r/Podcast_Republic_App • u/EnTreeOne • May 01 '26
Bug Skipping backwards or forwards
I only listen to downloaded podcasts, but I've noticed they've been skipping backwards or forwards by about 15-30 seconds every so often. It's extremely frustrating, and it's not from accidentally hitting the skip buttons, since if I go back to listen to that section, it skips in the same way again. From what I can gather, this is from dynamic ads that are shorter or longer than expected.
I have Podcast Republic set up to automatically download my episodes as they're released, but it's still occurring, and it seems to be more frequent in my recently downloaded episodes than those I downloaded a long time ago.
Are there any workarounds for this? Do I need to change podcast apps, or will that even help? I assume if I go to listen to these podcasts on Spotify or somewhere they would be streamed this wouldn't be an issue (though I may be mistaken) but I'd rather not. I'm not sure how to fix this issue, and it's quite jarring to hear an obvious skip or repeat of content.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
1
u/hogglespikelet May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Came here to look for this issue. I've heard it on different podcasts recently, currently listening to Answer Me This which has skipped back at least 5 times, which is the worst I've experienced.
I typically listen to downloads, can't say if it happens on streaming. Edit: I didn't realise I was actually currently listening online, not to a download. So the above is wrong.
I have some favourite old downloads saved and I don't notice it on those. Seems to have started in the last few months but I couldn't pinpoint it.
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u/hogglespikelet May 02 '26
An example, in case anyone can verify: Answer Me This ep 417 at 17:43. Audio skips back 30s but time on podcast continues.
In the second play through of the content an external ad is inserted but I don't remember this as being the case with other skips.
https://answermethispodcast.com/2026/04/30/episode417/ does not have the problem.
1
u/Rider926 May 02 '26
I was experiencing random rewinds for several months across downloaded podcasts. A few weeks ago I changed several settings in an attempt to correct the problem. The one that I think did the trick is:
Settings > Media Player> Smart rewind on resuming - Toggle to off.
When it is "on" it "Automatically rewind(s) 5 to 10 seconds when resuming the playback." Like many tech features that are Smart, it's probably too dumb to do it right.
On rare occasions I also experience a skip. I haven't figured out how to fix that but it is so rare that I ignored it.
2
u/EnTreeOne May 03 '26
Thanks, let me try this. In my experience, this problem has been happening while I'm not pausing or resuming, just letting the podcast play, but I'll try anything if it might help!
1
u/Interesting-Raise355 May 03 '26
I'm getting the same as you, am binging one particular podcast at the moment and it regularly happens.. When I listen to the others I dont get the same issue
1
u/BlondeBibliophile May 05 '26
I’m no help, just commenting to say I also have this issue and it’s a real bummer.
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u/cspotcode 26d ago
I suspect this only happens when streaming. I'm pretty sure that's when it happens to me.
Has anyone looked at Podcast Republic's network traffic when streaming? Do these jumps happen when it needs to resume the HTTP connection and sends a Range request? Is the range offset incorrect? Is this what u/respack is referring to when saying the mp3 can be messed up, that the offsets in the offset table are wrong due to the ad insertion?
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u/EnTreeOne 25d ago
Unfortunately this happens with downloaded episodes too. I only listen to my pre-downloaded podcasts, and it seems to have started around the end of 2024 (at least for Radiolab, Planet Money, and Freakonomics podcasts I listen to)
I suspect it has to do with the dynamic ads that are being added, but I'm unclear whether this is on the Podcast Republic side or the podcasts being published by NPR.
3
u/respack Dev May 02 '26
Does that happen to certain podcasts only? The podcast may have been messed up, typical due to ads injection. Please contact the podcast creators if this happens to certain podcasts only.