Amber Neely
Google Podcasts has made its way to the App Store, packed with brand new features to the service to help listeners find more of what they love.
Starting on Wednesday, Google is pushing out an update to Google Podcast focusing on helping listeners find podcasts they'll enjoy through personalized recommendations and a new Explore tab. First launched in 2018, the Android-only Google Podcasts app allowed listeners to find and listen to podcasts, as well as sync their progress across Google products.
"[Y]ou should be able to find new favorites in minutes, not years," says Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Google Podcasts Product Manager. "We've redesigned Google Podcasts to make it easier to discover podcasts you'll love, build your list of go-to podcasts, and get episode recommendations you might not have discovered otherwise."
The Explore tab allows listeners to browse popular shows across various categories, including sports, news, comedy, and more. The tab also suggests new shows and episodes based off of previous shows a user has listened to. The personalized recommendations are customizable and can be altered within the Explore tab.
The Activity tab shows listening history, queued episodes, and automatic downloads.
The Home tab collates a feed of new episodes and provides easy access to subscribed shows. The Home tab now shows topics, and people covered in individual shows and allows a user to quickly Google Search the subjects to learn more.
Google Podcasts is available on both iOS and the web, with the updated version rolling out to Android devices as the week progresses.
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4 Comments
Odd. When I search for "Google Podcasts" (in quotes, just like that) on the App Store, I get 18 results--none of which are the app. If I search the web for an article and click on an iOS link, it takes me directly to the app in the store.
Google stole Podcasts from Apple too? Who will download this crap?
You can tell a lot about a person based on what podcasts they listen to. I’ll stick with Apple.
It's nice of Google to make all their apps available on iOS for people who choose to allow Google to scoop up all (and I mean ALL) of their information in exchange for some marginally-beneficial features. So I'm glad to see Google Podcasts on iOS.
That said, there aren't any podcasts worth listening to that aren't already on Apple Podcasts, so ... not really seeing much point there.