Import Troubleshooting

The RSS feed is the container that holds all of your podcast’s information, details, and episodes. Podcasts are moved from one hosting service to another using the RSS feed.

RSS feed validation tools (recommended)

Before migrating your podcast to Castos, we recommend checking the RSS feed to make sure it's valid, contains the correct number of episodes, accessible, and free of errors. The following validator tools are free and do not require downloading an app or program:

• Cast Feed Validator
• Podba.se

Errors

• General error: usually occurs when a non-RSS feed URL is entered. Make sure the URL is the RSS feed provided by the previous podcast host and not a link to a website or your podcast's page on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or another podcast app.
• Inaccessible feed (404 error): verify that the RSS feed is correct. Check for spelling errors
• Validation errors: occur when the RSS feed isn't formatted correctly or contains something it shouldn't
  • An invalid feed is often caused by improper characters that need to be removed or edited, like using dashes “-” for line breaks in descriptions or including characters outside of 0-9, a-z, or A-Z in episode files.
  • An episode file uploaded using a filetype not supported by Apple Podcasts and other podcast platforms. We recommend uploading audio episodes as MP3 files and video episodes as MP4 files.

Missing Episodes

Castos will import exactly what is contained in the RSS feed. If the episode count is off, episodes are

likely missing from the RSS feed. Below are a few reasons this might be the case:

• The original hosting platform has limited the number of episodes included in the RSS feed. Hosting platforms that offer both free and paid subscription plans may have a limitation on the number of episodes included in the RSS feed.
• The account settings of the original hosting platform need to be updated. We recommend double-checking with the original host to ask if they have a setting or feature that would add episodes to the RSS feed.
• Your website or feed cache needs to be refreshed. 

Locked podcast RSS Feed

Your podcast host might support the <podcast:locked> tag which prevents any unauthorized import of your podcast. Learn how to disable that here so you can import your feed into Castos.