The search and tech giant has killed the heavily downloaded application in the US.
Google’s Podcasts app has been officially discontinued in the US as of yesterday, despite the fact that it had been downloaded more than 500 million times.
Only 4 percent of listeners used the platform in the US
US users of the Podcasts app were required to migrate their subscription data before the deadline or risk losing their listening information. Unfortunately, this process was not at all straightforward, leaving many users confused and increasing the risk that scammers and credentials thieves could spot an opportunity.
Of course, for those who waited or who didn’t realize that they would lose their data if they did not act in time, the deadline has now passed, and they will need to begin from scratch using another listening service.
Starting in the United States, the Podcasts app has been shut down
So far, Google has shut down the Podcasts app exclusively in the United States. This means that while it has been essentially killed in the US, users in other countries will still be able to listen to their favorite podcasts through this application.
US users haven’t been without warning, unless they haven’t been using the application or checking their email recently. In-app reminders notifications have been issued to those users, informing them that their time is running out both for listening to apps on the service and for migrating their subscription data to another platform.
The notification encouraged users to begin choosing the YouTube Music platform as an alternative, stating that it would provide a “better overall destination for fans and podcasters alike with YouTube-only capabilities across community, discovery and audio/visual switching.”
Still, data migration did not occur automatically, and while there were steps users could take to do so if they did want to export their data to the YouTube Music app, individuals looking to go elsewhere were left on their own to find that path.
Additionally, Google has given a heads up that not all shows that were available in the old Podcasts app would also be available in YouTube Music. Anyone who wanted to save shows they like but that weren’t available in the alternative application would be required to use the RSS feed link specific to the show.