How PigeonPod cloud storage usage works
This help doc answers one question: why your cloud storage usage goes up or down. The short version is simple: only episodes you currently keep in your PigeonPod cloud library count toward your used storage.
Updated 2026-03-31
What cloud storage means
Cloud storage is the total size of the content currently stored in your PigeonPod cloud library for your account.
You can think of it as your personal cloud storage usage inside PigeonPod. If an episode is not actually being kept in your cloud library, it should not count toward used storage.
What counts toward your used space
These items usually increase your used storage.
- Episodes you manually save to the cloud
- Episodes automatically retained by the system based on your subscriptions and filters
- Episodes that are still being downloaded or saved
What usually does not count
These items normally do not consume your storage quota.
- Episode metadata such as titles, descriptions, and cover images
- Episodes you never saved to the cloud
- Episodes that no longer match the current auto-retention rules
How filters affect storage
Your filters directly affect which episodes qualify for automatic retention. If you make filters stricter, fewer episodes will be kept automatically and your used storage may decrease.
If you make filters looser, more episodes may be kept automatically and your used storage may increase. The visible episode list may also change after you edit filters, so a manually saved episode can disappear from the current filtered view even if its stored file has not been auto-cleared from your cloud usage.
A simple example
Imagine every episode is 10 MB. If you manually save 3 episodes and the system automatically keeps 2 more, your used storage will usually be about 50 MB.
If you later tighten the filter and only 1 of those automatically kept episodes still qualifies, your used storage may drop to about 40 MB.
What happens when space runs low
When you run out of cloud storage, the most common outcomes are:
- New episodes can no longer be automatically saved to the cloud
- Manual save actions may fail with a storage limit warning
- You may need to delete saved episodes, reduce auto-retention, or upgrade to a larger plan
Automatic cleanup in Pro and Max
Pro and Max subscriptions include automatic cloud storage cleanup. The system can clean up stored episodes for you based on your listening habits, so you do not have to manually manage every channel all the time.
You can also set a maximum number of saved episodes for each feed. That gives you a predictable retention cap per subscription and helps prevent cloud storage from growing without you having to clean every feed by hand.
One-sentence rule to remember
Episodes you manually save will use space. Episodes the system automatically retains and that still match current rules will also use space.
Content that is not currently being kept in your cloud library should not use your storage quota.
FAQ
Do episode titles, descriptions, or cover images count as cloud storage?
Normally no. Metadata such as titles, descriptions, and covers usually does not count toward your used cloud storage.
Will manually saved episodes disappear if I change my filters?
They can disappear from the current filtered episode list, yes. But that does not necessarily mean their cloud storage has been deleted. The key difference is visibility versus storage usage: filter changes can affect what you currently see, while the stored file is not automatically cleared just because the list view changed.
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