Users Despair at Apple Podcasts App After iOS 14.5 Update

[JGraz19]

I was also a person that didn't have issues with the prior Apple podcast app. When I upgraded to 14.5 all of my followed shows disappeared and my feed continues to not refresh (i.e. subscribed show episodes showing up on a large delay from release time or not at all).

I feel like this is sacrilegious to say here but I switched to the Google Podcast app. It is pretty straightforward and has CarPlay.

 

[now i see it]

typical new apple software.
Obviously the long standing bugs that have plagued the app never got fixed because they don't know how to fix it

 

[tgwaste]

Im not having the same experience. My Library only shows the podcasts I follow and unfollowing removes it from the library.

 

[JosephAW]

You can still downgrade to iOS 14.4.2 for now. You better hurry.

 

[tgwaste]

typical new apple software.
Obviously the long standing bugs that have plagued the app never got fixed because they don't know how to fix it

They never got fixed because Apple only cares about money and spends all its time pursuing it instead of innovating and making things better.

 

[robjulo]

typical new apple software.
Obviously the long standing bugs that have plagued the app never got fixed because they don't know how to fix it

So much for the "When Apple decides to do something, THEY get it right" mantra parroted by the usual suspects, all of whom have stayed far away from this thread.

 

[siddavis]

I listen to podcasts in the morning while I'm getting ready. I opened it today after updating to iOS 14.5, and it was awful. I have no problem trying to figure out new interfaces if necessary, but the "buttons" were so tiny that I kept tapping without response. Then it just started playing a podcast that I had already listened to, and I have the issue of previously played items riddled in my library.

Downloading Overcast right now!

 

[jonnysods]

Podcasts is such a pain to use, especially when you want to listen to older episodes.

 

[mac4good84]

Wow. I tried playing Apple Keynote videos recently a few times and it kept skipping and I was like what the hell?
Glad to know there’s actual problems with the app lol. I mean come on Apple….

 

[_Spinn_]

This is why I use iCatcher! I love how customizable it is and it’s playlist support.

 

[nburwell]

I haven't used the Podcasts app in awhile. Pocket Casts app has always been my go-to for podcasts anyway. Doesn't sound like Apple improved on the app with iOS 14.5.

 

[xpxp2002]

Glad to know it's not just me who found the UX changes in Podcasts annoying. For some reason, podcasts no longer get deleted after I listen to them unless I do it manually. It used to happen automatically 24 hours after listening.

Sync of the played/unplayed episodes and listening position was working well for me until I got 14.5 installed on one of my devices. Now I've got some devices that refuse to sync, and others that only sync with certain devices. Other devices show weeks old episodes still unplayed.

 

[kcslc]

While not ideal, can’t some of these issues be resolved in settings for a podcast that is followed?

Why can’t this be an app setting instead of a per-podcast setting? Newest to oldest is the default? Really? In what bizarro world does that make sense?

Podcast app has gotten progressively worse with each update, and the criticisms directed at it are fairly deserved.

 

[Freeangel1]

If only Steve Jobs were alive to clean out the BAD APPLES on the software development team. Big Sur was also a disaster.

 

[jimbobb24]

Thanks for the warning. I listen to a lot of podcasts and don’t need it screwed up this badly.

 

[parseckadet]

And this doesn't even touch on the crap Apple pulled with their podcast directory API. They added an option for podcasters to set their feed URL to private, so that it would not be included in the show details when a third-party (such as Overcast or PocketCast) queried the API. They then set this to be the default for EVERY podcast in the directory. Considering every third-party podcast app relies on Apple's directory, this meant that every third-party app was broken for a time. Marco Arment, the developer of Overcast, had to scramble to add support for a community driven alternative directory to get his app working again. For full details go listen to Accidental Tech Podcast, episode 427.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

How do things like this make it through Apple's quality assurance teams? Did they outsource QA along with core app development to contractors?

 

[dominiongamma]

All these months of beta testing and this is happening ? Either the users are not doing the job at beta testing and reporting issues or Apple head isn’t in the game for rewarding updates without bugs

 

[LordVic]

the term "despair" is so hilariously hyperbolic for this

 

[erthquake]

I'm glad I read this before updating to 14.5. Now I can delete all subscriptions first. I'm almost exclusively using Overcast anyway.

 

[displaced]

This is why I started using Overcast and never looked back.

I was a big fan of Overcast until I started mainly listening to podcasts at home.

I’d go straight back to it if there was an Overcast Apple TV app.

 

[Doc C]

I would chalk this up to user error & RTFM.

No, it is definitely messed up. I subscribe to (follow?) over 100 active podcasts (mostly medical, related to what I do.) So far on my phone, I have found that:

• The sort doesn’t always work and when it does, changes don’t persist.
• It has lost many but not all of the “played” tags so I have to go back and re-mark them as played
• It has downloaded hundreds of episodes that I didn’t want or have already listened to
• The UI is somehow actually less intuitive than the prior one (which already was below standard for Apple software)

I can’t believe that these sorts of issues could be bugs because it should never have gotten past alpha testing. On the other hand, to so thoroughly and effectively mess things up like this definitely takes effort.

And for all that they did, why can’t they implement a folder or tag system? Often, podcasts that aren’t active will have a single episode pop up a year or so later to introduce a new project. It would be nice to be able to hide those podcasts from the main library list (I’ve tried deleting from the library but continuing to subscribe, and all sorts of other means, but now seem to work, at least not for me.)

Off to belatedly check out some of the alternatives. Any comments regarding these, or suggestions for others to consider?

• Overcast
• Pocket Casts
• Downcast
• Castro
• Any others to look at?

 

[parseckadet]

All these months of beta testing and this is happening ? Either the users are not doing the job at beta testing and reporting issues or Apple head isn’t in the game for rewarding updates without bugs

The updates to the Podcasts app were not part of the public betas. Apple just sprung it on everyone.

 

[kingtj1971]

Lol. This is similar to iTunes handling TV shows in the past. years ago every time I would buy or rent a movie iTunes would download not only the new movie but also every tv show episode and every movie extra I ever bought although I did not want to watch it, especially when I bought box sets with 5 or more seasons. This fills up you hard drive fast.
This is typical for unexperienced software designers who think their app is the center of the universe and you use all its features all the time. It seem apple put the D- team on this.

As for syncing apple has always been bad. Starting from MobileMe many years ago to today not syncing text messages between my iPad and my phones to podcasts and audiobooks syncing was always a disaster for me. It works with other programs with no problem. Apple is just not good at that.

Not trying to make any excuses for it, but I find "syncing" is just a troublesome challenge for almost all makers of software for any platform?

I mean, to this day, there are issues with Microsoft Outlook's calendar/scheduler syncing where you just can't 100% reliably schedule or accept invites in it if you're not actually using the Outlook client. "Compatible" alternatives like Apple Mail can break things. I've certainly seen my share of errors syncing content on people's Microsoft OneDrive too, requiring the client and its cache be deleted/reset so it re-downloads *everything* to get it back in sync. And even when it technically works properly, you have "user error" issues related to people storing some data under one login but switching to using a different one and forgetting some of the expected content has vanished because it's stuck under that older login.

I feel like the whole concept of "making your changes available from any device you log into" is one of those pipe-dreams the Cloud made theoretically possible, so everyone started chasing it. But it's fraught with complicated gotchas that can make it go wrong. It's making all things "computing" feel much less reliable than they used to be.

 

[petvas]

It might be my experience only, but I was surprised to read this article. The Podcasts app currently syncs perfectly among my devices. I would only like to see an overhaul to the AppleTV Podcasts app, but apart from that I like how the app works. I also have Overcast and while I like it, I hate the fact that there is no Mac app and no support for video podcasts..
The Podcasts app offers the best overall experience (for me). Syncing has never been an issue for me.