Podcasts App... Not Syncing Correctly.

Your problem may be the settings for the Podcast App. You may need to change the. The settings are somewhat misleading. On your phone go to settings and turn on Sync Subscriptions and auto downloads. Then under Episodes to Keep choose all.

In iTunes on your computer you may need to set the settings for each of your podcasts. Click the podcast, at bottom of the page, you'll see unsubscribe and settings. I don't know what else to suggest.

I had a similar issue where podcasts were no longer syncing to my iPhone from iTunes. Found it was due to the new Apple Podcast app. Removing it and restarting my phone resoloved the issue.

Even though I deleted the app on first sync podcasts from my iPhone that I had downloaded with the new Apple app came across. I guess the podcasts (or the subscriptions for them) was causing the issue. Really annoying how aweful this has all got 😟

iTunes 11 is available now and so far my experience is that Podcast syncing between iOS, Macs, and Apple TVs is still a broken mess.

If you stream a podcast on your Mac without downloading it, sometimes iOS devices can pick up where you leave off without the need to sync the device to the Mac. Cool. However, if you don't download the Podcast to your Mac, iTunes won't flag any new podcasts. Not cool.

If you download a podcast to your Mac and play it locally, iOS devices won't pick up where you leave off unless you first do a device-to-Mac sync. So much for iCloud syncing.

The Podcast app on Apple TV remains an island that doesn't sync with anything, not iOS devices or OSX iTunes. It's a pointless application, as far as I can tell. Far better to access Podcasts on your Mac using 'Computer' access.

Accessing a Mac from Apple TV will keep podcasts in sync between the Apple TV and the Mac (as usual), but you must download the Podcasts to the Mac, and that breaks iCloud syncing of Mac Podcasts with iOS devices. Fail. Again, no iCloud syncing.

It's a big mess and there is NO information from Apple that I can find to inform us how to best configure the ecosystem. I'm REALLY disappointed in Apple's handling of Podcasts.

If anyone finds a secret recipe that works or solves any of these issues, please post.

I spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone with an Apple senior advisor yesterday attempting to resolve this problem. He told me they had no record of the problem and referred it to their software engineering group.

Maybe they sould read their support community discussions.

I'm getting quite familiar with Apple senior advisors - I've had more problems with my Macs in the last 2 years (since OS 10.7) since I've had in the prior decade of my experience with Apple.

In iTunes 11 I noticed a cloud icon top left next to the different parts of my library. The icon appears for Music & Movies but not Podcasts. Does that mean my podcasts are not syncing and if so how do I turn it on?

At the moment podcast syncing for me is the same as with iTunes 10; that is it don't work at all.

@MrJamesMoore

I have been an apple customer for over 20 years and have even sold my Linux program writing husband on Apple products. We have spent Tens and tens of thousands on Apple Products. Now I wonder what is wrong with Apple. My best friend (fomer Apple employee) leads tours and the new mapping device has totally messed up her life. And I love podcasts and I have wasted a good six hours trryig to fix the ills of iTunes 11.0-and I have still not solved these problems. I just want to hear the podcasts of Planet Money that I have not yet heard on my iPHone!!

I know how to select and sync the episodes that I want. I have ticked the box. I have requested the ten episodes that I have not listened to. I even ticked a few bonus episodes and NOTHING is syncin up. (and yes, I synced this!)

Can I go back to the old version??

i have been on the phone to them about this exact issue this morning for 2 hours after the usual pass the buck ritual. after talking to a "technical advisor" he tells me that this "syncing" accross devices for movies, tv shows and podcasts is not possible! i then directed him to HIS companys webpage and got him to read the itunes 11 page about "picking up where you left off, we'll save your place" to me and says he did not know a thing about this. he then put me through to his senior who was nearly as dumb as the other guy! the issue has been passed on to an icloud engineer and the actual engineer is supposed to be phoning me back within 48 hours. so hopefully if i get a result, i will let you guys know!

the amazing thing is, these apple employees seem to forget the reason we all use apple is because of the simplicity and because things are supposed to "just work" if we wanted things to be an issue we would save our money and buy other products.

@leebo23 - thanks for the tenacious follow up. Please do let us know what kind of additional feedback you get.

By reverse-engineering observed behavior, I think we're dealing with 2 main issues now:

1. The iTunes Store uses a boolean variable to track which Podcasts have been played. Each Podcast is marked as Played or Not Played. There is no time parameter to track "how much has been played". Macs, iOS devices, and Apple TVs all report status but iTunes Store is only tracking Played/Not Played.

2. Devices do not check back with the iTunes Store for status of downloaded Podcasts. When a Podcast is downloaded, the device assumes it is the master and does not check back with iTunes Store for updates when the podcast is opened to see if it has been played on another device since it was downloaded.

iOS devices are different. I can watch a portion of a podcast on my iPhone and pick up right where I left off on my iPad (this is for streamed Podcasts). iOS devices must be using some aspect of iCloud to stay in sync amongst themselves.

I have no idea why Apple isn't doing a better job of rolling this out and keeping the community informed. Different organizations maybe? Seamless syncing should be one of Apple's core strengths, yet it's a mess.

I will do WGQ, these are exactly my thoughts, at the moment, I can kind of put up with just my IOS devices because they do some kind of sync, barely acceptable but its nearly there. but iTunes 11 is almost a complete different programme when it comes to syncing podcasts, movies and tv shows. In fact, I might as well use a complete different programme. which is why at this time, it's good news to at least being acknowledged by an engineer. Fingers crossed! All we need now is podcast subscriptions and synchronisation on ATV!

I honestly believe that Apple needs to either reconsider their plan/current situation, or they really are intending to come out with something great, but the reason why I'm doubtful of the latter is that it's taken them so long to show any promising results. In my honest opinion, I think Apple needs to consider further fragmenting their apps, until they are parallel-able with their iOS counterparts, and then some.

As an example, let's take two different apps, the Podcasts app and the Messages app. The Messages app is absolutely super at keeping things in sync (when using iMessage of course); what happens on my iPhone 5, happens on my MacBook Pro, and happens on my iPad mini, it's like magic... the original vision for iCloud. The Podcasts app however is a totally different story. My iOS devices have a Podcasts app, but my MacBook Pro instead has an "iTunes extension" (for lack of a better term) to handle podcasts; that's a half-a** job in my opinion. This why I say that Apple should take the Contacts, Calendar, Messages, Notes, and Reminders apps as examples for what iCloud should be and how it should function, and implement the same approach to its other apps such as Podcasts, iTunes U, and anything else that you/they can think of that isn't giving iCloud justice.

I fully agree with the idea that the main identifier should be the account, and the account-id, with the device-id's being associated to accounts, rather than having accounts associated to devices. This is how one is supposed to approach a cloud infrastructure, because at the end of the day we are moving towards an object-oriented and virtual world that is/should be device agnostic.

Just my two cents.

Feel exactly the same. I nearly collapsed when i inadvertently updated to itunes 11 just prior to leaving vacation, its completely different.

I have been an apple customer since 1985, raved about them forever to everyone through thick and thin.One year without Steve at the helm and they have lost their identity. He told Tim Cooke to be himself well...... no one can replace Steve i suspect in holding a motley crowd of creative individuals to a single vision. They have lost it and become just like MS. So so sad.

Quality control is part of it but the visioneer has died.

It doesn't work for me either. I had a number of home tech projects to work on this holiday ans can't believe I had to spend any time on this issue. Off to go find a decent Android podcasting app.

January and a new year, I deleted the podcast app from my iphone and sure enough podcasts returned to and updated on itunes as it did previously. I still find the new itunes podcast updater clunky compared to its predecessor however my podcast update system now works again.

So where do you now look to find your podcasts without the podcast app? I just did the same thing, deleted the app, but then when I looked under "music" where podcasts used to be before using the app they are not there!

The other day I accidentally erased the podcast app. I reloaded it from the app,store straight to my iPhone and now it seems to be,working great. It would be interesting to know if others have them same experience.