[Apple Watch] Remember Podcast positions for offline listening

[MattSuda]

When I am listening to podcasts offline on my Apple Watch, Spotify doesn’t remember where I was in an episode which means I have to skip forward and try and find where I was. It also doesn’t remember where I left off on the Apple Watch when I switch back to the mobile app later on. This means I have to manually sync where I was in the episode when listening in the mobile app later on.

[Mihail]

Updated on 2021-05-26

Hey everyone,

Thanks for coming to the Idea Exchange and for bringing us your continual feedback.

We also think this is a great idea and are actively working on making this happen. Although we can't set an exact timeframe for when this will be implemented - stay tuned!

We'll inform on any developments there, as soon as there are any. So make sure to subscribe, if you haven’t already.

[nicolerosebarne]

Please, please implement this. I recently switched from Apple podcasts and Spotify has proven to be a far worse system. I thought being a premium user would have its advantages here but it does not. I had a hard time marking all past episodes as played (eventually found a shortcut on iOS after hundreds marked manually), I cannot easily view or edit my podcast queue, and syncing across devices is impossible. Please implement playback syncing across all devices (not just WatchOS) so that listeners don't have to keep record of their timestamps when switching devices. If you are going to sign a contract with big podcast networks, please be ready to take on their listeners as well. Also can we ask for a saved view on each podcast list? (unplayed, new to old, etc)

[user-removed]

totally agree, it is so difficult to use the app in standalone version on apple watch, either LTE version or downloading the episodes.

In addition to not syncing it doesn't track the history / progress of the podcast, it always needs to start again.

In fact, even apps from independent developers like overcast do that... lol

[Bryce10s]

What is outlined above continues to be an issue. Syncing podcasts is non-existent. So frustrating to be out on a walk to get back and have to manually resync on the phone. Is there a reason why Spotify connect doesn’t automatically sync between devices? I’m regretting moving over from the apple podcast app. 

[Bryce10s]

Please fix this. With each version update the syncing capabilities gets worse. When back in range of the phone, the podcast will continue to play but app shows that a different episode is playing. 

[bryla33]

I listen to long podcast episodes (+3hrs) on my Apple Watch in offline mode (without iPhone connected).

Every time I want to continue listening, the podcast starts from the beginning. Is there any way I can resume at the point I ended?

Moreover, should the time be synchronized with Spotify when back online? Let's assume I went for a run, listened to a podcast offline and I want to continue listening on my computer once back. Should the time be synchronized between downloaded episodes (Apple Watch) with the Spotify app everywhere else?

[richardbowman]

Spotify it would be great to get an update - it was sad to Google this and see how long it’s been since first posed and to see no progress in table-stakes capabilities.

[malessio]

This is a must: either a bookmark or an option to scroll with a slider.

[amh140]

This is so embarrassing that Spotify can’t do this. 

[bjornhanson]

This is pretty bad UX and is the kind of thing that should have been built in from the beginning. When you open Spotify on your phone, it doesn't start a podcast episode over that you were half done with. Why does the Apple Watch app start over? That's inconsistent behavior. When scrolling through a playlist of podcast episodes on the watch, it even shows a progress bar and has text displaying the time left. Real estate on the Apple Watch is very scarce, and yet that is important enough to show. But showing it implies that you can resume where you left off, and you can't. It makes no sense that opening a 1-hour podcast episode that says "20 minutes left" would then start from the beginning. Having to tap the "skip ahead" button many times and guess where you left off isn't acceptable.

I encounter this behavior for podcast episodes that I have only listened to on the Apple Watch, not just for episodes started on a different device. Even if the Watch is the only device I use, playback starts from the beginning every time.

I doubt anyone thinks the current behavior is ideal, but it would be nice if it could become a priority for an engineer to fix. This seems like the kind of thing that could take a day or less to fix.