Podcast is marked as played as soon as I hit play

[maccagnodenis]

Plan

Premium

Country

Switzerland

Device

iPhone 15 pro

Operating System

iOS 17.5.1

My Question or Issue

Hi guys

I‘ve been having this problem for a while now. When I hit play on a podcast that I saved in my library (my episodes), it will instantly be marked as heared and disappear from the playlist. It doesn‘t happen with every podcast, which makes it harder to understand.

Does anybody has had the same problem?

Regards, Denis

[Eni]

Hey there @maccagnodenis, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this here in the Community. 

Just to confirm, when you tap on play on an episode in "Your Episodes" do you have the "Unplayed" filter turned on? We just tested this on our end and if the "Unplayed" filter is on, the episode will disappear, but if it's not, the episode will remain in your episodes indicating the time that you have left of it. 

Are you experiencing a different behavior on your end? If so, could you send us examples, including the URI of the podcasts and the episodes so we can take a closer look? Sending us some screenshots would come in handy as well. You can attach them to your next response by using the Insert image option in the post editor. Make sure not to send any private info.

We'll be on the lookout.

[maccagnodenis]

Hey there Eni

Thanks for your reply!

No filte is turned on in my case. 

I tried it with this episode and it happens every time: 

spotify:show:6PwE1CIZsgfrhX6Bw96PUN

spotify:episode:325fzZYAKQ5b5Xqfdlttud

On picture 1 you can see the episode, on picture 2 you can see that I hit play and the episode already disappeared from my episodes. 

Regards, Denis

[Yordan]

Hey @maccagnodenis,

Thanks for the screenshots!

Can you tap the gear icon found in "Your episodes" and then on "Remove played episodes" and make sure it's not set to "After playing"? If that doesn't do the trick, it's worth performing a clean reinstall to make sure your app's up-to-date.

Can you also confirm if this is happening on other devices or just on your iPhone? It would be great if you can ask someone to log in to their account on your phone and check if they're experiencing the same issue so that we can check if this is device- or account-related.

Let us know how it goes.

[PathfinderKP]

Hi guys,

I also been having the same problem for almost a month now. I attached a video regarding this.

I am on Android (Samsung A54, the os software is up-to-date, Spotify version is 8.9.56.618).

Thanks for the reply in advance.

[Yordan]

Hi @PathfinderKP,

Thanks or reaching out!

I can see that the episode you're trying to play is downloaded, so can you let us know if this only happens with downloaded episodes? Could you also try with another account as suggested in my reply above?

@maccagnodenis, the exact version of Spotify you're running would also be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to your reply.

[PathfinderKP]

Hi Yordan,

It seems that this also happens to episodes being streamed:

https://youtube.com/shorts/nFz2bjK2jco?si=rfxW7PUQhY0I5rlr

Later I'll try using another account to see if the issue still persists but the problem is that the app on my phone (I also use Spotify on my PC and my LG tv but this doesn't seem to happen there) doesn't always mark episodes as played (I also have the option "Remove played episodes" set to "never" that's why they don't disappear.)

Thank you for your reply on advance.

[Ivelina]

Hey folks @maccagnodenis @PathfinderKP,

Could you let us know if this issue still persists for you and if you've tried any additional troubleshooting steps? 

It'd be very helpful in case we need to investigate further.

Thanks and don't hesitate to let us know if you need help with anything else 🙂

[maccagnodenis]

Hello there

The problem still persists. I tried to log into another account, nothing changed. I also tried it on another device, this didn't help either. 

I run version 8.9.58.473 on my iPhone and Spotify for Windows (64 Bit) 1.2.42.290.g242057a2 on my laptop. 

Regards, Denis

[PathfinderKP]

Hello,

Yes, this is still happening.

What I tried was:

- Logged out multiple times

- Did a clean install that was mentioned before

- Tried streaming instead of playing downloaded files

- Other profiles also produced this issue

Best regard,

Patrik

[Ivelina]

We really appreciate the details @maccagnodenis and @PathfinderKP.

We've now let the right team know about this behavior so they can investigate further. As soon as we've got any news, we'll make sure to let you know 🙂

Until then, don't hesitate to give us a shout if anything else comes up.

Cheers!

[username1515]

I have a similar problem, which also occurs in a different way. When I'm listening to a podcast and I swipe up to unlock my screen the podcast I'm listening to will get completed and Spotify will jump to the next podcast in "Recommended to me". This happens intermittently but too often and is super annoying. I'm running iOS 18 Public Beta on iPhone 15

[Vasil]

Hey @username1515,

Thanks for the info! We've passed it down to the folks backstage 🙂

This is being worked on so, in case you folks spot a betterment in this behaviour, please let us know! 
We'll do the same as soon as we have any updates. Cheers!

P.S. If the issue persists for anyone and you haven't provided us with the steps to reproduce it, please do so, it would be greatly appreciated as this is not a widespread error. A video recording of the issue would also help us get to the bottom of this easier. 
Many thanks!

[rperez120]

Hello!

I have noticed this happens for me specifically with podcasts sponsored by Spotify (where the ads go to a separate screen and there are usually 3 in a row of different sponsors compared to regular podcasts where the ads are a part of the episode itself). Every time that those ads happen throughout the episode, the episode gets marked as played. I have confirmed this by marking the episode as not played midway through but as soon as there is another ad break, the episode is marked as played again. 

Thanks for your help!

[OscarDC]

Hey there,

Thank you for your messages.

Since this behavior was reported some time ago, we want to know if this is still persistent.

If so, @rperez120 and @username1515, would you mind including the steps you've followed to reproduce it? This is to be able to replicate it with the relevant team to continue investigating. We appreciate your patience and cooperation.

We'll be on the lookout. 

[PathfinderKP]

This issue is still present as it just happened to me a couple of seconds ago when I pressed play on a podcast episode.

[aandal]

I've been having the same issue as of last week, forcing me to listen to podcasts on a different platform.

[OscarDC]

Hey folks,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

We want to inform you that the relevant team is already aware of the situation and working on it backstage. We don't currently have a specific date for this, but we hope it will be as soon as possible. We'd also recommend keeping your Spotify app updated, so you don't miss any improvements coming your way.

If anything else comes up, the Community will be here for you.

[ewadlington]

I’m replying to simply confirm that the issue persists. Certain podcasts disappear from my New Episodes list immediately upon starting them (because Spotify is marking them as played).