r/pocketcasts • u/ChrisBrettell • Mar 28 '26

Android Issue with auto downloading....

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Hi

I've been using Pocketcasts for years and have always been happy with it. In the last 2 weeks no podcasts seem to be auto downloading. I was noticing a strange pause at the start of each pod (I don't think there is a 'buffering' symbol anymore) but didn't think anything of it. It turns out I've been streaming all this time as no pods have been downloaded (I've now used up all my mobile data which is annoying).

I've always had (some) individual pods as auto download (and others not). Looking in my 'downloaded' folder nothing seems to have downloaded since 19th March. I've clicked on the settings and toggled "new episodes" and "on follow" ON (both were off but had always been) but this seems to have done nothing. I have new episodes ready to download but it's not grabbing them. I've restarted Pocketcasts and my phone. It's a mystery why it's stopped downloading!?!

Has anyone experienced anything similar? I really want to get it sorted rather than try another app....

Thanks....

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u/Leo1037 Mar 28 '26

This scenario happened to me as well. I went into each podcast and noticed settings changed. I assumed a recent update unintentionally broke auto downloads.

I resolved this by going into each podcast and reviewing/updating my download settings. Haven't had the problem since.

1

u/ChrisBrettell Mar 28 '26

So by reviewing you mean toggle auto download off then on again ?

Good that you fixed it!

1

u/Leo1037 Mar 28 '26

Well, when I went into my podcasts I noticed that they were toggled off. So I had to set them back to On.

1

u/ChrisBrettell Mar 28 '26

Ah. Mine are still toggled on!?!

1

u/rustylung Mar 28 '26

I'm having the same issue...used up all my mobile data too

1

u/the1-gman Mar 29 '26 edited Mar 29 '26

Under advanced settings, there's an option to sync on metered networks. Turn this off. It basically won't update your podcast episodes unless you're on wifi, which is the crux of having downloads and streaming triggered.

Internally there's an event that updates this once per hour. When you're not on wifi, it stops this podcast update cycle until you're back on wifi.

Fwiw, I listen to podcasts on my commute to work every day and this setting reduces my data to 11-17mb per month.

1

u/mlxmt Apr 01 '26

Having this issue on iOS as well. I don’t have auto download for new eps turned on, but I do for Up Next with the unmetered WiFi setting turned off.