Did you know that Google Search on Android is a podcast player?
With playback and subscriptions that sync through Google Home.
Whether you're listening to the newest installment of a daily podcast you're subscribed to or binging the latest true crime series, being able to pause a podcast on one device and pick it back up on another is a useful feature. And according to Pacific Content, it's a feature that Google offers right now. If you start an episode on your Android phone, for example, you can finish it with your Google Home, and Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Google's podcasts product manager, says this "device interoperability" will eventually expand to everything on which you use Google. We asked Google about the feature and were told that it's "not new" but it's unclear how long the ability has been around.
Though Apple launched its podcast app in 2012, Google still doesn't have a dedicated app for podcasts. As of now, your only options are to find podcasts through Google Play Music, Google Search on Android, Google Assistant or a third-party app like Stitcher or Pocket Casts. When searching for podcasts through Google Search for Android, you do have the option to add a shortcut of that to your home screen, which essentially functions as an app, giving you access to your podcast subscriptions and sections like Top Podcasts, Trending Podcasts and popular options in specific categories.
Though he didn't say that Google was working on a standalone podcast app, Reneau-Wedeen did say that a way to get to Google's podcast feature through something like the Play Store, for example, would be a logical step.
Last year, Google bought 60dB, a short-form audio startup that offered personalization for each listener and it led some to wonder what the company's plans were regarding its podcast efforts. Pacific Content will be reporting on some features of Google's podcast strategy throughout the week.
