NPR: National & Local News Customer Service

NPR: National & Local News Positive Reviews

Where would I be without NPR?As I age, and I have indeed aged, things like reading newspaper have gotten harder. A set of glasses for walking around, another for working on the computer, yet another for reading. Oh, dear, now where *are* my reading glasses? Could take 10 or 15 minutes to track them down and, suddenly, there’s no real time to read anything. Ah, but the blessed radio can speak to you as you search, and as you do dishes, and as you straighten up or get ready for bed. But, here in southern Arizona, just what is there on the radio to listen to? Rush Lombough and rock-n-roll, and their equivalents, fill the air. I was spoiled, growing up in New York City, we had a choice of three 25-hour commercial news stations. There were also, depending on just where in the metro you were, up to 5 NPR stations and, the pièce de résistance, a Pacifica listener-sponsored station, the venerable WBAI. The vast wasteland of Arizona radio came as a bit of a shock when we started visiting Phoenix in 2006. Discovering that KJZZ is not just the local NPR outlet, but a darned good radio station in its own right, was an important factor in our choosing to settle in Phoenix in 2008. A fair substitute for the information rich airwaves of NYC, the station grows on you over the years. We became sustaining members almost immediately, and have increased our contribution rate as our finances allowed and, more recently, as the times demanded. KJZZ has our gratitude and our undying allegiance..Roj710Version: 7.4.3

Best for staying up to dateWholeheartedly, I don’t know what I would do or where I will be in terms of staying up-to-date in current times I don’t know how I would feel secure in learning about what is going on with my community my government and in my overall day today keeping up and I think NPR does an amazing job and not solely reporting providing insights on stories that otherwise either may have never gotten told and in providing details for stories that are widely reported, but they find these amazing interviews and they get these these well death studies and statistics and of course very point in terms of timing overall, of course, the longest running report in radio broadcasting stations they’ve been a lot around for a while for a reason and it shows in there that the dead fastness in the fact that they have been actively underfunded been protested against of course that they’ve undergone a lot, but they do not allow their convictions to fade away that NPR is simply one of if not the crumb modern day photo journalism reporting story writing should be AMEN JOHN 3:16.YERTYEETPEETMYNEETYVersion: 7.4.3

Already miss the Old AppI should have known better than to go with the new NPR app that replaced NPR News. There was so much to love about it. Although I do Support my local NPR Station, I also like to browse, including locally produced programs from other parts of the country, which are not carried by my local station. That was easy to do in the old app. I simply brought up the station, and chose an on-demand program. These shows were displayed alongside the live streams. In addition , I could create a Favorites list, and even add items to a playlist for later use. In the new version, all of these features are gone. Now, the only way to get on-demand material from other stations seems to involve changing one’s favorite station; and, even if you do that, you then have to go to a separate On-Demand tab to get such material, and there are fewer choices of podcasts and topics. For instance, on the old app, I could go to WUNC (not my local station), and listen to podcasts from The People’s Pharmacy. Now, even by making that station my favorite, I found very few choices—and The People’s Pharmacy wasn’t one of them. Then, I had to reset my favorite station; then, to get back to where I was (if it wasn’t my local station), I had to go to Recently Streamed, and _hope to find it there. I hope I will grow to like the new app better, but don’t count on it. The reason I even gave it 4 stars is that I’m a huge fan of NPR..VoiceOver user.Version: 4.0.0

Sanity-Saving AppThis is one of the most indispensable apps I’ve ever had and I use it multiple times every day. Being able to set up my preferred playlist lets me just hit a single button each morning to get my most-listened-to podcasts and national + local news that’s most important to me. Reading and listening on this app is one of the only ways I can get quality news without being bombarded by ads, opinions posing as facts, “guests” angrily lecturing journalists instead of answering questions, and sensationalism designed to keep people’s attention at the expense of good reporting. When it’s not news I’m after it’s super simple to find great interviews, variety/game shows, recipes, resources, or learn about something new any time. It’s also the best way to listen to our local station. Can’t say enough about how great the app is, *especially* when paired with an NPR+ membership, where most of my favorite listens skip the sponsor messages and many share bonus content. Do yourself a favor and download it now..InterruptasaurusVersion: 7.4.1

Ok, could be betterI use this app daily and often multiple times per day. It does the basics pretty well, but I wish it was smoother and a bit more flexible. I echo some of the suggestions I’ve seen posted. My main irritations are also about difficulty in sharing; the developer has responded about an option on the story page; I just know that from the item I’m listening to at the moment, there is no sharing option. For items that I really wanted to share, I have to find it on NPR’s website and send that way — something I don’t take the time to do as often as I think to share something. Also, the Listen To All Stories function seems to cue for an ad/promo to be inserted in the story sequence, which is fine, but it interrupts the flow by either skipping the story that should play right after the ad, or just stopping together after the ad. I select Listen To All Stories when I don’t want to have to hover over my phone, so it’s annoying when I’m across the room or otherwise occupied and then have to go back to it (or just have silence) because once again the play has stopped or skipped. Fine to play the ad, not fine for it to derail the basic play-all function..Not a frequent reviewerVersion: 4.5.4

High data usage over cellularI held off from upgrading for a LONG time from your old UI because of all the complaints of being unable to re-order the playlist. Once upgraded, unfortunately, my ENTIRE playlist was lost w/no warning and no ability to save it somewhere. I listen to hourly news and 0 to a few news stories each day over cellular while driving. After upgrading, I started getting warnings from Xfinity Mobile about hitting 80% of my 20 GB of data for the month and then I exceeded it, for 2 months in a row now. It looks like I’ve never gotten then before even though I’ve been on the same plan w/them for years. My latest billing period reset on June 20th so I reset iOS’s cellular data statistics. By July 7th, I passed 20 GB again. NPR app is by far the highest cell data user for this period at 10.6 GB. Are the data rates for your audio stories too high/much higher than your very old iOS client? I also wish there were a way to quickly be able to move a playlist entry to the top or bottom (e.g. buttons for each). Otherwise, like the content..CwerdnaVersion: 6.8.0

WORKS fine. But…Nine times out of 10 the app runs just fine, and even when it doesn’t run fine I don’t totally blame the app, but possibly my connection. Either way it’s not the function of the app that annoys me but the advertising content. I get it, it’s your platform you’re gonna advertise your shows that’s expected. But for the good Lord sake, can you pay attention to where you’re putting them?. I listen to two podcasts this morning, the up first podcast and the NPR politics podcast in between both of those shows. I heard the same American life ad five times during my listen. 5 times!!!! Vary it or something. This has been happening so much lately that I end up just shutting down the app and maybe coming back to it a few hours later to listen to the other podcasts I want to hear without constantly being inundated with the same advertisement over and over and over. Right now it’s the this American life sometimes it’s other ones but they’re always way too repetitive. I’ve even heard the same advertisement played right after it finished playing. Same advertisement back to back no break..MrTTsNbEErVersion: 7.0.0

Humanity Coming to Better SensesI am a firm believer that we all can reach a común sense of basic human understanding of that, that we all are after, Wwhich is letting the other side know that we would like to be acknowledged and to know that we need to know that we are being understood and respected and above all let each other know that sour needs are being taken in for review and consideration not just ignored and and letting us know that our needs do not matter and that they do not have any value or base Not just the Talibán needs to be addressed there is a multitud of of issues around the world they can not be solved by just turning our faces the other way, all and each one of us must take responsibility and accountability for our own part as a faithful citizen of our won country’s a formal resident of this beautiful planet we all play a role in this wonderful world of ours. We are not jus this little people walking and residing in this beautiful, wonderful world of us, there is laws and expectations that have been plase on us when we came into this world and that is to first and forth most to be the best human being and patrias of our country. In this case the United States of America’s a country like no other in the world, there is got to be a reason as to why so many people in the world all over the world want to come to this country. It is not just to get here; it is like everything all’s we woe this beautiful lady our respect, loyalty, faithfulness, and above all the responsibility to incorporate our selfs into the culture as soon as possible and learn everything there is about my new country because it is expected of me and further more to take care of her and cherish her because she is giving me all of the opportunities that I could not get in my own country, there for I must be the best son or daughter And best student I can be because I it is my primary responsibility.Nenge nengeVersion: 4.5.2

A couple specific fixable bugsI enjoy this app and use it daily; the playlist has some issues, the biggest of which is pretty clear: the handoff from one story to another. If you are listening to a story that is, say, 3:15 long, and the next item is, say 6:20 long, when the app begins the next selection, it does not reset the “bookmark” (the point at which you are in the selection to which you are listening) so you begin listening to the new track at 3:15 in. It’s a nuisance to have to manually go back to the beginning of the track. Seems like a very easy fix. Also, adding a new selection to the playlist while you are listening to the playlist always creates a clear audible glitch, which varies from a brief pause, to playing a disorienting random snippet from one of the tracks for up to a couple of seconds. Also, the app fails to properly interact with iOS: the Lock Screen interface is unpredictable (sometimes works sometimes not) and lacks the 15- and 30-second-skip features. Still a useful app; needs some fixes. When addressed I would change to 5 stars..DisneyDiscipleVersion: 4.5.8

Playing in the garden!Spring has been arriving and ducking back for a couple months now in oregon, and for me that moves so many garden and yard tasks to the top of my to-do list. this year i bought a set of shokz to garden with. no not a garden tool, but headphones that sit outside one’s ears so that listening is just like headphones but nothing sticks in your ears. they don’t fall off! i’ve listened to podcasts, specifically npr podcasts .. sometimes about gardening, or how things work, or why we do what we do, or history lessons about the space race…the npr app has an wide selection of podcasts to keep my mind occupied while i dig or change sprinkler heads. the choices are endless! at the end of my day recharging my shokz is as important as recharging my lawn mower! npr podcasts are like listening to friends tell stories while i dig! i feel like i’ve learned so much about the world and its strange inhabitants this season! because i have the npr app ready to go when i grab my shovel! thank you NPR! debK in oregon.DebK in oregonVersion: 6.6.0

Very responsive to feedback.I enjoy this app for being able to select the stories that interest me. I use it most on CarPlay during my commute to and from work. I felt that the CarPlay experience could use some improvement, so I gave some ideas of what I would find helpful, and some suggestions of how to implement those ideas. To my absolute delight, the latest update included a fantastic increase in CarPlay features and functionality. I understand it is egocentric of me to think that my suggestions are what lead to the improvements of the CarPlay experience. But given the otherwise highly coincidental timing, I prefer to think of this instance as an example that the developers genuinely take the feedback section of this app seriously. Even if there was another news radio app with fewer flaws and more features, I would still rate this one higher because of the development team’s demonstrated attention to honest feedback..M4D|M4XVersion: 5.4.2

Add a Favorite Button!I saw today’s article written about a black hole (Scientists Find Nearest-Known Black Hole, In Distressingly Fitting Metaphor by Colin Dwyer) and amidst the coronavirus panic and well really the entire fabric of reality breaking down, I found this article’s wry humor to be hilarious and I instinctively looked for that little transparent star that would allow me to save this magnificent little article so that one day in the indefinite future when we don’t have to worry about whatever in the world the next 2020 apocalyptic scenario is going to be (as you can see, I have already accepted that 2020 is going to continue to go downhill-now it's just a matter of "what" as opposed to "if"!), I can look back at this little article and laugh, reminiscing about how chaotic the supposed end times were. HOWEVER! My poor right thumb was left hovering and bewildered as its desired destination, that transparent five-pointed star, remained elusive even after a distressing scroll down and up the page. Please save the last shreds of my sanity and add the ability to favorite and save articles for later! It's the final bastion of normalcy left in this forsaken world!.ScslckjeVersion: 4.5.3

Updated review: betterSo I’m leaving my previous review at the bottom so people know what I’m talking about. I received a developer response asking me to provide them some more info, and I just kept forgetting to respond to it so I never actually gave them additional feedback. But the primary station and crashing issues I gripes about below seem to have been resolved. It’s still not the most intuitive interface, but now I like it better than the old app. It’s been working pretty reliably well for the past week or so. Not my fave app, but solid for my use (which is just listening to my local station in the AM while I get ready for work). Newest version is crazy buggy. I’ve had to search for and set my primary station pretty much daily. Sometimes the search function decides not to work and I need to close and reopen the app. Sometimes the whole deal just freezes and I need to close and reopen the app. Pausing causes it to crash. Dropping the signal causes it to crash. Navigating through the app causes it to crash. Fix them bugs!!.OctopüffVersion: 4.0.3

Part of my every day - and maybe yours too!Like morning coffee, NPR starts my every day with an array of news stories, headlines, and practical life tips. If I want a deeper dive, I choose from a host of different programs offering analysis and varying perspectives. And with the speed of today’s breaking news, NPR is my go-to source for updates throughout the day. Starting with Bob Edwards and Susan Stamberg, I’ve trusted and depended upon NPR news and insights over nearly 50 years of listening. I am APPALLED by the current threat to public media’s funding, and its potentially devastating impact, especially in smaller communities and rural stations throughout our country. It’s time to defend and protect what we have by making our opposition to defunding known. For those of us who can, this is the moment to increase our financial support. We must rally to hopefully maintain the independent news coverage we have, and the necessary benefits it affords as a central tenet of our democracy..PdxmargieVersion: 6.6.0

Speed control is a game changerThe addition of speed control has made this my go-to audio app. In combination with article-level playlisting, speed control has unlocked the richness of NPR’s unparalleled daily news programs. I can’t thank you all enough for finally making this change that is a major positive life enhancement. I simply did not have the time to listen to NPR’s daily news shows at the default glacial pace. I’ve heard legends about Byzantine internal politics at NPR that hindered this obvious feature (eg, local member stations not wanting to have a more functional version of the news shows out there for fear of their old-timey broadcasts being threatened; entrenched editors/hosting viewing themselves as artistes who arrogated for themselves the right to dictate a uniform pace for audio playback). If any of those stories were true, many thanks for cutting through the organizational noise and putting listeners first..UserbotssVersion: 6.1.1

NPR NewsNPR News has been my favorite app for many years. Before I discovered the app, I had been a loyal radio listener since the 1980's. I listen to Morning Edition, ATC and their weekend counterparts several hours a day, and other shows when time allows. I also love reading the app on my iPad for the extra stories, photos and videos. I'm so glad it's still available for iPad - PLEASE keep that one going! After reading reviews of the new NPR app (which I would probably give no more than one star), I am even more determined to stay with iOS 10 and my old iPhone 5S as long as possible so I can keep NPR News, playlists and all. Lately the NPR News app has gone into a sudden, continual crashing mode that required uninstalling and reinstalling twice. I wonder if that has anything to do with this new NPR app, and I fervently hope NPR News stays available to iOS 10 users at least! I avoided NPR One because I don't want my news curated at the risk of missing something great. Live streaming drains the battery far too fast, so I only use it for "driveway moments" to leave my car radio behind and stay with my local station to the end of the story. The whole point of having this app on my phone is to not be tethered to a charger while listening, and to be able to time shift and repeat stories that I miss due to real time distractions or that I just want to hear again. I really hope NPR News comes back to iOS 11 for phones or Playlists get added to the new NPR before I have to upgrade my phone. I'd really rather not be forced to carry the iPad everywhere if that becomes the only option to keep Playlists..La Rose des BetisesVersion: 3.9.15

UPDATE to review: a thank you + requestFirst, thank you for the app correction regarding the “disappearing news/stories after pausing” issue that had prompted me to initially review the app with a low score. While sadly the app still auto-skips ahead to the next news story after a period of time on pause (a change that begin after a previous update, that not only skipped off the paused story, even if ‘continuous play’ wasn’t on, but didn’t show it in the ‘Recently Heard’ list either— so I could only find it if I recalled the podcast/topic to look up)… Thankfully it has now been de-glitched to at least keep any auto-skipped stories in the ‘Recently Heard’ section. Two requests: 1. Please allow the auto-skip feature of paused stories, detailed above, to be a choice to opt out of in the settings, no matter how long it may have been paused (Turning ‘continuous play’ off doesn’t fix it). 2. Please change the ‘set audio speed’ setting to allow adjustments to the playback speed in smaller increments, how a volume button works (vs the current 5 preset options, outside of normal speed, 4 of which are for faster choices.) It takes me longer than the average person to digest/finish listening, and accessibility needs for disabled consumers naturally vary from person to person. Thank you for listening to reasonable complaints and requests, and making corrections/updates asap! A nice surprise. Your thoughtful work in all of NPR is appreciated..Marty M.R.Version: 6.6.0

Apparent bug in latest release and request for downloads like a podcastI’m a big fan of npr and have enjoyed this app. Coinciding with the latest release, however, the app stopped playing all on demand stories in the playlist sequentially, and had to be advanced manually to the next story in the que, despite my selecting the “listen to all stories option.” The “play all stories option” continues to not work and after the end of one story must be advanced manually. This is particular annoying, and a departure from the previous editions. I have deleted the app twice and reinstalled but the app continues to stop after each story. Double clicking my headphones does not advance to the next story either. Therefore, when exercising, driving or other activities having to advance the story manually is a pain. Please fix. My other request would be the ability to download the stories, just like a podcast, so that they could be played when outside of good or no cellular reception..Ktq999Version: 4.5.1

GreatGreat. Delivers the news. Ez pz. Gg..Ted the man franklinVersion: 3.9.15

Quick and conciseThis has become my go-to place for the latest news..Anne TrissVersion: 3.9.15

Fantastic ReportingPlease keep up all of the fantastic reporting that all of you do on a daily basis! It’s important work!!! Thank you!!.Healthy PowerVersion: 7.2.0

Got rid of sound icons, why??It used to be when you look through the home feed, stories that have audio would have a little sound icon next to it as opposed to written-only articles. This made it easy for me to go through the list and choose stories to add to a playlist I can listen to while doing chores. Now you have to tap on each individual article one by one and go into to it to find out whether or not it had audio. Why would they make it less user friendly??.J ay em jayVersion: 4.5.4

Improve NPR PlusWould be so much better if NPR Plus was fully integrated on this app instead of requiring setup on other streaming apps. Otherwise this app works well..KevsterzzzVersion: 7.4.1

Unstoppable Ads After PayingThe app introduces unskippable ads even after you’ve paid. Forcing you to shut down the app then reopen to get it to quit..DrtbkrfrkVersion: 7.3.0

NPRAwesome!.LT-DVersion: 7.2.0

NPR is importantA long time listener, concerned about defunded public and balanced media. Please support NPR!.MishymishymeVersion: 7.1.2

A national treasureNews you can trust and the BEST music.Russ_CVersion: 6.9.4

Best Newscast everHave listened to it when living in Northern Ontario now listening to it on podcast. Staff delivers professional newscasting..BorneomaVersion: 6.7.0

Great for news and podcastsBest available American app for news, editorials, podcasts, and regular shows..SiamoisdesyeuxbleusVersion: 6.6.0

Minimal FunctionalityWhen NPR One was first released it was a great app. Since that was discontinued and replaced with this the Functionality has diminished significantly. It either no longer has the thematic channels of audio clips or it is much harder to find. You also can save stories for later anymore. The main thing I wish either iteration had was the ability when you have it on continuous play, to NOT play podcast episodes. But only short news clips below 15 mins. That’s why I love NPR all the random short stories mixed with political ones. There also needs to be a way to reset your algorithm..Fatty McGlinchyVersion: 6.6.0

Canadian who appreciates NPR’s world perspectiveOur local Pacific Northwest NPR station had me hooked with their music. But slowly the NPR news coverage and reported is what truly hooked me as an NOR listener from Canada. Comprehensive and balanced news coverage of Pacific Northwest news and the National coverage of world events is top notch. I’m very disturbed by the current White House administration painting NPR as biased..LaramiprodVersion: 6.6.0

My go to news appLove it!.JacobverdadVersion: 6.6.0

NPR.I can breathe. Thanks!.Ron'n'luVersion: 6.6.0

NPR is a national treasureI have listened to NPR since the last century! The app now lets me stay connected to it although I now live in Canada. Whatever 45-47 might say about PBS/NPR/CPB in his hatchet-man social media posts, he’s dead wrong. If you let NPR die, you’re contributing to the strangulation of the press in America..WritingwithabrokentuskVersion: 6.6.0

Update your icon for dark modeGreat app but please update the icon for darkmode..CesarvillarVersion: 6.1.6

RequestGreat app. Please add night mode icon..StevesegVersion: 6.1.7

Update is buggyThis was a great, user friendly app. Now I can’t stream the latest newscast. Also, when I listen live, it’ll suddenly stop streaming mid-story. What was broken that needed this fix?.LobcrustVersion: 5.0.4

No continuing playSomeone please fix the problem of no automatically continue playing..HC0426Version: 4.5.1

Broke what didn’t need to be fixedThe interface was simpler before. Now it’s kind of clunky and the add to playlist button doesn’t do anything..Mike*WVersion: 5.0.2

Best App of its kindPerhaps surprisingly this app is as good as it gets. Provides the top headlines in a clear and user friendly way.Marcel RokVersion: 3.9.15

Disappointed to lose the playlistsWhy remove that option? Now I can’t select the collection of stories I want. Tough for cooking, working out, etc. I’m very disappointed..EaglegVersion: 4.0.3

Missing searchI love the new app redesign, but am struggling to find stories I previously read because the search function was removed. There also seems to be a maximum number of stories that can load from each category..ZoomreddinVersion: 4.0.2

New version missing playlistI love NPR, but one of the best things about the last app is that there was a playlist you could set up. This new one doesn’t have that feature, so you can’t set up a pile of articles to play through and listen without having to select something new every time. Add a playlist, and this would be a full star rating..GOWPGJETSGOVersion: 4.0.1

Objective in a subjective worldNews that has a balanced appeal and is thought provoking.AdleriansVersion: 3.9.15

My Zen spot for US newsLiving in Toronto, NPR apps keep me close to sources in the US, where important things just keep happening. Thanks NPR!.Dick 137Version: 3.9.15

VAn excellent app.RuntlettVersion: 3.9.15

Very SatisfiedGreat content and user friendly app. Easy to navigate..StevestlouisVersion: 3.9.15

Good appDoes what it says..CrazuforkVersion: 3.9.15

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NPR: National & Local News Negative Reviews

The previous app was betterThere are several problems I’ve found with this app that are more of a nuisance than anything else. The first is there is no search function. I prefer to search for topics of my choice, especially when I have only limited time. This combined with the removal of a playlist capability is frustrating also. I use to enjoy programing my own listening. There are also some annoying (though minor) problems with the interface. At times, when clicking on a particular link, it doesn’t compute and instead opens a different link. At first I thought it was my sausage fingers, but no - it’s definitely a flaw in the app. Another function on the old app that is no longer available is the ability to save a list of favorite NPR radio stations from around the country. In the current version, it is possible to view “previously streamed” stations, but it only stores the last 5 stations streamed and boots one off of the list each time you listen to a new one (i.e. a 6th or 7th station). This is frustrating if you like to bounce around different NPR stations in other cities, as I do. This is also a hassle when the mis-click problem occurs because I lose my make-shift “favorites” list. I only reluctantly use this new version and preferred the old one. I wish they would fix these problems. I really cannot stand the NPR One app because of its limited random-only structure. As a result of these problems, I tend to just listen to other news and media or to go directly to the FM stations’ various apps and websites to listen to NPR instead..IokepacasumbalsalazarVersion: 4.0.5

Bring the NPR News app back, pleaseThe new NPR app seems designed like the NPR One app, which is really unfortunate. On the old NPR News app, I could create my own playlists, listening to these three stories but not that one. That functionality has all been removed from the new (and certainly not improved) NPR app. Sometimes I might want to listen to most of one day’s All Things Considered program, but would (for example) delete the sports stories because I just don’t care about them. With the change to this new NPR app, it’s not possible to curate my own NPR playlist. It’s frustrating that NPR’s “digital” department thinks that this is what their listeners want. The new NPR app is much less listener-friendly and makes it more difficult to seek out new/interesting content. It is still easy to find Morning Edition or All Things Considered—but it is very difficult to find the off-the-wall and obscure programs produced by smaller NPR member stations across the country. The old NPR News app was great for that. Ugh. I gave up on using NPR One years ago because I didn’t like how that program “decided” for me what it thought I would want to listen to. I was an active user of the NPR News app for years and years. I used the Playlist feature on a daily basis. It was a very frustrating morning to be forced into using this new NPR app that has taken away much of the functionality of the old NPR News app. Please bring the old NPR News app back!.Ryan9157384Version: 4.0.1

Buggy and inconvenient designFirst of all - every time I leave a review for this app I get a “message from developer” which I can never read and then my review and rating disappear. Anyways, trying again again. I’m a sustaining member of my local station and listen almost exclusively via this app. All i want to do is get up and listen to Morning Edition while I cook breakfast. App is incredibly slow to load, requires significant navigation even though I do the exact same thing every day (especially w weekend edition! Just give us a shortcut or a way to subscribe!), and because I don’t get wifi in my kitchen, i have to leave the phone in another room and play via Bluetooth speaker. So then when the app starts arbitrarily playing a segment in the middle or stops playing for no reason have to leave the room to go press play again or start the segment from the beginning. Please, JUST RELEASE MORNING EDITION AND ATC AS PODCASTS!!! Omg i just cannot express how frustrating it is to use this app!! I just want morning edition to download automatically like a podcast and then play straight through!! How hard is this!??! Please just quit it with the stupid middle management politics or whatever reason you have for not either improving this app or releasing as a podcast and provide a useable and convenient way to listen to the news for those of us who would like to listen to shows on our own schedule. This app does a disservice to NPR.Icecreamguy2Version: 4.5.3

Still pretty badThis app has improved to the point that it’s now usable. It’s possible to find the actual features everyone seems to want (morning news brief, news stories you can read, local news stations, etc.), although it’s nowhere near as convenient as it used to be. The flashing banner at the top promoting their nightmare of a setting where (I think?) The News just plays continuously according to whatever the algorithm selects for you is still there. (Who would ever want this feature? This is NPR not TikTok!) I still miss when everything I wanted was one click away and it didn’t feel like I was constantly viewing ads for a service I already use. (Get rid of the stupid flashing banner for “NPR One” - whatever that is - PLEASE!) But I guess it’s marginally better? It just feels like they did zero user testing on this redesign and I don’t understand how they came up with something so, so bad. I’m a younger millennial who is used to technology constantly changing and I absolutely hated it. I’m just so confused about who the target audience for this complete overhaul was, I can’t think what type of person would prefer using it over the old version. It almost feels like a prank or something? Maybe an act of intentional sabotage? Truly I can’t imagine how the developers could come up with something so bad when the original app was already fine!.KvbdagsiemgpwhagsggVersion: 6.1.7

NPR One is the worstPlease bring back the old design and separate it from this NPR One copy. It’s so difficult to find an article I want, I can’t easily find current top news articles, and I can’t easily switch between different stations. The page itself looks so busy and yet I can’t find anything on it. Please find a better UI/UX designer. Instead of having 7 articles on a page I can see 3 on the homepage. Then, going to “top headlines” it shows a few from today but then a random assortment from the last few years. What is wrong with you???? Why is it showing me articles from 4 years ago on the Top Headlines page??? I used to listen and use the NPR app for hours every day, now I have cut my listening almost completely because of how bad this app is. Do you not see how the app used to be rated 3.8* and now is 2.6*? Take the hint. John Lansing’s legacy is that he drove NPR into the ground and you are helping. The amount of bugs is astounding. Every article gives me a “something went wrong” error. Why can’t I search for podcasts in the podcast section of the app? Why isn’t there an alphabetical list of every podcast? I don’t understand how you’re categorizing what podcast goes into what category. For example, Where is “Hidden Brain”? Is it even on here? Is it in a different section? How can I find out? The search is terrible. I can type in the whole title of an article that’s on the homepage at this moment and the search will not find it. Why does everything need to be so frustrating with this app?? Please bring back the old app. People are begging for it still..AnonymousID#285Version: 7.2.0

Gone from buggy to unusableIf you have an iPhone I would recommend you not even bother trying to use this (cr)app. I’ve been using this app for several years to listen to local and national public radio stations, as well as read quick headlines. It has always been fairly buggy, dropping streams or just not connecting. It had seemed to be improving until this last week or so, and I appreciated the stability. It is has become my primary way to consume NPR and local radio station content. Now it is so broken it is not worth using, and I’m wondering if I really need to continue contributing to NPR as a supporter, if they are going to waste funds on worthless apps. Now my closest local station, OPB, never works. When I play it, I get the (annoying) bumper ad but then nothing—just “dead air”. My next most local station, KUOW, does work, but drops every few minutes, usually for a few seconds and then repeating the (ever annoying) bumper ad—leading me to think the connection was broken and reconnected. It often just stops for no reason. I can click the Play button on my iPhone’s lock screen or my Apple Watch, which usually does nothing, then I have to unlock phone, go to the app and press play or try restarting app. These issues occur all the time now, and with multiple locations—different Wi-Fi networks and using cellular data. So it is not just my network..Mbc66Version: 4.5.4

Good at what it does, horrible for the features it left out.The new app has a better media player, with great pause and fast forward and rewind features and overall is more stable and reliable. That’s the good news. The bad news- they totally did away with the playlist, making it absolutely impossible to save individual episodes and play them whenever you want to. You’re now limited to selecting the current days version of each program, if you don’t listen to the entire program before the next days program comes out, you’re totally screwed, there’s no way to go back and listen to The previous one. Also every time you exit the app and come back it completely forgets where you were in the list of episodes for the days program, you have to basically start all over and manually skip ahead. A lot of wasted of time skipping things I’ve already heard just to get back where I left off listening. It’s basically killed the enjoyment of the app for me and made it nothing but frustrating. I know you guys are trying to force people to listen to the local stations more in order to support them but this is ridiculous. I don’t know who sat down and designed this thing but it seems to have deliberately omitted the very best features of the previous app..UberFilmsLtdVersion: 4.0.5

Possibly the Worst App Build of All TimeWhoever was in charge of the project to build this appshould not only be fired, but they should be dragged in front of all the NPR employees, have the stripes ripped from their shoulders, their sword snapped in two across the knee of some enforcer, and be sent alone out the gates of the fort out into the wilderness, never to be seen or heard from again. Seriously, this work should bring shame to the entire family of whomever turned it in as a complete project. I like to fall asleep to talk. Especially any kind of science story. So with that in mind NPR’s app should easily be in my top ten and maybe it would be, had they bothered to build an app. Want to make a playlist of the stories you’re interested in? Well, there’s some buttons that will take you, step by step, through all the sensations of picking out your own stories and putting them in the order you choose, but that’s about where it ends. Half the time, the “playlist” stops after the first story. Great a playlist of one, yay? The other half the time, when it does continue to the next story, it starts about 2/3 of the way. This would be useful, we’re I only interested in the end of a story. Unfortunately, as much as I appreciate a good landing, I need the context. This app is so poorly made it’s offensive..Gomorrah Bon VivantVersion: 4.5.8

Terrible update, delete app nowThe best feature of the old NPR News app was the ability of the listener to create a personal playlist from a menu of stories from various NPR programs. They’ve taken that functionality away. This app is essentially useless to me now, and I’m deleting it. EDIT: eight weeks later, and NPR is making qualified statements about they will “work on building a better queued listening experience for NPR in the months ahead.” Except NPR ALREADY HAD THAT SOLUTION and dumped it, presumably to force listeners to NPR One and local stations. As a result, my NPR listening has declined by 95%, and I did NOT renew my longstanding membership with my local affiliate. Bring back the playlist! EDIT (JUNE 10): I see the developer responded to my earlier review. Refusing to renew my NPR membership is entirely in line with my objection to the removal of the playlist. Local affiliate fundraising provides stations with funds to pay for programming from national NPR, and moreover, one result of the removal of the playlist was to force listeners to the local stations instead of self-curating NPR content through the app. I recognize the importance of local stations, but local stations need to use their leverage to support listeners’ range of options, not reduce them. Until the playlist is restored, we should not contribute to NPR through its member stations..UserApp99Version: 4.0.5

Awful, bad update. Give us back the old versionPlease, please bring back the previous iOS app—it’s SO far superior to the updated version!! The previous version was great; easy to use and useful. A news app doesn’t need a fancy interface, it needs to quickly let users find content. But you’ve traded function for form in the new update, and it’s awful. I’ve used the app (and listened for hours per day, literally) since it launched in 2009, and I couldn’t be more disappointed. I have both an iPhone and a Samsung for work, and now I have to use my work phone to listen because it still has the old version. The previous app made it easy to scroll through stories, but this one has flashy headlines and more pictures substituted for the content users want. All the stories I’d loaded in my playlist to listen on the way to work vanished overnight, and I can’t even create a playlist!! The FOUR favorite stations id saved and listened to frequently are gone and it’s cumbersome to find a live stream. It’s also irritating and cumbersome to find favorite programs. You guys have broken something that didn’t need fixing. Please, please ditch this version and give your loyal users back the previous, actually useful one..KBdc80Version: 4.0.2

Perpetually glitchy.For three years now, this app constantly plays the next segment at some random spot in the next segment. If you want to listen to All Things Considered or Morning Edition hands-free, it is absolutely impossible. You periodically have to grab your phone, unlock, open the app, launch the player, and then scroll the finicky slider back to the beginning when the next segment inevitably starts at some random point. Often this random start is very close to the end of the next segment and you only have seconds before it is lost to the “already played” list. Love NPR! This app is beyond frustrating; especially while driving, doing the dishes, painting, showering, climbing a ladder, gardening, riding a bike, sweeping the floor… living life, etc. I have actually cracked my phone because I had to pull it out of my pocket to launch the transport slider to swipe a segment to the start. I have nearly avoided a few major driving accidents because I am constantly being forced to reach into my pocket to pull out my phone to correct the random random start of the next segment. It’s a weird and frustrating bug, and it’s been around for three years! I’m not the only one reporting this bug..ThebigbigbebVersion: 4.5.8

Love love LOVE NPR, which is why I am starting to really despise this appBuggier and buggier as time goes by,l. I find myself more and more often going to the App Store to search for “NPR,” assuming there will be an update correct the maddening buggy lines that prevents me from getting my daily NPR bread … only to find there is not one. The app just doesn’t keep up. This probably just means that we should all be giving more money to NPR, since what we love about it is that it is not CNN. I’m sure their app is very sleek. It’s just sooooo frustrating in this digital era when now we don’t even own a radio, and bugs on the app have literally make it impossible to get the news i want/need on multiple important occasions, including around l the election (and this evening). The live stream will work for a minute, and then will just stop. It’s not my internet It’s not my phone. And it’s not my operating system which is up to date. When the stream stops the app just becomes unresponsive: I push the “button” for my local NPR affiliate (WPR), and nothing happens. It’s frozen. I can move to different sections in the app so it’s not totally frozen. It’s just the live stream that won’t respond. If I quit the app, open it back up, go back to “live radio” and select my local stations stream again it will usually work again for a few seconds or even a minute. Then it stops again. This has become a ritual. Going through this process repeatedly will consume a lot of time (while trying to prepare food for my family, do laundry, and do the other important stuff of life) as I am dropped right in the middle of important story after important story. Until I get so frustrated I give up. But this is only after it has eaten up a good chunk of my time fiddling with it trying to make it work..Mustard19&@Version: 4.5.8

They’ve ruined itThe NPR app used to be really good. Not perfect, but good. This major overhaul has destroyed what it once was, and it’s so disappointing. It used to be an easy routine — every morning I’d wake up and before setting out on my drive, I’d quickly and easily be able to select the Morning Edition stories that sounded interesting and I’d be on my way. Now it requires thorough navigation and way more clicks. Nothing is intuitive anymore. The addition of the “interesting” button is useless — why would I click that? I just want to select my stories and be on my way. In addition, and perhaps the worst of it, is that it no longer remembers how much of a story I have listened to. I can’t tell you how many times now I get 6 minutes in on a 7 minute story, then have to stop it… so when I try to pick up on the story again, I have to start it all over. If I’m driving (which I am doing 95% of the time I am using the app), I can’t safely and easily scrub to find where I left off. So irritating! Also, if I listen to my stories and they end, let it just stop — don’t just auto-play what you think I want to hear! In all, this new revision might just get me to have to find a new source for my daily news. Sad..WhoopsieGoldbergVersion: 5.6.1

Simply dreadful redesignI spend time selecting segments for my playlists and putting them in a particular order. I can’t move segments around with this redesign, the app ignores the order and just skips around playing random segments, which means that all my favorite segments and episodes that I had saved in a part of the list that I seldom play back just disappeared while I was sleeping—several years’ worth of favorites that I’ll never retrieve, because the “just played” list is not part of this redesign. Everything is slower and clunkier—my playlist takes extra seconds to load, screen by screen as I scroll down, played segments don’t disappear right away after they’re played, you need to reload the page and then they’ll disappear, or maybe not, maybe you’ll have to delete segments you’ve listened to one by one, waiting for the page to reload in between each deletion and then scrolling down to get back to your place—none of which I had to do in the old app! Finally, the app is less intuitive and more confusing to navigate than it used to. Oh, and On Point is gone. I wish I could just go back to the old app; it wasn’t perfect, but it was much, much better than this..FelsinaVersion: 5.0.4

This app is better than NPR One. . .And I liked it best until I found weekend edition throttled to 4 stories this morning. My phone is loaded with apps, some of which I use, and I’ve never rated an app before in my life, but this was like a final straw. I’ve used NPR One and thoroughly disliked it before returning to this app. I’ve suffered through the various iterations of this app designed to make everyone switch away from it to NPR One. And now this. If I could get my favorite programs - especially morning and weekend edition - as podcasts that I could hear from my podcast app, I’d happily ditch both of these. I already listen to several other NPR programs that way. These apps are both getting in the way of me enjoying NPR, which I really like on the radio and contribute to financially through my local stations in South Carolina. Change developers or something, or else spend any money going toward app development on something that will meet the standards that NPR usually sets. I’d be very willing to pay for an app that lets me download and listen to playlist content from NPR. Or just make everything available as podcasts and be done with this app stuff. It is not bringing this listener closer to NPR..MlmyrickVersion: 4.4.0

Update ruined a great appIt’s true, the NPR news app had it’s probs - you cld only play individual stories, but you cldnt play an entire show. Well, they changed that. But, they also took away the “play” bar, which allowed you to go back over something you might not have heard, or skip over something u don’t care about. Now if u miss something u hve to re-listen to the entire story - or the entire show if you had made that choice (either that or re-listen to the story, but then yr back to listening to individual stories). Basically it takes away some of the flexibility that makes podcasts easier than the radio show - On Demand is nice, admittedly, but considering I’m listening on my phone the ability to go back over stuff i missed was important to me. It used to be a lot more User Friendly too. There also used to be a great many more podcasts available. Now, instead of an easy to read list of dozens & dozens of podcasts, there’s abt a dozen icons instead - idk the logos for NPR shows, so icons take up space while not helping much. There isn’t a Search function neither. I got sold on the update bc of the ability to play the entire show, now I regret it. I might as well just get the NPR 1 app that has all their podcasts..Cassandra DiotimaVersion: 4.0.2

Miss the old appI don’t write reviews often, but the disparity between the recently revised NPR app and the old version is too great to ignore. The old app, while less ‘modern’ looking, felt less rigid, more customizable, and less cumbersome to use. The utility I miss the most was the ability to create playlists from stories from various NPR programs into one stream, and have that stream auto-play from one story to another. Now, if one plays an individual story in Morning Edition, for instance, it does not auto-play the next story; one has to go back into the app and manually play the next story or the entire program must be played in order for a “playlist” to be created. It’s cumbersome and sometimes dangerous, particularly while listening on the road. I can fathom that this system forces the listener to listen to 1) more ads (which seem to be auto-generated in between stories and could not be before with self-created playlists), and 2) more stories (forcing the listener to listen the entire program instead allowing the ability to choose). Please bring back the functionality of the old app. I have spent the better half of this morning searching for whether it is possible to reinstall old versions of apps in iTunes..Soarin3Version: 4.0.2

I miss the old NPRThe old app was better, and I see no improvements in this one. I wish there were easier ways to see articles in the basic heading (US news, intl news, arts, music,…), then look at listings. There is too much use of pictures and not enough use of text. I hate search, and I want to be able to look through articles. In general, I wish I could have a text-only option. I dislike the space and waste of pictures. And then there is the inexplicable decline in content. Covid seems to have killed the brain cells of all NPR employees. I had to stop listening then. I only go for the few remaining islands of sanity, like Science Friday. The bias in subject choice and tone has become sad, unintellectual propaganda. Overall, NPR is embarrassingly bad now. I am not a conservative. I am a registered Democrat. It is too krazy-leftist for me. Some stories sound like Saturday Night Live skits, or right-wing memes. It hurts because I was more invested in NPR than I realized. I hope someone sane can right the ship. If they are too blind to that, they should probably seek out openly conservative hires for a few years just to something, anything that does not sound like it is coming from a 1960’s hippy commune..RealSkipVersion: 6.0.1

Latest update ruined the appI just started using the updated NPR One app. One thing I like to do in the app is keep tabs on multiple NPR stations that have programming I enjoy and local news from places I am connected to. You can no longer do that in the new version. You can choose one station, identified as your local station, and stream that. You can no longer save a list of favorite stations. So every time I want to switch stations, I have to go through the process to choose my local station and find the station all over again and select it. I have to do it again to go back to a different station. Why would I want to do all of that? Some of the stations I like listening to have their own apps, and I might just use those instead. Also, the landing screen and all of the other screens are so cluttered with information about podcasts or curated content that they think I might want to listen to that I can’t actually find the stuff I DO want to listen to. But here’s the thing: the things I want to listen to are on a few different stations. I can find my favorite podcast more easily on my podcast app. So I don’t see any reason to use NPR One anymore..PamandjanaVersion: 5.2.0

Zero Stars. Terrible. Forced NPR One![10 March 2024] The problem is not app design, it’s NPR’s policy! The design is bad, cluttered, pushy, but that’s just what NPR executives want. Who would front-load a 5-minute hourly news update with multiple advertisements? Only some decision-maker who thinks this force-feeding of advertisements will earn dollars without losing listeners. Wrong. NPR’s executives need to rethink their priorities and policies and get back to providing the services NPR was (was = past) loved for. They’ve achieved the seemingly impossible, they’ve alienated loyal NPR listeners. Well done, team! [10 December 2023] Updated, and still obnoxious. Still pushes NPR One. Hourly News Update doesn’t stop at 5 minutes, the app just rolls into whatever other programming it chooses, with no option to stop it. NPR One mode, whether the listener wants it or not! Too manipulative! And what is this obsession with NPR One? Why the hard sell? Back off! [5 December 2023] Stop it! Stop forcing NPR One on everyone! You’ve ruined NPR by forcing everyone to use this contrived mess, just so that you can meet whatever quota you’re pushing. NPR will be losing listeners over this. Shame on whatever executives came up with this policy. [22 February 2021] NPR is great. This app is not. It stops playing and pushes listeners to the more intrusive NPR One app instead. This isn’t a glitch, it’s a manipulative policy. Pity. [3 March 2020] The app will no longer play in the background. It just dies when the buffer is emptied. That makes it nearly useless, since it makes no sense to have to look at the screen to just listen to radio. The app effectively pushes the listener to local stations, which, however, are full of advertising and clatter. Terrible. Have we lost NPR forever?.JustCriticVersion: 5.4.0

Useless to me without playlist featureI used the NPR News app every day for years. I queued all the content I cared about when I had time to do so, and then I could return to the app at any point to listen to all those selections I made. It was nearly perfect—the playlist feature in the previous NPR News app was a bit buggy. In the new NPR app, there is no way for me to queue any content, and there is no way to automate playing of content I want to hear. I now simply have to be content with whichever ‘stream’ I’m listening to or be willing to put in a lot of conscious effort to constantly choose the content I want to listen to. I don’t—I switched to an app called News Now, which also does not have the features I want. It does let me stream the day’s national news content without much effort, and that makes it better for me than the new NPR app. Implement a playlist feature in this app. I want to be able to choose any NPR content, especially nationally relevant news segments, to keep in a queue that I can store, return to and choose content from at any time. Until the NPR app has a playlist feature that allows me to do these things, it is useless to me..AaronmontoyaVersion: 4.1.0

NPR One in a trenchcoatThe old app was never the best, but this new version- basically a thinly disguised NPR One- is terrible and a huge step backward. Like NPR One it emphasizes podcasts and other garbage at the expense of live, local radio stations and newscasts- arguably what most NPR listeners actually want. I used to be able to open the app and immediately start listening to my local station (or other national stations if I wanted) and now it takes multiple steps to do so. I have podcast apps already, and if I want to listen to podcasts I know where to get them. Don’t force NPR One on me. Stability-wise this app is definitely worse as well- it takes forever to connect to AirPlay with multiple starts and stops and random disconnects. After the third disconnect in 10 minutes this morning I just opened my local station’s app and used that instead… it’s ugly but uncomplicated and the stream just works. Listen to your users- this really, REALLY isn’t just whiners who don’t like change. This redesign really is a huge regression. Keep NPR One it’s own, separate app and stop forcing it on the rest of us..SfritzVersion: 5.0.4

NPR content is awesome, app make it inaccessibleThe previous app had significant usability issues, no doubt, but it was nonetheless a viable conduit for all the amazing and important content NPR delivers. This update to the app breaks that access, in many ways. I am a UX professional, so here’s an example to support my statement: Listening to hourly local and national news updates (core functionality of the app) used to be a 2 click task; now local news access is nearly impossible and national news access is hidden at least 7 clicks in (and out). There are many other such use case issues. NPR used to make me feel like I was an informed citizen partner, seeking insight - I miss that. The release (required update) of this app (the design philosophy behind the redesign) makes me feel like NPR now thinks of me like I’m another customer, while at the same time ruined ease of access to basic content. This frustrates me to no end; it breaks my heart. Unfettered access to reliable information is becoming more and ever more important in our current circumstances; please fix this app and restore that connection. Sincerely..😶😶🤔😶😶Version: 5.4.2

I <3 NPR, but this app…I *love, love, love* NPR. I donate every month, I love it so much…but this app is terrible. Really poorly done as far as organization, QoL, and number of clicks. Things are just all over the place, articles don’t open when you search/find/click on them (???), you can’t undo, and several other EXTREMELY frustrating things that every other app has figured out. *I just want to listen to my awesome NPR shows but this app makes it SOOO DIFFICULT!!!* Like, just have a list of the shows that is easily accessible, maybe the ability to favorite some and have them show at the top, or something!!!!!!!!! Pleeeeaase get a better App Designer!! The developers are doing well/no bugs, but the design is ***ATROCIOUS***. I also just found out it’s siphoning off an enormous quantity of information. Even tho I only listen to audio on it every morning (audio doesn’t consume much data), this consumes over triple the data as any other app on my phone, even though I use the other apps more…I want to keep getting my news from NPR, but if this app isn’t fixed soon, I will delete it..SG55Version: 6.9.4

Love npr but hating the appImprove news is great but I cannot listen to the live broadcast because of work so I love loading pieces of news that most interest me and listening to them as I get a chance. This is where the app totally fails. When I look at all things considered our morning edition it consistently odd leaving out news pieces. Like this morning, there where only all the 4 news pieces in the morning edition feed. Why aren’t news pieces loading? In the npr one app all the news pieces are there. But in that app you can’t stream the pieces you want to listen to later in sequence. What should really happen is the apps teams for this app and npr one should take the best features of each app and make one single app. Why have two? Update. There must be some glitch in the app. This bug makes stories not appear. After going back into the app and moving around to different programs all the morning edition stories finally appeared. This isn’t always the case though. Wish they would figure this out..DJRJrVersion: 4.5.8

Nearly useless without NPR Programs & playlistI'm crushed. I've been a heavy user of the NPR app for a long time. As an expat living six time zones away, it's a vital way for me to stay connected to the news from home. Recently the ability to access Featured NPR News programs and to choose segments from those programs to listen to has vanished. The app's only remaining utility for me is listening to the headline news. I was disappointed when you killed the playlist feature, but this is the final blow. NPR One is equally useless because it doesn't allow me to select and curate what I want to listen to. For the large number of devoted NPR listeners living overseas, being able to listen live to a particular station may not be of interest because of time differences and the fact that local news is less relevant. The latest app changes have significantly diminished my ability to access NPR News. Please please please bring back the ability to access ATC, Morning Edition, and other non-podcast news programs, and maybe even the playlist. How about it?.WorklifeprofVersion: 4.0.4

Did music die?As other reviews of this redesign have outlined, the redesign of this app has made for a frustrating user experience, and gotten rid of some fundamental features or reorganized them in such a way as to make it not worth the effort. In addition to the confusing navigation (I have to reallly look for the news briefs every time), it looks like music-driven NPR affiliate stations and NPR-produced shows have been excluded. I used the old NPR app to hop between different affiliates in my area (NYC) and also elsewhere on a regular basis, for a mix of news and music. Stations like WQXR and WBGO seem to have been taken out of local search and I can’t even find national shows like All Songs Considered or Tiny Desk Concert. What’s the point of having a unified app if it’s not incorporating all NPR programming. Will you be releasing a separate music app? During a time when drastic news events are contributing to a mass mental health crisis, it’s downright cruel to NOT make music shows and stations readily available alongside headlines and news shows, when it’s a way many of us try to deal with the insanity..ArklOneVersion: 5.0.4

New update is terribleI know people sometimes have trouble with change, but this isn’t one of those things. The new update is really slow, will stop playing often, does not seem to have any programming from more than a few days ago, and very important for me… they took away the ability to make playlists. I take public transport a lot, and having a playlist made helps. Also I love to fall asleep listening to this app, but now I can’t listen to anything other than just one show or one program. Yes it may look better than the old app, but it’s functionality is way worse. I’m really disappointed that NPR did this. This app used to be part of my day, but now I’m starting to use it less and less. And honestly...maybe there is a little bit of conspiracy theory here, but maybe they made this app worse to get people to use the NPR one app which is also bad, but not as bad as this is. NPR, please please please change this back, or improve the functionality, and for the love of God please add the ability to have playlist! Or just delete this in force everybody to use the NPR one app..DC KOPVersion: 4.0.5

Inconsistent Playback and InstabilityFor years the NPR app has proven to have unreliable playback. During my commute in the morning, I add “Morning Edition” to the play list and in the evening commute home, I’ll do that same for “All Things Considered”. The app often stops playing after a story is finished yet there are still several stories left in the playlist. More often, I’ll find that the next story that is played starts somewhere in the middle rather than at the beginning. It almost seems that UIDs for stories are cached and that a previously UID (or not so unique, rather) is reused and I’ve skipped or jumped to the next story before, this new story pics up where the previous UID’d story left off. (That’s just a guess). Regardless of the reason, I often get so frustrated with the NPR app that I switch to Apple Podcasts, Pandora or NPR One rather than continue using this app. This has literally gone on for YEARS! I wish NPR would get just their s4*t together and make and app as good as their news coverage is. Right now, the app is well below expectations..MecworksVersion: 4.5.7

Playlist gone, app now uselessI’ve gone from using this app every day to not at all after the playlist function was removed. My consumption of NPR content has therefore gone from about 40 min per day to zero. Since I don’t listen anymore, I don’t donate anymore. I check the app occasionally in the hope that developers add back the playlist feature, but the latest release seems to have completely broken the app. The “home” screen is a blank list with the loading icon frozen at the top, the “topics” tab has sections like Most Popular but no content within those sections, and so on. It’s as if the developers disconnected the app from all NPR resources. If the playlist feature was losing money for NPR, I would have appreciated an honest statement from NPR about it, and a chance to pay extra for the feature. Instead this app appears to have been nuked in favor of NPR One, which forces users to listen to a frustrating combination of local streams and very limited curated content, all the while preventing access to what people actually want to listen to: morning edition and all things considered..S6D28Version: 4.1.0

Shockingly BAD updateI agree with all the other negative reviews. I wish I'd read them before my phone innocently updated so I could've kept the old app. My biggest issue is losing the search function. I often use the app to re-listen to a story I partially missed on the radio. The old search function was great for this. The horrible new app doesn't have a search function and the selection of stories by topic is so limited and cumbersome, I couldn't find several stories I'd heard earlier in the day, let alone any past days' stories. I really miss the old app. It had a lot of flexibility and functionality, like the much lamented playlists and ability to easily access programming from distant stations. I don't need to listen to my primary station through this app. They have their own app. I relied on the old app to curate my own listening when I wasn't engaged by my local station's programming. Full disclosure: I've always hated the NPR One app, and always resented that it wanted you to login with Facebook, etc. The wonderful old app was my refuge from NPR One. Now I feel like NPR has broken faith with me..Not what I needVersion: 4.1.0

New update removes functionality – doesn’t at it!Like so many others here, I am so frustrated that the playlist function is gone. I would have to agree with many of the other reviews that the functionality has been diminished in lieu of a fancier appearance. Now if I want to listen to yesterday‘s show, I would have to download it from the Internet, and listen to story by story, as opposed to being able to select what I wanted to listen to and add it to the playlist. There’s no easy way to get to my favorite programs like Fresh Air, so that we can pick and choose which programs we want to hear. Normally, the updates here are great – but this is one of the worst ones I’ve seen and for what? A fancier app? They advertise that they added to the functionality – but they removed the functionality! Please restore the functionality that you have taken away! I know my voice is just joining the chorus at this point, but hopefully you will pay attention to the sheer volume of comments here – all asking for the same thing..Hava45Version: 4.5.4

Terrible updateSooooo sorry i traded in a well designed, concise, uncluttered, version for this newer version. just awful interface. confusing to navigate. shows only a few past episodes for any given show. can’t seem to locate older shows or segments i may not have had a chance to listen to previously. too little info per page means much, much more button pushing than previously. really bad update. suggest you stick with what you’ve got until this developer unclutters and returns to a more streamlined offering. a real drag for me as i love the programs that npr produces. but this app update.... get me out of here! hate when this happens. get it together npr..LukeParnelleVersion: 4.2.1

Local newscast often cut shortLocal newscast seems limited to 2:01 and is often cut off mid stream. pls extend cutoff.Zephyr707Version: 4.5.4

Just use the podcast appNPR used to be good reliable journalism, but has become a mouthpiece for govt propaganda. It is also very frustrating to hear ads asking for donations to “support their important work” just to regularly hear BBC content. This app is a waste of space..CcjokokVersion: 6.3.3

Can’t stream stations anymoreOne used to be able to stream npr stations from all over the US, a HUGE feature of this app. Now that feature is completely gone, and it’s useless for me. That makes no sense. Bye, NPR..PeejaybeeeVersion: 5.8.1

Not happyThe old app was fine - clean and simple. This is a disorganized mess of features I don't want and don't use. Please restore the old one as an option..NPR supporter from CanadaVersion: 5.3.0

Could be so much betterReally needs a playback speed selector. 1x isn't good for everyone..Perihelion88Version: 5.2.0

Playlist items don’t always start at beginningWhy is it that, after all these years, NPR still can’t make an ap that simply lets me listen to all stories from morning edition one after the other, in order, without stopping or skipping several minutes of random stories? This seems pretty basic folks….SkotsmallsVersion: 4.5.7

IOS app crashingHave to delete and redownload every few days to get stations to play at all.OttawadadVersion: 4.5.2

What’s Wrong with the App!Starting a few days ago, my app stopped refreshing. I deleted it and re-downloaded it, and now it isn’t showing anything. What the heck, NPR?!.NoctivagansVersion: 4.5.1

NPR11Where is the ‘by program’ choice! Agree that it’s too cluttered.NPR11Version: 4.2.4

Used to be goodThis is lousy. Nothing works except the donate button..AnothernicknameanothernicknameVersion: 4.2.3

No mechanism for feedbackNPR appears to operate in a self satisfied vacuum, shielding itself from potential criticism (or accolades) by refusing all feedback. No comments or Readers Forum. Even “contact us to find what you’re looking for” and “feedback and help” return ‘page not found.’ Too bad; would’ve loved to share thoughts about 2018’s GREAT Reads, for example. Like how Harlequin Romance titles like The Wedding Date, Duke by Default or To Be Honest get included..Djg0333Version: 4.2.0

Old NPR App was so much better!This new version is slow, glitchy and hard to navigate. No access to older episodes. No ability to start episodes halfway through or pick and chose news bits from episodes. Bring back the old app or fix this one please!.PsyancegirlVersion: 4.2.0

Bring back playlistsOlder version of the app was superior. Really miss the playlist feature. Integrating google cast would be nice too.Rocky balboa 123Version: 4.1.1

Total failure. Current version does not load content.Review title says it all. Content doesn’t display, all I get is a series of blank screens..Coop42Version: 4.1.1

TerribleGreat programming, but awful app. The old version wasn’t great but it did work. The one is unusable..Howe1975Version: 4.1.1

Do not update, was good, terrible nowI used to use this app twice a day on the way to and from work. Now I am not so sure. The change from the legacy NPR News app to what we have now NPR is terrible. Key features such as playlist is lost, you can no longer increase the text size (say for reading in car) without affecting all apps. The text of the article can no longer be read by the screen reader, so if you are vision impaired or just want it read out to you while you are driving, you are out of luck. The home screen is a random (most popular) rather than predictable latest news. Popular by what? I see red bull ads there, is that popular? Or was that just paid. Terrible regression. Do not update. You have been warned..ZnowstormVersion: 4.0.3

Where have playlists gone ?Why have you removed personalization with playlists ???.That STEVEVersion: 4.0.3

Put the playlist backCan’t give it any more stars until the playlist feature that was removed is added back.Some guy from TogoVersion: 4.0.3

For Alex Lindsay...(of MacBreak Weekly) For removing the playlist capability and essentially downgrading the app. That said, Alex should really move to a better news source like No Agenda anyway..SteveW928Version: 4.0.3

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