Apple Watch Substack Downloads/Streaming

  • Unknown's avatar
    therydad · Member ·

    I have two paid Substack subscriptions. When I try to download any episodes from either to the watch I get this message:

    “Download failed, error code forbidden. Contact the podcast author.”

    When I try to play by directly streaming to the watch it says “Buffering…” on the watch screen until it appears to give up, also.

    I understand that right there in the error message it says to contact the author, but does anyone know why would it work on the phone, in the webapp and in my car (AAOS) without any errors?

    I assume the watch is using the same “private” RSS feed since it’s linked to my PocketCasts account. Can the author’s server tell if it is being requested by a watch instead of a phone, desktop app, car infotainment system, etc.?

    (This and episode/time sync not working even a little bit with my GM AAOS-based infotainment system is becoming a deal breaker. I really hate to go back to Apple Podcasts, but I just want to get in my car or go on walks and listen without jumping through 10 minutes of hoops every time.)

  • staff-fred · Staff ·

    @therydad That error message might be misleading.

    Can you please confirm if you’re still on WatchOS 10.6.1? If so, then you might be affected with the ongoing issue here. If you have a newer WatchOS version, please let us know. We can then look into it further.

  • Unknown's avatar
    therydad · Member ·

    It is an Apple Watch Ultra 2 running watchOS 11.1.

  • staff-cara · Staff ·

    Thanks for those details, @therydad! Are you able to download the same episodes just fine on your iPhone? In addition, can you please share the following?

    • The OS version on your iPhone – you can usually find this from your phone’s Settings
    • The Pocket Casts app version on your iPhone – you can see this from the Pocket Casts app’s Profile > Settings (gear icon) > About
  • Unknown's avatar
    therydad · Member ·

    Yes, everything downloads without issue on my phone.

    Also, this morning some Substack podcasts are downloading/streaming on my watch. They are all from the same “producer” and part of the same subscription, but there are three or four different feeds. Another Substack podcast subscription is still giving the “not allowed” error. Did something possibly change overnight?

    I’d rather not publicly list the podcasts, but I would share via a direct support email. Can you guys see my podcasts subscriptions? I don’t care if you do, I just don’t want to put them in a public and searchable forum.

    Thanks for the help.

    iOS 18.2.1 (22C161)

    Pocket Casts 7.79.1 (7.79.1.0)

  • staff-frank · Staff ·

    Hi @therydad,

    To help us with our investigation, we’ll reach out to you directly via email to gather some additional information, including the specific podcasts experiencing the “Not Allowed” error.

  • Unknown's avatar
    theoristpsychicec03ac9343 · Member ·

    Was there a resolution to this issue? I am experiencing the same issue, and it appears to have been happening for some time as per this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Substack/s/mkbirpnoYN

    I’m on an AW9 running 11.2

  • Unknown's avatar
    therydad · Member ·

    I am working directly with Pocket Casts support now and sent them my log files and the custom URLs for the subscribed feeds that are having problems. No resolution for me yet, but I only replied to them on Friday afternoon so I assume it will be another day or so.

  • staff-cara · Staff ·

    Was there a resolution to this issue? I am experiencing the same issue, and it appears to have been happening for some time as per this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Substack/s/mkbirpnoYN

    I’m on an AW9 running 11.2

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention, @theoristpsychicec03ac9343! Since the issue is also present on other Apple Watch apps, this is unlikely something we’ll be able to fix on our end. We highly recommend that users please reach out to Substack too, so they are aware of the issue and can work on a fix.

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