"automatic playlist" has always been activated for downloaded episodes only ... But I don't think "Podcast addict" is to blame.
I realise I only have trouble with 1 podcast distributor : "la 1ere" and they probably modified their podcasting habits.
Merci pour vos explications

The settings you're talking about is just to authorize or not undownloaded episodes to be added to the playlist when you press the 'add unread to playlist' button.
If you press the play button on an undownloaded episode then it will be added to the playlist.
You can select how episodes are added to the playlist. By default it's set up to manual mode, but you can enable automatic playlist for all episodes or for downloaded episodes only

i do have a similar pb. I never checked the "autorise streaming" box from the playlist menu and yet, a lot of undowloaded podcasts end up in my playlist. Any chance I could automatically force the download of all the podcast in my playlist (to take advantage of the wifi) before going out?
BTW, i don't figure out why some podcasts are automatically downloaded while others are just added to the playlist in streaming mode when I'm on WIFI.

The app will only stream if you start playing an episode that isn't downloaded

Still, this would be a nice feature to have. I'm always listening to podcasts on the go and never ever at home. So I don't want streeming - I was several times confused since Podcast Addict started streaming for some reason.

Also, you can set streaming to WiFi only in the "network" settings

Episodes are in the playlist because you try to play them. The best way not to stream episodes is to enable automatic download for your favorite podcasts with automatic playlist and then onlybstart playback from the playlist screen