diff --git a/server/lib/OPodSync/Feed.php b/server/lib/OPodSync/Feed.php
index e54c6ab..fcabfa8 100644
--- a/server/lib/OPodSync/Feed.php
+++ b/server/lib/OPodSync/Feed.php
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ public function sync(): void
 		$db->exec('END');
 	}
 
-	public function fetch(): bool
+	public function fetch(?int $soft_timeout = null): bool
 	{
 		if (function_exists('curl_exec')) {
 			$ch = curl_init($this->feed_url);
@@ -101,7 +101,18 @@ public function fetch(): bool
 			return false;
 		}
 
+		// Soft time budget for parsing this feed, started after the feed downloads
+		// so we measure parse time, not network wait. This is useful in cases
+		// where this is called in an iteration fetching all feeds - especially
+		// if that iteration has a process fail limit say using set_time_limit()
+		$deadline = $soft_timeout !== null ? microtime(true) + $soft_timeout : null;
+
 		while (preg_match('!<item[^>]*>(.*?)</item>!s', $body, $match)) {
+			if ($deadline !== null && microtime(true) > $deadline) {
+				error_log(sprintf('oPodSync: parsing feed %s exceeded the %ds budget, skipping', $this->feed_url, $soft_timeout));
+				return false;
+			}
+
 			$body = str_replace($match[0], '', $body);
 			$item = $match[1];
 			$pubdate = $this->getTagValue($item, 'pubDate');
diff --git a/server/lib/OPodSync/GPodder.php b/server/lib/OPodSync/GPodder.php
index 1d1cf5b..82055a9 100644
--- a/server/lib/OPodSync/GPodder.php
+++ b/server/lib/OPodSync/GPodder.php
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ public function listEpisodes(int $subscription): array
 			ORDER BY e.pubdate DESC;', $subscription, $this->user->id);
 	}
 
-	public function updateFeedForSubscription(int $subscription): ?Feed
+	public function updateFeedForSubscription(int $subscription, ?int $soft_timeout = null): ?Feed
 	{
 		$db = DB::getInstance();
 		$url = $db->firstColumn('SELECT url FROM subscriptions WHERE id = ?;', $subscription);
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ public function updateFeedForSubscription(int $subscription): ?Feed
 
 		$feed = new Feed($url);
 
-		if (!$feed->fetch()) {
+		if (!$feed->fetch($soft_timeout)) {
 			return null;
 		}
 
@@ -361,8 +361,18 @@ public function updateAllFeeds(bool $cli = false): void
 
 		$db = DB::getInstance();
 
+		// Two time limits per feed. A soft one allowing 30s per feed and failing
+		// gracefully allowing the iteration to continue and a hard one to allow
+		// the process (and the iteration) to completely fail if a feed takes even
+		// longer to respond (for example for an unbounded feed item). This is
+		// necessary because it is not possible to catch the failure from
+		// set_time_limit() thus some feeds after the failure will never get updated.
+		$soft_timeout    = 30;
+		$hard_time_limit = 120;
+
 		foreach ($db->iterate($sql) as $row) {
-			@set_time_limit(30); // Extend running time;
+			// set_time_limit() restarts the timer, so reset the hard limit per feed
+			@set_time_limit($hard_time_limit);
 
 			if ($cli) {
 				printf("Updating %s\n", $row->url);
@@ -373,7 +383,7 @@ public function updateAllFeeds(bool $cli = false): void
 				flush();
 			}
 
-			$this->updateFeedForSubscription($row->subscription);
+			$this->updateFeedForSubscription($row->subscription, $soft_timeout);
 			$i++;
 		}