When you first open Google Podcasts, the app prompts you to add your favorite podcasts. Tap the Search icon, then at the Explore screen you can browse for podcasts by subject or search by name and other criteria. Swipe down the Explore screen to see programs chosen for you. Tap topics at the top—News, Culture, Education, Business, Technology, and History—to view programs in each category.

To track down specific podcasts by name, topic, or other key terms, tap the Search field at the top and type your search term. Tap the name of a podcast that interests you and swipe down the screen to see individual episodes, starting with the most recent. If you select a podcast from the search results, there will also be a selection of related podcasts at the bottom of the screen. Tap the play icon to listen to an episode.

Tap the plus icon to add a specific episode to your queue or the down arrow to download an episode for offline listening. You can hit these icons again to remove the episode from the queue and downloads. 

Tap the three-lined icon at the right of the bottom toolbar to view your queued and downloaded episodes. Queued episodes appear under Your queue, while downloads will be in the Downloads section. The History section contains the names of podcast episodes you’ve already played or have started to play.

Tap the name of an episode being played to view it full screen. You can now pause and resume the episode, rewind it by 10 seconds, or fast forward it by 30 seconds. Tap the half moon icon, and you can set a timer to stop playing the episode after a certain number of minutes. By hitting the 1.0x icon, you can change playback speed from between 0.5 times to 3 times. 

Tap the Info icon to see information on the episode. Open additional options by tapping the ellipsis icon, and you can share the episode or mark it as played.

If you’re looking for more information about a podcast, go to the screen dedicated to a particular podcast and tap the globe icon. Google Podcasts will open a webpage for the podcast, which should provide more information about it. Tap the Share icon to share the link to the podcast with other people via email, social media, or other services. 

If you like a podcast and want to listen to each new episode regularly, tap Subscribe. Subscribing to a podcast triggers a notice at the bottom with a few options.

Turn on the switch for Auto-download new episodes if you want new episodes to automatically download to your phone as soon as they appear. Turn on the switch for New episodes notification to receive alerts anytime a new episode is available. Tap Unsubscribe if you change your mind about subscribing.

To view all your subscribed podcasts, tap the three-lined icon at the right of the bottom toolbar and select the section for Subscriptions. Tap the name of a specific podcast. From here, you can listen to individual episodes. By default, only the most recent episodes are downloaded for offline listening. Tap the down arrow to download more.

You can also change the order in which the episodes appear. Tap the double-arrow icon next to the Available Episodes title, and you can sort the episodes by oldest first instead of newest first. To unsubscribe from a podcast from this screen, simply swipe the podcast name to the left and tap the option to Unsubscribe.

Tap the Home icon on the bottom toolbar to go to the Home screen. After you’ve subscribed to some podcasts, the latest episodes for each podcast are listed here. Tap the Play icon to listen to a specific episode, or tap one of the podcast icons in the carousel at the top of the screen to view all that podcast’s episodes. Swipe the icons to the left to reach the end. Tap the icon with the plus sign to view the Search screen, where you can browse or search for more podcasts.

You can pipe the audio from a podcast episode to an external device such as a speaker or headphones using Apple AirPlay, Google Cast, or Bluetooth. To do this, tap the episode you want to play. At any of the main screens (Home, Explore, or Activity), tap the casting icon in the upper left.

If you’re on an iPhone, select the option for AirPlay & Bluetooth devices, then tap the device on which you want to play the audio. Android users can tap the Cast icon, then connect Google Podcasts with nearby smart devices.

Tap your profile icon in the upper-right corner of any screen and select Google Podcast settings. Here, you can tweak several options.

• Auto-download: Change the global settings for downloading new episodes and turn off downloads for individual podcasts. 

• Remove completed episodes: Determine when finished episodes should be removed—after 24 hours, after 7 days, or never.

• Remove unfinished episodes: Determine when they should be removed—after 30 days, after 90 days, or never.

• New episodes from your subscriptions: Turn off notifications for specific podcasts.

• Explore section: Turn off the switch for Show personalized recommendations if you don’t wish to see what Google Podcasts thinks you might like.

• Playback section: Turn off the switch for Autoplay from queue if you don’t want queued episodes to play automatically, one after the other.