Google is shutting down its Podcasts app in the US in a few days. The company has begun warning users of the app that they will need to migrate their subscriptions to YouTube Music by April 2 in order to follow and stream their favorite shows in the future. Users who don’t make the move right away will still have additional time to migrate, but will no longer be able to stream from the Podcasts app directly after that date.
Google Podcasts app installed over 500 million times on Android devices worldwide, for over half a decade offers a simple and streamlined interface for discovering, watching and listening to podcasts, as well as tools for adding podcasts via RSS feed. Unfortunately for fans of the app, the tech giant said last September that it would begin shutting down the Podcasts app in early 2024 as part of its broader plan to bring its audio services together on YouTube.
In 2020, YouTube Music offered a similar transition strategy to move music listeners away from Google Play Music before its shutdown later that year. However, the Google Podcasts app was held back for years because YouTube Music wasn’t ready to support podcasts until recently. By the end of 2023, YouTube Music was able to support podcasts worldwide, and by February, they were able to upload their RSS feeds as well.
Moving the podcast to YouTube could help Google become a bigger player in the space, not only by combining its efforts and strengthening its focus, but also because interest in video podcasts — which were already popular on YouTube — is growing. This week, for example, Spotify struck a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) to bring video podcasts to its streaming app’s US users, after earlier in March it announced video podcast trials in 11 other markets around the world .
Bleeping calculator was the first to notice the Google Podcasts shutdown date in the US and a support page on the Google website confirms that users in the US will only be able to use the Podcasts app until the end of March 2024. For those who miss out on in-app pop-ups, Google will give users extra time to save their subscriptions, allowing them to use the feature export of the application by July 2024.
Google did not immediately return a request for comment. However, from her previous statements, the plan is to discontinue Google Podcasts in 2024.
