Where did iTunes (podcast) Playlists go in iOS 11?

It's even more disappointing since the word podcast was crated as a combination of Apple's "iPod" and "broadcast". Apple's original implementation of podcasts provided users with an agile and easy to manage way to organise automated playlists that easily let users determine the play order in as many ways as they chose. In fact it was Apple's implementation of this and the easy management between iTunes and iPods (and later iPhones and all iOS devices) that made podcasts popular in the first place.

But for some reason, Apple has decided to "improve" the user experience by:

1. Introducing the "Podcast" app which removed the functionality of podcast playlists from the music app and gave users two apps to fiddle with rather than the one simplified platform. I used to flip between music and podcasts seamlessly from the original music app, but now it's a fiddle, and iPhones with only 4 positions on the dock bar means you have to always go to a home screen to switch between podcasts and music.

2. In a later version of iTunes, Apple removed the ability to play podcast playlists as playlists - you can only play a playlist by selecting a single podcast which stops when finished. I have no idea how this improved the user experience???

3. While you can still create podcast playlists in iTunes, in a later version iTunes apple changed the keyword lists of podcast assets, but did not change the corresponding options on the playlist fields. For example, the keyword "author" has been added to the podcast metadata files, but can you find this field in the iTunes playlist sort fields? Nope. Another fail from Apple.

4. And now with iOS 11 Apple have crippled the playlist completely and expect users to create stations which do not enable users to control individual feeds by any number of parameters in any way close to the way playlists did.

I believe that this will become a classic business school case study of how Apple took a great and popular product and broke it by implementing a whole series of unpopular and indeed unnecessary fixes.

What a shame to be mourning the loss of a great platform.

p.s. Another Apple iOS fail was removing app management from iTunes. Now users who manage a whole bunch of iOS devices (like me with 10 in the household) need to fiddle with each individual device rather than a simple plug into the master iTunes to manage the apps on those devices. Talk about take simplicity and make it complicated. Steve Jobs must be spinning in his grave!

Add my name to list of folks who don't like the new iOS 11 Podcast app. I subscribe to over 50 podcasts in iTunes on my Mac and create playlists there with what I'd like to listen to over the next week while I'm driving. With that many podcasts, I need iTunes to manage the work; I can't do it in iOS. I then sync those playlists to my iPhone and iPad. I used to be able to open the podcasts app in iOS and choose a playlist and off I'd go. Can't do that anymore so I'm trying to find an alternative to the podcast app. I don't really need a "podcast" app - all I ever do with the app is choose a playlist and press play - I don't need the iOS app to do anything 'podcast' related, no downloading or checking for new episodes - just play a playlist. Is there an iOS app out there that can see playlists created in iTunes on Mac that contain podcasts and play them? Simple enough request? Fingers crossed.

I can't find mine at all by searching. :-( Interestingly, it does appear as a playlist under "Music" - but there is nothing in is (because I had only loaded podcasts, not music)

AHA!!!!!! So they ARE still being synced to the ****** phone!

PhoneJoe, will you go to the feedback page and share that? I'm going to call the guy that I've been in touch with in support and tell him this, as well. I get the distinct impression that they all think we're insane.

HarryMeissner, read the couple of entries above yours. Someone posted a "workaround" and I'm using it right now. Also, follow the link I give above and make some feedback to Apple about this issue. The more times they hear it, the closer they'll listen.

Mine is weird. It'll find 'em one time, and then I search for the SAME string again, and it can't see it. The search feature favors everything else above playlists, apparently. But when it DOES find them, it works just like it used to before they purposefully handicapped the app.

Ok, this one is my last straw with Apple.
10 years of iPhones and the batter seems to suck just as bad as the first iPhone.
Not giving an option for a wired headset on the iPhone 7 should have been my queue
... the wireless headset ***** almost as bad as the phone. Now it seems that every time
I update my phone, I lose a RATIONAL convenience. I, for one, am done.

I have left irritated feedback; thanks for the link.

I appreciate the detailed information posted here but it just does not work. My iPhone does not find my playlist even 30% of the time. It's 0%. I'm stuck if I want to continue to use the Podcasts app. Yes I am using "phone search" ("spotlight") and not the search function in Podcasts. The iPhone helpfully suggests searching on the web or in Maps.

Google is definitely less than optimal, but maybe the lesser of the two. Android phone, here I come.

A related missing feature in Podcasts: also concerns driving while listening-- used to be that if the iPhone was hooked up to power the screen would stay "live" and would wake to a screen touch-- so you could basically treat your podcast playlist like a car radio, because it would play episodes without stopping, AND you could easily change volume or speed, skip ahead, whatever. Now the phone goes into sleep mode and you need to interact with it to get it to wake up-- much less safe than before.

Would you mind coming back and giving us a quick-and-dirty review of playlists once you've done that? I'm using Overcast, but the 'smart' playlists are actually pretty stupid, so I'm looking for something that has actual smart playlists.

Steve Davidson wrote:

I don’t recall the price (funny that the App Store doesn’t show it once you have purchased something) but it couldn’t have been much more than a cup of coffee — probably worth the investment just to find out.

It appears to be $2.99. (I hate that about the App Store.)

Does everything in this program have to be completely reinvented? Why ruin something that was working just fine. If it's not broke don't mess with it. Whoever dicked this up should be held to the fire and put on notice for shoddy work, unfamiliarity with the basic functionality of iTunes and reassigned to something no one cares about. They seem more interested in creating new emojis. Apple please don't try to over engineer what already works. Because you have just made one of your most used and loved programs a nightmare to navigate. Your loyal base has just been kicked in the nuts. Shame Shame Shame on you.

I too am devastated to discover all my podcast playlists are no longer available after updating to iOS 11 yesterday. If I had known this would happen, I would have stayed on Version 10. Apple, please restore this function as I rely on these lists to help me manage a chronic illness. Very, very disappointed and unhappy!!!! Hope all other people affected complain loudly too. Any help in restoring this function will be greatly appreciated. I have read the previous replies and not happy at having to install an extra app from a 3rd party to help restore these playlists. It should be a standard part of the Apple podcast app.

This has happened a few times in the past with a major release. I don't think the engineers who code the podcast app actually use the playlists. I actually find them very useful. If this isn't fixed, I'll have to stop using the app all together.