justin․searls․co

My favorite Apple Podcasts bug

After almost two years of being annoyed by this, I finally submitted the most annoying bug I'm currently dealing with. Filed as feedback FB18414183 with description:

For like 2 years (ever since Oppenheimer came out)? I listened to ONE EPISODE of Script Notes by manually navigating to it in the Podcasts app and listening to it. Now, across all my devices—iPad, iPhone, and every Mac, as if it's on some kind of bizarre timer, the Podcasts app will launch to the Script Notes page. Sometimes it's once a week, sometimes I go a month without seeing it. Always happens while I'm actively using the device and steals focus. This has been annoying and confusing for years, but it's so erratic that I assumed nobody at Apple would ever look at it and figure it out. Nothing I do changes anything: I've followed/unfollowed and downloaded/removed to try to shake something loose, but nope. Keeps launching to this random podcast I don't listen to

As of macOS 26, however, this is the first time it actually breaks the app by showing this modal dialog with no views or controls on it.

Neat. 💣

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