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iPhone 4S - iTunes Store app freezes when searching for Podcasts

This has me stumped. I have several Apple devices using my iTunes account, but only my iPhone is giving me grief lately.


iPhone 4S

iOS 5.1.1

iTunes Match is ON for music (does not affect podcasts in theory)


Recipe:

  1. Search for podcast I want to download using iTunes store app
  2. Find it and click on name to see episodes
  3. Results screen loads partially, then does nothing. Can see list of episodes, but cannot activate "Download" buttons.
  4. Wait for a few minutes. Wait a lot of minutes. Nothing changes, but network activity indicator is spinning around next to WiFi indicator.
  5. Quit iTunes app
  6. Restart app and it crashes
  7. Lather, rinse, repeat


I usually listen to episodes of the same 5 or 6 podcast series, like most folks. I was able to grab any of them directly from the iPhone before, but in the last few days it simply can't be done.


Clue: I CAN download music. I can pay for it. Just can't get podcasts.


What I've tried:

  • Log out and back in to store
  • Turn iTunes Match off and back on
  • Restart iPhone


No joy. Any ideas before I contact Apple support??

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1

Posted on May 15, 2012 9:54 PM

Reply
63 replies

May 16, 2012 10:37 AM in response to BradPDX

I have this problem too. I was actually able to download one podcast (This American Life) but none of the others work. The app either freezes, or crashes. If somehow the app does not crash or freeze, the download buttons do not activate, and then after a minute or so it crashes. I have tried a reset. I also just downloaded the new iOS. Nothing has changed.

May 16, 2012 12:53 PM in response to AnaMusic

I am happy to try resetting the iPhone again, but my hunch is that will not solve the issue - see below.


I can now report that the problem also exists on my iPad, with identical symptoms. Hence it appears that I cannot download podcasts on either of my iOS devices, but I can do so using iTunes on my Mac.


This points to an issue with my iTunes store account that is somehow gumming up the works on iOS devices. My next move is to contact Apple to see what can be done.


Zbuck, it sounds like you have the same issue as me.

May 16, 2012 1:47 PM in response to BradPDX

I'm having nearly the same issue. It only affects certain podcasts. I wonder if it has something to do with the way the RSS feeds are resolved.


All of the podcast listings that cause a freeze for me have lots of episodes (75-150+) are being pulled from feedburner instead of directly linking their original feed. That might not mean anything, but it might be the reason why the iTunes app chokes when it displays the info.


In my particular case, it's all Nerdist Industry shows that freeze up (Nerdist Podcast, Indoor Kids, You Made It Weird, etc.). Some of the newer Nerdist Industries shows (with 5-10 episodes) don't freeze up.

May 16, 2012 2:08 PM in response to Random_Tangent

Random - I dunno. I am navigating to the podcasts one of two ways:


  1. Use the "Get more episodes" link in the Music app
  2. Search for podcast within store


Either was is a fail, so I don't think feedburner is involved.


BTW, I get stuck on the Nerdist shows as well. Also NPR's Planet Money.


Sidenote: I can browse and download non-podcast content, but VERY slowly. I just downloaded the new M. Ward album as a test. It took a very long time for the iTunes app on the iPad to navigate to the album via search, but it eventually got there. Once there, the download of 12 tracks went normally.


So, my store account works, it's simply become almost unusably slow. I am on pretty fast internet connections: 50mbps here at my office, 25mbps at home, both using robust 802.11G WiFi. That is clearly not the bottleneck!

May 16, 2012 4:36 PM in response to BradPDX

I'm seeing the same thing... and it does appear to only be podcasts with a large number of episodes. I first noticed it on the Comedy Bang Bang podcast.


Looks like this:

http://www.divshare.com/download/17680634-944

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/17680634-944][img]http://www.divshare.com/img/thumb/17680634-944.PNG[/img][/url]


I can even download them on my laptop and sync to the iPhone... just not working on the iTunes store app on the phone. (and the "Get More Episodes" trick didn't make any difference for me).


I just started noticing this about 2-3 days ago.

May 16, 2012 4:44 PM in response to henduck

henduck (I like that handle!) - this is precisely what I see. And yes, it started about 2 or 3 days ago.


Update: after successfully downloading an album of music (slowly, see above) I tried again to grab some Planet Money podcasts. No joy.


I have a hunch that the problem is on Apple's backend with certain accounts, but of course can't be sure.

May 17, 2012 8:58 AM in response to BradPDX

I'll add myself to the list of people having this problem. Not just for podcasts, but for all iTunes Store content. It is very frustrating indeed. I started noticing it before I updated to 5.1.1 though. Before the update it would eventually snap out of it and I could download podcasts and make purchases. After the update: nothing.


iOS 5.1.1 on iPhone 4

May 17, 2012 2:49 PM in response to BradPDX

I'm having the same issue here. It's not limited to podcasts for me—pretty much anything. On iPad it happens on the search results page or when trying to view an album. On iPhone the search results page loads fine, but albums have the same freezing problem.


Some other things I've noticed:


  • It's happening on most, but not all, of our devices. iPad 3, iPhone 4S, and white iPhone 4 all freeze up. But my black iPhone 4 does not. They all have iOS 5.1.1 installed.
  • It's happening on devices logged into different accounts, and logging out hasn't helped. The one device that works fine is using the same account that other devices are using.
  • I've tried turning off Wi-Fi on my phone and changing the DNS settings on my iPad. Neither made a difference.
  • I've tried force-quitting the app, restarting the device, etc.
  • Console logs show nothing related to the problem.


We'll probably have to wait for Apple to fix the problem, though it is odd that some devices, even on the same network, are working fine.

May 17, 2012 4:32 PM in response to robotspacer

@robotspacer - sounds like what I am seeing on both iPhone 4S and first-gen iPad, each running iOS 5.1.1. I haven't tried my wife's iPhone 4S yet - I'll do that to see if her account is similarily affected.


I agree that this is most likely Apple's problem at the backend, and it will suddenly "fix itself" shortly. It's a nuisance, but not the end of the world.

May 18, 2012 9:49 AM in response to magoo_mch

@magoo_mch - I think the battery life issue concerns the CPU usage of the iTunes store app when it gets "stuck" in the manner described for this issue.


Using the System Activity Monitor app, one can easily observe that when the iTunes store app is in this state, CPU usage on my iPhone 4S exceeds 50%. If one simply closes the iTunes app using the home button, it may stay in this state and drain your battery.


The solution (for now) is to force-quit the iTunes app. See if that helps.

iPhone 4S - iTunes Store app freezes when searching for Podcasts

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