Google Podcasts on the web updated with handful of usability tweaks

Abner Li | Oct 14 2019 - 5:09 am PT

After quietly coming online in March, Google at I/O 2019 officially announced that Podcasts is available on the desktop web. That rudimentary player has been quietly updated with several tweaks in recent days.

The Google Podcasts app is available via Google Search or by manually bookmarking a show’s URL (when sharing). While there is no dedicated directory UI or list of what you’re subscribed to, you can browse through recent episodes and stream them online. Playback position is conveniently synced across mobile and Google Home.

The first tweak is to a podcast’s primary listing. There is a prominent “Visit website” pill at the very top, while that Material Theme UI element is again leveraged for the “Available episodes” list that takes up the rest of this page.

Individual entries have been tweaked with the first line noting the publish date. Next is the episode title that’s now complemented by the first line of show notes. This view becomes more glanceable with users no longer having to click through.

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Meanwhile, the play button is also housed in a pill that includes the episode length. No longer a small click/touch target at the very right, this helps increase spacing and distinguish episodes. These visual tweaks are not yet on Android, which is due for a Material Theme redesign.

The last tweak is to the navigation drawer that sees Google link to its Podcasts Guidelines for publishers. That joins “Download the app” from the Play Store, Feedback, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.