Users on the free service are unable to download podcasts

[Yordan]

We've received reports from free users who are unable to download podcast episodes. Tapping the download icon results in an exclamation mark, indicating that the attempt failed.

[Frozenblaze]

Hello, I think I have a specific diagnosis for this problem.

I too have gotten the exclamation mark when trying to download podcasts from some channels starting yesterday.  I think it has to do with the fact that they are video podcasts.  I have Spotify on my phone set to download only the audio from video podcasts.  When that is on, the downloads for certain podcast channels fail.  When I disable that setting and allow it to also download the video for the podcasts, the downloads that previously failed will succeed.  That is what I have discovered.  I hope this gets fixed soon, because I don't want to fill my phone with large video downloads.

Phone: Samsung Galaxy A53

Android 14

Spotify version: 8.9.78.513

Affected podcasts:  The Ben Shapiro Show, Candace

The Michael Knowles Show downloads just fine for me.

[Frozenblaze]

Hello, I think I have a specific diagnosis for this problem.

I too have gotten the exclamation mark when trying to download podcasts from some channels starting yesterday.  I think it has to do with the fact that they are video podcasts.  I have Spotify on my phone set to download only the audio from video podcasts.  When that is on, the downloads for certain podcast channels fail.  When I disable that setting and allow it to also download the video for the podcasts, the downloads that previously failed will succeed.  That is what I have discovered.  I hope this gets fixed soon, because I don't want to fill my phone with large video downloads.

Phone: Samsung Galaxy A53

Android 14

Spotify version: 8.9.78.513

Affected podcasts:  The Ben Shapiro Show, Candace

The Michael Knowles Show downloads just fine for me.

[yawnzzn]

Hello, so yes, I have already performed a few clean reinstalls of the app already and I own a Samsung Galaxy S8. (I am aware that the fact that my device is a little old may contribute to the reason why this may be happening)

The Spotify version I currently have is ver. 8.9.78.513, and while I am currently unable to provide a video, here is a screenshot of my experience as of now.

While irrelevant (I think), I'd like to add that it turns out that I am able to download any podcast longer than an hour, nothing less. Everything else refuses.

[CliftonSleigh]

@Frozenblaze, I cannot thank you enough for this!

I just tried this method and it worked perfectly for the ones giving me trouble such as The Joe Rogan Experience and Ben Shapiro Show. (Although for some reason the Gilbert Gottfried pod, which has never had video, is still not working.)

You are my new hero. 👍

Phone: Samsung J327A and Google Pixel 6a

Spotify version: 8.9.78.513

[cherrygromit]

Thanks, I assume you mean this setting in my screenshot?

I tried this for myself (it was Off) so I tried switching to On and download still didn't work. I tried Off again and didn't work. So it might be a different issue for me, but thanks for offering a solution 🙂

 

As far as I know my podcast (Three Bean Salad Patreon Feed) is not a video podcast.

[myonmyon]

When I try to download a podcast subscription from the Android app, the “↓” mark becomes a “! mark and cannot download the podcast since yesterday.
However, the error does not occur in all the distributions, and there are some distributions that can be downloaded without problems.
Does anyone know the cause?

[cherrygromit]

I have the same issue and posted here -

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Podcasts-Partners-etc/Exclamation-mark-when-downloading-Patre...

Someone gave a solution that worked for them but it didn't resolve the issue for me.

[cherrygromit]

I have the same issue and posted here - https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Podcasts-Partners-etc/Exclamation-mark-when-downloading-Patre...

I have Spotify version 8.9.78.513.

I tried what FrozeBlaze said about audio/video downloads and tried both with setting on and off, to no avail.

Screen recording attached.

I've confirmed I have the issue with podcast Three Bean Salad Patreon Feed but not The Rest is Entertainment.

[Yordan]

Hey there,

In case you're experiencing this issue, make sure to give it a like and provide us with the following info (if you haven't already):

• your device's make, model and OS version
• the exact version of Spotify you're running
• links to the affected podcasts

Thanks! We'll pass the info on to our tech folks so they can look further into this 👍

As always, rest assured we'll keep you posted here as soon as we have any new information to share, so Subscribe to the thread from the three dots menu to stay tuned.

[Marija]

Same issue as of about 2 days ago

Iphone XS, Spotify 8.9.78

Doesn’t download podcast. I did a clean reinstall of the app. No change. 
I also did check/uncheck download videos or audio only, it doesn’t work. Rather it downloads random podcasts but scratch that, 95% of the tries it doesn’t. It has nothing to do with having download audio or video only. It is useless to send you links to the podcasts it doesn’t download, consider that basically almost all podcasts would not download.