Note: This post was originally written before Google announced that they are discontinuing Google Podcasts in favor of migrating users over to YouTube Music. I include some final thoughts related to this news at the end.
I have chosen to review the Google Podcasts mobile app for Android devices. This is undoubtedly one of the most used apps on my phone, as I enjoy regularly listening to several podcasts while driving, working out at the gym, doing chores around the house, or going for a walk outside. There may be better podcast apps out there, and there are some features I wish it had, but overall, it is a nice and straightforward app for listening to podcasts.
When I first open the app, I see thumbnails of all my subscriptions along the top, and below are the most recently published podcast episodes. Tapping on one of the thumbnails will bring up a similar view, but only showing episodes from that podcast and with a bit more information about the podcast. You can quickly see each episode's title and some descriptions. There is also a play button (also showing how long the episode is), a button to add it to the queue, and a button to download the episode. That last one is a must-have feature for a podcast player. While streaming it at home using Wi-Fi is nice, data connections while on the go in some areas could be spotty. Device storage could also be limited, so it is nice to have both options.
The currently playing podcast is at the bottom, just above the navigation buttons to the app's Home, Explore, and Library sections. Tapping this brings up much more functionality for listening to a podcast. The play/pause button is very prominently in the middle, as well as buttons to go back 10 seconds or forward 30 seconds. At the bottom are options for playback speed and a sleep timer. I often adjust the playback speed to get through several episodes quickly. 1.2x or 1.5x is sometimes perfect for speeding things up a little without making it impossible to understand.
The last section is the Library. This section offers you another way to access your subscriptions and queue. You can also see just your downloaded episodes and your history.
I do have several recommendations to improve this app. I already mentioned that the Explore section needs improvement. There should be a way to quickly discover new podcasts by narrowing them down by category. Having everything in one huge list to scroll down through is not a great design.
Another recommendation for improvement would be a “Mark all as played” button. Unless you go through and mark every single episode individually, they will clutter up your screen, making it infinitely scrollable. Especially for news-based podcasts, I've never seen a reason to go back and listen to an episode from years ago. Or maybe I already have done so on another podcast app. Either way, it would be nice to remove them easily.
My final recommendation is minor compared to the other two. The currently playing or last played podcast episode always shows on the bottom, even after it is done playing. I would love to be able to swipe or clear this away sometimes. It can cause issues when I am all caught up with no more episodes in the queue, and suddenly, the same episode I already listened to starts playing from my car’s Bluetooth when I jump in.
Overall, Google Podcasts is a more than decent podcast player, and with a few improvements, it could be great!
As mentioned at the beginning, Google is planning on discontinuing this app next year in favor of YouTube Music. While it can be nice to have everything in one place, podcasts are not music. I liked having a separate app for podcasts. However, the podcast section of the app does look to have some similarities, and I am hoping some of my concerns are addressed as they work to improve it and migrate Google Podcast users over.
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