, it doesn’t shuffle different albums it stays on the album.

Before iOS 17.1.1, I don’t have to go through the ‘selecting and adding to queue’ process. I simply pick an episode at Library, when it ends, the next episode will be continue automatically. But now I have to create a playlist list which is time-consuming.

So I'm still testing this out, but after searching through several forum posts I wanted to share the solution I've found in case it works for anyone else. It's...dumb. In a "that shouldn't be necessary" kind of way. It seems like what you have to do is specifically go to the show that you want to listen to from the Library and hit "Play" or "Resume" or whatever the button is at the top (under the show thumbnail) instead of selecting a specific episode. Selecting an episode seems to assume that you want to listen to a variety, not that you want to start listening to the podcast at that specific episode and continue in order.

I think the issue here is you can't select the newest episode, you have to select an old episode and it will automatically play all the other episodes afterwards. Somehow, the autoplay won't work in reverse time. Hopefully it can be fixed by Apple.