Podcast app downloading ads in the background

[Morac]

I don't have Podcasts set to download automatically, but for some reason after upgrading to MacOS 15, the Podcast app has started downloading ads when not in use and saving them in the ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.podcasts/Data/tmp/StreamedMedia.

I found several GB worth of mp3 files in there and all were advertisements. I deleted them and more ads started downloading again the next day.

Anyone else see this or know how to stop it?

 

[Grumpus]

What are the ads for? Do they relate in any way to your podcast subscriptions?

 

[Morac]

What are the ads for? Do they relate in any way to your podcast subscriptions?

Various things including some local businesses. I also found part of a podcast I’m subscribed to, but have set to not download. The question is why are they downloading at all as I don’t listen to Podcasts on my Mac.

 

[Grumpus]

Various things including some local businesses. I also found part of a podcast I’m subscribed to, but have set to not download. The question is why are they downloading at all as I don’t listen to Podcasts on my Mac.

Look in the Podcast.app Settings under the General tab. If Sync Library is checked, your podcast subscription info is synced via iCloud from other devices like your iPhone (there's a similar setting on your phone). Also consider changing Automatically Download to Off. Even without those changes, I'm surprised that it's downloading anything at all if you never launch the Podcasts.app.

 

[russell_314]

I don’t listen to Podcasts on my Mac.

I’m not 100% sure but I believe you can delete the podcast app on the Mac.

I’m not near my Mac now so I can’t confirm that, but I don’t see why Apple would block it on the Mac and not on the iPhone.

If that’s the case, just delete the app and it’s solves your problem

 

[Morac]

Look in the Podcast.app Settings under the General tab. If Sync Library is checked, your podcast subscription info is synced via iCloud from other devices like your iPhone (there's a similar setting on your phone). Also consider changing Automatically Download to Off. Even without those changes, I'm surprised that it's downloading anything at all if you never launch the Podcasts.app.

Automatically Download is off.

From what I can tell the downloads appear to automatically start after upgrading MacOS. I first noticed this problem after upgrading to MacOS 15 where "0 bytes" mp3 files were downloading, but taking up 65 MB each. I delete the entire ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.podcasts folder which stopped this. When MacOS upgraded to 15.1.1 it started up again.

 

[Morac]

I decided to just wipe out all the "com.apple.com" podcast folders I could find in my Library including the ones in Containers and Group Containers. I then reboot. That appears to have reset the Podcasts app so I'll see if the problem comes back again.

 

[Morac]

I’m not 100% sure but I believe you can delete the podcast app on the Mac.

I’m not near my Mac now so I can’t confirm that, but I don’t see why Apple would block it on the Mac and not on the iPhone.

If that’s the case, just delete the app and it’s solves your problem

I don't think you can delete built in Apple Apps on a Mac. Even if you can, many processes that happen are not done as part of those apps. For example there is a PodcastContentService running on my Mac that is in a System folder, not the Podcast app itself.

 

[Grumpus]

I don't think you can delete built in Apple Apps on a Mac. Even if you can, many processes that happen are not done as part of those apps. For example there is a PodcastContentService running on my Mac that is in a System folder, not the Podcast app itself.

I believe that the PodcastContentService process is what downloads everything. On my MBP running Sonoma, PodcastContentService is started when Podcasts.app is launched and it continues to run even after the app exits. I suspect that it works the same on Sequoia. So if you never start Podcasts.app, nothing should ever be downloaded. Please let us know if you find that to be incorrect!

 

[Grumpus]

PS, if you find that PodcastContentService is running, you can kill it by typing pkill -SIGKILL PodcastContentService in a terminal.