There are a lot of podcast apps out there, but the easiest one to use is the one that comes built into your phone. For Android users, that was Google Podcasts—that is, until last year, when Google killed off its flagship podcast app. Again, you have your choice among alternatives, but if you go with Google’s choice, you might’ve found your way to YouTube Music.
Like Spotify, Google’s music app offers podcast support—though it’s a bit more limited. If you’re used to the polish and feature set of a dedicated podcast app (or, frankly, even Spotify), YouTube Music might be a tough adjustment. There are signs that things are changing, however. Google hasn’t totally abandoned progress for the podcast side of YouTube Music. In fact, it’s bringing a feature that was lost in the transition from Google Podcasts.
When Google invited users to move over to YouTube Music, it forgot a key Google Podcast feature: “trim silence.” The idea behind the feature is to automatically remove any segments of silence or dead air,so you’re only ever listening to the show. Trim silence definitely runs the risk of ruining any intentional suspense created by podcast makers, but it also makes episodes that we watch on 1.5x, 2x, or even 3x even faster. If your goal is to listen to as many podcasts as possible and to cut out any and all extra moments, trim silence is your friend—and you’re likely missing it if you use YouTube Music.
That is now changing: As reported by Android Authority, Google is rolling out a trim silence option in the YouTube Music app. The feature was first spotted by this Redditor, but I can confirm the option is now in my YouTube Music app as well. It’s a long time coming: 9to5Google spotted trim silence in YouTube Music’s code back in March of 2024, though it never materialized in an app update. Nearly a year and a half later, it’s here.
What do you think so far?
How to use trim silence in YouTube Music
It’s not clear at this time whether the feature is being added server-side or via a software update. To be safe, make sure you’re running the latest version of YouTube Music. I’m also only currently seeing the feature in the Android version of YouTube Music, so iOS users may need to wait.
Next, start a podcast, then tap the playback speed option to the left of the playback controls. Here, you should see the “Trim silence” option: Just tap it, or the toggle, to turn it on.
