The podcast bug has finally caught up with Google. The internet giant has introduced a new standalone podcast app for Android.

As with other products, Google has used the its search engine advantage to power the creation of the podcast. The app, called simply Google Podcasts, will use Google’s recommendation algorithms to gauge users’ listening habits and hook them up with podcasts they are most likely to enjoy.

Podcasts have been available on Android through Google Play Music and third-party apps. But Google says it expects Podcasts to bring the form to hundreds of millions of new listeners around the world, reported The Verge.

Google Podcasts will look familiar to anyone who has used a podcast app before, according to The Verge. It lets you search for new podcasts, download them, and play them at your convenience, said the report, adding that more than 2 million podcasts will be available on the app initially.

In a review, Wired said the Podcasts app feels fairly minimalist and greets you with a section called For You, which includes new episodes of podcasts you’ve subscribed to, a separate tab for any episodes that are currently in progress, and another tab for any that you’ve downloaded. Podcasts can sync up with other Google Assistant-powered devices, like Google Home. But on playback, there’s not much that stands out — you can play, pause, skip forward 30 seconds or skip back 10, according to the review.

But in a hat tip to the company’s ability to improve products based on user feedback, again thanks to its algorithms, Wired said Google will will look to create real opportunities for discovery, rather than merely surfacing the same top-tier pod, as it continues to fine-tune its algorithms in Podcasts.

First Published:Jun 20, 2018 1:09 PM IST