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.
The best app I've found so far is Overcast, and even it isn't as powerful as PlayLists were, but I have to do only a minimum amount of rearranging using it. One nice thing about it is it integrates with Apple CarPlay.
Seems that Apple still hasn't added the playlists features back yet. I've just checked my iPad that has the new os. Guess I'll be keeping my iPhone on iOS 10 for the foreseeable future.
Be sure to write this up at Product Feedback - Apple
I have an Automation script that generates my Daily Listening podcast playlist. That still works, but now I can't sync that playlist to my device, which is where I do my listening. Completely breaks podcasts for me.
I don't think Apple understand how people actually listen to podcasts.
The Doctor
Exactly. This feature has become more and more difficult to use with each iteration of the app, and now it's gone. I download and manage my podcasts on my computer, and build my driving playlists there. With the way the app is now, it's a huge pain, and worse if you're trying to add an older episode.
I'm not interested in having a touchy feely relationship with my phone. I just want to plug in my podcasts and go.
Also, with the new update, my 5s has pretty much gone to crap. If this feature doesn't come back soon, I don't know if the new one is going to have an apple on the back.
Just left feedback. Pointed out to them that my podcast playlist is showing up as an empty playlist in the Music App. Emphasized that Stations are not the same as Playlists, and why I use a Playlist. BTW, how do you go back to IOS 10?
Having an hour to kill, I followed your instructions with only one exception: I set "Only Download on Wi-Fi" to ON.
The results are close, but not the same as my podcast playlist. My playlist is sorted by Date Added, and I manually download each episode in the order which I want to listen.
The station is almost in that order, but not always: this is probably due to having to rely on the podcaster setting the metadata correctly. Sometimes 'part 2' of an episode will appear in the list before 'part 1', so I've got to manually edit the order of the episodes in the station list.
Also, adding a new 'show' does not add its episodes to the end of the station, where I would expect a 'new' (to me) episode to appear. Instead, 'old' episodes (but new to me) are placed at the top of the station. Once again, I've got to manually edit the order of the episodes in the station list.
And then I've got two very eclectic podcasts, which present episodes of differing subjects. I don't want to download all of the episodes; I want to download only those in which I'm interested. With my playlist, that's easy: I can ignore the unwanted episodes. But with the station, I've got to manually delete the episodes that I don't want, or they'll automatically play.
Selecting the play order when downloading a podcast in iTunes is far easier than automatically downloading podcasts on my iPhone and then manually reordering the episodes.
Stations ≠ Playlists.
You can't convert podcast playlists to stations. They don't work the same way. I use a combination of playlists and smart playlists to organize my podcasts. It lets me listen to a few playlists from one list, then switch to another one without touching my phone. I can't do that with stations. A station will pull in EVERY unplayed podcast on the list. It requires too much manual input to try to use stations. Someone will try to do that while driving and crash.
Doc
Before long travel or car rides, I'm compiling an individual podcast playlist in iTunes on my PC and then sync it with my iPod Touch or iPhone. The playlists are the only reason for me to use an iPhone. Without having this I could use any Android device.
I had contact Apple support on Twitter too, and they were less than helpful. Makes me wonder if their tech support actually uses the products. I even sent them screen shots. They actually had the nerve to tell me that I couldn't downgrade which I did.
My phone is back on iOS 10 until this mess gets sorted out. My iPad is on iOS 11 so I can keep an on it. Thanks for the heads up and getting the engineers to finally listen.
I have several smart playlists in iTunes that pull up the least recent unplayed podcast for each of a number of favorite podcasts. Some of the shorter podcasts pull up more than one unplayed podcast so I can catch up if I fall behind.
My Automator runs a script that clears a manual playlist, then re-fills it with the contents of the smart playlists in a particular order. At the end I drop in about 12 hours of the oldest unplayed podcasts I've got.
Every day, I can start my podcasting day with MacOS Ken, Talking on my morning Walk, and other favorites, and then move on to podcast novels in progress.
If you want more detail, I can post screenshots of the automator and the AppleScript that clears the playlist.
The Doctor
I can only add my rage and frustration to this thread. Every time Apple updates the Podcast app, they drop playlist support. The ONLY way I listen to podcasts is through a playlist synced to my iPhone. Apple seems to think everyone has perfect wi-fi coverage and 4G networking 100% of the time. I do NOT want to stream podcasts.
You have to change the podcast to music format. Use the Get Info > Options and change it. Then it will show up in the music app on your phone, but it will also move the podcast to the music section of iTunes in your computer, so if you want to keep it as a podcast, you'll have to change it back. It's clumsy and inconvenient but somewhat functional, hello Windows 1992.
No. I'm sorry to contradict, but under Stations in the last version of the app were the iTunes Playlists. I've been using it for months, I know what I'm talking about. They may THINK they've called Playlists "Stations," but in iTunes there are BOTH, and BOTH have been synced to the phone for as long as I've had my phone. Until Friday night when I made the mistake of upgrading to iOS 11.
Untmdsprt and I -- and the hundreds of other people who are complaining -- aren't imagining things, and we are NOT mistaken. We know the difference between stations and playlists.
Let me chime in with one more datapoint here. This issue with podcast playlists showing up in the music app.. but then being empty because the content of the playlist is podcast and not music.. is an issue that I've been reporting to Apple for at least the past three years now, and have attempted no fewer than half a dozen times with different Apple support people to resolve. No one has any clue how to fix it.
Are playlists missing from the podcast app again in iOS 11?
