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iOS9 upgrade has ruined Apple's Podcast Player

The perfectly serviceable Apple podcast player has been ruined by the upgrade. The on-the-go facility has gone, replaced by a less useful, less stable and less intuitive 'up-next' function. It's more difficult to edit, and less easy to scrutinise (for example, it doesn't show the length of the stacked list). The 'up-next' list is lost if you accidentally launch an episode that's not on your list, and there's much too much text accompanying the episodes (I thought that was what the i button was for).


If you are a podcast user, save yourself a lot of hassle and DON'T INSTALL iOS 9 until the inevitable patch comes out. That this was allowed to be published suggests tApple's design genius doesn't extend to its own software.

iPhone 6, iOS 9

Posted on Sep 17, 2015 1:18 PM

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21 replies

Nov 22, 2015 2:23 AM in response to Iwd1959

I absolutely LOATHE the update on iOS9 for podcasts.

The layout is crap (the currently playing podcast is in a small bar at the bottom of the screen.

The turn off "When Current Episode Ends" doesn't work if you navigate to ANYTHING else in the iPod and sometimes it doesn't even work if you don't navigate anywhere else while the podcast is playing. When that happens I have to go back through all of my subs and reset the episodes I've missed (because I fell asleep) and mark them as 'Unplayed'.

And some episodes just WON'T download at all. The come from the same subscription from which other episodes download without any problem. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. Doesn't matter how many times I select "Download this episode" the progress indicator shows it's downloading until the circle is complete, then the circle fades and there's no episode there!

Apple - you've really screwed up the player; it used to work tolerably well. Now I feel like putting a lump hammer through my iPod sometimes.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE wind back this absolutely idiotic update that's made the podcast player the absolute worst feature of my iPod.

Dec 6, 2015 6:27 PM in response to Iwd1959

Yes, this app is ruined. It doesn't even offer a simple to use Playlist, which is such a fundamental feature of a podcast player.


There are four main problems with this app.


  1. 1 Wrong name - Playlists are called Stations, which is just plain wrong. The role of a Station (i.e. BBC Comedy) is to broadcast (or narrowcast) content. It is not a Playlist. A Playlist should be able to hold content from DIFFERENT Stations.
  2. 2 Difficult to use - To create a Playlist, you first have to create a ‘Station’, and then fill this Station with all your content, and then weed out which episodes you want to keep or not. It also restricts the type of episodes you can put in there, as Lost in Asia has pointed in various threads.
  3. 3 Menu bar omission -There is no Playlists option in the bottom menu bar – which is the logical place for it. Instead, there are icons for ‘Featured’ and ‘Top Charts’, which surely can’t be as important as a critical function like Playlists.
  4. 4 No integration - There is no integration between the Podcast playlists (called stations) and the iTunes Playlists – and they both have different menu navigation systems, with conflicting terms like 'clear' and 'delete'.


May I respectfully suggest to Apple that this Podcasts app should be redesigned from the ground up. Because it is not fit for purpose.


Indeed, the customer feedback on the Apple Podcast app is now so bad, that Apple no longer allows people to post feedback on it in the iTunes store. See for yourself by visiting the iTunes store.


https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/podcasts/id525463029?mt=8


Apple, please fix this App ASAP. You are a brilliant company with fabulous products - you can do better than this.

Aug 28, 2016 3:34 PM in response to Iwd1959

I need to be able to, on my iPad Air, make a playlist (used to be the 'On the Go' station) where I can put in the INDIVIDUAL episodes from a variety of podcasts and arrange the order how I like so I can listen to them in the car. This seems to be impossible now with this latest "upgrade". Apple, why do you keep making your products worse and worse?

iOS9 upgrade has ruined Apple's Podcast Player

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