This question is only going to make sense to people who are very familiar with both older and newer versions of iOS and iTunes.
Traditionally, if you wanted to listen to podcasts on your iPhone, you transferred them over from iTunes, just like with the iPod Classic, and then you went to your phone and found them under the “iPod” app.
Then a later version of iOS split the iPod app into several different apps. Music went to the “Music” app and Podcasts went to the “Podcast” app. You could still sync music from iTunes to the “Music” app the same as before, but the “Podcast” app was now independent of iTunes and you had to stream or download podcast episodes directly from the internet.
However, when I plug my iPhone into iTunes, I can still sync everything else—plus, the podcast syncing menu is still there, same as before, and when I choose to sync them, it looks like it’s syncing podcasts. But how can I find those synced podcast episodes on the iPhone? They’re not there.
And if you are going to ask me “Why don’t you just stream or download podcasts directly from the internet and use the ‘Podcast’ app like they want you to?” Well, because it’s a pain in the ass. Half the time it loses the connection and won’t load and then it gets permanently screwed up. And the other half of the time, the “Podcast” app decides that all the episodes—even the ones that have been downloaded—are “not available at this time.”
Fuck that. I want to just sync my podcasts from iTunes like I used to.
I know in the past people had problems with podcasts not syncing if you weren’t very current on them. Like, if you had 5 unlistened to podcasts, it wouldn’t download any more. Could that be the case? I don’t listen to any podcasts, so I don’t know beyond that.
Well, I just tried it - syncing some podcasts from iTunes to the (newly downloaded) iPod app on my iPhone 4s, and they appeared in the iPod app, no problems.
Um, what newly downloaded iPod app? The default music player app in iOS can’t be downloaded, and it hasn’t been called ‘iPod’ for several versions. I did an app store search for iPod but didn’t find anything useful (mostly drowned in apps that advertise they can be used on the iPod touch.)
For the OP:
If you download the Podcasts app, you can use it with podcasts you sync from iTunes. They should show up under ‘my stations’. You might need to create a playlist with the podcasts on it, not sure if that’s necessary.
A slightly different approach would be an app like Downcast. (I don’t think that’s free, but it’s not very expensive.) Like the Apple Podcasts app, it’s oriented towards updating your podcasts right on the phone, but I download my podcasts through iTunes and then send them to Downcast:
When you connect the iPhone, there’s an ‘Apps’ tab for it in iTunes, and a list of apps that can transfer files. Downcast is there, and I send it all the podcast MP3 files I want to listen to.
Inside the Downcast App, under ‘More…’, there’s an option to ‘Import Media Files.’ There, I can select all the files I transferred and import them.
Then, I use a Downcast auto playlist which shows me everything I haven’t played yet, and can manually sort them to play in the order I like. Under ‘Podcasts’ I can delete an import batch once I’ve listened to all the podcasts.