Bug? Podcast app marking new downloads as Played

I’ve noticed since installing iOS 18 that some frequent podcasts weren’t appearing in my “Up Next” or “Latest Episodes” lists.

Switching off the default option to “Hide Played Episodes” revealed that they were in my list but had been marked as ”Played” even though I hadn’t listened to them.

It can’t be the app automatically playing another podcast after the last one finished (and me not noticing) as earlier today one downloaded while I was listening to another podcast and the newly-downloaded one was marked as “Played”!

Shame the app doesn’t feature a ”Play History” feature which may help explain what’s going on…