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On my iphone, I use the Podcasts app and I have all of my podcasts set to auto subscribe and auto download. When I check the app in the morning, I see new podcasts showing up but there is a button with an arrow button next to them to show me there is something new that i can download. (see picture below). So the autosubscribe is working but the autodownload is not.

When i click on that button below, it then says . ."Preparing to download". and then it eventually downloads if I wait long enough.

enter image description here

That is not my understanding on what "auto download" means to me. Is there anything that I am doing wrong ? How can I have it where it will literally automatically download new podcasts to my iphone when they appear online without me having to manually click anything on that particular podcast so I can just see it and start listening to it without it having to download or stream at that time.

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3 Answers

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Go to Settings, then scroll down and tap on Podcasts app icon:

enter image description here

So I'm assuming you turned "Auto-Downloads" on...

Then tap "Episodes to Keep" and specify which episodes you want to keep. (Depending on your listening habits, I'd not keep this setting on "All" because it can quickly eat up your available memory. Mine is set on "Last 3 Episodes" which gives me plenty of time to listen to them.)

Then go back. To address your issue you may want to turn on "Use Cellular Data" which is Off by default. What might happen in your case is that your phone disconnects from WiFi when it's not on. (This is done to conserve battery.) But in this case this setting will prevent the Podcast app from auto-downloading. Keep in mind though, that turning this setting on can quickly use up your cellular plan's data limit. So check with your cellular provider if you have enough data quota to last your billing cycle without incurring additional charges.

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I dont want to turn on my cellular data to download podcasts as the phone is sitting in my home with WIFI all night. Given that, you are not really answering my question, is there a way to autodownload pod casts and not simply show me what new ones are available to download? – leora Nov 27 '12 at 12:11
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Make sure you have also set which podcasts to keep - i.e. last three, last two, etc.

Ensure you have enough free space on your iPhone

Finally, make sure that the Podcasts app is running in the background. If the app is not running, there is no way for it to auto-download. To ensure the app is running in the background, double-click the Home button when in the Home Screen to see the active programs list at the bottom.

I would even leave the Podcasts app in view not pushing it to the background overnight, so the podcasts could get downloaded.

Finally, make sure to have the latest version of the app installed - there was a recent update from a week ago.

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I did leave it up last night and i still have the same issue. I don't see why i would have to leave it in the foreground for this to work (that doesn't make any sense) ? I have confirmed i do have the latest version – leora Nov 20 '12 at 12:48
The task switcher does NOT display running apps! It's just a list of apps in the order you last used them and has nothing to do with whether an app is running or not. An easy way to prove this is to keep swiping left – you'll see that the switcher displays every app you've ever launched. Clearly, if you've launched a total of 100 apps, the phone isn't running all 100 of those in the background simultaneously... – daGUY Nov 20 '12 at 14:02
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Actually it is. All the apps in the switcher are currently running - which is proved by the fact that Apple said so, and also because you can actually close them in the switcher (so they had to be running if you can close them).

Anyway, to answer the OP's question. It sounds like if you didn't have the cellular data option turned on, your app thought it couldn't connect, and that's why it didn't download automatically (in other words, it can't download if it's not connected). To make sure it can always connect, turn on the cellular data option (although make sure you have enough data available on your plan to use). That should allow it stay connected, which should allow it to auto-download properly.

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