Google Podcasts to Be Discontinued as Attention Shifts to YouTube Music

If you use Google Podcasts, prepare to say goodbye. Google plans on shutting down the app sometime next year in a bid to centralize podcast listening on YouTube Music, which began supporting podcasting channels in April.

“Looking forward to 2024, we’ll be increasing our investment in the podcast experience on YouTube Music—making it a better overall destination for fans and podcasters alike with YouTube-only capabilities across community, discovery and audio/visual switching," Google says.

But the decision to bet on YouTube Music is coming at the cost of Google Podcasts, which first launched on Android in 2018. It launched on iOS in 2020, and has since attracted over 500 million downloads, according to the Google Play Store. It's also available on the web.

Despite the app’s popularity, YouTube Music is outperforming Google Podcasts, the company says. “According to Edison, about 23% of weekly podcast users in the US say YouTube is their most frequently used service, versus just 4% for Google Podcasts."

So the podcasting app will join the ever-growing number of products Google has killed over the years. The company is now laying the groundwork to migrate Google Podcasts users to the YouTube Music platform before the shutdown occurs. "For users, it means a simple migration tool and the ability to add podcast RSS feeds to their YouTube Music library, including shows not currently hosted by YouTube,” Google says.

But if you’re not a fan of YouTube Music, you can also take your podcast preferences to another podcast-listening app through an “option to download an OPML file of their show subscriptions.”

“In the coming weeks and months, we'll gather feedback to make the migration process from Google Podcasts to YouTube Music as simple and easy as possible,” Google adds. "Once we feel the migration tools are ready, we’ll release them along with clear guidelines on how they work.”

If you make the switch to Apple Podcasts, Cupertino today teased the arrival of over 60 original podcasts for subscribers to Apple Music, Apple News+, Calm, and Lingokids.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
Xbox 360 FTW
The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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