Keep X latest episodes

Feature request
1

I would like to keep just the most recent episode of an hourly newscast podcast. I don’t need every single hour but always the latest version.

Set a default count of episodes per podcast to keep and auto delete the old ones.

(Doggcatcher app has done this if you need examples)

3 Likes
2

Hi Kim,

Welcome to the AntennaPod forum! If you want, it’d be cool if you share your AntennaPod story here!

Thanks for your feature request. I’d personally love to have this as well (but not a developer so I can’t contribute code, unfortunately). In fact, we’re not alone with our desires: quite a few people also indicated their interest in this feature over at GitHub, where AntennaPod is being developed.

I have good hopes that this will be implemented at some point. But it ties in with a loooooong other discussion about ‘newsy’ versus ‘serial’ podcasts, so I think it’ll need some thorough thinking on both requests and how they can be simple, effective and flexible at the same time. In other words: it will probably take a while.

1 Like
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App version: 3.8.0 (095f60da8)

Problem you may be having, or feature you want:

Feature Request: Configurable “Keep Latest Episodes” Setting

I’d like to request a new feature that allows users to “automatically manage downloaded podcast episodes” on a per-podcast basis.

Problem

I have recently moved from Player.fm to AntennaPod due to its popularity. However, I miss a crucial feature present in Player.fm which I cannot replicate in AntennaPod.

Currently, users may struggle to maintain a desired number of downloaded episodes for their subscribed podcasts. This can lead to:

  • Excessive storage consumption from unneeded old episodes.
  • Manual effort required to delete older episodes, even if they’ve been listened to or are no longer relevant.

Proposed Solution

Implement a setting for each podcast where users can specify the “number of latest episodes to keep downloaded”.

How it would work:

  1. “User Configuration:” For each subscribed podcast (or global), users would be able to input a specific number (e.g., 1, 3, 5, 10, etc.) representing the maximum number of the most recent episodes they wish to retain.
  2. “Automatic Download:” When new episodes are released, the app would continue to automatically download them as per existing user settings.
  3. Automatic Deletion: Once the number of downloaded episodes for a podcast exceeds the user-defined limit, the app would automatically “delete the oldest downloaded episode(s)” until the specified number of “latest” episodes is met. This deletion should occur regardless of the episode’s listen status (i.e., whether it has been played or not).

Example Scenario:

If a user sets the “Keep Latest Episodes” value to 5 for a specific podcast:

  • The app will ensure that only the 5 most recently released episodes of that podcast are downloaded and stored.
  • If a 6th new episode becomes available and is downloaded, the oldest of the existing 5 episodes will be automatically deleted, maintaining a total of 5 downloaded episodes.

Benefits

  • “Improved Storage Management:” Users can more effectively control the amount of storage their podcasts consume.
  • “Reduced Manual Effort:” Eliminates the need for users to manually delete old episodes.
  • “Always Relevant Content:” Ensures users always have the most recent episodes readily available.

thank you.