Following the US depreciation in April, Google Podcasts will be shutting down for international users this June. According to the updated support article, Google Podcasts will be available for “users outside of the United States” until “mid-to-late June 2024.” The YouTube Music migration and OPML file export will be available until July 29, 2024 for a month-long grace period.
It remains to be seen whether this wind down will occur region-by-region (Americas, Asia, Europe, etc.), which is how podcasts in YouTube Music rolled out, or if it will be taken offline in one go. YouTube Music has unfortunately not seen any major update since the Google Podcasts for Android, iOS, and the web stopped working in early April. We’re missing something as fundamental as new episodes notifications and mark as played, which was promised back in mid-December. The deprecation really should not have occurred until YTM was updated with those capabilities.
Hopefully, the podcasting experience in YouTube Music will see a big upgrade before the international shutdown. Meanwhile, Pocket Casts for Android is soon getting redesigned widgets.
