Missing episodes in Podcast app since upgrading to iOS 26

Hi @Johnbojaen & @ApplePourMoi -

I have also noticed a few unhelpful changes in how the podcast app manages auto and manual downloads. I noticed this changed before iOS 26, but it was relatively recent (18.x) and I do think it is probably related to the changes that you guys are describing.

My observations:

1. PC app only seems to be automatically downloading and keeping only the most recent episode from shows that I’m subscribed to. This new app behavior now overrides all my previous settings I that I had assigned on a per-PC basis (eg, to keep x most recent or all for y duration).
2. PC app also seems to be handling manually downloaded episodes differently. It used to keep unplayed manual DLs indefinitely and would delete them after played if you had that setting enabled. That doesn’t seem to be happening any longer.

I think both of these new behaviors might get triggered when a particular podcast adds a new episode, but I haven’t been able to test that. @Johnbojaen: Since you said you are actively experimenting, could you try to confirm?

Workaround ideas:

1. Whenever I add episodes to my queue, I have been re-downloading at that time (if needed). So far, this has resulted in no problems playing whatever is queued.
2. Something else you can try is to both download and save episodes. The save function was designed to act as a semi-permanent no-delete tag until you turn it off (unsave), so saved episodes used to be kept as download kinda indefinitely. (At least that’s how it used to work. 🙄 Hopefully it still does.) This might be particularly useful for episodes from podcast that you’re not subscribed to, since those can be hard to remember to find again. But in theory it should work for any episodes that you want to retain as a download. I’m pretty sure you have to save/unsave on a per episode basis (a downside).

Hope that helps. Lmk if any of that works or if you figure out anything new. Cheers.

I am experiencing the same problem since I upgraded to iOS 26. In my case, I see it happening whenever I download an episode from a program that I am not subscribed to.

For many years (before iOS 26) that episode would remain in my smart "Unplayed" playlist until I finally listened to it. Now, with iOS 26, it's added to my playlist, but a few minutes later it's gone, unless I play a few seconds of the episode (I am doing some testing).

I like listening to a couple episodes of a program before deciding to subscribe, and this feature allowed me to push these episodes to my "to do" list, just to play them whenever I want to, not just the minute I download them.