WBUR

The version that came out about May 15, 2023 works about as well as the version from years ago, which is very good. It was disturbing to hear the on-air people recommending the new app, which was Much Worse As other reviewers recently wrote, the older version was much better. I am really sorry I updated and I wish I could go back. I can’t find the sleep function, if it is still there. It is especially bad to hear the start-up underwriting announcement yet again after a brief interruption when I am listening to a story. (Yes, I can go back, unlike the GBH app.) Trying to locate the right place in a program is much harder in the new app. Too hard! Why? Why did I trust the on-air advice to update? Who thought this was better?

*** Edit: issues resolved- thank you! Previous 2 star review: Loved the old app and much preferred it over my other 2 NPR apps. Wish I had never updated. Now it freezes every time I try to use the 15 second rewind or pause buttons, then I need to close the app, then re-open and have to listen to the opening plea for money over and over again. Really frustrating!

There is some great functionality upgrades in new update, such as not auto-pausing when switching Bluetooth source, and holding in cache programs once they conclude. My biggest complaints are bugs in the skip back and ahead functions, and it’s energy consumption. Frequently I hit back 10 seconds to repeat something and it brings me to a completely different part of the show. Also, streaming live, on wifi or network, just rips through my fairly new, healthy battery, about 25% of battery per hour. That said, I love NPR, WBUR, and the ability to pause and rewind live programming has transformed my morning ritual.

They fixed the crashing issues I was having in the previous version. However, there is another issue that is annoying. If you are listening, live, and then switch out to another app that has audio the WBUR app will stop at the place when you switched. When you come back to the app, there is no buffering it happened and you pick up right where you left off. You cannot skip ahead to catch up. However, if you pause the audio before you switch to another app, it will and when you switch back to the app, you can catch up

Updated - with latest version all of the issues are resolved! Have updated to 5 stars Old review: I don’t know why this app has such high reviews. It crashes for me multiple times whoever I use it. It seems triggered by either skipping ahead or back. 3 stars because it still beats live only playback.

Landscape view seems to be gone in the latest UI update. This is a major downside for those of us that use iPads with keyboards, please put a landscape view back in. Had previously rated this app 5 stars before this. Update: they put it back in, 5 stars again

I love being able to listen on demand. The new version, however, is very difficult to rewind or fast forward with any accuracy. I often rewind just to hear one sentence or fast forward if I’ve already heard a story. It seems that the 15 second or beginning of the show buttons are not yet calibrated and I often lose my place. This didn’t happen to me with the prior version.

Well now much of the time it doesn’t work! I get a message that tells me that “Something went wrong.” As I was writing this review, I went back to the app and it started working but then stopped again. I noticed that when I drag the slider back from the present, the fine print tells me I’m thousands of minutes behind. Am I the only one with these issues?? I gave 2 stars instead of 1 because I love WBUR; I just hate the app!

I’m a long time listener and contributor to WBUR. I rely on the great content every day and love the app for listening at home and when I’m away. Pause and rewind are a huge benefit for people like me who oversleep but still want to hear ‘morning edition’.

This week I’ve have to give up on using the app several times. It frequently just hangs, “thinking” when I open it. Is it the new ad server that makes me listen to the sponsor’s blurb before I can get to the live feed? I don’t know. Frustrating. I’m a monthly donor because I listen to WBUR every day and want to give a little back, but now it’s a source of frustration. The older, simpler app was problem-free

The WBUR app is fantastic. all of the news and wonderful shows and podcasts that I count on to bring me fact-based Content and analysis. I love that you can pause and rewind, because I don’t want to miss even a single word.

This app constantly crashes! Move from one router to the booster router at home, it crashes. Move from Wifi to LTE or what is fake 5G, it crashes. The phone rings, it crashes that’s this morning in 20 minutes of listening! Get your app right WBUR. This new rendition of the app is trash compared to a year or two ago when you had the previous app. And, no, it’s not the updates. I update regularly.

Glad they put the sleep timer back! Easy to use, few glitches since the new version. Much better streaming app than GBH

With this app I can catch programs I missed when aired. And with WBUR’s wide variety of programming there’s always something appealing that suits my mood. Love that I can now listen in bed at night with the sleep timer. Thanks!

I am a regular consumer of your programs and a subscribed donor. Thank you! I am happy to have your improved app. I like to go back, listen again, look for details, etc Thank you!!

Easy to navigate, great to listen to WBUR and related NPR content anywhere anytime. I use it globally to stay in touch when on the road. Thanks for adding the sleep timer back!!

This app was recently redesigned and I love it. When I complained that the timer function had disappeared, they restored it. It has worked perfectly and it’s easy to navigate.

The ability to pause or return to live is an excellent feature!

Grateful for the ability to back up.

App constantly crashes when pressing rewind or fast forward more than once or twice. “Start from the Beginning” often takes you back more than one show. Frustrating.

I love the rewind feature! Keeps me coming back. I moved out of state and I still listen to WBUR b’c of that feature.

There are some minor quibbles — most notably, 1.0 doesn't support background audio, but the next update is expected to add it — but it's off to a good start, with some nice, unexpected features like the 'BUR alarm clock, quick access to recent shows, and more. Already it has earned a spot on my phone's main screen, replacing two or three other news, weather, and local info apps. Also, I haven't seen the crashes others have reported. I'm on iPhone 4 now, which has more RAM than earlier devices did. Not that this is a fun suggestion, but if you're getting crashes on an earlier device, a reboot might help, as it will clear out the RAM & make larger apps run more smoothly.

I am deleting the app from my phone and pausing my $1200 annual donations until there is a version that doesn’t ask for money every time I launch it. The rest of the app is terrible with bookmarks, etc. But I assume that will get fixed over time. Good bye for now…

I did prefer the old logo, though

WBUR is great. The updated app is terribly glitchy on iPhone and iPad (why I know it’s not just my phone.

Hit play, nothing happens. Deleted app, redownloaded, allowed bluetooth, etc. Doesn’t work!!!

I start the app and click the play button in the lower left hand corner and it rarely works. Also, as someone else noted, once something causes the stream to stop, the sleep timer or network interruption, for example, that same button still won't work. Further, network interruptions, switching from wifi to 3G or just a momentary lapse in coverage should not cause the stream to stop permanently. Another: the play/pause button on the lock screen doesn't work all the time. After using Siri, you have to press play again, and double tapping the home button and hitting play also doesn't work here. Finally, switching to the app causes other sources to stop, even if you're not going to use the audio. That said, every night I hit a play button that actually works, turn on the sleep timer, and it works, provided my wifi is consistent.

While this revision of the app works better than the previous disastrous version, there are plenty of bugs remaining. The most annoying of them is inconsistent live streaming. While there are times when the stream works perfectly fine for hours, it inevitably breaks down. The audio interrupts every 15-20 seconds, disappears for minutes and then suddenly reappears. There is a lot of inconsistency with LIVE status, when the stream is clearly 15 minutes behind but has a live status. Restarting the app solves the issue but it reappears. There is also an issue with looping, when the stream starts looping, replaying the same 1-2 minute segment over and over. This can only be solved by a restart. This app should severe one purpose - listening to WBUR over wifi/cell network. It's inconsistency and connectivity issues make it a frustrating and annoying experience. Please hire great iOS developers and fix it.

WBUR app was a real pleasure with a wide selection of NPR programs. It would take a while to load. The past few weeks I am just getting a blank page and no programming. Hopefully this is a temporary problem? Editing to bump up to 5 stars. I’ve had this great app on my iPad for years and love it. A broad and eclectic gathering of excellent programs. In my last review I said that my major “dislike” was that the app took a long time to load programs. Shortly thereafter I thought I should delete and reload App. I did so and it runs great! Thanks so much for this excellent App! I suggest if anyone is having problems with performance, delete and reload.

Just started using this app and its changed my listening experience already. Being able to pause scrub through the live stream is great, saving shows for offline listening is convenient and the app itself is prettier and more intuitive than any other radio/podcast app I have. I used to listen to WBUR via Sticher but have switched over since they made such a huge improvement to the WBUR app.

First - the radio station is absolutely awesome. An award winning news show. Part from NPR and part created locally in Boston. Second - I have started to use the app a lot so I can stop and start it when something comes up. And listen again if I space out and miss something. More convenient. Yeah it can be glitchy but the new version seems much better. Today though it did that thing where it keeps starting and stopping on my iPhone. So I did MY go to thing. I deleted the app and reinstalled it. Figured it was having a senior moment and needed a new “lease on life.” Usually that takes care of it.

Use to love WBUR’s app, but I’m having an ongoing problem with it shutting down while in use. I use it mostly for podcasts and find It’s very sporadic about when it wants to work. I can choose the podcast and look at the available episodes, but as soon as I try to load the content it exits out of the app entirely. This has been happening for months both after my phone has been on or when I first turn on my phone in the morning. I’ve tried reinstalling it and closing it after a “failure to launch”. Unfortunately nothing seems to deliver the content most of the time. I really like the app and features, but it’s getting to the point where I may just stop trying altogether. Hopefully someone will figure out a solution soon.

I really loved the older version of this app. Sometime in early 2023. It was replaced with the current one. One of my biggest issues is the tagline/ad that takes the 1st 20 sec of listening time. The GBH app has always had something similar and the fact that the previous BUR version did not have the tag line was the primary reason I chose to listen to WBUR. Now that they are equally annoying I will no longer be choosing choose WBUR first. I have also had the app freeze a few times and am hoping that the bugs will be worked out. Am also hoping the tag intro can be removed at some point!

I do enjoy this application, and I've used it for over three months without any of the issues people are claiming here. I'm able to listen consistently without issues, and I'm always able to get a good stream. The only issue is that the alarm clock is buggy when you attempt to set a regular schedule: after it crashed you can't access the alarm anymore until you reinstall the application. Otherwise, it serves its purpose and more: even found a few discounts through the app and also convenience when calling into the station.

First of all, WBUR's programming is beyond superb. So I love having easy listening access on my phone. WBUR recently issued an update to their iPhone app. The look of the updated app is clean and classy. The navigation is worlds better than in the previous version. It is so promising...but there are some losses. The old app used to hold your place if you listened to only a portion of a program, allowing you later to pick up easily where you left off. The new version doesn't do that. The old version made it much easier to get to the controls (pause, play, etc) while you were listening. And, finally, I would be giving my beloved WBUR this feedback directly, rather than putting it into an app review, but I don't see a place within the new app that allows you to contact the station, report a problem with the app, or even make a donation. Lots of promise here. Hope they can add back in some of those helpful previous features!

I’ve used this app for years and have always had issues but it’s gotten much worse. I generally use it to listen to WBUR programming when I’m outside the listening area, which is frequently the case. I rewind to catch the full program before the program ends so I don’t listen “live”, but on a time delay of 15 to 90 minutes. Very often, the app stops working with no discernible pattern. It happens even when the time delay is a few minutes and when the program is still live. Recently, the incorrect program has shown as what’s currently live. Today I deleted and downloaded the app 3 times in 10 minutes. Frustrating . . . but the quality of the WBUR programming keeps me coming back.

I use the WBUR App all day long. And often at night. I love being able to start any show at any time. And I very often use the rewind to hear snippets over again to better understand, or honestly because I spaced out for a bit. This app is at the very center of my listening life and where I get the great majority of my news. THANK YOU. And It may sound crazy, but I REALLY miss that sleep feature in the updated app. PLEASE return it. Please. Update: The rewind function is seriously messed up. The very best thing that could happen now is to go back to the old app. Sorry. But seriously.

As much as I love and continue to use this app, there seems to always be some issue with it, whether it skips fragments of a program, or just plain won’t stream the live audio, or it crashes. Currently, it’s crashing when I try to play live audio. I also suspect that running it recently affected my phone’s ability to make or receive phone calls. I had to reboot my phone to get my calling ability back. I did recently update my iOS to 12.1 and that may have triggered some bug. But at this moment, the app will only play content from the program list. It will not play live programming and it keeps crashing. Please fix your app! Thanks!

Just started using the app and really like it. I do wish, however, the alarm clock worked differently. (1) In iOS Most alarms are automatically on when the time gets set. With this one, you have to turn it on manually. I've forgotten to do this and missed things. (2) This is a radio app. I would like an option for the alarm to start live streaming like a regular radio alarm clock. Otherwise, I find all the main functions great.

I too love it, then it would have moments of trouble for at least a year(the station told me it was my cellphone carrier) and about a month ago it simply presented a blank screen when I’d click on it. I’ve deleted it and hope a new upload will work. I loved the rerun option if I wanted to double check what I had just heard.

Pros: Nice color scheme. The 3x3 grid of circles as a main interface is a refreshing alternative look to the standard iPhone app. Live audio streaming. On-demand access to shows. Easy contribute button. Call-in button is a nice touch. Dismissable ads. Cons: Not too friendly navigation wise. News articles are hard to navigate through. (Developers: just copy the layout of the NPR app and this problem will go away.) Conclusion: Nice start, but still needs work. Has a shot at being a winner. Get the NPR App until the developers have time to iron out the remaining issues.

A perfect app for those who need to consume their news asynchronously. The WBUR app does a fantastic job of consistently delivering top quality, highly nuanced, and intelligent discussion about the world. I have never experienced any technical issues with the app, having used it with iphone versions 4 - 7, as well as my ipad. Please tell your friends; quality news has never been more important!

This is message: everybody should listen to this radio.....it is the best marriage between an alluring cultural feeling and a city so exciting .... Boston! Every minute is an astonishing hosting if you begin to listen to this radio ... believe me you won’t be able to change station. Listening to this radio means to become easily more bright and smart, always the best English at your disposal, always the best voice, so smooth and enchanting.... This station, WBUR will be my station for ever! I don’t live in Boston (unfortunately) but thanks to WBUR I feel as I were there. Thank you WBUR, go ahead ... you deserve our donation! You are able to fill our day. Fabio Rima

I listen to WBUR's stream every day on my computer through iTunes. I use the NPR iPhone app to stream in the car. I downloaded the WBUR app thinking it would be more reliable. The problem is that that there are too many buttons to push to get the stream started: tap the app, pick the "live" button from nine on the screen, then tap the listen button. The buttons decrease in size as you go. That's difficult to do in the car. With the NPR app, tap the icon and the last station you listened to begins streaming. The WBUR app also lacks an AirPlay option.

The content is of course excellent, but the app needs some work. When cell signal drops, the audio will pause and not resume. Pressing play/pause with no feedback on whether the app is frozen or buffering is frustrating. Transition from wifi to cell also has issues. Interface should inform the user what is going on. I suspect this is a rebrand of some underlying radio streaming tech that needs more funding! Hope WBUR can make it happen.

I have used this app for a while and never had any trouble with it until this last update. Since then it constantly crashes and has even succeeded in totally locking up my device - no other app has ever done that. It also seems more focused on playing individual stories than the live audio stream - it takes at least 4 clicks to get to the “play live” feature. That’s not why I’m using the app. I’ll take the advice of the other reviewer and just ditch the app and stream the audio from the website (or maybe switch to another station).

Thank you, WBUR for fixing the issues with prior releases of your app and making it great. Had to take back a star because it is a DATA HOG Not only is the app much more stable, and audio doesn't cut out if connection gets weak, but the rewind option and podcast-like structure is greatly appreciated. I had given up on previous versions of the WBUR app, but this one brought me back into the fold. Great work!

This app in theory is great - all my favorite WBUR programming at my fingertips everywhere I go. But as other reviewers have mentioned, I will have great signal strength or be on wi-fi and suddenly the stream will buffer - for what seems like forever. And do not click on the pledge icon - it loaded and loaded and loaded on my phone forever and I finally just deleted the app and downloaded it again because I couldn't get it to stop loading. I recommend this app, but with caveats.

It’s an ok app. I really like listening to news in the background as I work. Sometimes the app won’t load right, sometimes it gets stuck when trying to catch up to current stream when it’s been paused. It’s annoying- one time it even started looping and would just play the same 10 seconds over and over again. It’s super simple to use though, and when it works right it’s good

The moved to nyc 10 years ago but kept listening to WBUR because of the old app. With the old app, when I start it, I rewind to the top of the hour to get the news from the beginning. Then when I go into the subway or elevator, the app keeps on playing even though there is no signal. The new app stops as soon as signal goes away, even when playing content that I had rewinded. Please fix the new app or restore the old one.