Podcasts app randomly stops playing

This has begun happening on my iPad Pro running iOS 9.3.5. I haven't updated the OS in quite a while, so it's definitely not caused by an update to that. It started about 3-4 days ago, and it happens around maybe 50% of the time I listen to a podcast. It won't even remember where it left off, it just finished the podcast episode completely and moves it to the "To be deleted" section.

It's incredibly annoying.

HI there Adam,

If I understand correctly your Podcasts app will just randomly stop playing your podcasts for no reason. I would start by quitting the Podcasts, and the Settings apps:

Force an app to close in iOS

1. Press the Home button two times quickly. You'll see small previews of your recently used apps.
2. Swipe left to find the app you want to close.
3. Swipe up on the app's preview to close it.

When you have done that restart the device and test the issue again:

iOS: Turning off and on (restarting) and resetting

If the issue persists, backup your device to iTunes, then restore it as new and verify that it works.

How to erase your iOS device and then set it up as a new device or restore it from backups

If it does, then restore your backup to either verify it still works and the software just needed reinstalled, or isolate the issue to the backup file itself.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

I've done everything you have mentioned in your post, Sterling. In sequence. After each step, there was no material improvement in how the app performs, and has likely gotten worse. I miss the stand alone podcasts app I had before 9.2.1 came along. What do you suggest. I operate an iPhone 5. Thanks

I've had this problem since mid ios8 and it's not limited to podcasts. I get the same issue with the music app and Audible. I'm using a iphone 5s. I've done factory reset and restore twice with no fix.

I know nothing about programming, but my impression is that the os is force-quitting the app not realizing that the app is currently playing audio. When you dig the phone out of your pocket and double-click the home button the app shows as still running, but when you switch to it the app behaves as if you just launched it from scratch (doesn't remember that it was just playing).

This happens most commonly when the phone is locked and I receive a tweet that posts to the notification screen. I don't have any haptic or audible notifications set for tweets. My next experiment will be to uninstall twitter I guess.

Same thing happening on my iPhone 6S+ - and it's not a sudden stop, more of a quick fade out. My first thought was I had it set somewhere to stop when iPhone is shaken - does this make sense? I usually have the iPhone in my pocket when it happens.

It has been happen to me for sometime (i.e. since iOS 8 days at least), the thing that makes the time when this might happen bigger is if I close the app and open it again but again, it is only then a matter of time before it happens again. I too have done the backup and reset process (with and without restores) a few times with no effect on the outcome.

My podcasts app is pretty much so always open (listen to it in the car and pretty much so the whole work day). When it happens it is on a desk and not moving so it's not the shake to change function causing the problem. The observation I've made is that when it does happen I unlock my phone > double tap home > bring up the podcasts app > when the app comes up it reloads the screen as if you were loading the app (i.e. not entering an app that is already running) whereby the list of podcasts gets reloaded and after a second or 2 the podcast I was listening to is now loaded in the thin "now playing" bar at the bottom of the screen, this would seem to indicate to me that the process crashed.

EDIT: as per @brainer888's response, it's more of a fade out and not just a sudden stop. The same effect happens when you close either of music or a podcast while something is playing.