App version: 3.6.0 (261752989) from Play Store Android version: 14
Device model: Motorola g84 5g
Expected behaviour: Downloaded podcasts remain available until deleted (auto delete is turned off in settings)
Current behaviour: Certain podcasts disappear from queue around a day after downloading, either unplayed or partially played
First occurred: about a week ago. Has happened two or three times.
Steps to reproduce:
Download three episodes of “Sherlock Holmes Short Stories” (Noiser) without subscribing to the podcast
Add to queue
Play part of one episode
Wait a day
Notice the part-played and unplayed downloads have disappeared
Environment: Auto downloads off. Auto delete is off. Queue is managed manually.
I have only noticed this with one specific podcast series - all others work as expected, however I usually subscribe to series. Could it be because I haven’t subscribed to this podcast?
Do you mean that the audio file was deleted (e.g. you see a play button but tapping on it changes it into a download icon, or you see a download icon to start with), or are the episodes removed from the queue altogether (they’re not listed any-more)?
Yes, it could be. The ability to listen without subscribing was recently introduced and it will indeed delete data, as is noted in the warning message when you open the podcast.
That said, I believe that downloaded episodes should never be deleted, so if they are, that might indeed be a bug.
Same happened to me this week. I had maybe 10 individually downloaded podcasts, no subscriptions, downloaded over the course of maybe 3 weeks (just got my first smartphone). Went to finish listening to one, and every one was gone. Nothing at all in Downloads, Playback History, or Queue.
I downloaded that unfinished episode again, and one other. Finished the one, started the other. Next time I went to listen, only a day or two later, both gone.
The downloaded podcasts that disappeared included never listened to, partly listened to, and completely listened to. Checked Settings, and “delete after playing” is off.
The phone is a low-end Samsung, and I don’t know how much storage capacity it has, but it had successfully contained, as I said, maybe 10-12 episodes when the first disappearance happened. Only had 2 episodes when the 2nd disappearance happened, so that tends to argue against it being a storage space issue.
The warning when downloading says that I am not subscribed, and “Subscribe for free to access it more easily and keep its playback history.”
I thought “access it more easily” meant subscribing would save me the bother of manually downloading new episodes when they came out, and that “keep its playback history” was related to tracking which episodes I’d downloaded/played.
I read the Bug First Aid “All my podcasts and episodes are gone” and navigated to the Android/media/de.danoeh.antennapod folder. Heading says “Files in de.danoeh.antennapod” and in the middle of my phone screen it says “No items”.
The ability to listen to a podcast episode without subscribing is a pretty recent feature addition. Based on the experiences shared here I’m guessing that such episodes are removed after a day or two as part of the housekeeping procedures.
The feature works fine for me, but I only use it if I want to listen to one episode and then decide if I want to subscribe. I would recommend subscribing to any podcasts if you want to “keep” the episodes or history. You can always delete the podcast once you’ve listened to the episodes you’re interested in.
You are correct that non-subscribed podcasts are removed after a few days, but they should actually only be removed if no episode is in the queue. That’s a bug in the housekeeping procedures.