Google has Shutdown its Podcasts App
Several months back, Google announced that it was killing off its Podcasts app, with podcast content transitioning over to YouTube Music. With that in mind, the company has finally shut down the app as of yesterday (April 2), adding another entry to the infamous “Google Graveyard.”
One major point of consideration for this decision is the small userbase that used Google Podcast, as opposed to listeners who preferred to tune into their favourite content via YouTube. As per an earlier statement from Google:
“… we’ll be helping Google Podcasts users move over to Podcasts in YouTube Music. This matches what listeners and podcasters are already doing: according to Edison, about 23% of weekly podcast users in the US say YouTube is their most frequently used service, versus just 4% for Google Podcasts.”
Google’s habit of killing off software and hardware products that don’t exactly do well is not unheard of, especially in the tech space. Earlier on we saw the demise of its Stadia gaming platform, as well as the discontinuation of Google’s subscription-based Pixel Pass program, both of which were much-hyped services during their introduction.
On one hand, Google has provided users with a migration tool which allows users to move subscriptions to YouTube Music or export them as an OPML file for integration with alternative podcast apps. We’ve actually published a guide on how to do it, which you can check out here.
With that said, users only have until July 2024 to migrate or export their subscriptions.