How to listen to Podcasts on Android

Podcasts are the modern incarnation of the radio. Granted, radio stations still exist, but they seem a bit retrofit after the recent booming of the podcast industry. What are podcasts, you ask? Well, podcasts are basically a collection of audio-only episodes that are accessible to anyone. Nowadays, podcasts are so diverse! You will find a good amount of podcasts in almost all genres and niches. Some podcasts have made a big name for themselves, podcasts channels like Serial, Lore, and Criminal are insanely popular! Podcasts are a great way to learn some information, have some entertainment, etc. about the world and its aspects. They are mostly hosted by an individual or a group, who may or may not be supported by a studio. Let us look at some best ways to listen to podcasts on your Android device:

How to listen to Podcasts on Android on Google Podcasts

Pro-tip: Your listening progress can be auto-synced across all your devices if you sign in to your Google account and have the web and activity filter turned on. Remember to sign in with the same account on the Google podcasts app across all devices. Keep in mind that if you have set auto-delete on your activity, your listening progress will also be cleared periodically (after) each time the time limit ends.

Here’s how to listen to and download podcasts on the Google podcasts app:

1. Unlock your phone and navigate to the app drawer.
2. Look for “Google Play Store” app in your app drawer and launch it (Skip to step 5 if you already have the app installed on your device).
3. Tap on the search bar (in the top right corner of the screen) and type “Google podcast” and search for the app.
4. Install the official Google podcast app on your Android device.
5. Once you have installed the app, open it.
6. Tap on the profile icon (upper right corner of your screen) and login with a preferred Google account.
7. New users should subscribe to their favorite Podcast channels to receive updates on each new episode.
8. To search and subscribe to any desired podcast channel, simply tap on the “Explore” button (it should be in the bottom of your screen, directly above the home button).
9. Search for a podcast you would like, then tap on their profile.
10. You can listen to an episode by simply tapping on the play button adjacent to it (triangular arrow) or download it for later by tapping on the download button.
11. Finally, tap on the “Subscribe” button, and you are all set!

Listen to Podcasts on Google Play music

Here’s how to listen to and download podcasts on the Google Play Music app:

1. Unlock your phone and launch the Google Play Store app from the app drawer (Skip to step 3 if you already have the app).
2. Search for and install the “Google play music” app on your Android device.
3. Once the app is installed, open it.
4. Tap on the hamburger menu option in the upper right corner of your screen (three horizontal lines icon).
5. A pop-up tab will appear with your profile on the top and a list of options below it.
6. From this list of options, choose the “Podcasts” option.
7. And this will open the podcast menu on the Google play music app. Now you can browse/search your preferred podcast channels.
8. Once you have chosen a podcast channel, tap on the profile, then tap on the subscribe button to get notified when ever a new episode releases.
9. Tap on the play button of an episode to listen to your desired episode from a podcast.
10. Subscribing is quite convenient because whenever you launch the Google play music app, all your subscribed post podcast will appear under the “your podcasts“ tab.

Listen to Podcasts on Android on Spotify

Here’s how to listen to and download podcasts on Spotify:

1. Launch the Spotify app on your Android device.
2. If you don’t have it on your phone, you can download it from the Google Play Store app.
3. After launching the app, tap on the search button (at the bottom center of your screen).
4. Search for a podcast by name or genre. Out of the many results, tap on the one which you prefer.
5. On that podcast’s page, tap on the follow button to be notified whenever there is a new episode.
6. Below that there will be a list of all the episodes on the channel. Tap on the play button of the episode you would like to listen.
7. You can also download any episode you want to hear by simply tapping on the download button beside any episode.

Note: you can easily download podcasts episodes on almost all of these services. Downloading them gives you a seamlessly smooth experience even while traveling.