Resetting a Subscriber’s Feed URL

Resetting a token generates a new private feed URL for a subscriber and immediately invalidates the old one. It’s the right action when a subscriber’s feed URL has been shared, compromised, or is no longer working and other fixes haven’t helped.

When to Reset

The subscriber shared their feed URL. A subscriber’s feed URL is private — it gives anyone who has it access to your paid content. If a subscriber shared their URL, reset it. Their new URL works only for them. The old URL stops returning episodes immediately.

The subscriber suspects their URL was compromised. If a subscriber notices unusual feed activity or wants to lock out anyone who may have their URL, a reset is the clean solution.

The feed stopped working and troubleshooting hasn’t fixed it. If a subscriber’s podcast app stopped updating and you’ve verified their subscription is active and the URL they’re using is correct, a reset generates a fresh token and rules out any corruption issue with the existing one.

A subscriber requests it. Subscribers can initiate a token reset themselves from their account page (if you have the subscriber account page set up). Admin-initiated resets are also available from the subscriber detail panel.

What Reset Does

When a token is reset:

1. A new 64-character token is generated
2. The new token is stored (hashed) in the database
3. The old token is immediately and permanently invalidated
4. The subscriber receives an email with their new feed URL
5. Any podcast app still using the old URL receives an empty feed on the next poll

The subscriber’s membership tier, access level, and episode history are not affected. Only the URL changes.

The Main Consequence: Subscribers Must Update Their App

This is the most important thing to communicate before a subscriber requests a reset. When the old URL is invalidated, their podcast app will stop receiving new episodes — it will look like the show has gone silent. They will not receive an error message. They will need to:

1. Open their podcast app
2. Remove the existing show from their library
3. Add the new feed URL you send them
4. Their app will re-download the show and resume updating normally

Previously downloaded episodes are not deleted from their device — they keep anything already downloaded. But the app will stop syncing until they add the new URL.

Let subscribers know this upfront. A token reset is not a quick fix — it requires action on the subscriber’s end, and podcast apps vary in how straightforward it is to update a feed URL.

Admin-Initiated Reset

Go to Benecaster → Subscribers and open the subscriber’s detail panel. Click Reset Feed URL.

A three-choice dialog appears:

• Cancel — closes without making changes
• Reset only — generates a new token without sending an email. Use this when you’ll forward the new URL manually via email or support chat.
• Reset and send email — generates a new token and queues a token reset email to the subscriber. The email includes their new feed URL and podcast app deep links. Disabled when the show’s Feed URL reset email is switched off (Show Settings → Subscription → Welcome and Feed URL Emails) — there’d be nothing for it to do, so only Reset only is available; send the new URL yourself instead.

Either option shows you the new URL once, right after the reset — a block appears with the full working URL and a Copy new feed URL button, worded to say whether an email was actually queued. Copy it immediately if you need it: it disappears for good as soon as you close the panel or open another subscriber’s, and nothing can bring it back. If you lose it, reset again.

Bulk Token Reset

To reset tokens for multiple subscribers at once, go to Benecaster → Subscribers, check the rows you want to reset, and select Reset tokens from the bulk action bar. A confirmation dialog appears with the same two choices as a single reset: Reset and send email or Reset only, plus Cancel.

If the current show’s Feed URL reset email is switched off, a warning explains that none of the selected subscribers will be emailed even if you choose Reset and send email — unlike the single-subscriber panel, this button stays clickable rather than disabled, and the server simply emails nobody. Reset only never emails anyone or shows a URL either way; because a bulk reset covers many subscribers at once, there’s no one panel to show the new URLs in — reset a subscriber individually from their own detail panel if you need to see or copy their new URL.

After the reset, a result banner stays on screen until you dismiss it: “Reset N subscribers · emailed M” (or “· no emails sent” for Reset only), plus a line naming how many subscribers were not emailed and still need their new URL from you, and how many could not be reset, when either applies.

Maximum per bulk operation: 200 subscribers.

Subscriber-Initiated Reset

If you have the subscriber account page configured (using the [benecaster_account] shortcode), subscribers can reset their own token from their account dashboard. They click Reset my feed URL, confirm they understand the process, and receive the new URL immediately.

Self-service reset is enabled by default if the account shortcode is on your site. You can disable it in Benecaster → Settings → Subscribers if you prefer all resets to go through you.

After the Reset

Once the subscriber has their new URL:

1. They remove the old show from their podcast app
2. They add the new URL — most podcast apps have an “Add by URL” or “Add RSS feed” option in their settings or discovery screen
3. The app downloads the feed and resumes normal operation

See Adding Your Feed to a Podcast App for step-by-step instructions for Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and other apps. Consider linking your subscribers directly to that page when you send them their new URL.