Reviews for NPR: National & Local News

[CAUTION: Difficult to shut off & drains battery!] Excellent coverage of topics, stations and every type of NPR content you could imagine. I use it to listen to All Things Considered or Morning Edition live in in other time zones from other NPR stations when I I'm either too late or too early to hear them in my own. I'd give it five stars if it would stop playing when I swipe it away. Unfortunately I have to go back to the app, open it up and press stop on whatever is playing in order to end it.

This new version (v. 3.1.0) is a clear and significant mistake. I so wish I hadn't updated it. If I could down-level to a previous version, I would in a second. The previous version allowed me to select from a customizable list of NPR stations, but not anymore. If it's not too late for you, I would suggest not downloading this app DOWNGRADE!

This app breaks like it's its job. I've probably had to uninstall and reinstall it [only thing that's fixed it] when the app stops play sound. I've had to do that dozens of times over the last four years. Now the uninstall/reinstall isn't even working. What happened? It's been months since I've had this thing break on me, but here we go again, I guess. Every time this happens, the NPR One app is still running, but I don't like the format of that app nearly as much for the news programs.

It pains me to write this, but the recent app update has really ruined my NPR experience. Gone are the majority of the long-form articles I could discretely read. It's much harder to read anything because you have to go down the topic list and check each one out. No more swiping between articles. And there are now unrelated ads in the middle of articles. I didn't want NPR One, which is what this app has become, for a reason. How frustrating.

I primarily downloaded this to listen to NPR podcasts. My main complaint is that after only a few minutes of the app being idle, it will take you back to the home screen and you will lose your place in the podcast. You have to go back to the list of episodes, select the episode again and then scroll forward to where you were in the podcast. Very inconvenient when driving!

I love NPR! But the app needs an update or a fix. I would like to fast forward the stories, but can't. Samsung did an update. Since then, my car and Bluetooth earphones forward and pause function doesn't work. If listening to NPR and I put my earphones away, or turn off my car, NPR continues to play on the phone speaker. I have to unlock my phone to pause NPR. Annoying! If I remove my earphones or receive a call, the news story continues and after the call, I have to go back. Galaxy A32 5G

This version of the NPR app, updated maybe about 2022, really stinks. The old stripped down version was much easier to use. For instance, the new version makes it really hard to find one's play list. It's also really hard to modify one's playlist. Also, when I search for a show, I want to listen to all the segments of that show, e.g., weekend edition. What I find is that the app keeps switching to all sorts of different media, when all I want is Scott Simon or Aisha Roscoe.

It was a great app up until the last couple of months. I listen during my commute and it cuts out about two to three times per minute making me have to go back and hit play. My connection is always great. It's so frustrating I just listen to something else. I've tried uninstalling, cleaning the cache, etc, but nothing works. I've had to restart it FOUR times just while writing this! Edit: Problem still persist and has gotten worse. Have tried to contact developers with no response. Uninstalling.

The new phone app does not what I wanted when I first got the app. Up until yesterday I could scroll quickly through a list of headlines to see if I was interested in reading the article. At the bottom of the scroll down there was a button to load more stories. Now the app seems more about listening to the radio, etc. than letting me scroll down a list of headlines. So now the phone app is more like that from the local commercial TV station and that is not an improvement. Yuk.

Update: Cuts out after few minutes (any stream) Update: Last couple of weeks the app can't stay connected to the Wamu stream for more than a few minutes. Other apps can. What's up? **** This used to be the perfect app, more or less. In the past few months, it hasn't been turning off when a call comes in. Please fix that. Also, I don't understand the default view when opening the app. Why would I get the news feed and not my favorite stations list, since that's what I use this for. Thanks.

The curating and selection of top articles just well...sucks. There are few and they aren't always the most relevant or newsworthy of the day. It makes it hard to browse articles without opening one and scrolling to the end. It seems to push people to podcasts and other forms that aren't short. And there are some other themed boxes toward the bottom that have been retaining general interest stories for months. Like, what is that?! Just really disappointed. Why not do something like the CBC?

Liked the old app interface just fine. Never cared for the NPR One app. Now the NPR app looks just like NPR One. No longer able to easily store and find favorite NPR affiliates. I travel a lot, and enjoy being able to listen to my hometown station (KQED) as well as to the stations where I am staying. Now must click through several menus, and search. Very tedious.

STOP TELLING ME WHAT I WANT TO LISTEN TO! If I select a podcast, I want to hear the ENTIRE podcast, not just one segment, then the app does whatever it wants. One star until the app gives me what I want, not what NPR THINKS I want. I should also be able to favorite the podcasts I listen to frequently, like Morning Edition or All Things Considered, but the app doesn't allow this. Access to my playlist should be a top level choice, not require multiple selections. This is dangerous while driving.

I love the coverage, and the options available through the app are better than adequit. But the tech part stinks. Runs in the background when off, using battery. Doesn't play with my car bluetooth radio, starting on it's own over and over, playing different content when restarting (get back in the car after pumping gas and expect to have to re-start yourself or it insists on segment from the past). Casch never seems to clear itself. You can do better NPR! You are a great news source and more!

The changes to the app are not improvements in my book. The app allows less control and only allows one favorite local station. The worst "feature" however is not being allowed to set listening preferences and instead relying on AI. I always have to take several steps to get to the live stream when I open the app, and then in the middle of my live stream, the app skips back to content "curated just for me." I was listening to the content I wanted to hear!

The way the app used to be formatted was geared towards reading news stories. That was perfect. Pivoting to podcasts is not something I care for. If I want to listen to NPR, it's in the name: radio. If I want the podcast form, there are many other ways to do that. The only way to read news on NPR on my phone was through the app. Additionally, despite disabling the NPR app's ability to use device audio, it will play via Bluetooth, even with the app closed.

I love NPR. JUST GO TO THEIR WEBSITE ON YOUR PHONE. PLAY IT FROM THERE. You can even lock your phone and do other things and it works fine. This particular app just has trouble with my Samsung. If you like to keep your phone in any power saving mode, then it will probably randomly stop playing, just like most radio apps. The UI on the NPR mobile website is surprisingly kept up with and easy to use. I just don't see the benefit in having this app.

So many issues. Unbelievably slow to load content, even on fast internet connections. Play button is perpetually stuck on the loading icon even when content is playing. I regularly get the same story delivered to me two, three or more times. The app, when producing audio, fails to be recognized properly on my device and doesn't show up on my home screen for easy manipulation like all other audio does. I support my local NPR station and this new app is just garbage.

For multiple articles, an ad that's more than halfway down the page blocks the text and gets stuck there, and there's no way around it. NPR also started linking out articles to some of their subsidiaries, and clicking on an article and having it open in a web browser (without warning) is just poor UX — and defeats the point of an app. The search function barely works, even if you use quotation marks around the phrase. The app worked well enough before, but I'm getting ready to delete it.

This app seems to provide the bare minimum that is needed, which is both a pro and a con. Pro because the app is light-weight and takes up very little room on my Samsung. And a con because there are a few key functions that are missing. For example, there is no way to set up notifications within the app (not sure how others are able to do this since it is non-existent in my app) and the ability to save articles for future reading. Luckily and surprisingly however, there is the option to search,