YouTube Music has received another update that adds the ability to listen to podcasts. So far, this functionality is available only in the US, but Google promises to expand its geography in the future.

You don’t need a paid Music Premium or YouTube Premium subscription to listen to podcasts. You can listen to podcasts both online and offline, play them in the background, stream them to audio devices, and switch between the audio and video versions of a podcast. You can also control the playback speed and sleep timer.

By the way, Google has a separate Podcasts app where you can listen to podcasts. However, the company likes to duplicate the functionality of its services, so it was hardly surprising. And this innovation should be convenient for users as well, since from now on, it is enough to have only one application on your smartphone to listen to both music and podcasts.