KEXP

I’m newer to the KEXP app/community and truly love the variety of shows available. I listen pretty much daily, and I’ve found I often need to go to the KEXP website to successfully play certain archived shows that don’t play at all on the app. I’ve tried restarting my phone and the app but often am unable to hear any music when playing some archived shows (from my phone directly or through a Bluetooth speaker that I thought might be the issue) or jumping a bit ahead in the playlist. I also make sure to go to the archived show directly versus playing the live set and switching to an archived show (which works occasionally). Won’t stop me from enjoying KEXP but would love to see more refining of the playback of archived shows if possible! 🙏🏽 Thanks!

This is still a pretty not-so-great app. Picking shows is weird. Should just be able to pick the show and move on, like SoundCloud. Jumping to a specific time is just odd since the easier thing to use is a timeline with a playhead, like most music players. Even on WiFi the stream being interrupted by changing g the time seems to take forever. You need to wait for the app catch up and then play music before you decide to jump out of the app to use another app. If you jump out, the app freezes. The old version from way back with fake pre-ios6 buttons was very very very bad. This version, as it was with the old version with “buttons”, functions on a simple stream. The app is deeply flawed and functions in as much as it would be a nice supplement to having a radio. It still seems like it’s a better idea to just make this app only play a live stream, and then make sure it can still play the stream if you open a different app at the same time. This is still a very good radio station but you would be better off trying not to do anything other than program great music and then play it live.

KEXP is the greatest radio on the planet! I love finding new music on this station and really feel a sense of connection with the DJs. My main gripe with the app is that there is no easy way to sort favorite songs by date. For example, if I heard a song and wanted to show it to a friend later, sorting by date would make it really easy. Instead I end up forgetting. My favorites list has become a black hole of great songs, which is difficult to navigate when I'm trying to remember a song I heard last week. Sorting by date would dramatically improve this feature of the app, in my opinion. Otherwise it's great! Can't wait to listen to more music :) thanks for all of your hard work!

Found this awesome station while visiting friends in Seattle. Grateful I can listen to archived shows since I’m not awake for one of them. This app needs a little TLC though! I hate when apps don’t remain where I last was when I exit them. I get into a particular show driving short distances and when I return, the app had taken me back to the current show. I then have no idea where I last was, so it is difficult to find where I was because I have no idea how far time-wise I was into a show. There should be an option where the app doesn’t revert to the main show. PLEASE fix this issue!

Having moved away from Seattle, I’m especially appreciative that a KEXP app exists. I love the opportunity to listen live, favorite songs, and revisit shows in the archive. Unfortunately, I’ve recently had to uninstall the app. Initially, there were some minor hiccups with archive streams, like jumping back a few seconds in time, or playlist time not reflecting the pause state, but those weren’t a huge deal. Even losing all your saved favorites isn’t a huge deal, given the ability to email them to yourself periodically. More recently though, I noticed my iPhone battery draining rapidly. According to the phone’s battery stats, the KEXP app was using a 60% share of all apps, and almost entirely while in the background (not actively on-screen). Without the ability to disable the background refresh of the app itself, I wasn’t left with much of a choice. I’m hopeful this is something that can be addressed, because I really do enjoy the app. I’ve found other ways to stream KEXP live from my phone, but obviously none that allow for the real benefits like archive streaming.

Huge fan of KEXP and I have been an Amplifier for many years. The app is overall great, but there are a few small improvements that could be made. (1) you can't skip ahead on archived shows. Well you can, but only in 5 minute increments expressed as the local time of broadcast. Local time is irrelevant to the user. It would make more sense to skip ahead in 30 sec increments (see the KCRW app). Even better would be the ability to skip ahead to a specific song. ( 2) if you close the app while listening to an archived show, you lose your place. Say I'm driving somewhere listening to the most recent Overnight Afrobeats but I don't finish the episode. When I'm driving home, I have to guess what time of the broadcast I left off at, in local time. This doesn't make sense from a user's perspective. (3) while streaming, the identification recording ("... an affiliate of the university of Washington...") will come on at random times, even during songs.

I'm a big fan of this app and so grateful I can stream KEXP on the go. I've noticed a decent "bug" in the app regarding favorites, since updating two updates ago. I favor a song I hear, but when returning to favorite tab to look up the song I notice it's not there. Yet when the song is played again, it shows I have favorited said song. Besides streaming KEXP on the go, being able to collect/catalog the songs I love and want to remember is a big reason I use this app. Could you peeps take a look into this? If you need any screenshots or my info with the problem I am having, email me at: jeybirdsmusic at gmail dot com. Cheers!

The app is scaled for portrait viewing on a retina screen. If you’re using an iPad in landscape mode, it doesn’t rotate or rescale. This leaves you stuck looking at a screen with your head turned to 90 degrees to the side. Everything else is as I’d like it: the ability to see the playlist, same audio quality as listening to the stream directly, etc. But please fix the screen rotation issue ASAP!

I've been a devote KEXP listener and contributor for the past 15 years. It is hands down the best radio station in the US (universe?). The website and app have potential, but are frequently buggy, especially the show archives. The app behaves inconsistently across my iPhone and iPad and even my wife's iPhone. Why does the app play from different (and wrong) time stamps when I try on multiple devices to play the same archived show (Seek & Destroy 🤘🏽)? The live stream generally works great though, except the artist info won't load on my wife's phone. Thanks, KEXP, for being awesome IRL -- where it matters. Please help out your digital cyber app though. Give your robot army a fighting chance in the matrix.

Woohoo! They’re up to 3 stars! The fact that I’m so excited about this getting up to 3-star land reflects just how horrible this app has been over the last few years. With the amount of money that listeners have pledged to KEXP over the years and how much of our collective listening is done online, it is ridiculous how much they have neglected the app. The app SHOULD be a portal to access all of their archived live shows and all their videos as well. But I can dream... I’d settle for this working in landscape on the iPad so I don’t have to turn myself sideways to choose a show. Seriously, just make this not look ugly and I’d bump it to a four star review. That is where the bar is set... And dare I wish for CarPlay compatibility? As usual, I’d be willing to throw a nice pledge your way once you show some commitment to adding to the app. Sarcasm here aside, I’m heartened that the app actually works and seems to be getting much needed attention. Please, please, please keep it up!

This station is one of the best. The app has some issues. The ad that plays when the stream starts sometimes goes on and on, basically letting me know I just started the stream that I just started. Any network interruptions will start the process all over again. The djs are great at station id, so that often is heard just after the streaming station id. That song playing when you open the app may be done by the time the stream ad ends, which is a great time for another station ad, right?

I have loved y'all for 30 years, but there are so many things that will interrupt audio briefly on my phone, that the intro that plays before the stream starts is starting to drive me nuts! Might be worth an experiment to see if membership adds are even affected if you don't play that every. single. time. ❤️

Not quite 4 star app material, but the current version is such an improvement that I’m feeling star generous. Streaming archive now works pretty well—you can actually select the start time—although audio quality is pretty woeful. Interface still isn’t very intuitive, but maybe I’ll get used to it since the app actually stays open. So better, and less buggy than the website. Thanks devs.

KEXP is a truly fantastic radio station, and this review is geared towards the connectivity of the app, not a review of the station or it’s hosts: I can hardly get through a commute/bus ride from Lynnwood to Bellevue or Seattle without the app losing connection (and thus extensively pausing it even resetting) multiple times. Seems to happen most often when passing though those dead-zones that bisect 405 and I-5. Very aware that my carrier could be in part to blame here, but wanted to report the issue nonetheless.

Hi there! I love KEXP and the fact they have this up and running. My biggest concern is the playback, sometimes when going back to a show from the week prior the playback is actually from today’s date, not the show a week before. (Ie I want to listening to Oct 16, but get playback for Oct 23). It’s still good music but makes it harder to catch the overnight shows :(

Listen to KEXP on a daily basis. But now it just crashes every time I try to open, and before that it would prompt that I didn’t have an email account set up twice each time it opened before I could actually reach the music streaming. Now can’t get it to do anything. Something buggy is going on for sure. Sad that my preferred method of listening is no longer functional, hoping this can be fixed.

I’ve been an amplifier for many years and really enjoy some of the shows, so I was excited to be able to specifically pick them out. But often when I open the app it’s just blank and no matter how many times I shutdown/reopen it won’t connect to anything. The jump to time is also frustrating as it is delayed and then fails to show the actual song that’s playing. Hoping it can be made functional, because it would be a great option!

I love discovering new music and often get tired of the music I listen to. I love watching KEXP live performances of all of my favorite artists, so I decided to download this app, and check out the actual radio show and I LOVE IT! I’ve been working from home and I know no matter what time or what host is DJing, if I put it on, it’s gonna be great stuff! I’ve found a lot of new tunes :)

I realize this is developed for ipads and iphones, but it would be nice if they could also tweak it for Mac M1 computers. I can't pause or play using the keyboard buttons, which is annoying since I have to unlock the screen if I want to stop the music. But otherwise it works fine!

Thanks so much for fixing the looping problem. I’ve been listening to the first 5 minutes of Larry’s Lounge, Wo’ Pop, and Riz’s show for awhile now, and am SO GLAD to be able to listen to the whole show on my phone — and to be able to select the start time for when I leave and come back to it. Keep up the good work, Devs — We appreciate it!

Love the station and am annoyed with the app. I have to delete and download regularly. Why? Well today I have a blank screen when I went to listen to an archived show. Headers are there but nothing else populates (not the first time I’ve had this issue). I’ve also had to reinstall because it just stops streaming (had this happen more than once). Rebooting my phone does not resolve either of these issues, deleting the app and reinstalling does.

Love that I can access show archives, but the app frequently glitches and jumps backwards a few seconds, so that it repeats what you’ve already heard. This does not happen if you access the show archive from the web address, only with the app. Have a very fast wifi connection and have tried multiple devices, happens with all.

As expected the music is great. I just wish it didn’t play the intro/advertisement so frequently. I’m glad to hear it occasionally but after pause/resume, after taking a call in my car, after pulling away from my house when the phone switches from WiFi to LTE – it’s too much.

I love KEXP and have listened to them for almost a decade and have used their app without trouble for years every day. Recently updated the iOS and now it will only play music while the app is open. If I switch apps even if still running in the background the stream immediately pauses making it pretty much useless. I hope this is fixed soon as it is my most used app for music!

Devoted KEXP listener and can’t thank you enough for the app. Would really really love the option to sort favorites by the date I added them to favorites. KEXP is amazing at introducing listeners to new music and adding songs to favorites to go back and look up later is so valuable. Thank you!

I can’t believe I’m this excited about this update. But, Car Play!! I’ve been waiting a long time for this functionality. KEXP is a daily part of life, Car Play or not. Just so easy to listen in my car now. Great job!

App stops playing music as soon as my screen shuts. So I can only listen while the app is open on my screen and my phone screen is on. Not sure if there is a workaround :/ Regardless, I LOVE KEXP

Not sure how to explain the bad reviews but for great radio on a simple easy to use app this is perfect! Especially considering it is made by volunteers working for people powered radio.🤘 Superior to many other apps that no doubt had a lot more money thrown at them. Thank you KEXP!

I use the app daily and it’s getting better and better. Buffering issues have gotten better over time, as well as the real-time playlist. The devs seem commutative and receptive to feedback. PS. Apple Watch version is the future would be awesome.

If I have the app open, the current song will show up on the playlist. But, if I don’t have the app open and looking at it, the songs aren’t listed. In other words, I have minutes/hours/days-long gaps in playlists. I’ve trying deleting and re-installing. No bueno.

I was thrilled when the latest update finally fixed the streaming archive problems! Too bad that only lasted about a month. RIP streaming archives. :( Then again, their website's archives seem to always have issues as well. Additionally, I feel as if the quality is better when using the TuneIn app.

Runs for a few moments then stops. Takes 2-3 min to load station ID intro, but often takes up to five minutes before restarting archive jams.. This is with LTE and great signal! Sometimes never reloads on archive. Very frustrating after years a fighting this app it seemed better then got awful again. Why not just hire real professionals to build a world class app?

Love this app but ever since I updated to iOS 17.1, I can’t get this to work with Airplay. Same on iPhone and iPad—just silence as soon as I send to Airplay. Doesn’t seem to be an issue with any of my other audio apps 😞

Been using this app since it first came out and have experienced all the ups and downs. Feels like one step fwd and one back with every update. Mostly use it for playing the streaming archive. Whatever changed about a month ago makes the app completely useless for this use. Moved back to using the web-based streaming archive player. Not perfect but reliable. This shouldn’t be this hard.

I’ve listened for a number of years. For some reason they have trouble getting the clock right on the streaming archive. Then I can’t listen to tonight’s El Sonido recorded a few hours ago. But I recall them having these issues years ago on another platform.

I use the app exclusively to favorite new songs I hear on KEXP but it’s wholly unuseful that my Favorites list is sorted alphabetically. If I’ve never heard the song or artist how am I supposed to go back and find it later that day in a long list? It would make so much more sense if it were sorted by “Most Recent”. Thanks!

Just one recommendation -- I've been using this on the new M1 macbooks and it won't let me resize the window. Other than that, its everything I could hope for :)

I first listened to KEXP streamed from their website, the audio quality was totally fine, I then downloaded the app and noticed that the audio quality was significantly worse. It sounds like I’m listening to it through through a tin can. Not sure why there’s noticeable difference between the website and the app but it’s disappointing.

I think the app itself is easy to use, but the sound playing is always tinny and drone-y. I use other apps that are radio based, so it’s definitely the playback on the app. It also seems to drop out of connectivity and have issues with coming back on.

The sound quality is poor. Not clear whatsoever. Sounds way better streaming on the computer.

The app is pretty good but really poorly optimized for the iPhone X. The top bar is just completely white, obscuring the status bar and just visually displeasing and the bottom bar is partially cut off by the home bar apple places. It seems like the developers didnt really have a physical device to test it out.

Well, it mostly plays the music. But the “now playing” display and playlist is always about a half hour off. I’ve reinstalled, gone back to the web interface, come back months later even on different devices — it is always wrong.

I never want to use this app because it takes five minutes to load and then I’m held hostage by an ad so when this app accidentally shuts down I have to go through this process all over again, missing whatever the DJ is saying or the song I was getting into. If you live in Seattle just use the radio or download a different radio app.

The live stream is The only feature that works. Cannot stream archives and the big that allows you to control volume via AirPlay was finally fixed. Great example of a poor application that was rushed before being thoroughly tested. I hope the Software Development Comp behind this app is hard at work to fix it.

Why this is an issue is beyond me… not much of a problem on an iPhone but on an iPad this is a toughie. I will of course continue to use the app, but will mutter under my breath every time it opens.

After the recent update the app won’t play old shows, especially if you jump to a time. Go ahead, try 11/5 Positive Vibrations, jump to 12:05. Negative vibrations mahn. Also, why not put a play clock on shows in the archive so you know where you left off?

y’all put your foot in this station 😭 is it weird to say I love you to a radio station that’s not in your area but UNDERSTANDS you in terms of finding gems from all around ~ 🙏🏽✨♥️

...But I have to rate it somewhere in the middle due to the sound quality. If NPR can stream normal-high quality sounding audio, so can KEXP; I’m moving across country, and the AM-radio quality of audio coming from this app doesn’t do the station justice; please improve!

Been a KEXP listener and supporter long before the iPhone came out. And drove old cars for so long CarPlay wasn’t on my radar. But now KEXP+CarPlay is a game changer. Love the station, love the app. 5 stars.

When using this app on the iPad the app orientation doesn’t rotate when you turn the iPad sideways. Is there a reason why this is not a feature in the app? my iPad is not set to rotation lock so I know that the app doesn’t support this. This seems like an oversight because most apps support screen rotation nowadays.