My podcast episodes keep getting deleted. It has now happened many times. It's not episodes that have been played and I don't even have that setting turned on. My downloads will just randomly disappear and then I have to redownload them.
iPhone 16, iOS 26
Re: I have almost 250GB of free space on my phone
Good.
(Any space you may have in iCloud doesn't count ... it is the storage space available on iPhone itself that counts.
ie: Settings > General > [Device] Storage. )
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You may want to check which settings you have in place:
See: Change your download settings for Podcasts on iPhone - Apple Support
Eg: says:
"Podcasts you follow are automatically downloaded to your Apple device. Episodes you’ve played are automatically deleted from your device. You can change these settings, and adjust other download options".
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Also: Are you saving downloaded episodes ?
See: Download, save, and remove podcast episodes on iPhone - Apple Support
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Else: if you suspect a bug in the app itself:
You can always send feedback to reach those who work on the software behind-the-scenes at Apple. Although they will likely not reply, and it won't help immediately, if others are also experiencing similar issues, Apple may address that in a future update.
Web-form for Feedback: Feedback - Apple Podcasts - Apple
Re: I have almost 250GB of free space on my phone
Good.
(Any space you may have in iCloud doesn't count ... it is the storage space available on iPhone itself that counts.
ie: Settings > General > [Device] Storage. )
________________________________________________
You may want to check which settings you have in place:
See: Change your download settings for Podcasts on iPhone - Apple Support
Eg: says:
"Podcasts you follow are automatically downloaded to your Apple device. Episodes you’ve played are automatically deleted from your device. You can change these settings, and adjust other download options".
_________________
Also: Are you saving downloaded episodes ?
See: Download, save, and remove podcast episodes on iPhone - Apple Support
____________________________________
Else: if you suspect a bug in the app itself:
You can always send feedback to reach those who work on the software behind-the-scenes at Apple. Although they will likely not reply, and it won't help immediately, if others are also experiencing similar issues, Apple may address that in a future update.
Web-form for Feedback: Feedback - Apple Podcasts - Apple
Re: Unplayed podcast downloads keep being deleted
You may want to check that your iPhone has sufficient memory / storage space free in which to store the downloaded podcasts: ie: check in Settings > General > Storage. Eg: An iPhone needs at least 8Gb free in which to operate smoothly. Preferably more, especially if you perform intensive tasks (like video-editing etc.).
NB: If you need to create more space, it is always wise to back-up your iPhone data first. If needed: The linked article below has tips on managing your storage space:
If you need more space for an update on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch - Apple Support
This has been driving me BATTY. I have almost 250GB of free space on my phone. I happened to open the app one time and saw a quick banner that said it was "clearing up space and removing downloads" or something but I have plenty of space!
just today I had a podcast I was in the middle of listening to and it chose to randomly delete it from my downloads. No new episodes of the podcast or anything were released, didn't manually remove it myself.
this has caused me to miss a few episodes of podcasts it turns out too 😒 I know there are significantly better podcasts apps out there but I have some shared subscriptions to some podcasts through the app that wouldn't be possible to keep in one app so I'm locked in, unfortunately.
Unplayed podcast downloads keep being deleted
