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I often listen to podcasts on my iPhone 3GS over several sessions. Occasionally the iPod app will forget the playback position, which drives me nuts because I have to remember where I was and fast forward to that point. Does anybody know what causes this? I can't seem to find any pattern to it.

I switch my iPhone off overnight and sync with iTunes every other day or so, but most of the time it's fine and I don't have the problem and the podcast shows up as part of the way through in iTunes itself. Also, I'm not playing anything else on the iPod in the meantime.

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  • Does this happen only when you sync, or does it happen when the iPhone hasn't been plugged into the computer at all?
    – Ben Wyatt
    Jan 27, 2011 at 19:51
  • I couldn't really give a definitive answer. I was listening to a podcast the day before yesterday, then I synced last night and then when I turned the phone on this morning it had lost the position. I fast forwarded it tonight and listened to some more and then synced again and it's fine.
    – John Topley
    Jan 27, 2011 at 20:33
  • Not sure if it's related (I guess not, since it does work on your computer) but in iTunes if you: Right click on the podcast --> get info --> options --> there is a checkbox to choose remember playback position. Also, for me, I often accidentally click the back button when I'm trying to pause (guess this isn't your problem either) which also obviously causes the podcast to restart.
    – Ciaocibai
    Jan 27, 2011 at 20:39
  • Mine forgets that I was listening to a podcast at all sometimes, with no pattern that I've discerned (definitely not syncing, it sometimes forgets within an hour of having listened), but it doesn't forget my place in the podcast. That would bit.
    – Matthew Frederick
    Jan 27, 2011 at 22:39
  • Do you use Last.FM for scrobbling? I've noticed quite a few instances of losing position and scrobbles. Might be related?
    – Sam Brightman
    Jun 19, 2011 at 9:29

1 Answer 1

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This could be a memory issue that the developer was forced to handle this way. All apps in iOS are subject to memory warnings at which point the app (developer) is to free up as much memory as it can by clearing out what the developer considered unnecessary information.

Another point of of possible quitting is if a phone call is being received. Apps only have a split second to save what is crucial before quitting to make room for the call. Again, the developer has to decide what is truly important and what isn't to save.

The save position may not sound like a lot, but mobile devices really don't give developers a lot of room to play with and media of any type is a resource hog.

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    It's the iPod app from Apple, though, pre-installed on the device. I'd think they would manage it correctly: I certainly can easily ensure such a simple thing in the apps I develop regardless of memory conditions (worst case you save it when you receive the memory alert), so I suspect it's something else.
    – Matthew Frederick
    Jan 27, 2011 at 22:41
  • iPod from Apple or not, it is still an app on the iPhone that I would think is beholden to the same memory and interruption rules as every other app on the iPhone. I think the only person who knows the answer to this question is the developer.
    – Philip Regan
    Jan 28, 2011 at 4:10
  • I'm inclined to agree with @Philip on this matter. While it would be nice for the app to remember where it was, saving one less thing (like track position) makes it more responsive to the low memory condition, or closing of the app, etc.
    – user479
    Jan 28, 2011 at 22:38
  • While this answer contains valid information its not actually an answer to the problem. iTunes does that for whatever reason but not because of low memory. I have even seen this while I have iTunes opened. Connecting a speaker could cause this but not always. And then again I had weeks where I didn't use iTunes with lots of restarts and phone calls in the meantime and the position was still correctly remembered. iTunes is just poorly implemented. It could easily save the position every 30 seconds in the apps memory which wouldn't do much harm to the battery or anything.
    – ohcibi
    Jul 26, 2016 at 8:28

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