Marrakech – Google has decided to shut down their Podcasts application, effective immediately in the United States. The tech giant has set a deadline for users to migrate their subscriptions to YouTube Music by April 2, TechCrunch reported.
Failure to transition will result in the inability to directly stream from the Podcasts app after this cutoff.
Having garnered over 500 million installations on Android devices globally, the Podcasts app has provided a user-friendly platform for podcast discovery and consumption for over six years.
However, Google announced plans last September to phase out the app in early 2024 as part of its strategy to consolidate its audio services under YouTube.
This strategic shift aligns with the growing popularity of video podcasts on YouTube, with Spotify recently announcing plans to introduce video podcasts to its U.S. users following successful tests in other markets.
As Google seeks to leverage YouTube’s dominance in video content, the move signals its intent to bolster its presence in the evolving podcasting landscape.
Bleeping Computer, an information security and technology news publication, first noticed the shutdown date for Google Podcasts in the U.S.
TechCrunch reported that a support page on Google’s site confirmed U.S. users would only have access to the Podcasts app until the end of March 2024.
However, upon checking, the page now returns an error.
For users who missed the in-app notifications of the shutdown, Google will offer additional time, TechCrunch highlighted, noting that users can utilize the app’s export feature until July 2024 to save their subscriptions.
Google has not immediately responded to requests for comment from the website.
However, after publication, they confirmed they are still “tracking towards” the April 2 timeline in America. No timeline has been shared for the rest of the world yet.
