Podcasts won’t delete automatically after 24 hours on my iPhone 13

I can confirm that this bug is resolved with iOS 18.6. My Podcasts now automatically deletes 24 hours after playback.

Hey everyone -

Good news! This issue appears to have resolved with the latest iteration of iOS (18.6). Can anyone else confirm? (Note: Please read this entire comment first to avoid possible false negatives.)

I installed iOS 18.6 late last night and gave my system about 18h to complete background operations before checking device storage. I currently only have ~2G in PC, which looks about right to me when I factor in my saved podcasts (which don’t auto-delete after being played). By comparison, when I checked my hard drive storage about a week ago I had +30G in podcasts…I still had space, so didn’t bother with hard drive maintenance at the time.

Please note, I would not anticipate this type of bug fix to immediately resolve the very instant your iOS is updated. 18h was a convenient timeframe for me. It probably takes significantly less time – but everyone should be aware that it will likely take some time after installing iOS 18.6. However, other than updating the iOS and having the patience to allow the system to complete 18.6’s background operations, no other remedial actions (toggling settings, deleting app, etc) were required.

Lmk if anyone has questions or if this explanation is unclear. Look fwd to hearing news.

Cheers

Device: iphone SE 3rd gen

Yes, 18.6 finally has fixed the issue for me. It was never an issue for me on Watch or Mac, fortunately, but I am happy to say (and just checked again today) that it was resolved with the update.

ReoExpress wrote:

1) Wondering why more people are not complaining about this issue.

2) It’s a (pain) to have to remove played podcasts manually.

1) Fwiw, I use the app daily but only just noticed. And, for me, it’s not only played episodes that aren’t automatically deleting. The Automatically Download feature isn’t cleaning up after itself either. (iPhone SE 2nd Gen)

2) Agreed. I decided to go nuclear. ☢️

For now, I’ll redownload what I need as I add to my queue.

Relevant Aside: Doesn’t seem to have resolved with 18.5.

I don't even think there is a beta for iOS 18.5.1. But please submit this as a bug report to Apple here: Feedback - Apple Podcasts - Apple because the more bug reports they get the more likely they are to fix it quicker. You can also leave a review about the Podcasts app on the App Store and tell them about the bug there.

[Edited by Moderator]

Same issue on my new iPhone 16 256GB.

On my 12 mini 128GB I don't have had this problem, both on iOS 18.4.1.

Same here, a nightmare to manage, Podcast app space keeps growing if we don't delete podcast manually.

Switching to Spotify ...

Same! And also for the love of Jobs, I wish they gave us a way to remove ‘Documents & Data’ in the Podcast app. There is absolutely no reason my Podcast app should be using 11 GB of space on my phone when there’s no episodes downloaded. Why have they never given us a way to get rid of that without deleting and reinstalling the app?!?!

I have had to manually remove played episode downloads every few days since the app no longer does it automatically.

Too much work and I have given up on the Apple Podcasts app. It seems that with every iteration it “takes on step forward and two steps back.”

I have gone back to Pocket Casts podcast player as it seems the apple app is broken.

This is still an issue for me - iphone14 Pro ios 18.5. Have contacted apple support multiple times and they've done basically nothing. Very frustrating and ridiculous that it's going on over 2 months and still not resolved. Every other podcast app has this figured out. Do better, apple.

Anchann wrote:

It is obvious this is a software issue that popped up with a former update and needs to be fixed.

The real mystery is how iOS18.x managed to insert so many bugs in basic podcast operation without introducing any new features/improvements.

This is my issue as well. I must manually remove played podcasts. Please advise.

thanks.

Same here. Wondering why more people are not complaining about this issue. It’s a (pain) to have to remove played podcasts manually. Something Apple should look into.

I'm having this issue as well on my iPhone 16 Pro

Same here! It’s rather ridiculous