Google officially shuts down Google Podcasts in the United States

What do you want to know

• Google previously announced that podcasts would cease “after April 2” and the service began shutting down on Thursday, April 4.
• Both the Android app and the web client for Google Podcasts show a “Google Podcasts is no longer available” pop-up, but the website can still play podcasts at this time.
• YouTube Music will replace Google Podcasts in the Google ecosystem, and users have until July 30 to transfer their Podcasts data to another platform.

Another fan-favorite Google app is shutting down for good, as Google Podcasts is no longer available in the United States. Google has been preparing users for the shutdown of Podcasts for months, saying late last year that the service would be shut down “after April 2.” Now, as of Thursday, April 4, the Podcasts app and web client are showing messages stating that “Google Podcasts is no longer available.”

The Google Podcasts app for Android is no longer working and only offers users the option to export their podcasts or learn more about stopping in a supporting document. Although the website displays the same pop-up message, you can close the message and continue using Google Podcasts on the web client for now. It’s only a matter of time before Google blocks access to podcasts altogether, and we don’t count on the website being around for much longer.

Google sees YouTube Music, the music streaming service that added support for podcasts last year, as the future of podcast distribution for the company. YouTube Music attempts to follow a similar model to Spotify, which hosts podcasts in addition to its main source of revenue: music streaming. The general idea is that you’re more likely to subscribe to one of these services if you can get everything you need in one place, including music, podcasts, and even audiobooks.

The jury is still out on whether users actually prefer this solution, as many have expressed disappointment with the decision to remove Google Podcasts. Having multiple media types in one place might seem like a good idea, but it also makes navigating an app like YouTube Music more difficult.

Google Podcasts users have the option to export their data to another service until July 30, 2024. We have a guide on exporting Google Podcasts data to YouTube Music, as well as another explaining how to migrate the data Google Podcasts to a third-party service. . For what it’s worth, people can listen to podcasts on YouTube Music without a subscription. However, the app is even less optimized for podcast distribution than Google Podcast, lacking features like new episode notifications.

Google has an infamous reputation for removing products and services early and often. After almost six years of existence, Google Podcasts is now part of this reputation.