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Podcast sync

whsbuss

whsbuss

macrumors 601
Original poster
May 4, 2010
4,266
1,099
SE Penna.
I don't understand why podcasts downloaded on the iPhone podcast app does not download to my S4 watch on the latest watch OS. I've changed setting from Listen Now to Custom and back but it has no effect. The podcast(s) show up with the cloud on the watch indicating its not downloaded.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I want episodes on the watch so I don't have to carry my iPhone.
 
I have the same issue. Podcasts seem to only transfer over bluetooth, so slow !! Have to be charging watch and keep phone close by. On a side note, I wish when I start a podcast on my phone I could pick up where I left off on my watch
 
NME42 said:
Use Overcast and your troubles are gone.
Click to expand...
Yeah I know that but the downloaded quality of episodes is compressed and siri commands don't work reliably.
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Seymour03 said:
I have the same issue. Podcasts seem to only transfer over bluetooth, so slow !! Have to be charging watch and keep phone close by. On a side note, I wish when I start a podcast on my phone I could pick up where I left off on my watch
Click to expand...
Sync playing does work kind of.... but its not seamless. Yes Apple requires you to have your watch on the charger to download vs. Overcast.
 
Podcasts are people talking, a quality loss should be barely noticeable unless you've got ears like an eagle...

Apple Podcasts, and syncing, is chaos. I'm using it now but trying to get my iPhone, iPad and MacBook to sync has been a pain in the ass. I have no idea, when, how, or why some podcasts update or don't, and there's no information telling you how it works either. Mark everything played on your MacBook, watch 1/2 your podcasts sync, and some podcasts decide to not sync 81 files.

And the Apple Watch, is another, bigger, black hole. All it says is put it on the charger, then find that it only updated 4 of your podcasts the next day, and definitely not the one you really wanted, I don't know how it knows not to download the one you most wanted, but it does.

Overcast will save your sanity.
 
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DontGetTheCheese said:
Podcasts are people talking, a quality loss should be barely noticeable unless you've got ears like an eagle...

Apple Podcasts, and syncing, is chaos. I'm using it now but trying to get my iPhone, iPad and MacBook to sync has been a pain in the ass. I have no idea, when, how, or why some podcasts update or don't, and there's no information telling you how it works either. Mark everything played on your MacBook, watch 1/2 your podcasts sync, and some podcasts decide to not sync 81 files.

And the Apple Watch, is another, bigger, black hole. All it says is put it on the charger, then find that it only updated 4 of your podcasts the next day, and definitely not the one you really wanted, I don't know how it knows not to download the one you most wanted, but it does.

Overcast will save your sanity.
Click to expand...
True statement about quality loss, but compressed podcasts because it takes so long to download is not the answer (for me). Also, I've noticed that Overcast does not auto download to my watch either. I have to go back and manually download episodes I want.
 
whsbuss said:
Also, I've noticed that Overcast does not auto download to my watch either. I have to go back and manually download episodes I want.
Click to expand...

Not sure if we did discuss this in another thread recently. For me Overcast is perfectly working with auto downloads.

Some questions, maybe we can nail down the problem:

1) Do you have downloads set to "Wi-Fi Only"? (See "New Episodes" option in settings -> has to be Download on Wi-Fi or Cellular, not "Stream When Played")
2) Is background app refresh activated`?
 
NME42 said:
Not sure if we did discuss this in another thread recently. For me Overcast is perfectly working with auto downloads.

Some questions, maybe we can nail down the problem:

1) Do you have downloads set to "Wi-Fi Only"? (See "New Episodes" option in settings -> has to be Download on Wi-Fi or Cellular, not "Stream When Played")
2) Is background app refresh activated`?
Click to expand...
Yes thanks for the response. Background app refresh is on and episodes set to download both WiFi and cellular. Deleted overcast, restarted both devices and installed again. Same result. Running latest OSs
 
Ok, so new episodes are automatically downloaded to your iPhone, right?

When you go to Settings->Sync to Watch, is everything enabled and what is the "Number of Episodes"?

As I am an impatient guy, whenever my favourite podcast is download to the iPhone and I do not want to wait for the automatic transfer to my AW, I trigger this manually and it works easy and fast:

1) Start Overcast on AW and iPhone
2) Select episode on iPhone and trigger "Send to watch"
3) Go to Download menu on iPhone
4) Watch prepare and transfer on iPhone

In some/most cases, the AW Overcast app has to be manually restarted on the AW as the episode is not visible: long press button on AW until emergency window appears, press crown, restart Overcast on AW.
 
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NME42 said:
Ok, so new episodes are automatically downloaded to your iPhone, right?

When you go to Settings->Sync to Watch, is everything enabled and what is the "Number of Episodes"?

As I am an impatient guy, whenever my favourite podcast is download to the iPhone and I do not want to wait for the automatic transfer to my AW, I trigger this manually and it works easy and fast:

1) Start Overcast on AW and iPhone
2) Select episode on iPhone and trigger "Send to watch"
3) Go to Download menu on iPhone
4) Watch prepare and transfer on iPhone

In some/most cases, the AW Overcast app has to be manually restarted on the AW as the episode is not visible: long press button on AW until emergency window appears, press crown, restart Overcast on AW.
Click to expand...
Yes episodes auto download to the iPhone.

All shows are selected (I have 3 shows I regularly listen to) and # of episodes is 10 (default).

You say manually is just as fast... its slow. But manually does work. I don't have time to wait for these to download before I go out for a run with the watch and its why I need auto download.
 
whsbuss said:
Yes episodes auto download to the iPhone.

All shows are selected (I have 3 shows I regularly listen to) and # of episodes is 10 (default).

You say manually is just as fast... its slow. But manually does work. I don't have time to wait for these to download before I go out for a run with the watch and its why I need auto download.
Click to expand...

Ok, sorry, I can't help. For me it takes about 1-2 minutes for a 3 hours podcast and this is fast enough. Guess it is best you contact the author of Overcast. Although must say he is not very responsive to state it politely.
 
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NME42 said:
Ok, sorry, I can't help. For me it takes about 1-2 minutes for a 3 hours podcast and this is fast enough. Guess it is best you contact the author of Overcast. Although must say he is not very responsive to state it politely.
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What increases the sync to watch speed is having the watch app opened. But that's when manually doing it. Still can't get the auto-sync to work. Thanks
 
whsbuss said:
I don't understand why podcasts downloaded on the iPhone podcast app does not download to my S4 watch on the latest watch OS. I've changed setting from Listen Now to Custom and back but it has no effect. The podcast(s) show up with the cloud on the watch indicating its not downloaded.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I want episodes on the watch so I don't have to carry my iPhone.
Click to expand...

This never happened to me, it‘s always downloaded, until a week ago. At first I thought because my iPhone wasn’t charged at night so I plugged it in the next night. Still no downloads.
Baffled me for a few night then it occurred to me to restart the watch and lo and behold, the next morning the downloads are all there in the watch.
 
matrix07 said:
This never happened to me, it‘s always downloaded, until a week ago. At first I thought because my iPhone wasn’t charged at night so I plugged it in the next night. Still no downloads.
Baffled me for a few night then it occurred to me to restart the watch and lo and behold, the next morning the downloads are all there in the watch.
Click to expand...
What's worked for me now, is I deleted and reinstalled the podcast app and things work much better
 
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I’m resuscitating this thread. I have one specific podcast I listen to on my watch. So, on my watch app, I have just that podcast selected for download. My question is, there are 10 episodes but it only downloads one episode. Is there any way to make it download multiple episodes?
 
This applies to the Apple podcast app:

Open the watch app on your iphone
Select the Podcast app
Under ADD EPISODES FROM select Custom.
Then switch on the shows you want to download as many episodes possible to your watch
 
Thanks for the response. That’s exactly how I have it set up and boom...one episode. Maybe I’ll delete the app from my watch and reinstall.
 
sjinsjca said:
Solve all your problems with iCatcher.

I had sync problems with Overcast; none at all with iCatcher. Podcasts sync automagically without the Watch needing to be on charger. It has superior (and free) sync capabilities for other audio files too.
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Solve all your problems with iCatcher.

I had sync problems with Overcast; none at all with iCatcher. It has superior (and free) sync capabilities for other audio files too.

See this post from a few weeks ago: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...le-watch.2223288/?post=28218273#post-28218273
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Except it’s not a free app..... just so others know.
 
@whsbuss --True: Three bucks. Well worth it for Watch owners who want to get podcasts and other audio content such as audiobooks onto their Watch without a lot of fuss and bother and without an annual subscription.

I've tipped the developer too and recommend folks do likewise for apps that they enjoy. Many of these apps are labors of love by creative engineers who want to solve a specific problem. iCatcher does.
 
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My issue is that I’ll be listening to a podcast on my watch away from iPhone, and then I come back to my iPhone and want to switch to listen to the same podcast on the iPhone, and the two devices are not synced in terms of where I’m at in the podcast.

Any idea how to fix this? Maybe iOS 14 has some Podcast upgrades that will sort this and other gripes?
 
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smileman said:
My issue is that I’ll be listening to a podcast on my watch away from iPhone, and then I come back to my iPhone and want to switch to listen to the same podcast on the iPhone, and the two devices are not synced in terms of where I’m in in the podcast.

Any idea how to fix this? Maybe iOS 14 has some Podcast upgrades that will sort this and other gripes?
Click to expand...

Really? I didn’t do that now but remember it synced pretty good a few times I did.
 
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