Podcast (Sony Music or Video app)

[JohanKB]

I've been using the Sony app to listen to and subscribe to Podcasts.

Everything worked fine until a few days ago when I suddenly get a message saying "Podcast have stopped" (Podcast har tyvärr stoppats) whenever I select the Podcast alternative in the drop-down menu.

I've tried clearing out the podcasts, emptying the underlying folders, rolled back updates, cleared cached an app memory but the problem is till there.

Any ideas how this can be fixed?

[Rickard · Accepted solution]

I'm sorry to hear that 

Try to clear data and cache for both the video and podcast app under Settings -> Apps -> All and then restart the phone and see if that helps.

Edit: To find the Podcast app in Android 6.0, go to Settings -> Apps -> [menu] -> Show system -> Podcast -> Storage -> Clear data/cache.

[JohanKB]

Hi and thanks for your response.

Unfortunately I've already tried that, also did a clear data/cache, rollback to previous version, clear data/cache again and then applied the updates again...same problem.

But I just realised I know when this all started. I was adding a few podcasts by clicking on RSS-urls in a mail. It was when I clicked on the 2nd or 3rd link the problem started (it could be that I clicked on a podcast I already subscribed to).

[Rickard]

Could you try to clear all cache in your phone by tapping Cached data under Settings -> Storage and also make sure that you have installed all updates from What's New and Settings -> About phone -> Software update?

If this doesn't help, could you try to clear the data in the Podcasts folder on the internal storage using File Commander? Please note that this will delete downloaded items.

[JohanKB]

Thanks for your reply.

I've cleared the cache as you descibed, then double checked that the phone as well as the app (and all other apps) are completely up-to-date.

Then I cleared the folder Android\data\com.sonymobile.podcast on both the internal memory and the SD-card (there where only one empty folder in there... \files).

Then I restarted the phone, clicked on the Music app, then select PodCast in the drop-down menu...unfortunately the I still get the same message ("Podcast har tyvärr stoppats" - Podcast has stopped).

But thanks for your suggestions. I'm sure you are on the right track, it has to do with a setting or cache  somewhere (I belive) since the problem started when I was adding podcasts via URL.

[Rickard]

Like you, i suspect there's something wrong with data that has been downloaded.

Could you also check under the folders "Music" and "video" on the internal storage? You may have a folder there called podcast which contains downloaded episodes. If possible, could you remove these?

[JohanKB]

Thanks!

Tried that, found podcast-folder and downloaded episodes under \Music on both the SD-card and the internal memory. I deleted them, double checked via the computer (to make sure there were no "hidden" files there. THen cleared the cache and restarted the phone...still the same issue.

Do you know what folders this app uses for storing data (i.e. both Music and Video app I guess)? Figured I could check them for any "garbage files". 

Another thought; Since I got this problem I temprarily installed Podcast addict and have downloaded podcast-episodes (SD-kort\Android\data\com.bambuna.podcastaddict\files), also I downloaded a bunch of podcasts and uploaded them in my audiobook app. Could any of these cause a problem (i.e. does the Music app search outside it's own apps and thus find my podcasts that either has 'pod' in the name or 'podcast' as type).

[Rickard]

I'm not sure if another podcast app could cause something like this.

Could you send me a log from your phone that i can forward internally for further investigation?

To do this:
Settings > About phone > Build number, tap 7 times on the build number
Go back and select Developer options and turn on "USB debugging"
Try to use the podcast app so you get the error message
Settings > Developer options, select "Take bug report". When the report is ready (may take a minute or so) you get a notification that you can tap and share to Google Drive. Please send me a link to this file.

[JohanKB]

That was it...never realised the podcast was a separate app. Once I cleared the cache and the data for this app it worked again.

Thanks for excellent assistance!!!