Podcasts have been there for a very long time. But even today many people love listening to podcasts with the availability of great podcast apps like Pocket cast, Castbox etc.

But do you know, there is secret podcast player & manager inside the Google search app, which is already installed on your Android phone?, the Google Podcast Manager.

The Google podcast player & manager has all basic features of a podcast app like Play podcasts, Subscribe/ Unsubscribe, Downloading offline etc., and it as good as many other apps and it is already there on your Phone.

In this detailed post, I will show you how to use Google app’s built-in Podcast player and also discuss some of its best features.

How to use Google’s Podcast player to manage your Podcasts

The podcast Player & Manager is built into the Google search app and it is kind of hidden. So, we have to follow a couple of steps.

Using Google app:

As the feature is recently added, you should first Update the Google app. Then

1. Open Google search app and Search for a Podcast of your choice (Ex. IRL podcast). Now you can see details about the podcast and recent episodes.
2. Now scroll down and click on More episodes. This will open that podcast in the Google podcast player.

or Using Google assistant:

Open Google assistant and type or Speak the command – “Play XYZ podcast” ( Ex. “Play IRL podcast” ). This will directly open the Google podcast app and starts playing.

Add Podcast player or a Podcast to Home screen

Instead of following the above steps every time you want to play a podcast, we can add the podcast player to the home screen so we can open it by tapping on icon.

To add Google podcast manager to home screen, on a podcast page, tap on Podcast icon in top-left. Now tap on Menu icon (3 dots) and then tap on Add to home screen. This will add an icon to home screen. If you open it, you can see all your subscriptions, recently played episodes etc.

If you listen to a particular podcast regularly, you can also add that podcast to the home screen. Just open the podcast you want to add > Tap on 3 Dots Menu button > Tap on Add to home screen.

Play and Download an Episode

As you open a podcast, you can see a list of recent episodes. To play an episode, just tap on the Play button next to it. You can also set the playback speed from 0.5x to 2x. Just tap on the player in the bottom, then tap on the small button labeled 1.0x  and set the speed you like.

You can also Download an episode to listen offline, which is very useful when you are on the commute and you have a weak signal. To Download an episode, tap on the episode to expand it, this will show a summary of the episode and a Download button with size in MBs. Just tap on Download episode button.

All the downloaded episodes will be automatically deleted after 24hrs if you have finished listening to it or 30days if they are unfinished. You can change this in settings (3 dots > Settings) and set to Never delete them.

Manage subscriptions: Subscribe / Unsubscribe to Podcasts

In Google podcast player, you can easily explore and find interesting podcasts. The homepage features popular podcasts by topic. If you want a particular podcast, you can also search to find it.

To subscribe to a podcast, open that podcast and then tap on Subscribe. You can see all the podcasts you have subscribed on the top in the home screen of podcast player.

If you want to Unsubscribe to a single podcast, just open that specific podcast and click on Subscribed. But if you want to unsubscribe to multiple podcasts at once, go to Podcast player home screen and tap on Menu icon and tap on Edit podcasts. Now select the podcasts that you want to unsubscribe to and click on Delete icon.

Why should you use it? – Best features of Google podcast Manager

There are many good podcast players on Playstore, but there are certain special features that make it more useful than others.

Simple, Light-weight and Built-in

Google podcast App, just like any other Google app, is very Clean and simple in design and also a very Light-weight app. Also, it is built-in to Google search app, which you already have on your phone, so you don’t have to install any additional app.

It Automatically Syncs across your devices

As your device is linked to your Google account, all your Podcast subscriptions, Podcast you are currently listening is automatically synced to your account.

And when you are using your other device, you can continue listening where you left. As it is built-in, it is readily available on any other device. No installation needed.

It Works with Google Assistant and Google home

As I mentioned earlier, you can also use Google assistant to play podcasts. Here are some of the voice commands you can use:

• To play/resume any Podcast— “Ok Google, Play [Podcast name] Podcast”
• To resume last playing podcast— “Ok Google, Play Podcast“
• To resume the latest episode of XYZ podcast— “Ok Google, Play the latest episode of [Podcast name]”

So, if you have Google home, you can play or resume the podcast where you left-off easily using above voice commands.

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Wrapping up

Overall, Google’s Podcast player may not be as feature–rich as mainstream Podcast managers. But it has some great features enough for a user who loves to listen to podcasts on regular basis. And automatic syncing and Compatibility with Google Home are added advantages.

So, give it a try. I am sure you will like it. For more useful posts like this keep visiting and follow us on Twitter (@Digicular) and Instagram (@DigicularCo) so you will get updates. And we also post special Tips & News on Instagram that we don’t post here. So make sure you follow us.