Troubleshooting: Apple Podcasts
Common Errors
"Can’t connect to your feed."
"Can’t download episodes from your feed."
Troubleshooting: Double-check the image is within required limits
Podcast listening platforms require cover art images to stay within super specific guidelines. Without it, they can't publish the podcast. The image must be 1.) a perfect square 2.) between 1400 x 1400px and 3000 x 3000px 3.) have a file size less than 1MB (500kb is optimal).
Use Cast Feed Validator to double-check the cover image is within approved limits
Review Apple Podcasts Connect Artwork troubleshooting guide
Troubleshooting: Confirm episode files are formatted correctly. In other words, make sure episode files weren't accidentally uploaded as a .png or .jpg image files.
"Can’t submit your feed. Your feed was previously submitted."
Troubleshooting: Check that your podcast's name isn't already taken by another podcast.
"Failed Review" or "Failed Validation"
Troubleshooting: As part of their RSS feed technical requirements, Apple Podcasts can only support URLs and filenames that include a-z, A-Z, or 0-9. Rename episode files that include unsupported characters and replace the media file on the Episode Details page.
Podcast Status
Troubleshooting: For a podcast status other than Active, please see Apple Podcasts Connect: Check your podcast status
SSL Certificate
Troubleshooting: When using SSL on your site and submitting your feed to Apple Podcasts, you have to use an SSL certificate from one of these providers:
- https://www.godaddy.com/ssl/ssl-certificates.aspx
- https://www.thawte.com/ssl/
- https://www.globalsign.com/en/ssl/
- http://www.entrust.net
- https://www.geotrust.com/ssl/
- http://www.affirmtrust.com
- https://www.comodo.com/
- https://letsencrypt.com
Castos automatically uses an Apple accepted SSL certificate. For our WordPress users your SSL setup depends on your server, but in many cases if you use the IP address for your feed (instead of the domain name) then iTunes may not be able to read it correctly. An IP address feed URL will look like this: http://192.0.2.16/feed/podcast while the standard domain name feed URL will look like this: http://www.example.com/feed/podcast.
If your server is having issues that are causing slow loading times for your website and other resources, then there’s a good chance that Apple Podcasts’ request to fetch your feed is timing out. This means that Apple Podcasts cannot read your feed because your server is not sending it quickly enough. If this happens then you will need to fix whatever issue on your server is causing the slow loading times – unless you manage your own server, this means that you will need to contact your host to narrow down and solve the problem.
If a password is required to view your site (i.e. only logged-in users can view your actual website itself) then iTunes will not be able to access your feed. You will need to remove the password protection or exclude your feed URL from the password protection.