Apple Investigating 'Problem' With Podcasts App That Began April 29 [Now Resolved]

[mmajeski06]

If the same team is working on Apple Music and Podcasts even that seems disjointed. Checking out Mark Hoppus’ After School Radio on Apple Music - why haven’t I checked it out? Because there is no way to subscribe or get notifications when new episodes come out.
Though I did pause and have it forget my playback position about 20 minutes later, so there is some consistency between the apps.

 

[MacBH928]

Castbox is the best Podcast app I used

 

[whsbuss]

Been a long time user of the Apple Podcasts app (have dabbled with Overcast, Castro, & Pocketcasts) for awhile now but this latest update has made it unusable as a podcast platform.
I honestly don’t mind the UI - but there are episodes I listened to hours ago on Overcast that still haven’t shown up in Apple Podcasts.

Yep exactly. In fact just got an episode published at 11:50 am yesterday just show up on the Apple app.... and I had to force close the app and reopen to get it. This is totally unacceptable. I don't mind and hour may 2 but almost 20 hours? Come on Apple!

 

[mmajeski06]

This image sums up what is happening - see time stamps on Pocketcasts vs Apple Podcasts. This was taken at 8:40am so Apple just updated everything around 7:30am. Takes me back to the old days when I would update my podcasts each morning in iTunes and plug in my iPod.

Ungeniused isn’t included on the Pocket Casts one because that came out around Noon yesterday.

What You Need to Know (an NBA morning recap show) won’t show up in apple podcasts until tonight at best.
These shows also hit Overcast & Castro around the same time as Pocketcasts (I’m trying a few out haha).

 

[whsbuss]

This image sums up what is happening - see time stamps on Pocketcasts vs Apple Podcasts. This was taken at 8:40am so Apple just updated everything around 7:30am. Takes me back to the old days when I would update my podcasts each morning in iTunes and plug in my iPod.

Ungeniused isn’t included on the Pocket Casts one because that came out around Noon yesterday.

What You Need to Know (an NBA morning recap show) won’t show up in apple podcasts until tonight at best.
These shows also hit Overcast & Castro around the same time as Pocketcasts (I’m trying a few out haha).

View attachment 1770079

That is exactly it! It doesn’t matter the UI for me, it about being able to listen to episodes in a timely fashion. What I don’t understand is how/why Apple with all its tech cannot check and notify while almost all 3rd party podcast apps do it with ease.

 

[whsbuss]

Wonder if something happened at Apple…. Overcast notified on an episode 20 minutes after being published. And Apple notified about 50 minutes later!! That’s not happened even before the recent refresh.

Have to keep an eye out for this…. Might just be a fluke.

 

[mmajeski06]

Yeah, cautiously optimistic after today. Been receiving episodes in what I would call a timely manner.

 

[xpxp2002]

The macOS/iOS sync is completely broken for me and has been since around this date.

Whatever I play or mark played on my phone does not sync back to the Mac, even after waiting several days. Likewise, anything I mark played on Mac doesn't sync over to my iPhone or iPad.

FYI for anyone else who has run into this, I found out what the cause is.

When Apple separated iTunes into separate apps on macOS, they don't prompt you to sign in to iCloud in the Podcasts app -- it's in the Music app. 🤦‍♀️

If you haven't opened and signed into the Music app, your Podcasts won't sync. Once you sign in, it starts working. Shame on "it just works" Apple for such a broken setup, and not even displaying a message informing the user that the "Sync follows across devices" checkbox in the Podcasts app will silently fail until they sign into the Music app.