Starting April 2, Google Podcast app will be going away for good. Yes, the Podcast app is shutting down. In fact, YouTube Music will be the go-to platform for podcasts as the company is ready to invest all its resources in one app.
The Google Podcast app is the company's most recent offering, and it will be discontinued for all users in early April. Since podcasts are widely used on several platforms, Google believes it doesn't require a dedicated app to maintain commercial operations. Thus, the Google Podcast app will permanently disappear on April 2. It's true that the Podcast app is closing.
However, the firm is not giving up on the podcast market entirely; in fact, since it is prepared to put all of its efforts into one app rather than two, YouTube Music will become the preferred platform for podcasts.
Google first announced that it will be closing the app in September of last year, so it's not like users weren't given adequate notice to update or move.
From April 2 onwards, Google is essentially requesting that users pay for the YouTube Music service in order to access podcasts, which is concerning for a lot of users who have invested in the platform and saved their data. We're not sure what happens to users of the Podcast app outside of the US, as Google is only providing the feature and service switching to its users in the US.
According to Google, you have two options: either transfer all of your current podcasts to the YouTube Music app, or select a different podcast app that requires you to import and export an OPML file.
This week marks the end of the Podcast app, while users will still be able to switch to other content until July of this year.