Seems like every new update to the iOS software, Apple forgets to put the playlists back into the podcasts app. Is it missing again or am I just not finding where they moved them to?
Anyone else having this issue?
iPhone SE, iOS 11
I asked a similar question both here and only Twitter. My Twitter question got the attention of someone at Apple. Today, they called me(!!) and we went through what is going on. I've sent them a number of screenshots and attempted to explain why stations are not the same as playlists. The guy with whom I spoke was not aware of the playlist functionality in iTunes. (Seriously?) I'm told they're (now) aware of the situation and that the issue has been forwarded to engineers for comment.
I'll try to update this, my own thread, and the other threads asking the same question with anything I find out.
FYI, I tried to work around it doing the music thing and stations. Nothing works right. My next step was to (manually) turn each playlist into an audiobook and listen to them in iBooks. Not the best solution, but I think it's the only way to work around it without some intervention from Apple.
In short: this blows.
I asked a similar question both here and only Twitter. My Twitter question got the attention of someone at Apple. Today, they called me(!!) and we went through what is going on. I've sent them a number of screenshots and attempted to explain why stations are not the same as playlists. The guy with whom I spoke was not aware of the playlist functionality in iTunes. (Seriously?) I'm told they're (now) aware of the situation and that the issue has been forwarded to engineers for comment.
I'll try to update this, my own thread, and the other threads asking the same question with anything I find out.
FYI, I tried to work around it doing the music thing and stations. Nothing works right. My next step was to (manually) turn each playlist into an audiobook and listen to them in iBooks. Not the best solution, but I think it's the only way to work around it without some intervention from Apple.
In short: this blows.
Untmdsprt, Playlists became Stations a year ago with iOS 11. In the pic below I have three (Dailies, Multies, Weeklies and Think Tanks) which sync with iTunes Playlists.
Do the Stations in your Podcasts app not sync properly?
You can group Episodes in a Station by Show. You can also manually order those Shows within the Station. In the Station settings (middle pic in the Tutorial below) turn on Group by Podcast. In the Sort By or Play option in Station settings chose Manual Show Order and adjust the order as you wish.
Shame on Apple for ruining a useful feature. I hope they fix it SOON. Stations cannot replace a playlist because you can't control the order in which episodes play. Be sure to tell Apple how you feel about this at Product Feedback - Apple
In the meantime, I have found a workaround for playing my podcast playlists!
Make your playlist as usual on your computer. Give it a distinctive name, and then sync your iphone as usual.
Now, on your iPhone's home screen, pull down from the center of the screen to bring up the search screen. Type the name of your playlist, or a few distinctive letters from it. Your playlist will appear in the search results. Tap it, and it will open in the Podcasts app, and the episodes in the playlist will populate the Up Next list, and they will Autoplay!
Unfortunately, if you pause your playlist and open other apps, or even have your phone sleep for a while, your playlist will again go into hiding, so you will have to do the search all over again.
But at least you will have Autoplay of your carefully crafted playlist for the current session.
I got off the phone with an Apple support person a little while ago. I had to lead him through why stations aren't playlists, but he says the engineers seem to think they are exactly the same. So he urged me to get as many people as possible to report the issue on their feedback page. If enough of us do it, they at least have to admit they were wrong, and hopefully roll back to the feature being present.
Yes, playlists were removed. They were replaced by "Stations". Stations are supposed to sync with "stations" in iTunes. They seem to be undocumented. They assume you are streaming podcasts and are very hard to use with content transferred from iTunes.
All,
The playlists show up in the music app. If you can get the engineers to create a playlist in their iTunes then sync it to a device, they should see that all playlists are going to the music app and not the podcast app. This might help them understand what's going on and why they're not stations.
The support guy I have spent time with on the phone said that in order to be heard, we need to all be using their feedback page. They don't really see any of this, but if you follow this link and explain to them what playlists are and how you've been using them, maybe the cacophony of different voices all saying the same thing will finally get through to them.
They literally think that Stations are the same as playlists, and don't understand what we're talking about. They apparently don't actually use the app. If anyone has screen shots of the old app showing playlists, I wish someone would upload them. 🙂
Yes, am definitely having this issue. I spend a total of 3.5 hours on a mixture of mediums (chat, phone, etc.) with Apple support. After I explained the problem, they proceeded to walking me through all sorts of deletions and re-installations, resetting, upgrading, etc. At one point I even asked, point blank, whether the problem was that the engineers had removed the feature, the ability to play podcast playlists in the podcast app. And I was assured by Apple support that no, the feature was still there. That is, until I got bumped up to an even higher level of tech support, and that person took like 20 minutes and (I believed) contacted the engineers directly, and got the answer that podcast playlists had been explicitly and intentionally removed.
That's today's answer, at least. We'll see if things change over time.
Apple may not add iTunes Playlists back to the Podcasts app. Tedious as it might be, it may be time to convert iTunes podcast playlists to Stations. Then they will show up and autoplay. I know that isn't what you want to hear.
<<I had to lead him through why stations aren't playlists, but he says the engineers seem to think they are exactly the same.>>
Kaa, as you know there are different levels of experience on the Help lines so terminology is very important. The development folks must know they removed some of the features for "Smart Playlists" Clear message transmission may be introduce misunderstanding. They attempted to keep the key features for Basic Playlists, but some are set in a different manner.
www.apple.com/feedback (which I know you have used as well) is still the best way to get your problem to the code writers is the detail that makes it impossible to misinterpret.
As far as I can TELL, there are no apps that sync with iTunes playlists other than ...well, none, now that the Podcasts app has been sabotaged.
I ditched the podcasts app (it crashed for me 40 or so times every day--unusable even if the playlists DID work) and am now using Overcast. Which is an iPhone-only app, but at least it allows me to upload my own files to it, as well, so I can still listen to those very old episodes that are no longer available via the feeds. (I'm paying--free version doesn't allow uploads.)
It's not perfect, but...even if I can't have filet mignon because the butcher only sells gristle-burgers, I can at least have a cube steak. Others have found other solutions that are better for their usage. I just found that I could no longer stand to use the Apple app after they systematically removed every last useful thing from it AND left so many bugs in it that it crashes constantly.
https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/81460
Seems the Apple devs have yet again taken this functionality out of the podcasts app. It's the only reason why I use Apple's version as no other podcast app uses the playlists feature. 😟
I had the same question and was very much "not amused".
But when you go to Library and you select a podcast then you can choose to play or as option play next or play later.
Then you see the play entry on the bottom.
But where is the possibility to see the rest of the queue?
You can see everything in there when you scroll down.
I didn't see that at first but found that after much searching.
You don't, because Stations can't do any of that. Apple doesn't believe anyone listens to podcasts in any way other than the ONE, NARROW WAY they think we should. Because, as is apparent, no one there actually listens to podcasts.
If you find a podcast player that DOES any of that, let us know, please? I'm scouring the Internet looking, and so far: ZILCH.
Are playlists missing from the podcast app again in iOS 11?
