Auto-download episodes does not work for podcasts with paid subscriptions

[parks1]

Plan

Premium

Country

U.S.A.

Device

iPhone XS

Operating System

iOS 17.5.1

My Question or Issue

Auto-downloading podcast episodes is great, but I have a paid subscription to get ad free episodes of my favorite show. These do not auto-download. I have to go to the podcast's page and download them once they are released (the auto-download episodes toggle is turned on in settings).

[OscarDC]

Hey @parks1,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

To continue investigating this behavior, would you mind checking if this happens with other paid (if you're subscribed to another one) and non-paid podcasts? If not, include the link of the affected podcast in your next response to take a better look.

We'll be on the lookout. 

[parks1]

I do not have any other paid subscription podcasts on Spotify to be able to check that. This is not an issue for me with any non-paid podcasts those work as intended. 

The one I'm having issues with is: https://open.spotify.com/show/3J8WdFmTIXMeNnmDJwac2s?si=rg66fjjMRVim_nd7YkJRcQ

For some more info there are multiple levels of their Subscription. I do not have the maximum level that unlocks all the content in this podcast. I only have access to certain episodes, others remain as "Locked". I'm not sure what this looks like behind the scenes, but I have access to "Short Rest: ..." episodes and not "Mixed Bag of Holding: ..." episodes.

[Susan_GP]

Hi @parks1,

Thanks so much for keeping in touch and for the info you've sent.

So we can get all relevant info and report the situation if necessary, would you mind sending us a video recording of this behavior? Please include a video where we can see how the episodes auto-download for other Podcasts, but not for the one you're subscribed to. You can attach it in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and make it public, so we can visualize it.

Additionally, send over the exact Spotify version you have installed on your device.

We'll be here.

[parks1]

I tried to record a video, but 5MB is like maybe 5 seconds of recording from my phone... 

These are probably the only screens you care about. Auto download is turned on for NaddPod (notice it is also turned on for Rotating Hero's Podcast and SCP Archives). New SCP Archives, and Rotating Hero's podcast episodes are being auto downloaded to "My Episodes" and you will notice one of the NaddPod episodes set to auto download was released on Friday so it should be appearing above the new SCP Archives episode from Thursday. I also included the NaddPod podcast to show that both new episodes from Thursday & Friday are playable, but are not auto-downloaded.

I'm on the most recent IOS version (on 6/24/2024) 8.9.48 

[Susan_GP]

Hi @parks1,

Thanks for your collaboration. 

We've passed this info on to the right team to be looked into. We'll let you know as soon as we have any updates about this. 

Cheers!

[Susan_GP]

Hi @parks1,

Thanks for your collaboration. 

The team in charge is still looking into this.

In the meantime, could you try going to the app's Settings > Data Saver > Video Podcasts, and disable the option 'Download audio only'. Then check if that makes a difference.

Keep us posted!

[parks1]

That did not fix it. It is not a video podcast so I don't think that would be the issue, it seems like a bug in the software.

[Yordan]

Thanks for confirming @parks1.

We appreciate your feedback on this. While we're unable to provide an ETA for a fix at the moment, rest assured this will remain on our internal teams' radar. In the meantime, make sure you're always running the latest version of Spotify so you don't miss out on any updates.

The Community is always here if something else comes up.

[parks1]

Hey, just wanted to pop in and say this got fixed! Not sure which update exactly or how, but it now auto downloads my paid subscription episodes!