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Users Despair at Apple Podcasts App After iOS 14.5 Update

Funny how neither the article or any user comments posted here mentions the biggest gripe I have with this update:

How do you view the show notes? I can only seem to do this on the podcast currently in preview, but no where else, like in the list views etc.

Have honestly not even seen most things people complain about, but not being able to view show notes was the first thing I noticed.

Second thing we’re the confusing download procedure described a few posts up.
 
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definitive said:
Instead of making things simpler, Apple has been just adding more and more unnecessary bloat and confusion to their apps for the past several years. It's reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart staples a banana peel to a full garbage can, because everyone is too lazy to take out the trash.
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In many cases, they have warped their apps to enhance services revenue. that seems to be the case for this Podcasts app.

I always used to like Apple because the relationship was simple, I buy a product from them and they provide some supporting services. I could understand and trust that their needs aligned with mine. Now that they also want to get paid for the services, their needs are deviating from mine and they seem willing to compromise the products and services to increase that revenue. Because of this, I don't trust them as much anymore.
 
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ayres said:
I spent years cultivating a particular way of using the podcasts app. That all came crashing down the other day. Now I have to do what I don’t like doing: relearning a new UI to achieve the same result with no apparent upside. This reminds me of why I like to wait a while before updating. Okay, I’m done wallowing in my own tears.
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I feel you. It's precisely why I have anxiety every June while installing the first betas. What the heck did the change for no good reason in Podcasts this time? It came early and hard this year. But on the bright side, I got everything over to Overcast except the video ones. And Smart Speed has actually made me look at this disaster of an update as a blessing in disguise. I'll never go back now. I can't trust Apple after this.
 
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anthogag said:
What is the big deal? All your stuff is in the Library tab.

In Downloads you'll see all episodes downloaded to the device. To remove a download swipe left.

When you mark an episode as "played" it removes the download.

In Settings is "hide played episodes"
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Agreed. I like the single, date-sorted timeline view of the entire feed on the Show page. Before, and I can't remember perfectly now because I purge old UIs from my brain, you had a couple different views and you weren't sure you were seeing everything the show published very easily.

There's a global Automatic Downloads setting. I do wish there was a global "Limit Downloads" setting. I just want the most recent.
 
Can someone please suggest an alternative platform that would give me a good podcast experience on Mac and iPhone? I’d like syncing, individual podcast episode support, and good airplay support on Mac (which Apple Podcasts still does not have).
 
Can someone look up the podcast "Homekit Insider" and see if it's working on your end. It is showing 0 episodes in the new version but is fine on a non-updated device.
 
BMox81 said:
I’ll definitely concede that the new update takes getting used to, but quickly acclimatised. No issues for me.
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We can all thank guys like this for why we continue to live with these issues update after update. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there who will accept whatever subpar decision/product Apple gives just because it is Apple. Apple knows that this is representative of the core userbase, so they have no incentive to fix these issues anymore.
 
Looks like a case of not eating their own dog crap.
Anyways, no need to open tickets and bug lists... Apple should just refer to this very same article, start attacking the issues mentioned one by one.
 
FaceChart2 said:
We can all thank guys like this for why we continue to live with these issues update after update. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there who will accept whatever subpar decision/product Apple gives just because it is Apple. Apple knows that this is representative of the core userbase, so they have no incentive to fix these issues anymore.
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I wouldn’t be too harsh. I think it boils down to how long a person has been in the Apple ecosystem. If you’re a newcomer, then the latest Apple offerings look reasonable (and maybe even dazzling). If you’re a veteran, then you’ve witnessed how far iOS Music and Podcasts have fallen.
 
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Try iCatcher! It’s the best podcast app that I’ve found. It handles video and audio podcasts, has an Apple Watch app and CarPlay. It allows so much customisation and customising playlists is fantastic. It syncs across devices and is a one time purchase, not a subscription app. I don’t know why it’s not more well known.
 
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Hate to sytate the obvious, but..... just use Google podcasts. Free, easy to use and not overloaded like the new Apple Podcasts.
 
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millydog said:
Try iCatcher! It’s the best podcast app that I’ve found. It handles video and audio podcasts, has an Apple Watch app and CarPlay. It allows so much customisation and customising playlists is fantastic. It syncs across devices and is a one time purchase, not a subscription app. I don’t know why it’s not more well known.
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I couldn’t agree more! I found iCatcher! and haven’t looked back. The ability to customize pretty much everything is amazing and I love its support for playlists. I consider it a hidden gem in the App Store.

I can’t believe I finally found someone else mention iCatchter!
 
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I’ve always used the Apple Podcasts app: it was never impressive, but good enough.

Now I find myself selecting the most recent episode of a podcast and it’s playing an episode from 5 years ago.

Absolute trash. I’ll be getting a different app, it seems.
 
So I thought I would give the apple podcasts app a go again as I have been having trouble with Pocketcasts CarPlay being a bit flakey. So opened and listened to part of a podcast streaming while I was going to the supermarket via CarPlay and then at the supermarket. Noticed my phone was a bit warm but did not think to much about it as occasionally this happens. About 30 mins later I get a text from my carrier (Telstra I am in Australia) saying I have used 50% of my quota for the month which is very unusual and I started looking to see what had been using mobile data. A few minutes later I get a message saying I am 80% of my quota ( I have 80GB a month). Turns out podcasts was using copious amounts of mobile data. I looked at the usage and it was using about 1GB per minute. The switch to disable mobile data use would not stay disabled. I force closed podcasts and it stopped using the mobile data ( I had by the way been on wifi for a good part of this exercise). I have deleted podcasts for the time being as that will prevent the accidental use of data. I spoke to apple support and they just said their maybe a bug ( Mensa award winner here ) and suggested I monitor for further occurrences and they will report to engineering if it happens again.
I am going back to Pocketcasts ( I am a long time user but the CarPlay app often freezes and crashes for me ) I will report my problems with CarPlay to Pocketcasts now that the beta for 14.5 has ended.
 
Oh the podcast app is a straight up POS. Not only does it not sync across devices, it can’t even manage to transition from part 1 to part 2 of an episode automatically, instead rolling straight to part 1 of the next episode. It’s clear that Apple has put little to no thought into this app, it’s usability and functionality, which is why most serious Podcast listeners have long ago ditched it for better third party offerings like Overcast.
 
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I listen to podcasts all day long. The changes make no sense whatsoever.
1. Change the default view to order podcasts by the most recently “followed” aka subscribed - who wants this? There are podcasts I’ve listened to for years, those are the ones I eagerly await new episodes! And why isn’t there a setting so I can choose what I want to see in the default screen?

2. selecting most recent, and then clicking on a podcast you now only see literally the most recent episode whereas before it took you to the episode list. That way if somehow you missed a previous episode you could easily access it.

3. selecting Latest Episode option, you see a list but the description gets cut off. Appears to be no way to see the entire description. If you click on it, it starts playing.

These changes go against basic usability 101.
 
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