YouTube Music Finally Adds Long-Missing Google Podcasts Feature
There are plenty of podcast apps out there , but the easiest to use is the one built into your phone. For Android users, that app was Google Podcasts, until last year when Google shut down its flagship podcast app . Again, you have a choice of alternatives, but if you choose Google, you may have found your way to YouTube Music.
Like Spotify, Google’s music app offers podcast support , albeit a little more limited . If you’re used to the sophistication and functionality of a dedicated podcast app (or, frankly, even Spotify), YouTube Music can be a tough adjustment. There are signs that things are changing, though. Google hasn’t completely abandoned YouTube Music’s podcast efforts. In fact, the app adds a feature that was lost in the move from Google Podcasts.
When Google encouraged users to switch to YouTube Music, it forgot about a key feature of Google Podcast: “silence trim.” The idea behind this feature is to automatically remove any bits of silence or dead air so that you’re always listening to the podcast. Silence trim certainly risks ruining the intentional tension created by podcast creators, but it also makes the episodes we watch at 1.5x, 2x, or even 3x even faster. If your goal is to listen to as many podcasts as possible and trim out all the unnecessary parts, silence trim is your best friend, and you’re probably missing it if you use YouTube Music.
That’s changing: Google is bringing a silence trimming feature to the YouTube Music app, Android Authority reports . The feature was first spotted by this Reddit user , but I can confirm that it’s now in my YouTube Music app, too. It’s been a long time coming: 9to5Google discovered the silence trimming feature in YouTube Music’s code back in March 2024 , though it never made it into an app update. Almost a year and a half later, it has arrived.
How to Use YouTube Music’s Trim Silence Feature
It’s unclear whether this feature is being added server-side or via a software update. To be safe, make sure you have the latest version of YouTube Music installed. Also, I’ve only seen this feature on the Android version of YouTube Music, so iOS users may have to wait.
Then, launch the podcast and tap the playback speed button to the left of the controls. Here you’ll see an option called “Trim Silence”: just tap it or the toggle to turn it on.