Cellular Data Usage: Download status fixes by bjtitus · Pull Request #4071 · Automattic/pocket-casts-ios

bjtitus · 2026-03-14T02:33:00Z

Fixes cellular downloads by explicitly tracking when a user approves cellular download via the prompt, rather than inferring it from network state at download time.

Previously, the app inferred cellular approval by checking !isConnectedToUnexpensiveConnection() at download time. This was unreliable because:

Network state could change between when the user approved and when the download started
The check couldn't distinguish between "user approved cellular" vs "auto-download on cellular"

Added cellularDownloadStatusFix flag to control the new cellular download behavior.

The theoretical pattern goes like this:

User taps download while on WiFi, autoDownloadStatus = .notSpecified
Network switches to cellular before performDownload runs
!onWifi is now true, and status is .notSpecified (not .autoDownloaded)
useCellularSession = true download uses cellular even though the user never approved it

NOTE This is a change in behavior and it may make sense for queued episodes to continue to download over cellular once the user has initiated the download.

To test

Begin a bunch of downloads on wifi manually
Switch to cellular while episodes are still downloading
Queued episodes should not begin downloading AFTER switching to cellular (this was the bug before where we had not prompted the user to use cellular but queued episodes would)

Checklist

I have considered if this change warrants user-facing release notes and have added them to CHANGELOG.md if necessary.
I have considered adding unit tests for my changes.
I have updated (or requested that someone edit) the spreadsheet to reflect any new or changed analytics.

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR fixes a cellular-download TOCTOU issue by explicitly tracking whether the user approved a cellular download at queue time, and then using that persisted status (instead of runtime network checks) to choose the correct URLSession for the download.

Changes:

Extend NetworkUtils.downloadEpisodeRequested to return both “queue for later” and “explicit cellular approval” signals, and propagate that into DownloadManager.addToQueue.
Add AutoDownloadStatus.userApprovedCellular and update DownloadManager.performDownload session selection to rely on this status when the feature flag is enabled.
Add unit tests validating session selection behavior for the new status and regression coverage for the TOCTOU scenario.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
podcasts/PlaybackActionHelper.swift	Records explicit cellular approval from the prompt and passes an appropriate `autoDownloadStatus` into the download queue.
podcasts/ListeningHistoryViewController+Table.swift	Updates “Retry” flow to propagate explicit cellular approval into queued downloads.
podcasts/Extensions/NetworkUtils+Helpers.swift	Updates download permission prompt helper to return `(later, approvedCellular)` and documents the behavior.
podcasts/DownloadsViewController+Table.swift	Updates per-episode retry flow to pass `.userApprovedCellular` when the user confirms cellular.
podcasts/DownloadsViewController.swift	Updates “Retry All Failed” flow to use the new prompt callback shape and propagate approval status.
podcasts/DownloadManager.swift	Changes session selection logic to use `.userApprovedCellular` (feature-flagged) instead of inferring approval from current network state.
PocketCastsTests/Tests/Utilities/DownloadManagerCellularSessionTests.swift	Adds tests validating session selection for `.userApprovedCellular`, `.notSpecified`, and `.autoDownloaded`.
Modules/DataModel/Sources/PocketCastsDataModel/Public/Enums.swift	Adds the new `AutoDownloadStatus.userApprovedCellular = 5` enum case.

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# Conflicts: # Modules/Utils/Sources/PocketCastsUtils/Feature Flags/FeatureFlag.swift

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR fixes a cellular-download TOCTOU issue by explicitly tracking whether the user approved downloading over cellular at the time downloads are queued, rather than inferring approval from the network state at download start time.

Changes:

Adds a new AutoDownloadStatus.userApprovedCellular value and propagates it through multiple “download” entry points (single-episode actions and bulk downloads).
Updates DownloadManager session selection to use explicit approval (userApprovedCellular) when the cellularDownloadStatusFix feature flag is enabled.
Adds a new unit test suite validating session selection behavior and introduces a new feature flag to gate the change.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
podcasts/Podcasts/Podcast Page/PodcastViewController.swift	Bulk “Download All” now forwards a `userApprovedCellular` signal into queueing.
podcasts/Podcasts/Podcast Page/EpisodeListSearchController.swift	Bulk download confirmation now passes a cellular-approval boolean into the delegate call.
podcasts/PlaylistViewController.swift	Bulk playlist download confirmation/queueing now passes a cellular-approval boolean and uses it to set `autoDownloadStatus`.
podcasts/PlaybackActionHelper.swift	Single-episode download flows now receive explicit cellular approval from `NetworkUtils` and queue with the correct status.
podcasts/ListeningHistoryViewController+Table.swift	Retry-download flow now records explicit cellular approval when queueing.
podcasts/Extensions/NetworkUtils+Helpers.swift	Extends `downloadEpisodeRequested` callback to include an `approvedCellular` flag when the prompt is shown/accepted.
podcasts/DownloadsViewController+Table.swift	Retry-download flow now records explicit cellular approval when queueing.
podcasts/DownloadsViewController.swift	“Retry all failed” now queues with explicit cellular approval status when applicable.
podcasts/DownloadManager.swift	Session selection logic updated to rely on explicit approval status under the feature flag; queued-startup now preserves stored status.
podcasts/Common Components/MultiSelect/MultiSelectHelper.swift	Multi-select download flow now records whether the user approved cellular for the bulk action.
PocketCastsTests/Tests/Utilities/DownloadManagerCellularSessionTests.swift	New tests validating session selection for various `AutoDownloadStatus`/settings combinations.
Modules/Utils/Sources/PocketCastsUtils/Feature Flags/FeatureFlag.swift	Adds `cellularDownloadStatusFix` feature flag.
Modules/DataModel/Sources/PocketCastsDataModel/Public/Enums.swift	Adds `AutoDownloadStatus.userApprovedCellular = 5`.

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Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

SergioEstevao

Working correctly.

dangermattic · 2026-03-23T21:53:19Z

	1 Warning
⚠️	View files have been modified, but no screenshot or video is included in the pull request. Consider adding some for clarity.

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Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 15 out of 15 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 15 out of 15 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Copilot · 2026-03-23T22:10:31Z

        let tempFilePath = tempPathForEpisode(episode)
        let mobileDataAllowed = autoDownloadStatus == .autoDownloaded ? Settings.autoDownloadMobileDataAllowed() : Settings.mobileDataAllowed()
-        let useCellularSession = (mobileDataAllowed || (!NetworkUtils.shared.isConnectedToUnexpensiveConnection() && autoDownloadStatus != .autoDownloaded)) // allow cellular downloads if not on WiFi and not auto downloaded, because it means the user said yes to a confirmation prompt
+        let useCellularSession: Bool
+        if FeatureFlag.cellularDownloadStatusFix.enabled {
+            // Allow cellular downloads if mobile data is allowed by settings, if the user explicitly approved cellular download at queue time, or for episodes downloaded by the player for streaming
+            useCellularSession = mobileDataAllowed || autoDownloadStatus == .userApprovedCellular || autoDownloadStatus == .playerDownloadedForStreaming
+        } else {
+            // allow cellular downloads if not on WiFi and not auto downloaded, because it means the user said yes to a confirmation prompt
+            useCellularSession = (mobileDataAllowed || (!NetworkUtils.shared.isConnectedToUnexpensiveConnection() && autoDownloadStatus != .autoDownloaded))
+        }


With cellularDownloadStatusFix enabled, useCellularSession is now driven purely by mobileDataAllowed or autoDownloadStatus == .userApprovedCellular (plus streaming). Any UI flow that shows a “Not on Wi‑Fi” confirmation but still queues episodes with .notSpecified will now create a Wi‑Fi-only task that won’t run on cellular. For example, podcasts/New Detail/PlaylistDetailViewController+EditActions.swift still enqueues bulk downloads with .notSpecified even when the user explicitly confirms on cellular. Please update those call sites to pass .userApprovedCellular when the user confirms cellular download (and keep .notSpecified for Wi‑Fi / queue-for-later).

pocketcasts · 2026-03-30T10:50:29Z

Version 8.9 has now entered code-freeze, so the milestone of this PR has been updated to 8.10.

pocketcasts · 2026-04-14T08:12:57Z

Version 8.10 has now entered code-freeze, so the milestone of this PR has been updated to 8.11.

pocketcasts · 2026-04-27T13:43:18Z

Version 8.11 has now entered code-freeze, so the milestone of this PR has been updated to 8.12.

pocketcasts · 2026-05-11T14:11:06Z

Version 8.12 has now entered code-freeze, so the milestone of this PR has been updated to 8.13.

pocketcasts · 2026-05-25T16:19:04Z

Version 8.13 has now entered code-freeze, so the milestone of this PR has been updated to 8.14.

pocketcasts · 2026-06-08T18:04:49Z

Version 8.14 has now entered code-freeze, so the milestone of this PR has been updated to 8.15.

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 14, 2026 02:33

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Comment thread podcasts/DownloadManager.swift

Comment thread podcasts/DownloadManager.swift Outdated

Comment thread PocketCastsTests/Tests/Utilities/DownloadManagerCellularSessionTests.swift

Comment thread PocketCastsTests/Tests/Utilities/DownloadManagerCellularSessionTests.swift

bjtitus added 4 commits March 20, 2026 13:26

Add unit tests for cellular session selection

4638bb8

Fix cellular downloads

76720b1

# Conflicts: # Modules/Utils/Sources/PocketCastsUtils/Feature Flags/FeatureFlag.swift

Pass through autoDownloadStatus

a27393d

Handle more cellular approval cases

dce652f

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 20, 2026 19:28

bjtitus force-pushed the bjtitus/cellular-download-status-fixes branch from 62e0036 to dce652f Compare March 20, 2026 19:28

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Comment thread podcasts/Podcasts/Podcast Page/EpisodeListSearchController.swift

Comment thread podcasts/PlaylistViewController.swift

Comment thread PocketCastsTests/Tests/Utilities/DownloadManagerCellularSessionTests.swift

Comment thread podcasts/DownloadManager.swift Outdated

bjtitus marked this pull request as ready for review March 20, 2026 19:34

bjtitus requested a review from a team as a code owner March 20, 2026 19:34

bjtitus requested review from SergioEstevao and removed request for a team March 20, 2026 19:34

bjtitus added this to the 8.9 milestone Mar 20, 2026

bjtitus added the [Project] Cellular Data Usage label Mar 20, 2026

Update comment

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Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 23, 2026 18:40

Ensure FF is set while running test

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Copilot started reviewing on behalf of SergioEstevao March 23, 2026 18:41 View session

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Fix unit test

cd76ec3

SergioEstevao approved these changes Mar 23, 2026

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SergioEstevao added 2 commits March 23, 2026 21:50

Ensure wifi-icon stays centered

8dc19be

Add changelog entry

d5fe92b

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 23, 2026 21:52

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Comment thread podcasts/Common Components/MainEpisodeActionView.swift

Comment thread CHANGELOG.md Outdated

Comment thread podcasts/PlaybackActionHelper.swift

Comment thread PocketCastsTests/Tests/Utilities/DownloadManagerCellularSessionTests.swift Outdated

Update CHANGELOG.md

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Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 23, 2026 22:04

Update tests

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pocketcasts modified the milestones: 8.9, 8.10 Mar 30, 2026

pocketcasts modified the milestones: 8.10, 8.11 Apr 14, 2026

pocketcasts modified the milestones: 8.11, 8.12 Apr 27, 2026

pocketcasts modified the milestones: 8.12, 8.13 May 11, 2026

pocketcasts modified the milestones: 8.13, 8.14 May 25, 2026

pocketcasts modified the milestones: 8.14, 8.15 Jun 8, 2026

kean modified the milestones: 8.15, Future Jun 8, 2026

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bjtitus commented Mar 14, 2026 •

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