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Level 1

13 points

Podcast episodes failing to download - IOS 9

Hi all,

Since upgrading to IOS 9 I've been experiencing some strange behaviour on the Podcast app. I subscribe to numerous podcasts and tend to listen to them in chronological order on a custom playlist.

In one of the Podcasts, some of the episodes are failing to download. They are listed in the playlist with a cloud icon - I can play those episodes by streaming them, but they refuse to actually download. Whenever I try to download it, the download icon appears and seems to work until it reaches the 100% mark - then the download icon disappears and the cloud symbol remains. There's no error message, it just fails. No matter how many times I try to download these episodes they all fail.

Even more strange is that the last 3 episodes of the podcast in question (Christian O' Connell show - Absolute Radio) all failed, but the final episode seemed to have overwritten an episode from over a week ago. Let me elaborate - whilst listening to my Unplayed episodes playlist the episode of that podcast, which was for the 14th September, actually played the episode that was released yesterday (24th September) - which was one of the 3 podcasts that had failed to download over the last 3 days. I wondered if it was the fault of the provider, but it was fine in iTunes and downloaded and worked fine with alternative podcast apps.

I assumed that perhaps the podcast app had got its knickers in a twist and unsubscribed then deleted the Podcast and then re-subscribed, but there are still issues with downloads.

I've tried restarting the iPhone, but the problems still exist. This is driving me crazy, has anyone else encountered this issue? Has anyone got a suggestion to solve it?

Thanks in advance,

Simon.

iPhone 5, iOS 8.4.1

Posted on Sep 25, 2015 8:23 AM

Best reply

Singing-monkey

Level 1

5 points

Posted on Sep 26, 2015 4:55 AM

HI there I have exactly the same problem but with a different podcast it's driving me crazy too

View in context

28 replies

Apr 4, 2016 2:35 AM in response to andrii_ch

Latest software upgrade to 9.3.1 rectified this issue for me

Apr 4, 2016 1:32 PM in response to sjlawton

NNot sure why this worked for me, but in the overall settings app, scroll past general settings, wallpaper, etc. until you get to podcasts. Click on podcasts and enable "Backgound App Refresh".

Apr 12, 2016 10:03 AM in response to dhansonca

I'm having the same issues. I can only listen to the podcasts when connected to wifi or cellular data. I can't play podcasts on airplane mode. What is the cloud symbol on the left of the podcast info? I select download episode and it goes through the process but fails to actually download. I think this issue has happened with the iOS 9.3.1 update. Can anyone help?

mg20133

Level 1

4 points

Apr 18, 2016 5:02 PM in response to Tmbuescher

Cheers. Tried a few fixes before I read yours but they didn't work. Clicking that worked. Not sure if this will affect my cellular data but happy that my Podcasts are no longer grey ( I did unsubscribe and resubscribe, redownload the Pods ( 2 ) that weren't working of the 15 or so that I subscribe to. Thanks! Been weeks of frustration!

baob

Level 1

8 points

Apr 22, 2016 5:16 AM in response to aussiesms

"I select download episode and it goes through the process but fails to actually download. I think this issue has happened with the iOS 9.3.1 update. "
Same thing here with the exception that I'm on IOS 9.2.1. I was wondering if 9.3.1 cured it and you've answered that for me.

I would still like apple to come up with a solution.

May 24, 2016 7:37 AM in response to baob

Any update for this. Set all the settings correctly but still need to open the app to get new episodes to download.

Jun 5, 2016 8:09 AM in response to sjlawton

Greetings,

im sorry that this sounds so sim but it worked for me.

I Tried a lot of different fixes but powering down the phone and restarting it worked for me. Episodes are downloading aand the cloud icons are disappearing.

im sure you've already tried this but just wanted to say it worked for me.

Jun 6, 2016 6:32 AM in response to sjlawton

I'm having this same problem. I have a half dozen podcasts that show a cloud symbol. When I try to sync nothing happens. When I try to download them they just hang in limbo for days saying "waiting". When I try to save them to my ipod. nothing happens. It's bad enough that the podcast app ***** and is confusing, but this is ridiculous. Apple, fix your POS podcast service.

lenlira

Level 1

4 points

Jun 6, 2016 8:45 PM in response to ellwilson155

I Was having this problem, but it was fixed with the latest software update. Check your IOS update status.

MinniMaz

Level 1

8 points

Aug 27, 2016 5:07 AM in response to sjlawton

I was having the same issue. I fixed this by signing out of iCloud. This is a pain because I have a number of contacts stored up there. Not too familiar with iCloud, don't like it. It keeps doing weired stuff like.

Oct 27, 2016 1:43 PM in response to Treadwell22

How simple! This took care of it for me. I clicked on the cloud and all of them started (and finished) their downloads. Thank you! Someone replying to Treadwell 22 had posted this fix.

kjoh25

Level 1

4 points

Oct 28, 2016 11:30 PM in response to sjlawton

Hi there,

I have the same issue my podcasts stopped downloading suddenly (only stuck at preparing to download) after the latest update. I've tried restarting the phone but I hit the same problem.

The only way that seems to work is by canceling the download then click download again.

P.S.

Podcast app seems to have so many issues lately and no update seems to be coming. I wish they bring it back to the music app again.

parvie

Level 1

8 points

Aug 6, 2017 7:58 AM in response to Beach Ball Blues

Thank you, this worked for me.

Podcast episodes failing to download - IOS 9