Author Topic: Feed has suddenly disappeared in IOS Podcast App (but it exists in iTunes)  (Read 1862 times)

Matthew Leonard

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Sometime during the last month (in-between my latest episodes), my podcast (The Art of Catholic http://matthewsleonard.com/feed/podcast/ ) got all janked up the IOS Podcast app. (It appears fine in 3rd Party apps like Overcast and appears in the iTunes Store , though it took the latest episode a while to show up.)

Regular listeners started contacting me saying that the latest episode (#68) wasn't showing up. Some said they were unable to Subscribe and that the entire Feed doesn't show. Sometimes the art doesn't show. The last time I tried it a few moments ago, I unsubscribed to my own show and then logged back in. I could see the art and the episodes, but wasn't unable to subscribe. Then I closed the app, opened it and the art is gone again and no feed.
To my knowledge, this is only happening in the IOS Podcast app. It works and looks fine in Overcast. This is insane and incredibly frustrating. I have tried refreshing the feed through Apple and have run it through a feed validator which says it is fine. I need help! Thanks!

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Feed has suddenly disappeared in IOS Podcast App (but it exists in iTunes)
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2017, 12:53:57 pm »
I ran your PowerPress-generated podcast feed thru a couple validators and everything came up fine. I was able to subscribe and download episodes normally using desktop iTunes on my iMac. But when I tried to sub using the iOS Podcasts app I got the message "The provided link is not a valid podcast." This is very strange and I can't say for sure why it's happening. It could be a temporary glitch with Apple Podcasts or it could be something else. Best advice I can give right now would be to contact iTunes Support and see if they can help. You can reach them by clicking the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page:
http://itunespartner.apple.com/en/podcasts/overview

Matthew Leonard

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Re: Feed has suddenly disappeared in IOS Podcast App (but it exists in iTunes)
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2017, 03:06:27 pm »
Yes, Shawn, you're experiencing the same problem others have. I've sent a note to Apple support using the contact you provided. (I did see in another support forum that someone else on blubrry servers was having a similar problem.) We'll see what happens. Thanks.

Matthew Leonard

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Re: Feed has suddenly disappeared in IOS Podcast App (but it exists in iTunes)
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2017, 08:23:28 pm »
So it's been a couple weeks since I sent in a support request to Apple on this. Still nothing. Same problem. They keep sending me a form email that "our teams continue to work" on the problem. It's ridiculous. I'm down 10,000 downloads a month from when the problem first arose to now and keep getting messages from people who can't even see the episodes in the iOS Podcast App, even though they are on iTunes. One of the guys who answers a lot of questions in the Apple forums said he saw a similar problem with a podcast on blubrry servers recently, but I've no way to verify. Totally mystified and getting angry.

Any help from anyone would be appreciated. Again, the problem is that some people don't even see the last two episodes (68 & 69). I am unable to even subscribe to my own podcast getting the message "Unable to Subscribe: The provided link is not a valid Podcast." Thanks.

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Feed has suddenly disappeared in IOS Podcast App (but it exists in iTunes)
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2017, 09:34:14 pm »
If you are using any security plugins on your site, disable them for a few days and see if things go back to normal with the Podcasts app. We've seen some instances lately of security plugins bouncing http head requests from Apple and that causes big problems.

Shawn Thorpe

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Re: Feed has suddenly disappeared in IOS Podcast App (but it exists in iTunes)
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2017, 03:52:00 pm »
Hi Matthew,

There's no need to start a brand new forum thread just to ask for help again on the same issue. Doing so fractures the conversation and will just make it harder for us to help you. Did you check to see if you're running a security plugin as I suggested above? We're seeing a lot of cases of these plugins aggressively blocked http head requests which are required by Apple Podcasts.