Products · Product
Apple Podcasts
Raised as a usability problem by 64 people on Hacker News over 14 years (2012–2025), in 46 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Podcasts won't download automatically; each episode needs manual downloadUnreviewed
20122026- Downloaded episodes silently get deleted after being marked listened, so offline download fails2023-01-26
- Long podcasts silently fail to download with no error message or documented limit2023-01-25
- Downloaded episodes list takes over five seconds to load2022-09-08
Hard to link to specific episodes and find showsUnreviewed
20122026- Can't search within one show; common-word queries return a flood of irrelevant episodes2025-08-05
- Search is bad, and linking to specific episodes and finding shows is hard2023-01-26
- Takes more clicks to reach episode list; user constantly feels lost2018-02-05
Unplayed list opens show list, requiring extra taps, no play-all optionUnreviewed
20122026- Unclear whether a tap opens, plays, or opens the show; queue and resume get lost2022-05-04
- Must tap + on every episode to download a show, and can't set the opening screen2019-07-17
- Tapping the unplayed list now opens a show list, requiring extra taps and no way to play all unplayed episodes2017-12-09
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Buttons obscured and labels unreadable because black-on-black colors after window tints to artwork2025-12-29
- Can't search within one show; common-word queries return a flood of irrelevant episodes2025-08-05
- Can't find what they're looking for in the podcast app2025-03-03
- Keeps suggesting podcasts the user just finished, forcing constant correction2024-03-18
- Podcast app does not neatly organize shows or episode progress2023-07-12
- Couldn't figure out the app; things are buried in menus2023-02-15
- Podcast discovery is opaque; no trending or new podcasts sections to find shows2023-02-14
- Can't set up chronological playback; UI pushes latest episodes instead of sequential ones2023-02-14
- Downloaded episodes silently get deleted after being marked listened, so offline download fails2023-01-26
- Search is bad, and linking to specific episodes and finding shows is hard2023-01-26
- Users think free offer keeps podcast freely available, but it breaks public feed access2023-01-26
- Volume slider looks greyed out yet works; arrow keys don't skip2023-01-25
- Can't find play next or play last queue ordering; key features feel buried2023-01-25
- Podcast app has an awful, buggy UI that is hard to use2023-01-25
- App is extremely buggy and totally unusable2023-01-25
- Long podcasts silently fail to download with no error message or documented limit2023-01-25
- Can't add local radio comedy files to the podcast view, losing listened/unlistened tracking2022-12-18
- Show pages only offer Facebook, Twitter, or iframe embed, leaving other podcast apps unsupported2022-12-13
- Podcasts app is infuriating and cluttered, a monstrosity people are forced to use2022-10-13
- UI is confusing and cluttered, making it hard to use2022-10-05
- Downloaded episodes list takes over five seconds to load2022-09-08
- Podcasts relaunches into a useless 'listen now' state or hangs before crashing2022-08-12
- Unclear whether a tap opens, plays, or opens the show; queue and resume get lost2022-05-04
- Person repeatedly cannot get the app to show latest episodes2022-02-03
- Rating prompt appears unexpectedly, so people tap stars without knowing what they're rating2022-02-03
- Recent Podcasts app updates made the interface worse, and the UI is poor2022-01-31
- Renamed subscribe to follow, some screens show both names, and episode deletion became half-working2021-09-16
- Apple Podcasts is horrible at downloading episodes to the watch2021-08-09
- App is slow, buggy and sometimes unresponsive for too long2021-06-15
- Audio at 1.5x speed sounds distorted, making the app unusable for the user2021-05-17
- App is slow, buggy, crashes and wastes disk space2021-01-21
- After an update, the app became unusable one-handed2020-08-27
- Newest episodes not first; must find hidden 'available episodes' view to sort by date2020-07-08
- Converted podcast files vanish from iPhone after a few days2020-02-03
- Skip button is unreliable; small hit area means taps often don't register2019-10-25
- Must tap + on every episode to download a show, and can't set the opening screen2019-07-17
- Playback position and added episodes don't sync between devices, and HomePod support is broken2019-07-16
- App crashes often and takes 5-10 minutes to load for users with many subscriptions2019-07-16
- Downloads often fail, and playback stops between episodes or when connectivity drops2019-02-23
- Hard to manage once subscribed to more than ten podcasts2019-02-23
- Persistent play bar can't be dismissed; long-press shows no clear option2019-02-21
- Apple Podcasts has bad usability, making it hard to use2019-02-02
- Hidden scroll-down features took months to discover, with no visible cue2018-07-20
- Touch targets moved and shrank after iOS update, hard to tap while on the go2018-07-03
- Syncing between devices is unreliable and buggy, so progress or state doesn't carry across2018-04-10
- App freezes up all the time, making it slow and buggy to use2018-03-01
- Touchscreen podcast controls are harder to use than physical buttons2018-02-25
- Takes more clicks to reach episode list; user constantly feels lost2018-02-05
- Tapping the unplayed list now opens a show list, requiring extra taps and no way to play all unplayed episodes2017-12-09
- Podcast list takes 30-45 seconds to load, if it loads at all2017-12-09