Google Podcasts

Google's plain podcast app, six years old when it was folded into YouTube Music

Shut down
19902026

Google Podcasts was a free podcast app launched for Android on 19 June 2018, with a web player from March 2019 and an iOS app from March 2020. It played any public RSS feed, synced with Google Search and the Assistant, and had no ads. Google announced its closure on 26 September 2023 in favour of YouTube Music, shut it down in the US on 2 April 2024 and worldwide by June 2024.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2018
  2. 19 June 2018 Launch
    Google Podcasts for Android

    A free RSS player wired into Search and the Assistant.

  3. 2019
  4. 20 March 2019 Feature
    Web player

    podcasts.google.com works in any browser.

  5. 2020
  6. 25 March 2020 Feature
    iOS app and redesign

    The app leaves Android for the first time.

  7. 12 May 2020 other
    Play Music podcasts migrate in

    Google Play Music is being wound down.

  8. 2023
  9. 26 September 2023 Shutdown announced
    To be replaced by YouTube Music

    Google cites 23% YouTube versus 4% Google Podcasts usage.

  10. 2024
  11. 2 April 2024 Shutdown
    Shut down in the United States

    Migration tools remain for a few months.

  12. 24 June 2024 Shutdown
    Shut down worldwide

    The last regions lose the app.

The site through time

Browse podcasts.google.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Google 2018–2024 Founded

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: On 26 September 2023 Google said it would discontinue Google Podcasts in 2024 and make YouTube Music its podcast app, citing that "about 23% of weekly podcast users in the US" already used YouTube for podcasts against 4% for Google Podcasts. Users got a tool to move subscriptions to YouTube Music or export an OPML file. The app and site stopped working in the United States on 2 April 2024 and in the rest of the world by late June 2024.

Our analysis: Google Podcasts did one thing well: it was a light, free, ad-free RSS podcast player wired into Android and Google Search. It was also the third Google audio product in a decade, after Google Listen and Play Music podcasts, and it lived in a company that had decided YouTube was where all media should go. It was not killed by a competitor but by a sibling. The users who complained loudest were the ones who wanted a podcast player that was not a music app.

History [edit]

A podcast app for Android, at last

Android had gone a decade without a first-party podcast player. Google Podcasts, released on 19 June 2018, was a deliberately simple one: a subscription list, an episode queue, playback speed and silence-trimming controls, and Google Search results that could open an episode straight in the app. It was free, had no ads of its own and indexed every public RSS feed rather than a curated catalogue. Google talked about using AI to auto-transcribe and caption shows and to translate them, and it did add transcripts for search.

The web player at podcasts.google.com followed on 20 March 2019, an iOS version and a Material redesign on 25 March 2020, and in May 2020 the podcast subscriptions from Google Play Music, itself on the way out, were migrated in. For a while it was the default answer to "how do I listen to podcasts on a Pixel".

Consolidated into YouTube Music

Google had meanwhile been adding podcasts to YouTube and then YouTube Music, and on 26 September 2023 it announced that Google Podcasts would go away in 2024. Its argument was numbers: by its own survey around 23% of weekly US podcast listeners used YouTube and only 4% used Google Podcasts. A migration tool moved subscriptions to YouTube Music; anything without a YouTube listing could be exported as OPML for another app.

The shutdown was staged. In the US the app and website stopped working on 2 April 2024, and for a few days after that they still played, which briefly confused everyone. The rest of the world followed by 24 June 2024. Podcast RSS support in YouTube Music was the replacement, and to many listeners it was not one.

The domain today

podcasts.google.com redirects to a YouTube Music page about the migration.

Similar projects

Grooveshark All the music, none of the licences 2007–2015 Google Play Music Your music locker, repossessed 2011–2020 Rdio The prettiest streaming service that ever lost 2010–2015 Groove Music Microsoft's music service after Zune, renamed twice and handed to Spotify 2012–2017 Beats Music Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine's curated streaming service, bought by Apple after four months and folded into Apple Music 2014–2015 goo.gl Google's link shortener, and the day old links died 2009–2025

Sources [edit]

  1. Google Podcasts launches for Android with personalized recommendations The Verge 19 June 2018 [archived]
  2. Google Podcasts is now available on desktop web 9to5Google 20 March 2019 [archived]
  3. Google Podcasts is finally available on iOS TechCrunch 25 March 2020 [archived]
  4. Google Podcasts can import your Play Music subscriptions 9to5Google 12 May 2020 [archived]
  5. Google Podcasts, which is an actual thing, to shut down next year Engadget 26 September 2023 [archived]
  6. News about Google Podcasts and new migration tools Google (YouTube Music Community) 26 September 2023 [archived]
  7. How to export subscriptions from Google Podcasts before it is gone 9to5Google 6 March 2024 [archived]
  8. Google Podcasts shutdown date came and went, but it still works (for now) Android Police 3 April 2024 [archived]

Last verified: 16 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).