You can now play Google Podcasts from search results on iOS and desktop

Google’s dedicated podcasts app graced the Play Store almost one year ago but an iOS port or desktop option was nowhere to be seen. That changed today as all the podcasts on Google’s platform appear directly in the search results. All you need to do is search for your podcast of choice and you will automatically be able to play the session from your mobile or desktop browser.

Rolling out this week you'll be able to search for and play podcasts directly in Google Search across Android, iOS, and desktop browsers, a step toward making audio a first-class citizen across Google. pic.twitter.com/29ohC7W9z8

— Zack Reneau-Wedeen (@ZackRW) May 9, 2019

Android users had this functionality way back in 2016 before the official Google Podcasts app was even made. According to Google Podcasts’ Product Head Zack Reneau-Wedeen, the effort is a step toward making audio a “first-class citizen across Google”. The web-based podcast player is identical among all three platforms and offers the basic media controls such as play/pause/rewind and audio speed settings. For now, there’s no way to subscribe to podcasts from this web version though.

Google Podcasts on desktop

In other related news, during its I/O 2019 keynote Google CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned that users will begin seeing podcast suggestions based on their search history as part of the “podcasts about this story” feature coming soon.

Via