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Audials Play (Free) — Review Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5
What it is: A free internet radio and podcast app for Android and iOS,
with a companion desktop version for Windows. Over 150,000 stations worldwide,
with stations that have frequent ads clearly labeled "Ads" — so you
can choose how uninterrupted you want your listening to be.
✅ THE GOOD
- Massive station catalog. 150,000+ stations worldwide — pop from the US,
electronic from Berlin, samba from Brazil — with smart suggestions that
learn your taste and expand your musical horizons over time.
- Best-in-class signal recovery. One of the best radio apps for car use — it tends to
recover better from cell signal drops than most competing apps. A
genuinely practical edge for commuters.
- Unique radio recording feature. It's almost impossible to find an app that lets you
record radio shows — making Audials Play a rare and valuable find for that
use case.
- Transparent about ads. Unlike TuneIn, Audials Play itself doesn't inject ads.
The developer clarified that AudialsPlay itself does not run ads —
stations run their own ads — and the app labels ad-heavy stations so you
can choose accordingly.
- Useful extras — all free. Includes an equalizer, alarm clock, sleep timer, and
Wi-Fi-only mode.
- Now playing preview in favorites. The app shows a preview of what songs are currently
playing under each station in your Favorites list — a small but genuinely
handy touch.
❌ THE BAD
- Persistent freezing bug. A long-standing issue: after another app interrupts
playback, Audials Play gets stuck loading indefinitely. Selecting another
station also fails to play. The only fix is to kill and restart the app —
and this bug has persisted across many updates for over a year.
- Recording is unreliable. Some users report recordings occasionally saving as
0:00 files, and there's no way to fast-forward through recorded content— a
real frustration if you recorded a show and need to skip ahead.
- Podcast position not saved. The app can't save your place in a podcast episode —
only bookmark the episode itself — making it inconvenient for binge
listeners.
- Creeping monetization. A banner ad was recently added to the app, and the
only way to remove it is to pay $74.90 for Premium — a steep price for
users who just want a clean radio app. Recording features that were once
free have also been moved behind a paywall.
- Car mode needs work.
Users request the ability to stay in car mode between sessions and have
favorites auto-play — the current UX requires too many taps while driving.
- No pause-and-buffer.
You can't pause a live stream and resume from where you left off — if a
call comes in, you miss whatever aired during it.
📊 RATINGS SNAPSHOT
|
Category |
Score |
|
Station breadth |
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
|
Ad transparency |
⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
|
Signal/connection recovery |
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
|
App stability |
⭐⭐½ |
|
Recording reliability |
⭐⭐⭐ |
|
Podcast experience |
⭐⭐½ |
|
Free tier value (2026) |
⭐⭐⭐ |
|
Overall |
⭐⭐⭐½ |
Bottom line: Audials Play punches above its weight on two things — sheer
station volume and cell signal recovery — and it's the rare free app that lets
you record radio shows. But ongoing bugs, a deteriorating free tier, and poor
podcast UX keep it from being the no-brainer recommendation it once was. Best
for: power radio listeners who drive a lot and occasionally want to record
programs. Casual music listeners would be better served by iHeartRadio or
AccuRadio.
Website: https://audials.com/blog/en/the-best-free-radio-app-for-your-phone-endless-sound-magic/
