Google’s nifty podcast app finally arrives on iOS, and it's great for new listeners

It’s probably not the best time to launch a product, but this one can actually help people distract themselves during the lockdown. Google has brought its nifty podcast app to iOS — and yes, it’s free.

The search giant first launched the app on Android in 2018. Google Podcasts supported playback on the web back then, but the company launched a proper website for it just last month. The new iOS app is the last piece of the puzzle.

Getting around the app is quite easy, so I won’t bore you with a walkthrough of all the buttons and tabs in there. I especially like how Google Podcasts focuses on episodes you can dive into right away, rather than pushing you to subscribe to shows and then leaving you to figure out what to listen to.

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For instance, I can search for “coronavirus” and it’ll show me episodes and podcasts related to coronavirus, so I can easily queue them up while I cook myself a delicious lockdown meal.

The interface displays information about each episode when you’re browsing podcasts, so it’s easy to tune in without having to first commit to subscribing to a show. It’s like window shopping for your next listen.

What’s more, if you start listening to an episode on one platform, you can resume from where you left on another device, thanks to the syncing feature across Android, web, and iOS.

Along with the iOS app, Google’s rolling out a feature to let you subscribe to podcasts in the web player, and a redesign on the Android version.

You can read all about it here, and download the iOS version here.