WNYC for Android
What did they do? The old version of this app was fantastic. I don't normally write reviews but this "update" is objectively terrible. It's less functional, harder to find individual episodes, and the audio of every show I've listened to since has had skips forward or back in it. Nevermind the fact that all the shows I'd saved in the previous version were suddenly inaccessible. To quote our president, "sad."
Say what you will about usability (it's poor), I find it beautiful to look at. I love the style of the player and wish all of my players looked like that. But again not very intuitive overall
What the? I go to play The Writer's Voice, and the app plays 2 Dope Queens. I go to play 2 Dope Queens, and the app plays Helga. Great selections, but the app won't allow me to make my own selection. Useless. Deleting now.
I do not use this app because it has been very buggy. Then I have to go through the trouble of unlocking my phone and finding the program and episode again and the right time at which it left off because it does not pick up where it left off. Another reason is that it has no pause or play button on the lock screen, nor does it respond to pause or play from a wired or wireless headset. I often need to pause and cannot be unlocking my phone every time I need for it to do so.
The update is awful. Can't search or save favorite shows anymore. Please put it back. The modern giant icon design is pointless.
Every time I tap on a specific podcast the app plays a different one. What is app with that? I can't listen to my favorite shows. Please fix.
After more than a year, the Android app has finally been updated. It's a large rewrite, and it looks great. So far the app has been stable and looks much more polished.
Was working great until last critical update. Now just opens to red screen and goes nowhere. Help
App got even worse with update. Live streaming is fine, but listening for shows is a hassle.
Discover feature gone and real time streaming doesn't work consistently. Not much else to say.
Losing my saved podcasts one time was frustrating but I begrudgingly accepted it, all of the new stuff I saved is gone again after this update. Losing faith here
The old version worked fine. This version is terrible
All of my previously saves audio has been deleted, and the update is terrible to navigate
The old app is much better. The update is junk.
App consistently plays wrong stream. You add a cast to your saved list, play it, and it plays something else.
The old version was stable. This skips, plays odd episodes, does not load.
The app works flawlessly since it was updated. Thank you!
The "update" (replacement, really), to put it delicately, sucks. I was extremely disappointed to wake up and find the app - which I used daily and was recommending to my friends - had lost the one feature that made it unique and useful: the Discover function. NPR has many great shows, but I really don't want to spend hours searching and downloading individual episodes. Please either add this feature to the current app, or make the old app available again.
I've never written a review, but this update is really bad. They removed the discover feature despite still advertising it as something in the app on the web site. I used to use this app every day, but will probably uninstall it if the discover feature isn't returned.
Just like so many other people, I used the Discover feature daily and now it is gone. Who is the bonehead who decided to remove that key feature?
In previous revision, it was much better for offline user to download and listen. Give us back Discovery function.
WNYC is one of the best radio stations in the US. The "Discover" part finds interesting articles I can listen to offline, like when I'm in the subway.
I loved this app for years, so it pains me to give it 1 star, but WHY would you remove the Discover feature? How am I supposed to know where in your 200 shows are discussions on the 8 or 10 topics I want to hear? Please give us back the whole reason for this app in the first place!!
Installed the new version. When I click on a show to listen to a completely different one pops up. I can never get to the show I want.
The app keeps crashing. And when I put the streaming on pause it starts up again on it's own.
Where is the search button ? This version is horrible
Updated Oct 19 2017: I am not being hyperbolic when I say that the latest update RUINED this app. Not only did you trash the excellent "Discover" feature which allowed a user to assemble a custom playlist based on topic preferences and listening time, but the new UX sucks, featuring more than one menu item that sends the user out of the app and to the WNYC website- a hallmark of clunky app design. Seriously, not to be overly harsh but the decisions made here are horrible and poorly executed at that.
I love wnyc but this latest app update is pretty awful. Keeps crashing. Also the UI design is not very functional, almost as if made for ignorant children.
I loved this app but after the update last week I cannot listen to live streaming audio any longer. I hope the problem, whatever it is, gets resolved
New app seems to have broken playing streams... They just never start. Never had a problem with the old app.
[Updated Review 10/24] THANK YOU for fixing the incessant streaming issues. Ever since the update I have not had the live stream interrupted once over 4G. A miracle. I feel like my monthly donation has been put to good use. [Original Review] The app description says to leave feedback in the app via "Send feedback," except that takes you to a non-mobile responsive FAQ page that doesn't even display the actual "Contact Us" form (at least on mobile), so here is my feedback: WNYC, the future generation of your donors and members will likely use apps to consume and stream audio content over standard radios (I don't own a radio, or a car that has one) or desktops/laptops. This app HAS to improve. If your users' impression of your organization is an unstable and buggy app, folks may be less likely to continue donating their money if the sole way they consume your media continues to crash after years of "updates."
Latest update fixed crashing during live radio. Solid performance now.
Discover functionality has been removed in latest version. This was the raison d'etre of the app in the past. Why remove it???
Newest version removed my favorite feature of downloading a playlist of selected story types to listen to offline.
Lost the discover feature - the only reason i used it.
Just tried to send you an email, but got an undeliverable message. Love the content but app keeps freezing in the middle of a podcast and I have to restart it. It happens three times in an hour long episode! It really sucks! Please fix, and update your support email so I can submit my report.
WNYC please fix your app, it has the best podcasts to date but you need to fix your streaming! It's so choppy and after a little while it stops all together and I have to completely shut down the app to get back to the stream and its still choppy.
Would be 2 stars if I didn't use it constantly, but this app freezes and crashes constantly. Look into just getting a radio app instead. ***UPDATE: Down to one star since the update I can't minimize the app during streaming or it becomes too choppy to listen too. App is unusable in current form. Will change rating after a patch.
The content is there.... it's just hard to stream it. Streaming constantly locks the app up and there are semi-frequent drops. Have to click on another episode of a PC so I can click BACK on the one I was listening to. These shows are great! Please make it so we can listen to them.
by M####:
For listening to any of the live streams, the app is fantastic. But forget about listening to archived shows. Tried listening to the November 2 episode of Stay Tuned with Preet, and it played the December 4th episode instead - then launched into a Brian Lehrer episode - saying it was playing another Preet Episode. Same thing has happened when trying to play a Lehrer episode. Select one, and a different one plays.