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What does the grey dot next to a podcast mean?

I have listened to podcasts on my iPad and now I have an iPhone I'd like to listen to them on my iPhone 6S instead (using iOS 9.1)


In the iphone Podcasts iOS app, looking through the feed of a subscribed podcast, some of the episodes had a blue dot next to them, which I think means unplayed (and downloaded onto my iPhone). Other episodes had no dot and some had a grey dot. All the podcasts with no dot or a grey dot, also have the cloud icon, which I think means they are not stored on my iPhone but are online.


what does the grey dot mean? what does no dot mean?

iPhone 6s, iOS 9.0.2, 64GB, Silver

Posted on Oct 26, 2015 7:23 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 15, 2016 9:44 PM

Cloud = not stored on the device

No cloud = stored on the device


Blue dot = on your "My Episodes" list, unplayed

Blue half-dot = on your "My Episodes" list, left the episode in the middle of it (this appears regardless you finished the episode previously - you finish an episode, restart it, leave it in the middle, then you get the half-dot)


Grey dot = same as Blue dot but NOT on your "My Episodes" list

Grey half dot = same as Blue half-dot but NOT on your "My Episodes" list


So the only difference between Blue and Grey seems to be whether or not it is on My Episodes.


This took me a while to figure out. It is infuriating that Apple seems to deliberately avoid publishing guidelines / help menu / user manual for their software products. A description and explanation of the user interface is really basic, isn't it? Why should anybody spend any time trying to "figure out" "what that grey dot means" when the information can be made so simply readily available by the company?

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 15, 2016 9:44 PM in response to emotionalbuggage

Cloud = not stored on the device

No cloud = stored on the device


Blue dot = on your "My Episodes" list, unplayed

Blue half-dot = on your "My Episodes" list, left the episode in the middle of it (this appears regardless you finished the episode previously - you finish an episode, restart it, leave it in the middle, then you get the half-dot)


Grey dot = same as Blue dot but NOT on your "My Episodes" list

Grey half dot = same as Blue half-dot but NOT on your "My Episodes" list


So the only difference between Blue and Grey seems to be whether or not it is on My Episodes.


This took me a while to figure out. It is infuriating that Apple seems to deliberately avoid publishing guidelines / help menu / user manual for their software products. A description and explanation of the user interface is really basic, isn't it? Why should anybody spend any time trying to "figure out" "what that grey dot means" when the information can be made so simply readily available by the company?

What does the grey dot next to a podcast mean?

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