Joe Hindi / Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube Music may be working on adding a “trim silence” feature that will skip silent parts of podcasts.
- Google previously announced a schedule for a complete shutdown of Google Podcasts.
While Google is shutting down its dedicated Google Podcasts app, YouTube Music is upping its podcast game with a new feature in development called Trim Silence.
This discovery is 9to5Google, we have delved into the code of the latest YouTube Music APK (v6.43.52). This discovery coincides with the phasing out of the Google Podcasts app, positioning YouTube Music as the go-to podcast platform within the Google ecosystem.
APK teardowns help predict features that may be delivered to a service in the future based on the code in progress. However, such predicted features may not be publicly released.
Already available in most major podcasting apps, the Trim Silence feature allows listeners to automatically skip silent parts in an episode, effectively reducing playback time. Code strings discovered by the outlet reveal labels such as “remove silence.” There's also a description that says “Skip the silent parts of an episode,” which confirms the purpose of the feature.
YouTube Music was traditionally known as music streaming, but it wasn't designed for podcasts. But over the past year, Google has been beefing up its podcast capabilities. Features like subscribing to podcasts via RSS feeds and automatically downloading new episodes have been introduced to cater to podcast lovers.
This feature isn't currently working within YouTube Music, but there's a good chance it will be enabled in an app update in the near future. Either way, its inclusion bodes well for podcast fans who are transitioning away from Google Podcasts.
Google previously announced that Google Podcasts users will have access to the app until March 2024. If you want to keep your subscriptions and playlists, you'll need to move them to YouTube Music by July 2024. Alternatively, podcast enthusiasts can also export their content. Get data from Google Podcasts and import it into another podcasting app that supports OPML uploads.
