Notice: Updates to Automatic Downloads

iOS 17 includes improvements to the way Automatic Downloads are handled:

When paused downloads resume

Automatic Downloads are paused when a device is out of available storage or when a listener hasn’t played a show they follow (latest five episodes for more than 15 days) to preserve device storage. This change is communicated to listeners with a pause indicator on the follow icon located at the top right of the show page. If a listener resumes playing that show, or changes the download preferences for that show, Apple Podcasts will resume automatically downloading episodes. 

Before iOS 17, when a listener would unpause automatic downloads, the system would automatically download all unplayed episodes. With iOS 17, Apple Podcasts will not download previous episodes and will resume automatically downloading new episodes.

Learn more about Automatic Downloads on Apple Podcasts.

When old episodes are published

From time to time, podcasters choose to publish older episodes to their show. For example, this can occur when a podcaster wants to make an “archive” of episodes available to listeners without notifying them of several “new” episodes. Apple Podcasts displays the latest 2,000 episodes available in the RSS feed for all shows.

Before iOS 17, when a podcaster would publish older episodes, Apple Podcasts would process those episodes as “new” and automatically download them. With iOS 17, episodes that are older than seven days will not be considered “new” and automatically downloaded.

If you have any questions, please contact us.