After the Now Playing screen got updated earlier this year, the rest of the Google Podcasts is getting a revamp. The changes aren’t major, but there are a number of great usability upgrades for longtime users.
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Activity and investment in the podcasting industry is currently at an all-time high after Facebook, Apple, Spotify, and others detailed their latest efforts last month. One major player that has yet to respond with new plans of its own is Google Podcasts.
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While recent weeks have seen a flurry of developments in the podcasting industry, Google has remained relatively quiet about its offering. That said, Google Podcasts has just redesigned the Now Playing screen on iOS and has widely rolled out the ability to block recommendations.
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As we first spotted last month, Google Podcasts is letting users customize and fine-tune recommendations as they’re listening to episodes. This feature is currently in beta on Android.
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In recent months, Google Podcasts has been relatively quiet about its upcoming work. Until then, one feature that’s now widely available sees “For You” episode recommendations come to the Google Podcasts web app.
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With more people now consuming podcasts than ever before, it kind of makes sense that Google Podcasts would see an uptick in downloads. It has, however, skyrocketed to the 100 million-downloads milestone over on the Google Play Store.
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Besides music and relaxing sounds, Google’s Assistant devices are frequently used for podcasts. However, a bug has emerged in the past few days that sees Google Home and Nest speakers play the wrong podcast.
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Since the start of this year, Google has been working on a revamped Now Playing screen for its Podcasts app on Android. Based on what we enabled, that modernization is to make way for more advanced recommendations.
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The latest Google app beta is rolling out a redesign to the player screen in Google Podcasts. Simplification is the focus with more spacing given to key controls, while other actions are hidden in the process.
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Last month, Google Podcasts introduced RSS support for shows that are not publicly listed. The Google Podcasts web experience now has a simple feed, like on mobile, to view all your episode subscriptions.
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Last month, Google Podcasts hit 50 million installs on the Play Store, and it’s now letting you “Add by RSS feed” across all platforms.
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Considering that the Google Podcasts app is effectively an instance of the Google Search app, the dedicated podcast player has now hit an impressive 50 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
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Google today lets users set their preferred video, music, radio service for use on Assistant Smart Displays, speakers, and phones. Google Assistant now has a settings page for podcast services.
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To the left of most Android homescreens is a personalized feed of articles, YouTube videos, and — increasingly — AMP Stories. Google Discover is now offering episode recommendations from Google Podcasts for some users.
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Back in March, Google Podcasts received a big visual revamp and launched on iOS. As part of that expansion, the team hosted an AMA and promised a handful of new features. Quick access to Cast from the Now Playing sheet is rolling out today in Google Podcasts for Android.
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Back in November, Google Assistant augmented user-curated “News briefings” with a personalized “mix of top headlines and stories based on your interests.” “Your News Update” is now coming to Google Podcasts, while more natural text-to-speech is also available.
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Back in February, the Google Podcasts online experience picked up a homepage after previously only surfacing individual show pages. A web change today lets you directly browse subscriptions, while Google Podcasts for Android sees a tweaked bottom bar.
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Updated via the Google app, Lens and Podcasts recently picked up some new features. The visual search tool gains a “Places” filter, while Podcasts makes switching to the next episode somewhat faster.
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Earlier this week, Sundar Pichai said Google was standing with the Black community, and would “develop initiatives and product ideas that support long-term solutions.” The latest expression of that support lets you ask Assistant, “do black lives matter.”
Back in March, Google Podcasts launched on iOS alongside an Android revamp and tweaks to the web experience. The first update to Google Podcasts for iOS today adds CarPlay support.
A big Google Podcasts revamp in March redesigned the Android experience, introduced an iOS app, and brought subscriptions to the web. To further drive adoption, Google is letting old Play Music users transfer over podcasts.
Google Podcasts saw a big update in March that revamped the Android client and introduced an iOS app. A new Google Podcasts Manager tool today gives podcasters analytics about who’s listening and what can be done to improve engagement.
With search queries about COVID-19 surpassing even those for weather and the news, Google in recent weeks has worked to compile that information together. In Google News, there is a new COVID-19 hub, while Assistant and Podcasts have similar experiences.
