This change allows Google to add a “More” button to the right-hand side of the screen. Tapping this opens all subscriptions in a grid view. This is particularly beneficial for users with many podcasts, allowing for easy viewing of each subscription. While the Home tab remains largely unchanged beyond this, each episode card now gets an overflow menu in the bottom right corner. Tapping this opens options to share the episode or “Mark as played.” Previously, users had to open the episode page to mark an episode as played.
The changes are included with version 12.30 of Google Podcasts
9to5Google highlights that the “Activity” tab on the bottom has now been renamed to “Library.” The Library tab contains options like Subscriptions, Queue, Downloads, and History. Meanwhile, the Explore tab remains unchanged for the most part, while the red “Beta” badge has been removed. Another minor but significant change is the behavior of the Google Podcasts icon on the homescreen. After the update, tapping the icon won’t automatically take users to the Home tab. The new changes come with the 12.30 update, which is now on the Play Store. Heading over to “App info” to force close the app could also trigger the update. However, this may not work for every user. Google updated the Podcasts app earlier this year with a redesign of the Now Playing UI. Some of the changes made in the new update address the concerns voiced by the users. While Google Podcasts has been around for a while, it hasn’t been the most popular. This is primarily because users have access to several third-party alternatives on the Play Store. Not too long ago, Facebook announced its own podcast interface for users on its platform. The company also launched Live Audio Rooms to rival the popular live audio app Clubhouse.
