I have the Podcasts app on an iPhone 5S and iTunes 11.1.5. Whenever I sync the phone with iTunes it randomly marks played podcasts as unplayed or part played. I've tried reinstalling the app. It's really annoying. What can I do?
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9)
I'm going to be unhelpful and say I don't know.
The same thing happens to me: I stopped cloud-syncing podcasts between my iPhone and iTunes with the update that forced us all into the Podcasts app. Now I only sync occasionally, by plugging the iPhone in and manually syncing (automatic syncing and wireless syncing were turned off long ago because of all the problems!) and almost inevitably some podcasts that have been played (and theoretically deleted) reappear as partly played or unplayed.
I assume it has something to do with a podcast being played through and then "disappearing" before its play status can be synced/marked - but I haven't found a way to avoid it.
My current "solution" to all the different problems: sync podcasts with my computer as seldom as possible, and when I'm at my desk, listen to podcasts off the iPhone's crummy speakers rather than the computer's good speakers. Which seems absolutely absurd.
Yeah, that's what I'm doing too. It's not really a solution though, as the problem still occurs whenever I do sync with the Mac. It'd be a start if I could compleatly turn off syncing for podcasts, unsubscibe from and delete all podcasts on my Mac, and use the iPhone entirely to manage podcasts. I can't find a viable set of settings that work that way though, and it'd leave me a bit stuck on the odd occasion I find a new podcast that's not on iTunes and that I want to add by URL.
I think I found the answer!
(lease let me know if it's not the right place to put it)
I had the same problem where I would download and sync a whole pile of podcasts in itunes, sync using itunes, get all my favourite podcasts ready for my commute, then leave the house only to find that they were unavailable.
After reading the above I tried something that should fix the problem. here's what I did:
1. uninstall the app
2. reinstall the app
3. download and sync podcasts using itunes and phone cable
4. open the fresh install of app
5. selected "don't sync..." from the inital alert box.
6. double checked podcast app settings to make sure that sync was off, it only kept new podcast, and there was no auto downloading or checking
7. checked to see if podcasts were all there and new (they were)
8. turned off wi-fi and checked again to make sure the stupid cloud wasn't there (it wasn't)
9. crossed my fingers that when I leave the house next I could listen to my favourite shows
Hope this works for you guys!
Good luck.
That's not the same problem. My podcasts are available. In fact they're far too available. They keep becoming available again when they shouldn't be available, 'cause they should have autodeleted once I've listened to them.
Played podcasts are marked unplayed when syncing with iTunes
