Up Next in Apple Podcasts has ruined my listening experience

Apple, please change how the Up Next feature works. I am so frustrated listening to your podcast app. I typically listen to many episodes from one specific show, one after another. I don’t know if it was the iOS 18 update back in 2024, but for a long time now, each time an episode from a specific show ends, another show will play right afterwards— a show that I do not want to listen to.


Even if I manually remove every single show from the Up Next area, the next day, there will be a whole bunch of random shows back in there.


The only way to solve this annoyance is to uncheck continuous play. That doesn’t stop the random shows from appearing up next. It just stops those random shows from automatically playing after the episode that I am listening to ends.


What the absolute heck, Apple? Who on earth has the stupidity in your company to think that this is actually a good feature? Remember when Steve Jobs was alive and everything was streamlined, simplified, and easy to use?


Why do you think that what you’re doing now is better than what Steve Jobs created?


I would love to just ditch the Apple Podcast app and use another one, but everything else that’s out there either has a subscription fee, or isn’t all that great.


this issue has been going on long enough, and I’m sure that other people have complained about this long enough, why has an apple changed anything?

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iPhone 15 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Mar 24, 2025 3:26 AM

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Apr 8, 2025 3:25 PM in response to Groundskeeper_Willy

I completely agree with you. I can’t stand the up next feature, and found this thread while searching if I could obliterate it from the app. If you have a queue, it plays the queue. If you don’t it plays from this randomized list that makes no sense.


Sometimes when I go into a Show and hit play, the app will populate my queue with nothing but that Show…because what I want is to KEEP LISTENING TO THIS PODCAST. But other times it refuses to do so, and will just revert to the list it feels I will enjoy. If it’s learning my preferences with machine learning it’s been wrong 100% of the time.

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Apr 4, 2025 11:00 AM in response to Groundskeeper_Willy

Groundskeeper_Willy wrote:

Apple, please change how the Up Next feature works.

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can let them know your thoughts here:


Product Feedback - Apple


If you don't like Apple's Podcast app, consider one of the many others available in the App Store. I've been using PocketCast for years and really love it.



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Up Next in Apple Podcasts has ruined my listening experience

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