Podcast Guru 2.3.2
This release focuses on playback reliability — remembered playback speeds, automatic resume after Bluetooth interruptions, and more robust downloads — plus season/episode badges, better playlist organization, video podcast fixes, and dozens of crash fixes throughout the app.
⭐ Season & Episode Badges
Never lose your place in a serial show. Episode lists now display compact badges like S1 E1 for podcasts that use them, so it’s obvious at a glance which season and episode you’re on. We’ve also improved recognition of season/episode information from more podcast sources — both Podcasting 2.0 and iTunes formats.
🆕 New Features
Alphabetically Sorted Playlists
Your playlists are now sorted alphabetically in the Playlists tab, with system playlists (Offline, Favorites, History) pinned at the top so they’re always easy to find.
Tap Artwork for Full-Screen View
Tap any podcast’s artwork when viewing its episodes to open a full-screen view. Pinch or double-tap to zoom in, and swipe down or press back to close.
Playlist Name on Up Next
When you’re listening from a saved playlist, the playlist name now appears at the top of the Up Next screen. For custom queues, you’ll see “Custom Queue” or where the queue originated.
Quick Access to Podcast Details
Tap the podcast image at the top of the Episode Appearances screen to jump directly to that podcast’s details page.
Find Untagged Podcasts
Podcasts that can’t be automatically categorized now appear under a new “Uncategorized” / “No tags” filter chip in your Library, making them easy to find and organize.
AI Disclosure Information
When podcast creators indicate their content is AI-generated or AI-assisted, that information is now surfaced in the podcast details so you know what you’re listening to.
Smarter Transcript Detection
The app now automatically figures out transcript file types from web addresses when the feed doesn’t include complete transcript details. If a transcript can’t be displayed inline, you’ll get an “open in browser” option instead.
Better Import Error Messages
When importing a podcast using Import From RSS, you’ll now get specific error messages. If you paste a website address instead of a feed URL, the app will suggest looking for RSS feed options on that page.
🎧 Playback Reliability
Playback Speed Remembered Correctly
Custom playback speeds like 1.4× would sometimes reset to 1.0× after restarting your phone or force-closing the app. Now your chosen speed is correctly applied when resuming from a widget, Bluetooth device, or media button.
Auto-Resume After Interruptions
Three bugs in the audio system were causing playback to stay paused after Bluetooth interruptions. Now when your podcast is interrupted by a phone call or navigation direction, playback automatically resumes once the interruption ends.
Reliable Media Controls
When you press play, pause, or skip from your headphones, car stereo, or notification, the app now properly completes those commands instead of potentially dropping them.
Accurate Play/Pause Status
The app could show “playing” when a podcast was actually paused when quickly switching between play and pause. That’s fixed.
📥 Downloads
Complete Episodes, Every Time
The app now properly verifies that the full episode was downloaded before marking it as complete. If an incomplete download is detected, it automatically retries fetching the full file. A new cache validation step also confirms downloaded episodes are complete and valid before playback starts, preventing failures from partially downloaded or corrupted files.
Download Reliability Overhaul
We fixed 13 issues in the download system that could cause the app to crash or freeze while downloading episodes. Downloads are now more reliable and the app stays responsive.
Notifications That Finish
Previously, notifications for completed or failed downloads could get interrupted. Now all download notifications and status updates display fully and accurately.
External Storage Detection
Podcast Guru now properly detects podcasts when you connect an SD card or USB drive, finishing the full scan instead of stopping prematurely.
🎬 Video Playback
Fixed Video for RSS.com and Other Standard-Compliant Hosts
Some podcast feeds offering video episodes were only playing audio because the app wasn’t recognizing the standard video format. Video episodes from RSS.com and other standard-compliant hosts now play correctly with both picture and sound.
🚗 Android Auto
Correct Playlists in the Car
Starting playback from the “Latest” section now creates the correct playlist, and the queue works consistently whether you begin from “Latest,” “Up Next,” or “Offline” episodes.
🧭 Navigation & Interface
Back Button From External Links
When opening an episode from an external link, tapping back now first closes the episode details, then closes the podcast screen — exactly as you’d expect.
Helpful Offline Message
The episode list used to appear completely blank when offline without downloaded episodes. Now you’ll see a friendly message explaining you’re offline and need to connect.
Up Next Banner When Offline
The Up Next banner now correctly displays your queue whether or not you have an internet connection, instead of incorrectly showing “end of queue.”
Profile Stats Fully Visible
The mini player was covering your stats at the bottom of the Profile screen. Now when you scroll down, all your listening stats and achievements are fully visible.
Cleaner Playlists Screen
The Queue system playlist no longer appears in the Playlists screen — it now stays hidden in the background as intended.
Podcast Grid Display Consistency
Fixed an issue where podcast artwork could appear too small on high-resolution phones or improperly sized when using display zoom. Grid cells now scale properly to match your screen.
Android 16 Status Bar Readability
Fixed a visual issue where the podcast selection screen for shortcuts would show white status bar contents on a white background on Android 16.
Cast Dialog Readability
Text in the cast dialog now has proper contrast and is clearly visible instead of white on white.
Genre Filter Chip Display
When collapsed, the “No tags” filter option now consistently shows as the filter title.
💳 Payments & VIP
Refunds Now Properly Remove VIP
If you requested a refund for your VIP subscription through Google Play, the app was incorrectly still showing you as a VIP member. VIP status is now properly removed the next time you open the app while connected to the internet.
“Partial” Status for Split Payments
When a payment is divided into multiple parts with mixed results, you’ll now see exactly what happened instead of just “Success” or “Failed.”
Improved Lightning Payment Support
Fixed an issue where Lightning Network address payments in live streaming mode might not send properly.
Automated Payment History Cleanup
The app now automatically removes payment records older than one year from internal storage, keeping the app running smoothly over time.
🐛 Crash Fixes & Stability
We’ve squashed several crashes that could unexpectedly close the app:
- Pressing play — The app was sometimes trying to set up audio features before the audio system was fully ready. It now properly waits for everything to be ready before starting playback.
- Episode details — Viewing episode details no longer causes unexpected closures.
- Long episode descriptions — Opening episodes with very long descriptions no longer crashes the app.
- Sign in — Fixed a crash when signing in (an error message was being posted on a closed screen), and a separate crash when signing in through Podchaser.
- Sign out — Fixed a crash that could occur during sign out.
- Importing podcast feeds — Feed imports no longer trigger crashes on edge cases.
- Battery optimization settings — Fixed a crash on devices without standard battery settings screens.
- Icon memory — Fixed crashes caused by podcast icon memory issues (the internal cache was growing without limits).
- Background task checks — Fixed app freezes when checking for background tasks — the app now only performs checks when needed.
🔧 Under the Hood
- Faster episode counting — When scrolling through subscriptions, syncing new episodes, or importing a podcast list, the app now calculates new episode counts more efficiently.
- Better large library imports — Importing hundreds or thousands of podcasts at once (like when setting up a new phone) now processes in a more controlled way, preventing slowdowns or crashes.
- Background task cleanup — The app now properly stops background tasks when you navigate away from a podcast or episode list, resulting in fewer crashes, better battery life, and smoother browsing.
- Improved error reporting — Fixed an issue where the app was incorrectly logging error messages when refreshing podcast episodes in the background, making it easier for our team to identify and fix real problems.
- Android version compatibility — Updated internal code to work with newer Android versions, keeping Podcast Guru compatible with future phone updates.
Ready to try it? Update to Podcast Guru 2.3.2 from the Google Play Store.