iOS 11 podcast autoplay

Agreed. You said it better than me. Haven’t listened to many podcasts either but someone recommended an app called Overcast. Similar to Podcast but not the same. Working on using it when I have the time to add my stations and sort through my played and unplayed

Cyberbiker's fix mentions entering the Stations option in your Library in order to change settings for continuous play...... I don't have ANYTHING in the iOS 11Podcast Player mentioning "Stations" anymore.

"Shows " simply replaces "Podcasts" for no good reason, which is stupid, because the word "podcast" is so much more specific and understandable, like how CD's aren't called "records". Anyway, " Shows" doesn't eventually lead to an option to set up nor modify a "Station" so, again, how are you guys modifying settings in Stations anymore in iOS 11?

And BTW Apple, change just for change's sake is stupid and such a waste of the end-user's time. If I wanted a GUI that required an endless learning curve and looked like dog vomit, I'd go with Windows or Android. I switched platforms because your stuff USED to just make sense and USED to just work. This version is so slow and glitchy it makes me think a cheaper throw-away Korean phone maybe IS the way to go. I'd still be annoyed, but there would be an extra $200 or so in my bank account.

Cyberbiker, how do you create a Station in the first place? THAT'S what's not clear anymore. I never set up any stations previously, though it USED to be clear how to do that, so again, how do you set up a Station?

And, sure, things change as they progress, but, have you gotten into any cars lately where the gas and brake pedals were put in some clever new arrangement? How'd you like the brake and clutch levers on your bike put under the seat? These changes to Podcast Player weren't subtle or gradual. It's now like I have to turn four levers and throw salt over my left shoulder just to turn on the faucet. It's pointlessly complicated. There are single podcasts now that are over ten years old and have THOUSANDS of episodes, so, it was a simple thing to subscribe, set the order of play you wanted, and listen away completely uninterrupted for hours and hours. What didn't the busy busy key strokers at Apple not like about that?

Even though I think this is just a total misjudgement by Apple in making the app more complex than it needs to be, I have wandered around in the new version to find out how to create stations. On the Library screen, click on the 'Edit' link in the top right hand corner. One of the options there is to create a 'New station'. You give it a name, and then you can select which podcast from your download sets go into it - I just gave it the same name as the series I wanted in there, and then got it to transfer the podcasts from that series into it. You can edit to select how many episodes you want transferred across; 'Default' is the most recent, but you can just most recent 2, or 3 or 5 or 10 episodes, or 'all episodes'. You can select how you want them displayed (oldest to newest or vice versa). Each station also has a 'settings' link that allows you to make a number of choices, including the play order and whether to show all episodes or just unplayed ones etc.

So you can still operate in the apple system, but it is just not intuitive and it's more work - why do I need to set up a station separate from subscribing to the podcast where that series sits in my Library (under 'Shows'); why not just link the controls such as play order, with the Show, rather than with something extra that you have to set up. You get duplicate systems, and need to set up a station for every subscription you have. Have the Apple guys ever heard of ergonomics and UX testing.

I am also thinking about changing platform. Apple used to be the best, now it is only the most expensive. One of my companies MacBook failed because of a cheaply made hard disk cable. The iMacs are also degrading after the update.

On my public iPad and iCloud are all over sudden 700 of my private photos. I do not know how to eliminate the photo folder from the iCloud. This caused me a lot of trouble....

I also wrote to them. They may hopefully change it again, but when version 13.x comes out they will screw it up again, as they have done so in the past.

Just imagine you go in the Gym and exercise for an hour and you must restart 30 times a 2 minute podcast.

And now I realize Apple has opened for ads in Podcaster. Every other episode ends (or begins) with an ad in native language. Is this a way to introduce one free - ad sponsored - and one paid - without ads?

I agree - the update makes Apple Podcast much less useful. As a runner, I cannot keep fiddling with an app while in the middle of a 10 mile run. I will also look for another app for playing podcasts.

Dear all

I was also struggling and very much disappointed by the ios 11 version because of this autoplay issue, listening to several episodes in a raw in my car or when doing sports.

But I think that I figured out how to reproduce the autoplay.

1. I created a new station in the library and named it autoplay unread

2. In the config of this station, I included all podcasts, all episodes and only the unread ones and only the audio

3. Then the autoplay works as long as you stay in the library tab on the page of this station

By the way, i did a second one with the video unread podcats when I am at home.

I hope it can help some of you

Vince

Merci Vince,

this reminds me of the "Flintstones Family", their technology worked also. It works but you must shuffle over your stuff. It is like in the beginning of the computers. We have paid double the price, as for a pad from Apples competitor. Therefore we should expect getting quality, and not degrading after each update. It looks like Apple is more occupied with hiding tax money than developing good software.

this answer doesn't help! When Im in the Station Screen there is no edit button in the upper right. Only in the Library screen.
Further, before the update - if Podcast was playing - it continued to play even when the screen went to sleep. Now when the screen goes to sleep the podcast stops playing. Anyone having this issue?

You do seem to be having difficulties and I don't have an answer. Now that I have, under sufferance, set up a station for each of the series I listen to, I am having no issues and it works just like it did before the recent poor quality update by Apple. But I certainly have an Edit button in the Stations screen and my podcasts don't stop when the phone goes to sleep. So your situation is strange. Perhaps just shut your phone completely down and start it up again. The old trick with computers - try turning it off and on again.

Well, actually , that helped alot! just shut it off and it came back on. Still odd that I have no edit button in the upper right or as many users here have done - no option to create a new station - other than adding a url.
Thanks for the help!

I’ve been an Apple user, exclusively, for 20 years. Since Jobs died, Apple has not found another real-world, gut checking failsafe to replace him. It seems irrelevant to decision makers at Apple that a UI/UX element is either useful/insightful or cumbersome/extraneous. Changes are made to the OS for the sake of change itself.

Of course, coders, developers, marketing teams, and executives are not going to have enough work to keep their jobs if they are not creating issues for them to fix in the next release, or releasing updates that make older models lose functionality and run more slowly. But at this point, planned obsolescence is developing into a cancer in the Apple ecosystem. Complaining on tech review sites or in Apple forums is increasingly feeling like yelling into the void. I’ve resigned myself to the realization that the only way, as a consumer, I can hope to effect positive change in the culture at Apple is to vote with my feet. My next purchase is going to be an Android phone.

In the next release, you won’t be able to enable auto-play on podcasts unless you group “stations” into “networks.” I know it sounds cumbersome, but you’ll really have to give it a serious try before judging this feature, let alone the podcast app as a whole, on the merits of the interface alone. Once you learn the new layers they’ve added to the decision tree, I think many will become happy with the changes.

Of course, they’ll fix the “networks” feature in a future update, but then require you to include the new cover sheet with your TPS report before you can listen to your podcasts. Just wait, it’ll be announced at the next Keynote.