Podcasts App on iPhone 8

[DeonH]

Hi there.
iTunes 12.9.12.6 & iOS 12.1

1. I joined a podcast from the podcast's website.
2. In iTunes I chose to download all unplayed episodes, which it did. I also made sure that all episodes are unplayed.
3. On my phone, all episodes show but have clouds next to them. When I click on the cloud, the episode downloads but as soon as it downloaded, the cloud appears again. (Please see attached picture.)
3. Why does the cloud shows even though I have just downloaded the episode?
4. I will really appreciate some help about this problem. I have already deleted the complete podcast from my library and joined again but this did not help.
5. I have read that many users are not happy with Apple's Podcast App and use something else for podcasts. I don't want to because I want to join from my PC and then my phone must just be synched with my PC?

Will appreciate some pointers.

Deon

 

[bwana]

Are you running out of space on your phone?

Why not bypass itunes and d/l directly from the phone?

 

[saor]

I use Pocketcasts (Android, but there is an IOS version)
https://play.pocketcasts.com/

 

[DeonH]

Are you running out of space on your phone?

Why not bypass itunes and d/l directly from the phone?

I have 264GB on my phone and about 2GB available.

If I try to do from my phone, I cannot find the podcast.

 

[DeonH]

I use Pocketcasts (Android, but there is an IOS version)
https://play.pocketcasts.com/

Thank you. Will have a look at it and take a test run.