Podcast app no longer plays next podcast. App stops playback when a podcast is finished.

I agree with you. I didn't think Apple could ruin the Podcasting app any more than they did with the last major update. However, they have managed to do just that with iOS 11. The app is now unusable when driving, because it stops as soon as an episode is played. Like you, I am wondering if the developers actually use this app, because they appear to have no insight into what users need.

It seems to me that the key functions of this app should include:

1. If the app finishes playing one episode from a subscription, then the app will automatically move to the next item unless I stop it.

2. If I finish playing an episode, then it gets marked as "Played", and no longer appears in the Playlist, unless I specifically put it back in.

3. The "Play Next" list be again made accessible to users (as it was before iOS 10) so that if I choose to create a playlist, I can.

4. I also recommend that the "Browse" icon be removed, and replaced with a "Play Next" icon. IMHO most users won't want to be browsing when they are on the go - but they will often need to compile a "Play Next" list quickly before they jump in the car.

I respect the work done by the person (see above post) who identified a solution - but really, it doesn't need to be that hard. I would have no problem returning to the pre-iOS 10 Podcast app, because it was more user-oriented and intuitive than the last two upgrades have been.

Well it seems that they have removed the 'Oldest to newest' option. But then I saw your comment about adding to a Station. That isn't very clear in the app of how to do it initially.

Overall I think this was an awful update from Apple.

To any Apple employees with the ability to affect change, put this at the top of the list. The app is ruined and now people are having to look at alternatives.

Yes you have to add to the “up next” list when you click on an episode. Evidently whoever designed the update for this app doesn’t listen to podcasts while doing anything else with their body, such as driving, cooking, etc. I just want to set it all up and hit “Play”.

Looking for another provider as well. Trying out Stitcher and it seems a bit better. Overall this update is awful but the podcast part is the worst. Oh, I forgot that I can’t keep my iPad battery charged so that it’s basically no longer a mobile device.

Wow...the upgrade to Apple’s Podcast is amazingly complicated. No auto play and way too complicated to be considered user friendly. It’s a real fail. An user just want to go Into the app and not cycle through options after options to listen to a podcast.

Also what’s with the mega big images - so arkward. We all want a simple to read overview.

Terrible upgrade to popular app.

It works great. Goodbye Podcast, Hello Overcast🙂

Agree with this and hope someone has an answer I am missing.

They still have the "settings" for playing and I used "custom" to be what I want. It doesn't work. What is the point of this entire "settings" area as it doesn't seem to work.

Thanks for the post. Where exactly is that? It seems very clunky. I stumbled into the queue at one point and can't seem to find it again.

I maximize, minimize, tab around, it's a mess. So you can't just pick your favorite podcast and listen to all the episodes without multiple clicks?

I am going to also express my frustration with the new app set up. I too drive over an hour to work each way. So I would like to just play the next unplayed of all my podcasts or next episode in the podcast. Also, I like to listen oldest to newest and that seems not to be an option any longer.

Can I switch back to iOS 10

They've enforced safety features for txting and driving, but now someone's going to get killed trying to queue up the next podcast while driving - something that never needed to be done before. People listen to Podcasts while driving - duh - why did they remove such basic functionality? The amount of software entropy going on these days is incredible. It's just getting worse and worse all the time. Must be based on some sort of need to change for change's sake. Get your **** together Apple. You're better than this.

I feel you. What is the difference between Keep Up Next and Clear Up Next? The Podcasts and the Music apps are definitely not user friendly. The same song keeps repeating in the Music app and I haven’t pressed the repeat button yet-because I don’t even know where to find it. I always hoped Podcasts will one day be reasonable-a new Podcasts gets uploaded I it will be easier to play chronologically. Perhaps even adding repeat, especially, if you sleep while it’s playing. I am impressed how Apple made it even worse😳 Eish!!

Thanks for this. This seems the best work around for now without downloading yet another app to my phone. I’ve set it up with one podcast for now; if it works like we all want it to, I guess I’ll set it up for the others. But this seems like two giant steps backward.

I concur with everything above - no solutions I'm afraid. I managed to set it up to auto play, but then it started playing all the historical stuff. Might try pocket casts, as recommended by crawfishptc

I’m so tired of this new “update” to iOS 11. Sure there are some cool new features but making the old stuff suck is not an upgrade. I miss back when steve jobs used to create updates that were actually better than the previous version. This is just trash.

Thanks, I was pulling my hair out as I didn't have an "Edit" option under library. Fortunately some other person suggested somewhere to add an episode to "Play Later" by going to "Listen Now", selecting a podcast, pressing "..." and then Play Later. With that done, when I go back to Library the word 'Edit' is now where previously it showed 'sort'! And no, I Don't know where 'sort' has gone!

And now I find there's another problem. When playing podcasts via Bluetooth in my car, I cannot receive phone calls. The phone rings in the car entertainment system, but I can neither answer nor hear the caller. Another example of Apple app entropy?