iOS 14.5 has borked the Podcasts app

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Podcasts on iPhone 11 Pro
Podcasts on iPhone 11 Pro (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Podcasts appear to be very broken in iOS 14.5.
  • The recent update has thrown up dozens of bugs and users are not happy.

Apple's latest iOS 14 update, which brings with it a new Apple Podcasts Subscriptions service, appears to have broken the Apple Podcasts app in all kinds of different ways.

Noted by MacRumors, a slew of bugs and issues appear to have come to light following the update:

In spite of redesigning its Podcasts app with iOS 14.5, long-standing bugs within the app persist, and Apple has introduced a range of new crippling usability problems, according to hundreds of reports from users across Twitter and Reddit.

One notable issue that has not been fixed is syncing issues, with users reporting that previous problems with libraries not syncing, podcast settings not carrying over, and cross-device listening all still persist:

Some users reportedly noted that the new update has reset download preferences to download every episode of the app, from Reddit:

I updated to iOS 14.5 then took my dog for a walk and listened to a podcast. I've been doing this for 6 years (the walk and podcast part, not the update to iOS 14.5 part… that was a one time thing) so all my settings are pretty dialed-in. I noticed that my phone was getting really warm, then I got a text message from AT&T that I'd chewed through 75% of my data. Confused, I looked at the cellular data consumption stats and the Podcast app was over 8 GB for the current period. I quickly turned off cellular data and finished my walk. When I got home, I noticed that episodes from as far back as August of 2020 were in the Downloaded folder. That's when I checked the per episode setting and realized the settings for every show had been reset to default.

Users have also reported issues finding unplayed podcasts, hiding played episodes and more.

Have you updated to iOS 14.5? Let us know if you're experiencing issues with the Apple Podcasts app.

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9