iOS 7 Music app no longer able to play podcasts when Podcasts app is not installed.

I'm beyong furious about this. Not only can I not now get Podcasts in my Playlists but I can't work out how to revert to iOS6 where I can and Apple were beyond unhelpful when I 'Chat'ted to them about it. I do a lot of running and like to intersperse music and news podcasts as well as other audiobooks. It's all very well saying you can switch to the Podcasts app to play a podcast but that's not exactly practical whilst running. It beggar's belief that Apple would do this. They have become so out of touch with what the consumer wants, needs and would like since Jobs sad passing. Clearly a once great company starting its death convulsions I'm afraid. The next Microsoft....

I am equally upset about the lack of podcast functionality.

I just wanted to echo what everyone has been saying here and to add a voice.

Audiobook workaround can make the podcasts play, but its extremely unorganized. The podcast in music was quite organized and surprisingly a welcome interface.

I've been successful putting back my podcasts into music playlists by doing the following:

I always assemble my playlists using iTunes on my computer before syncing them to the phone. As others have suggested, by going to the Get Info box for my podcasts and changing the media type to Music and the genre to something else (like Public Radio) and then syncing the phone, I'm able to once again have playlists with music interspersed with podcasts for my long trips up and down California. Keep in mind that once you change the podcast's media type to Music, it will move over to the Music section of your iTunes library.

For simplicity's sake, I first assemble my playlist on my computer in the usual manner, dragging the recently downloaded podcasts and music tracks to the playlist name, and then once I'm finished, I then open the playlist itself, shift-click or command-click each of the podcasts on that list, and then go to the Get Info box and change them as described above all at once.

Frankly, I'm not sure how I would do all of this only on the phone. It's a workaround, but it requires you to be at your computer and I do a corded sync. I've not tested it using wi-fi syncing.

I can just agree. I have the same problem, but with the Video app. I want either the podcast app to reliably show me which ones I watched and how many there are or just show it in the video app like it was.

I don't understand why Apple allows podcasts at all since they pretty clearly don't want people to use them.

I still think the Music App was the best way to listen to podcasts but since that is no longer available the best solution I've found is to make a Smartplaylist for each Podcast (I did this on the computer rather than my iPhone). In this list if you set the Media Kind to 'Podcast' and then the Album to whatever is written in that column for that podcast in itunes. Then set Play to 0 (this will ensure that the list only includes episodes that you haven't yet listened to).

Then on your computer go into each new Playlist and click the top of the column labeled Release Date to sort the oldest first (that way they will play on your iPhone from oldest to newest).

Then connect your iPhone and go to the Podcasts tab- scroll down to Include Episodes from Playlists and select each podcast that you want on your phone.

Each playlist then shows up in the Podcasts App under My Stations.

While I agree with the above sentiments about Apple forcing its users into the Podcasts app (which incidentally has a well-deserved two star rating), I found out I can live with the podcasts app. It turns out that your iTunes playlists show up in the Podcasts app under My Stations > iTunes Playlists

I have a smart playlist that lists all the tracks with a Podcast media type where plays = 0, in chronological order. That has been working pretty well.

The 2x playback speed seems faster than the music player's 2x speed, making it very hard to follow, depending on the speaker's diction and accent (I have to go down to 1.5x for some BBC podcasts...)

Another annoying bug that I'm sure will be fixed at some point is the switching of the audio output, During playback, every time you connect a new headset (wired or bluetooth) the audio output used to be switched to the new headset. This is happening only halfway now: the output to the old headset does stop, the playback does continue, but there is no sound coming from the new headset. The workaround I found was to go back 15 seconds. Doing that would fix the issue.

My suggestion to Apple: Re-name Music to Audio and put the Podcast option back in (just like Audiobooks is allowed to remain there). While you're at it, when a user selects the option to transcode "songs" at a lower bitrate in iTunes, include Podcasts just llke you do Audiobooks.

Within six months I'll be in the smartphone market again and won't buy another iOS device if I can't manage my files with the reasonable flexibility of iOS 6. I'm already saving for a possible iPad to update my old one. I won't if it comes with the current Music/Podcast App. That's about $1,000-$1,500 of disposable income Apple is telling me to spend elsewhere. That doesn't count the impulse buys they aren't getting since I can't even play with their new radio feature. Big dollars and little pennies both.

My issues are below (and are similar to what I've sent via Feedback, which I encourage all to do if you haven't already):

The only reason I haven't updated to iOS 7 is issues with the Music App (inability to delete entire albums or artists on the fly, expanded album view, etc.) and, more significantly, my issues with how it isn't allowed to handle podcasts. I have a lot of experience with the Podcast app. I understand the workarounds listed above and have considered an alternative like Downcast, but so much time is already invested in this that if Apple makes workarounds and supplementary apps necessary, I'd rather seek Apple-free alternatives by voting my dollars elsewhere. And I don't want to do that.

I have an iPod (5g) and an iPad (2g). On the iPod I listen to downloaded podcasts synced from my Mac (since the app no longer allows downloads through it). This is the most stable, reliable and frustration-free experience. I reverted to this method when what follows happened on both devices:

On the iPad I use the Podcast app so that I can stream and not rely on syncing as much. Features like On-The-Go and my stations are nice but the app itself is highly unstable, even after removing, re-installing and resetting the device. The three most common issues I have:

1. After a podcast ends it rarely continues to the next one. The app just hangs for a minute and then crashes.
2. When selecting a podcast (especially while another one is playing) the app stalls and, assuming it doesn't crash, it kicks back to the main list at the very top and I have to scroll down an incredibly lengthy list of recent/on-the-go list to see if I can stumble on where I was.
3. Less common, but most frustratingly, sometimes the app will crash mid-podcast. Fortunately, re-opening it after some time stuck on blank page will lead me back to the podcast where a little before I left off.

Re-installing and restoring the device has not helped, it's only forced me to go through the time-consuming process of organizing things again.

Beyond that, simply managing downloads is unecessarily cumbersome:

1. if I download a podcast for later offline listening the only way to find the specifically downloaded content is to go to Settings->Usage->Podcasts and see the programs that are saved then go back to the app and find them. No workaround will solve this.
2. If I want to delete one of these podcasts, since there is no "Downloaded Podcasts" tab/button, I have to go into settings to find them or, as above, just hunt the long list.
3. The general process of tapping little blue circles to get to submenus that take me to pop-up menus is fine if incredibly inelegant for a company that prides itself on elegance, but considering the instabilities listed above, if I accidentally miss the circle then more than likely I have to deal with hanging and crashing then finding my podcast again.
4. The only way to sync saved Podcasts back to my computer is to "Transfer purchases," which has to be done through iTunes and can't be done through standard syncing.

Then there's managing the podcasts themselves:

1. My Stations is wonderful in theory, but they are difficult to organize since you can't sort or search the menu to add titles to a station. Add to that, if you *do* sort them, the sorting doesn't transfer to additional devices, so sorting can be different on every device even if they all pull the same titles from the cloud.
2. Having many interests, I subscribe to a LOT of podcasts. I do not listen to every episode of every entry, but only the episodes of particular interest. As such, I rely on smart playlists to help keep organized. The Podcast app doesn't support those. Sure, My Stations and On-the-go help, but in addition to the complications listed above, the "Recent" list seems to bundle podcasts (e.g., some NPR programs release two episodes per day and only the most recent one shows up on the list, so it's easy to miss a potentially interesting topic).

As such, my simplest mode of listening to podcasts is through the music app on iOS 6. I created a few smart playlists that give me a logical variety of the most recent files, some of the oldest I've missed, some of the largest/longest (so I can listen to them first and free up more space). There is NO such flexibility in using the Podcast app, even if the My Stations feature is clearly trying to provide an alternative.

Yes, your suggestion is exactly what Apple should do, and I was going to suggest exactly the same thing. Rename "Music" to "Audio", and let the customers manage files any way they want to. Requiring us to conform to arbitrary decisions about how one type of audio file should be used, based on Apple's assumptions regarding its content, shows a total ignorance of (if not an arrogant disinterest in) how people use their products. This is very, very, bad design.

Has anyone heard fron an Apple representative about this yet? The downgrading of a previously functional audio app without explanation is ridiculous.

I can see that my podcasts are on my iPhone somewhere because I have almost no songs and iTunes shows lots of space used up by audio, but does anyone know how I can find them and and play them or change the catagory on the phone as opposed to on iTunes?

James9999 you can only play them on the phone by using the Podcasts app if you have IOS7.

Echoing what others have stated here. I have a 2010 Mini and used to be able to control the play of Podcasts from the dashboard controls of my car. NO LONGER now that I have upgraded to iOS7.0.2. I can see some of the podcasts in the display, but when I select one I get some unrelated music track playing instead. Other podcasts show Music in the selction.

This is TOTALLY BROKEN APPLE! You have destroyed what used to be a great feature, all for the purpose of adding an unnecessary application. At least allow us to control the play of podcasts via vehicle controls as they were before! Not everyone can afford to buy a new car (that might support your new interface) to go along with their iPhone SW upgrade!

It's a major bug to force people to use the iPhone controls while driving when the auto controls worked fine before.

Thank you for the Soundhound tip !!!

It supports playlist (not smart playlist) and sincronize my with itunes !!!

: )😍

Totally agree. This change is totally annoying, why do we even need a podcasts app it works so much better all in the music app like it does on your mac in itunes. Now I can't listen to podcasts whilst running with the Nike app. PLEASE CHANGE THIS.