Last week, Google Podcasts saw a big redesign on Android, iOS launch, and new web functionality. The Google Podcasts team today hosted a Reddit AMA today to talk about its approach.
Google Podcasts has been built out in beta on Android and the web over the past several months, and now it’s getting some big updates. Today, Google is releasing an official Google Podcasts app on iOS as it officially reveals a redesign for the service.
We’ve been tracking a significant redesign of Google’s Podcasts app on Android for the past several weeks. The “new Google Podcasts” is now beginning to roll out for some users and it brings highly-awaited features like episode auto-downloading.
Since last March, there’s been a roundabout way to access Google Podcasts online with episode playback positions from your phone and Assistant devices synced. Google Podcasts on the web now has a homepage with search and recommendations.
Late last year, we enabled the early stages of a Google Podcasts revamp that includes a bottom bar and built-in queue. A month later with Google app 10.94, it’s been iterated on further with more functionality revealing just what is different.
The latest Podcasts beta introduces a number of visual tweaks throughout the app, while adding the ability to share episodes with a timestamp. However, the current Google Podcasts release introduces a bug that breaks casting episodes.
Google in recent weeks has updated Podcasts with a number of tweaks, including a Material Theme account switcher and dark theme. The latest Google Podcasts beta adds timestamp sharing while cleaning up the player interface.
Last month, we enabled a bottom bar redesign for Google Podcasts. Until that rolls out, the next change to the Android client is a Material Theme account switcher.
Last week, we spotted the very early signs of a bottom bar redesign for Google Podcasts. We’ve now enabled it in full and can confirm some new functionality, including a built-in queue.
The latest Google app beta introduced a crash when searching for recent messages, and coincided with a Podcasts dark theme. We’ve now enabled a bottom bar redesign for Podcasts with Google app 10.89, as well as an option to have searches open in Chrome.
While Search and Assistant have had a night mode for the last few weeks, Podcasts frustratingly missed out. Google Podcasts finally gains a much needed dark theme that respects Android 10.
While Google Podcasts isn’t the outright best podcast player, it has slowly but steadily improved into a great option. However, it has lacked a few core features until now like episode recommendations.
Back in September, we first enabled a Material Theme redesign of Google Podcasts for Android. A revamped player that’s larger and fits in with the company’s current design language is now rolling out.
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.
Google Podcasts is readying a notable Material Theme redesign as revealed by the latest Google app beta. The changes are primarily focussed on updating the audio player, but the service is also working on “personalized recommendations.”
At I/O 2019, Google confirmed that it’s indexing podcasts to surface audio alongside text and video Search results. Podcast search is now available on Google.com and coming soon to Google Assistant.
I/O 2019 saw some major announcements related to Google Podcasts, including Google Search indexing and web playback for desktops and iOS. While exciting, the app still lacks rudimentary features like auto downloading, but fortunately, some users already have it enabled.
At I/O 2019, Sundar Pichai announced a “Podcasts about this story” feature for Google Search that indexes podcasts to surface relevant episodes by content instead of just title. Ahead of that, Google Podcasts is officially coming to the web for iOS and desktops.
During the Google I/O 2019 keynote today, Google revealed a big change for Search. Starting later this year, the company is bringing Full Coverage and Podcasts into Google Search starting later this year.
Earlier this month, the Google app beta revealed work on a sleep timer for Google Podcasts. We successfully enabled it last week, and it’s now beginning to roll out to end users, along with search topic suggestions.
While last week’s beta revealed a number of exciting in-progress features, Google app 9.72 is a quieter release that actually obscures some features, like Reminders and Intelligent Tips for At A Glance. There are also some additions and bugs with this update.
With the official launch of Google Podcasts last June, the company promised AI features like translation and automatic transcription. Earlier this year, we enabled the latter feature on Android so that users could read a podcast. While not entirely user-facing, this functionality is already working in the background for search.
If Google Podcasts is already your go-to place for consuming podcasts, you might be running into trouble with BBC. For the past week, the British media giant has been blocking its content from Google Podcasts, and Assistant by extension.
Since last year’s launch, Google Podcasts has primarily focussed on Android and Google Home devices. A web experience at podcasts.google.com is now in development and already supports listening, syncing, and browsing episodes.
