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Podcasts not syncing with Garmin Express

1-Ghost
over 3 years ago

I'm on MacOS BigSur using Garmin Express with a Fenix6.  I just upgraded to BigSur (skipped over Catalina) and Podcasts on GE are completely broken.  I have tried searching the forums but have not found any answers.  Here's what happens.

1) The podcast list shows up in GE, but it is the list from BEFORE my upgrade.  Meaning the list is frozen in time and doesn't reflect the updated list from the new Apple Podcast App.

2) I can sync these 'old' podcasts to the Fenix 6, but no new podcasts

From what I have found from my research, the podcast files are stored somewhere else and this has likely broken the integration.  It seems this bug was introduced with Catalina over a year ago and GE still hasn't addressed it.  I am running GE 7 and still doesn't work.  Any ideas?

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Possibly related. See thread on the Garmin Express Windows forum - How do you correct the index of podcasts in Garmin Express

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    big sur stores podcasts in a containers folder (a sub-system of the hidden library files). the podcasts aren’t named, so you won’t find them in a search. they have arbitrary numerical names. the problem originates with apple’s break-up of the previously integrated itunes app. don’t expect this to be fixed. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Not sure if it helps you, but I just gave it a try to use my Forerunner and Garmin Express with iMac running BigSur.

    Musik App as well as Podcast App library is found by Garmin Express and at least download to Forerunner worked without issues.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Recently updated Garmin Express and it looks like it now supports iTunes music properly.  When I click on Podcasts, it says 'podcasts found in your apple podcasts library will appear here'.  However, I have launched podcast app and have many downloaded content, but still nothing shows up in the app.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I have a slightly different problem. The podcasts show up in Garmin Express, but have 00:00 duration. Then, when I transfer them to my Fenix 5 Plus, they show up with a hexadecimal title (this is probably related to the comment above about podcasts being stored in the container folder but not named). The podcasts play fine, but you don't know what it is until you play it.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I encountered this problem as well. Garmin support wasn't very helpful. While I couldn't get Garmin Express to recognize downloaded podcasts using Big Sur, there is a simple workaround.

    In my case, I use Firefox to download a desired podcast using an XML link supplied by the content provider. Next, I add the podcast as a song using Apple Music. Finally, I transfer the "song" to the watch using Garmin Express (using search box to locate the desired podcast).

    Although a bit tedious, this method seems to work. 

    Another option, is to use a workflow to grab a podcast from the Podcasts Library (see https://douglas-watson.github.io/post/2020-05_export_podcasts/) and then use Apple Music as described above.

    Good luck.