Google Podcasts announces exit, effective June

Google, a tech giant, announced its exit plan to discontinue Google Podcasts, a platform that allows users to play and listen to podcasts, effective June 23, 2024.

With over 500 million installs on Android, as seen on Play Store, Google Podcast announced in late 2023 that it would discontinue the app in 2024.

After June 23, 2024, you will no longer be able to listen to podcasts in Google Podcasts, states a message sent to users in April by the Google Podcasts team.

However, users are given the opportunity for a seamless transition to use the tool that allows users to easily migrate their subscriptions to YouTube music or download an OPML file of their show subscriptions via export processing, which they can effortlessly upload to alternative apps (s).

The message further states that users can no longer migrate or export their subscriptions after 29 July 2024.

Meanwhile, major alternative Android podcasting apps include Spotify, Podcast Player, Castbox, and other streaming services.

Google Podcasts team further states, “Users on Android or iOS apps who have not updated to the latest app version by 29 July 2024 will be automatically redirected to the web version of Google Podcasts.

According to the team, some features, including downloading, are not available in the web version of Google Podcasts.

Following the exit announcement, Google said the decision to kill the app was part of a shift towards its YouTube platform for streaming videos, music and, now increasingly, podcast content.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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