[Update: Fix released] Google Podcasts app opening two windows for some users, issue escalated

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on September 1, 2021) follows:

Google Podcasts is one of the most popular Podcasts app available on the internet. It offers access to millions of podcasts for free.

The app was released back in June of 2018 and has been downloaded more than 100 million times on the Google Play Store.

It allows users to subscribe and listen to their favorite shows and explore new podcasts to subscribe to. Moreover, users also have the option to keep track of their activity and history.

All in all, it is a pretty small app with all the basic functionalities baked right in. Having said that, the Google Podcasts app has barely had any issues ever since its release.

But users are now reporting an issue with the app. According to reports, the Google Podcasts app is opening two windows instead of one for some users.

One of the windows is the regular podcasts app whereas the other one is completely blank. People say the issue started a few weeks ago.

When I open Google Podcasts, two windows always open, one called Google Podcasts, and one called just Podcasts. The Podcasts window is black and empty. The Google Podcasts window has my home screen. I don’t know if it’s part of the problem, but when I tap the Google Podcasts icon to open it, all of the icons on my home screen shift downward slightly.

No other app causes that to happen, only Google Podcasts. I have tried clearing cache, reinstalling, and rebooting my phone. There seems to be some type of startup corruption. How to fix this? Thanks.
(Source)

Same here. Two app windows open exactly as described in previous posts. Also no longer syncs the queue across devices. Both of these issues started about 2 weeks ago.(Source)

While the bug is not a deal-breaker, users are confused as to why Google Podcasts is opening two windows.

Fortunately, the issue has been escalated by a Google Community Member, which means that Google might investigate it in the near future.

Maybe it’s some coding bug that must have surfaced on some devices because of an Android update since the Podcasts app was last updated in March of 2020.

We will update this article once more information is available so make sure to keep checking this space.

05:30 pm (IST): A platinum product expert on the community forums has confirmed that a fix for the Podcast app opening two windows has been released.

However, the rollout is only at 50% at the moment and is expected to be completed sometime next week.

I just heard back from the escalation.

“Just heard from the internal team that the issue has been fixed but is at 50% roll out, would be completed sometime next week.” (Source)

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Google Section so be sure to follow them as well.

Featured image source: Google Blog

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