Google Podcasts on Tesla: what happened and what to use now
If you came here looking for Google Podcasts on Tesla, start with the news that changes everything: Google Podcasts no longer exists. Google discontinued the app in 2024, shutting it down in the US in April and winding it down globally the same year, and folded podcasts into YouTube Music. So there is nothing to set up, on a Tesla or anywhere else. The real question is how to listen to podcasts on a Tesla today, and that answer is good, because TaaDa puts every current podcast app on the car screen.
What happened to Google Podcasts
Google Podcasts launched in 2018 and was installed over 500 million times, but Google chose to centralize audio under YouTube. It announced the shutdown in September 2023, ended US streaming in the app by the end of March 2024, and closed the export and migration window on July 30, 2024. Podcasts now live in YouTube Music, which inherited the catalog and the RSS support.
If you never migrated, your old subscriptions are not lost forever. You can re-add shows by searching for them, or import an OPML backup into most podcast managers, which rebuilds your list in one step.
Why this matters for Tesla owners
Here is the catch that was true before and is still true now: neither Google Podcasts nor its successor YouTube Music is a native Tesla app. Tesla curates its built-in streaming set, and neither made the list, so on the dashboard you are left with Bluetooth audio or an awkward browser tab. The shutdown did not create this gap, it just changed which app you would use to fill it.
How to get podcasts on a Tesla with TaaDa
To get any of these podcast apps onto the Tesla, you use TaaDa. It is software you install on your Android phone; the phone shares its connection with the car, TaaDa opens in the Tesla browser, and the screen turns into a working Android Auto display. No adapter.
Inside that layout, your podcast app behaves like it would on any Android Auto car:
- A real episode browser, with show art, descriptions and your subscriptions, not a shrunken web page.
- Full playback control, including play, pause, skip and playback speed from the screen or the steering wheel.
- Audio through the speakers, routed over Bluetooth audio so shows and navigation prompts share the system.
Because the app runs on your phone, your downloads and your queue are ready the moment you get in the car.
The best current replacements
You have real choices, and all of them run on a Tesla through TaaDa:
- YouTube Music is the direct successor, since it absorbed Google’s podcast catalog and RSS uploads. It is the natural move if you want the closest thing to what Google Podcasts was.
- Podcast Addict is a power-user manager with deep control over speed, queues and RSS feeds, popular with heavy listeners.
- Castbox blends podcasts and audiobooks with strong in-app search.
- Pocket Casts is a polished cross-platform option with smart playlists.
Pick the one whose features match how you listen. Whichever you choose appears the same way on the Tesla screen through TaaDa, with Google Assistant voice search to call up a show by name.
Move on from a dead app
Waiting for Google Podcasts to come back is not an option, because it is gone for good. The upside is that its replacements are more capable, and getting any of them onto a Tesla is a five minute job. So the search for Google Podcasts on Tesla ends with a better setup than the app ever offered: a current podcast manager, running as a full Android Auto app, on the screen and browser your car already has. Explore the rest of this silo for guides to the individual apps and rebuild your listening on something that is still supported.