Android and iOS
When you want to remove episodes from a Smart Playlist or not show them on a podcast’s page, you can choose to archive them. Archiving will also delete the episode’s download file.
You can learn more about what archiving is and how it can be useful for you in this blog post.
How To Manually Archive Episodes
Manually archive individual episodes
- Swipe the episode row from right to left in an episode list or playlist.
- Or tap on an episode on any page, and tap Archive on the episode card. Please note: if you have Play Up Next On Tap enabled, you will need to long press an episode in Up Next to access its episode card.
- In the Now Playing screen tap Archive in the player toolbar. By default, Archive is in the toolbar’s three dot menu, but you can customize the toolbar so that Archive is one of your quick access shortcuts if you wish.
Manually archive episodes in bulk
- On a podcast’s page, tap the three dot menu > tap Archive All to archive all episodes of that podcast.
- Enter multi-select mode on a podcast’s page, in a playlist, or the Downloads list(long press an episode row or tap the three dot menu > Select Episodes) > tap Archive in the multi-select action bar. By default, Archive is in the action bar’s three dot menu, but you can customize the action bar so that Archive is one of your shortcuts.
- In the Up Next screen tap Select / the Multi-Select button, select episodes manually or tap Select All > three dot menu > Archive.
How To Automatically Archive Episodes
Auto archive episodes for all followed podcasts
- Tap Profile
- Tap the Settings cog
- Tap Auto Archive
- Played Episodes: choose whether episodes should be archived as soon as they are finished playing, at some point later, or never.
- Inactive Episodes: episodes are considered inactive when you haven’t played, downloaded or unarchived within a given period of time.
- Include Starred Episodes: if toggled on starred episodes will be auto archived, if toggled off starred episodes will not be auto archived.
Note: Auto Archive only applies to podcast episodes. User-uploaded Files cannot be archived, and Auto Archive settings do not affect them.
Auto archive episodes per podcast
- Go to that podcast’s page
- Tap the Settings cog
- Tap Auto Archive
- Toggle on Custom for This Podcast
- Archive Played Episodes: choose whether episodes should be archived as soon as they are finished playing, at some point later, or never.
- Archive Inactive Episodes: episodes are considered inactive when you haven’t played, downloaded or unarchived within a given period of time.
- Episode Limit: setting a limit will only keep the most recent 1, 2, 5, or 10 episodes, while archiving any that are older.
To show or hide episodes you’ve archived of a particular podcast tap Show Archived / Hide Archived on that podcast’s page.
This is also available as a global setting at Profile > settings cog > General > Archived Episodes / Show Archived.
Why are new episodes being automatically archived?
Pocket Casts automatically archives an episode when there is a large gap (more than about a week) between the episode’s publish date and the date Pocket Casts first added it. This is intentional, and it stops older episodes from showing up as new.
Some podcast feeds can trigger this on brand-new episodes, for example if the feed reuses episode IDs or publishes episodes with mismatched dates. When that happens, new episodes of that podcast may be archived as soon as they arrive, regardless of your archive settings. This is determined by how that podcast’s feed is published, so it cannot be changed from your settings.
These episodes are archived, not deleted. To find them, use Show Archived on the podcast’s page, then unarchive any you would like back in your list.
How To Unarchive Episodes
- Swipe right to left over an archived episode in an episode list.
- Or tap the episode, then tap Unarchive.
- Or if all episodes of a podcast are archived, tap the vertical ellipsis and tap Unarchive All.
Note: Archiving an episode doesn’t change the playing status, so you won’t lose playback position, and you’ll also always know whether you’ve played something or not.
Pro Tip: On iOS, you can also enter multi-select mode using the native 2 finger pan gesture in an episode list.
Web and Desktop
Archiving is a great way to keep your feed clean and managed. It can be done without changing the podcast’s play status – unplayed, in progress, or played. Archiving an episode removes it from New Releases and In Progress, and you can choose whether to show or hide archived episodes on a podcast’s page.
You can find more information on Archiving in this blog post.
To manually archive an individual episode
- Hover over any episode in a list, you’ll see an archive icon appear. Click that to archive the individual episode.
To manually archive episodes of a podcast in bulk
- On a podcast’s page tap the three dot menu
and select Archive All. - On a podcast’s page tap the three dot menu and select Archive All Played (this will only archive the episodes that are completely played or marked as played).
To show or hide archived episodes
- Tap on the three dot menu and toggle Show Archived on or off.
Please note Show Archived is a global setting. When toggled on or off this applies to all podcasts you are following.
Note: You can also auto archive played episodes for all followed podcasts from Settings > Auto Archive.
Note: These settings are specific to the Web Player. They will not be synced with mobile apps’ settings.
