Can't download Spotify Podcasts

I'm successfully using Spotify for music on my 5 Plus and it works well.

However, I can't get podcasts to work. Having searched, I can't find a record on anyone else having a problem so I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

What I'm doing is:

1) In Spotify itself I follow some podcasts
2) In the Fenix Spotify app, I select 'Add music & podcasts'
3) I then select Podcasts
4) I see the podcasts that I'm following
5) I select the podcast that I want on the watch
6) I then see a list of episodes and I select the one I want (using the top right button on the watch)
7) The watch searches for wifi and then displays 'Syncing Spotfiy 0% complete'
8) Then nothing. No spinning border around the outside of the watch. Just nothing. This screen just stays on the watch at 0%. If I press the bottom right button on the watch then I can cancel the sync but it will never complete by itself

Am I doing something wrong?

I've restarted the watch and that doesn't help. I've also restarted the Garmin app on my phone (although I'm not sure this is a factor). Still didn't help.

Could / should I delete the Spotify app from the watch and try to reinstall? If so, can I delete the Spotify app without resetting the watch? It's a right pain doing a full reset and having to sort out all the settings again!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

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0 hairsy over 5 years ago

I may have solved my problem but would appreciate hearing about whether anyone has had a similar experience and / or can validate my diagnosis.

I had tried 3 different podcasts but they were all from the BBC. I've just tried another podcast that isn't from the BBC and that works. It would seem that there's something about BBC podcasts that causes a problem.

As I say, if anyone has a similar experience (or a solution for the BBC) then that would be great to hear.

0 gasteropod over 5 years ago

I just tried to load a BBC earth podcast as a test. It worked flawlessly. Selected, synced and listened without trouble.

0 kerlaz over 5 years ago

I have the same problem with some BBC podcasts, syncing sticks at 0% and never progressed. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the app and this didn't make a difference.

0 John_Vaughan over 5 years ago

I have not noticed any problem with the BBC, but I do have a recurring podcast problem which I have mentioned here before. Had it on my returned F5S+ and my F5+. When i'm, say, 1hr into a 3hr podcast, i might finish my run and aim to pick it up where i left off the next day... but for some reason, roughly 50% of the time, when i go back to the podcast it will be locked, unable to play, and the only way i can bring it back to life is a reset of the watch, which is annoying given skipping forward 1hr of a podcast tends to hurt your finger! Has anyone else found this? Is there a work around?

0 PatrickSWarner over 5 years ago

I have the same issue here with BBC podcasts - BBC podcasts that I've followed on Spotify do not appear in the watch, but other podcasts appear fine.

0 newbie_nick over 5 years ago in reply to PatrickSWarner

Hi Patrick,

I've been working my way through the Spotify community to have the BBC issue resolved.

If you want to support the visibility of the problem, please vote here:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Garmin-Smartwatches-not-showing-BBC-Radio-Podcasts/idi-p/4829987

I do have some hope that Spotify will adrdess the issue.

Cheers

Nick

0 PatrickSWarner over 5 years ago in reply to newbie_nick

I have done that. Have Garmin stated that this is a spotify issue then and nothing to do with them?

0 7641899 over 5 years ago in reply to hairsy

I have the same problem with podcasts from the Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK). Most NRK podcasts won't download on my watch (Fenix 5 plus) like you describe, stuck on 0%. But all other podcasts I've tried work fine.

I had a long mail exchange with Spotify support about this, but in the end I gave up as I were not able to make them understand the issue, no matter how many times I tried to explain it... They even refused to answer if they were actually the creators of the Spotify app for Garmin. So no help.

Also tried e-mailing Garmin support about this, but never got any reply. And I tried the IT service at NRK, but they didn't have any clues.

So please, if anyone finds out a workaround for the BBC podcasts, I suspect that would help me as well...

PS! There are actually a few podcasts from NRK that work, but something like 4 out of 5 fail.

0 PatrickSWarner over 5 years ago in reply to 7641899

Interesting. I am familiar with the lack of information or action from Spotify as I was trying to get them to solve a different bug in their software for about 3 years and gave up and switched to apple music back at that time.

I wonder if actually there is some kind of meta tag in certain podcasts that is causing this issue, but nobody seems to know at the moment. BBC podcasts are standard MP3 files, so it's a bit strange that they will not download.

0 xiltepin over 4 years ago

I am having the same issue with ESPN large podcasts. No solution to this?