Does updating to iOS 8 fix Podcast app crash on start?

I'm having the same problem. It started a couple days ago, 9/30. I tap on the podcasts app and it barely flashes the screen before it just closes and goes back to the home screen. I've tried resetting my phone (iPhone 4) with the homebutton/power button combo and powering off with the power button, too. I've read how back in June people had this problem and turning on Airplane mode worked, but that hasnt worked for me. This is very frustrating! I've also synced it and updated all my apps, too. I'm still on iOS 7 (7.0.4 to be exact). I havent bothered updating beyond that because my phone doesnt have much space left and I figured it wasn't worth it since the phone is kind of old.Anyone have any ideas on what to do(besides restoring the phone)?

Thanks for the reply. Something else I read made it sound as if there was a problem with iCloud or whatever and that is what was causing the podcasts app to crash. Again, this is what I read regarding the June issue. But I'm not so sure if that's the case because I have an iPad and everything on it seems to be working just fine, podcasts app and all. It's been 3 days now and it's still crashing.

Well, I thought I figured out what the problem was. I noticed there were two podcasts I had downloaded 9/29/2014 (which is around the time the podcasts app stopped working) and even though I thought I deleted them, I noticed today that they keep reappearing on my iphone when I look at the list in itunes. After many unsuccessful attempts to delete them, they kept coming back after each sync. Well, I FINALLY deleted them (or so I thought, who knows) and I noticed a whole bunch of other podcasts disappeared as well(I did a Spotlight search before and after this final delete) and I thought hooray, those phantom podcasts must have been the reason my podcatss app was crashing this last week and they're gone now. BUT, I just tried starting it again on my iphone and it STILL CRASHED!!! I'm starting to believe there's not hope. I may just have to restore this **** thing! Admittedly, I haven't tried rebooting the phone since this last sync, or plugging it into my computer again to see if those phantoms podcasts return, but it's late and I'm just so sick of it all.

I had the same problem with iPhone 4S updating on iOS 8.02.

Podcast App doesn't crash in airplane mode. Im my case Podcast App fixed itself by switching several times to airplane mode and starting the app and after ten seconds disabeling the airplane mode. Good luck