TuneIn Radio Reviews

I bought the pro version of TuneInRadio already. I’m positive of that. I didn’t want to but I did it so I would at least have it and that’d be the end of it. However, now they’re charging a 10 dollar subscription on top of that? I get real sick of these app developers milking the users for every dime they can and this is a flagrant example of that right here. I will never ever pay another dime for this since I already paid for the pro app. I just don’t think that this is fair at all and we’ll see if this review goes up because they don’t usually allow reviews that are critical of TuneInRadio , which that alone is nonsense. Sigh I just want a good app that isn’t gong to become a monthly payment for me. I just do not want that becoming another thing weighing down my bank account. If it were a one time payment and you own it like I had thought, then we’d be fine but clearly they milling the users dry.

I’ve been using TuneIn Pro for many years and always enjoyed how well it worked, how terrific it’s recording function performed, how it let me reliably pause a broadcast and then continue it. Well unfortunately that high level of application quality has deteriorated with the past updates - so much, that It’s time to switch.
There are two issues which cause my one star rating - both have been reported to TuneIn support and are being ignored (9+ months not fixed):
Despite having the Pro version I am being entertained with a pop up screen asking me to subscribe... despite having clicked so many times to decline, the screen continues to come back. And then the pause function, which in the past reliably recorded the broadcast now often just drops the recording and starts the station fresh - that happens despite available storage space.

I was an early adopter to TuneInRadio and now they have turned their back on me. For many years I was a faithful and loyal customer that did my best to spread the love by recommending TuneInRadio to friends and family. I was able to record radio shows and amassed well over 200 recordings. Last week I made the mistake of tapping “Update All” in TuneInRadio Store to get my phone current. With the update to TuneIn, I lost said 200+ recordings and the ability to record going forward. When I wrote to support they replied that they sent out an email, which I never saw and a notification every time I tried to record should have popped up to notify me. NO SUCH NOTIFICATION EVER POPPED UP! I am beyond upset. The record feature was the main reason I used TuneInRadio. I hate how companies stray from their core features in app updates then say “sorry, it was for legal reasons.” Funny how it was legal when it came out and for 7+ years that I had the product, but now they claim it’s for “legal reasons.”

I have had the “pro” version for years. It used to be functional - it allowed you to pause and rewind broadcasts, including things like CNN. And it enabled you to record them. Very nice. Unlike the freebie vanilla version which didn’t have that. And you didn’t have to listen to Tune In commmercials interspersed in the broadcast.

Well, over time that’s all gone away. You can get CNN, but you can’t pause, rewind or record. You are forced to listen to the annoying Tune In advertisements. You can get NPR, and you can pause, isn’t that awesome. But you can no longer record! This must be one of the recent “bug fixes”. It’s hilarious, because the “record” button still exists. It’s just always grayed out!!

Obviously the intent of TuneInRadio now is to harass you into paying more to get the “premier” version, which seems to want to replace the “pro” version. Shoddy and disgusting, there is no way in h—l I will respond to such harassment. I will go somewhere else, or just do without.

Still with the F&ck!ng ads. I really think a lawsuit needs to happen. Just when you think folks have figured out how to make a stable ad-free version of paid software imagine my surprise to find rolling banner ads on my Pro/ advert free software. Besides being miffed with that TuneInRadio is slow to load, it often freezes and fails to resume playing a stream after phone calls or when getting back into the car after running an errand. It just freezes. TuneInRadio used to be really good, then they started adding crap no one cares about... I wouldn't recommend I only use it because I paid for it. You know what works? The banner ads they insist on putting in my app. $9.99 for the privilege if having a banner ad for home depot at the top of my favorites page with no way to turn it off. Support is none. So long as Apple allows these app developers to het away with this they will. Keep in mind while TuneInRadio is "starting up" what its actually doing is calling home to Tune In to download banner ad content instead of streaming your music.

I subscribed to Premium to listen to the NFL games! I listen to at least 5-8 games each week. So far, after 1 month, the experience has been subpar!!! TuneIn gets a C- grade. Every game I tried to listen, inevitably, somewhere along, the stream will stop & the screen will show, "Connecting." Yes, every single game multiple times! I have not had 1 single game where the stream was flawless from beginning to end. & yes, I tried regular radio streams, no problem. Only NFL games!!! I get better streaming from the free websites. I don't want to do that because I believe in paying for my fair share. But why pay for broken streams that doesn't recover, eventually requiring you to close & restart TuneInRadio , meanwhile missing the game. The disruptive experience does not make me want to keep paying for Premium. If I keep getting this for another month, I will cancel & go back to the free streams.

TuneInRadio , as far as it goes, functions very well. The Premium Subscription, however, is complete junk and a waste of money. I won’t even go into my disappointment and frustration with the termination of the agreement between tuneIn and the NFL. No, I only want to talk about the fact that, as a Premium subscriber, I am getting pre-roll aand mid-roll ads for almost every station I listen to. I’m not talking about the local radio ads, either. I am talking about ads which are not heard on the stations over-the-air broadcast. When I tried to contact support, they pointed the finger at the individual radio station. That, in my opinion, should not be my problem. TuneIn lead me to believe that paying for the Premium Subscription would eliminate these ads. Otherwise, why would I even consider paying for the Premium service? There is zero value-add!
Example: I tap to listen to a station in Florida. Before the station begins playing, I receive an ad for a Nashville-based hospital. And no, it is not unique to the station.
This is unacceptable and had I not paid for a year in advance, I would definitely not have continued my subscription.

I had TuneInRadio for a long time, and I use it to listen to foreign stations occasionally, but since a few months TuneInRadio became unbearable. When you open any station you’re welcomed with a high volume, high pitched, fast speaking, house flipping guru ad style from Quicken loans ceo: Jay Farmer. You would ask why now I know his name? Because its in every frickin ad! A botched remarketing algorithm must believe I’m desperate for a money loan because I’m literally bombarded with quicken loans ads every 5 minutes or less. Today it was the worst episode when I was literally flurried with 6 quicken loans ads in sequence not even one finishing before the next one started. That’s how bad this is.
Now, to the listening experience: If you want to listen to a sports game, a concert, a news cast or something where you don’t want to lose the continuity, then look somewhere else because Tune In Radio will irritate you with an intrusive ad in the middle of the most interesting dialog from your radio show or maybe in the middle of your favorite song.
Now I’m certain of two things: I will move to another app that treats the user with more respect, and I will never, ever go to quicken loans.

I mostly use TuneIn Radio Pro to play my own stream from my own server 95% of the time. I have saved my streams as Custom URLs and Favorite them. For many months now, I have not been able to play any stream not linked to within TuneIn Radio. The only way I have found to play my streams is to type in/paste the Custom URL again. After that it plays, but pretty much just that one time. Later in the day if I want to play that stream again, I need to paste the URL in once again as a Custom URL. It’s like the Favorites buttons on your car radio just displaying what station you select, but not tuning to that station, you still have to turn the dial to tune it in manually.

Then there’s the long lost feature of being able to pause a playing stream for up to 30 minutes and resume it and not lose your place in the audio. And of course, the recording feature that was removed for legal reasons. I just wish I could record and pause what is coming off of MY OWN STREAM, is that so illegal?

So, TuneIn, you went from a 5-star app to a 1-star app and that is only because I cannot rate you lower than a 1. Do you not have a development team or coders any longer?

I gave been using TuneInRadio for a long time. (decade?). Every sipo often an update comes out that prevents my use. The latest is now preventing me from accessing content unless I allow use of cellular data. I have paid a fee at one time to use the Pro version. I do not see why I should allow access to cellular data when my home WiFi network passes my ISP's speed tests. I most often use TuneInRadio at home. If I am away from home I MAY use cellular data if necessary. However, I should have the choice. I do not want the service to mandate that I use my cellular data because they want me to. I do not have unlimited data. I do nor need it normally.
TUNE-IN please restore my ability to use the service through WiFi and make sure future updates do not cause me to lose this ability again. Three times (at least) is demonstrating more patience then some thing should be granted to such repetition on this issue.
Potential users: Think carefully about tjis issue and whether you want to be forced to use cell data all the tine to use this service.
What will make me happy? Tunein fix the issue and make sure you are not playing info gathering games. As I understand here are other services available. Have I submitted a complaint to customer service from within TuneInRadio ? yes on more than one ocassion.

Update 1/6/18. Just heard from tunein that “As of January 15th, 2018, we will no longer be offering audiobooks as part of our premium package. We hope you will come to enjoy our other premium content like 24/7 live streaming and commercial-free news with MSNBC, plus all the music channels and live sporting events throughout the year.” Sorry but replacing quality audio books with MSNBC? Ah, no. Still a good app, but content just took a huge hit.

Pros: for $8 a month i get all NFL, MLB, and English football games. Plus current audio books. Ability to set events to my calendar. Get every radio station i can think of. Pause, record, go back to a spot, record, etc. been using the free version for years and now premium service - highly recommended for us commuters.

Cons: several audio books cut chapters short. I contacted tunein and they acknowledged this was a bug being worked. NFL game commercials are replaced by mind numbing musak that really gets annoying with the large amount of breaks in the action.

I purchased one year of TuneIn Premium for the “audible books” that worked out to less than $10/mo for me. As someone with a neurodegenerative disease, who used to read for a lucrative living, now living on a fixed income, both the price point and service mattered a great deal, as it is now difficult for me to read my 3 kindles. I also enjoy having MSNBC on radio; however, I have Comcast, so with the iOS app, I can listen to MSNBC as a “radio app” standing alone or while using other apps, just as with TuneIn.

I would like to talk to TuneIn Premium’s Customer Service, yet it seems they would want me to do that. My Annual Renewal of TuneIn Premium is approaching in November and they stand to lose someone who could be a continuing, automatically, annually renewing customer, which is great for their books in competitive markets; however, my “customer service” tab in TuneIn Premium’s “settings” links to a blank service recommendation, which I had no option but to use.

I cannot see any other method of contacting TuneIn Premium Customer Service, so I’m going out on a limb and guessing that the Customer Service Team who dreamed up this ploy is not as large as their marketing team, if not their economics forecasting

But I hope and shall continue my pursuit of the TuneIn Premium’s mythical customer service. I shall update my review of TuneIn Premium’s Customer Service.

😳

TuneIn has attributes that might normally earn four or five stars, but I've discovered a deal-killer: TuneInRadio won't function with my VPN (virtual private network) activated. I always protect my online privacy to the max, and this means encrypting all of my traffic, both incoming and outgoing, and masking my identity and location to the extent possible. If TuneIn won't work with VPN, does this mean the company is trying to collect data from my activity? TuneInRadio tells me I have no WiFi connection, but I do, of course. Does this mean the developer is unable to handle encryption? Or, perhaps, doesn't want me to mask location or identity? I'm going to delete TuneIn from my devices after posting this review. I've found other online tuners that work okay for me with privacy protection enabled — myTuner Radio and Simple Radio are two examples. In these times, we need to protect our privacy from corporations who want to sell us and governments who want to repress us. That's why I subscribe to a good VPN (Tunnel Bear), I never use Google search and have zero contact with Facebook or its subsidiaries. Remember, if it is free, you are the product.

I record my favorite morning show because they have 15 minutes of break for every 20 minutes of show. I will start tune in recording when I wake in the morning. When I get in the car to leave, it only lets me go back 30 minutes or so even though it has recorded much more. If I lose the station (transitioning from WiFi to 3G taking more than a few seconds, for example), the station shuts off, stopping recording. You have a choice at this point. Listen to what you recorded so far or reconnect and listen live with no way to go back in time.
Why can’t you start playback of live radio from the start of recording while continuing to record?
Why can’t you continue recording when you lose the station and reconnect?
These are tremendously annoying oversights.

Every time TuneInRadio gets updated I’m taken aback by the dumb things that get removed or moved around or broken. I love TuneIn and I’ve been using it for probably 8 years. I learned early on the secret was to not update TuneInRadio . Today it stopped working and I was forced to update TuneInRadio . Now you can’t get to the ‘currently playing’ screen. Like you can’t go there. It won’t let you see what you’re listening to. To browse music stations you have to click through 47 screens and then scroll to the very bottom of a cesspool of things trying to force you to subscribe to them and whatever they are trying to sell you. It shoved the ‘favorites’ up into this other screen where they used to be easily accessible at the bottom, where they were fine. They were fine at the bottom. I’m going to stalk the updates until they update to something less bonkers and then ride that less bonkers version for as long as I can go before it forces me to update again. At which point I’ll learn the entire interface is in glowing emojis and all of the screens are jammed into the bottom left corner or whatever they do next in their quest to just constantly mess with things. It’s like an 8 year old picking at a scab. Just for no reason. Just because it’s there.

I have loved Tune-in Pro for years, but ever since last week, my FAVORITE and BROWSE pages are completely blank, displaying only the message, “An error occurred, please try later!” I have been in touch with a very kind person on the support staff and tried all recommendations, to no avail. I can no longer log in or out because the settings button is gone, and I’m nervous that if I delete TuneInRadio from my phone and reload it, it might not recognize my password or might corrupt TuneInRadio on my iPad (which is still working normally). Has anyone else run into this problem? Any suggestions? I love TuneInRadio but I appear to be at an impasse.
UPDATE: I deleted and reloaded TuneInRadio , discovering in the process that one of my FAVORITES, Classic FM, is no longer being offered through Tune-In, though the icon was still visible. My guess is that TuneInRadio couldn’t reconcile the contradiction (a station there but not there) and did a little freak out. My favorite app is working again. Yippee!

Hi,
I really enjoy being able to listen to all the stations that Tune In has to offer, i have the Pro version so that i can record what I want to keep. It works great! I just wish we could be able to save to our devices the recordings, to share the recordings with others. Also TuneInRadio itself looks too simple it needs to look nice or fancy, Pandora did a great job in their app! Pandora looks super cool! I wish Tune in would redesign their app, but make it user friendly. There is always updates for bug fixes but there is never an update where there is an actual change of user experience within TuneInRadio ! Also very much needed and i request that there is a Dark Mode!!! I listen to the radio stations at night but my bloody eyes hurt even on low brightness on my iphone. Dark mode would increase the use of TuneInRadio during the night. Thank you!

Excellent! Of all my apps.(and I have way too many) This Dev. has updated his app in an attempt to keep things fresh and new with more updates than any other app. I own. Now that says a lot about the Devs. intentions. That being said I don't understand the complaints. This is the best music app I have, and I own several. The customer service is second to none so rather than slam someone's hard earned work, which he/she obviously cares deeply about, why not drop a line to them first? Rather than immediately posting negs? I can appreciate it and many have it coming, but not this Dev. I know all of you have or had apps. that the Devs could care less about. They post it, sell it, and abandon it. Take the money and run, and there's more of them than people who truly care. That's why I felt compelled to post, because this one is one that really cares about the product. There aren't a lot and I hate to see someone that puts their whole into the product become grouped in with the money grabbers. Take Care....

UPDATE: Well, as they say all good things come to an end. I hated to see TuneInRadio go the route of the subscription. This was and continues to be a great app, and the developers have been improving TuneInRadio since it’s inception.

I loved my iTunes Pro. I listen to just one station, Family Radio. I’m realizing that it must have been the last update that changed things. I no longer have the “RECORD” option. I needed it and I relied on it frequently. What makes me feel angry is that they did this without notice I was one the first to buy iTunes Pro. There was a special offer and loving it as much as I did, I upgraded to the “Pro”. After that I had many interruptions, usually either just before the weekend or during the week end. At times it took a long time to get back going, until a really nice person told me how to fix the broken app, which is what was happening. For many years I had no problems until now. I really need the Record feature, I hope they will see the error they made and give us back what we paid for.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Patricia C. Rohan

I can’t count the chronic, ongoing, repeated episodes where live sports event plays are repeated, often 3 or 4 or more times, hearing and rehearing the same few seconds of some game, while I know the live game has continued without any way to get past the repeated buffering errors. And then there are the over-the-limit advertisements, the same ads over and over and even when I change news channels - literally inescapable at times, seemingly continuously - thank heavens for the foreign channels. And this is PREMIUM service. Is there an alternative news source that can be paid without endless advertising? I deeply dislike TuneIn.

Used to be the absolute BEST! Audiobooks were included with the Premium app which is $10/month.
I’m visually impaired and it was a wonderful thing. Now they have removed the Audiobooks feature completely. Additionally they disabled the ability to “download” a single book upon the announcement they would be discontinuing them, so they effectively disabled any way to save books I had read, or planned to read, or was currently reading and not had the chance to finish!
This was a sneaky and underhanded way to end the Audiobooks feature - there were several partly read books I couldn’t finish in time, and because they disabled downloading at same time as announcement I couldn’t save them for later. Even though I was still paying $10 month premium.
Now that they have removed their best feature, I personally find there is no further need to continue paying for the Premium app. Shame on Tune In !!!!

I listen to lots of different talk radio programs throughout the day and TuneInRadio is great for that - especially being able to record, pause, rewind etc. But UGH!! It's so frustrating that whenever I have to make a phone call TuneInRadio crashes in the background! If I paused the audio, was listening say, 15 minutes behind - any length of time behind - when I end the call TuneInRadio restarts and everything I had yet to listen to is gone. I miss so much of my shows on account of this! Why can't TuneInRadio stay functioning properly in the background?!? I can't make a 5 minute phone call without losing my show :( the only workaround I have found is, as soon as I place a call, pull TuneInRadio up in the foreground, on pause, so I see it while I'm on the phone. But remembering to do this for every call is a problem. If iPhone is supposed to allow multitasking, why can't TuneInRadio do it? It's it even just phone calls - if I pause, and go send a text, or do anything else in any other app, and don't go bring Tune-in right back up within a minute or so, Tune-in crashes and restarts. So frustrating.

Instead of rolling out an icon update ( which is meh , btw) why isn’t the buffering being corrected, or that constant , and I mean constant error message: “ We’re sorry. An error occurred with this stream. Try again later.” This happens daily. If I try to listen to a podcast, I get the error message. If I try to listen to a station, I get the message. This has been going on for months. The quality of this service has diminished greatly. Over the years instead of getting better it’s gotten worse. Also let’s see if this review gets posted. I submitted one a couple of weeks ago and it never did...

Dec 22
Update... the developer sent me a prompt response. I appreciated that. I noted my concern and they responded back that they will look into it. Like is said I luv TuneInRadio, had it for some years now, that’s why I was concerned. still like the old icon tho...:)

Excellent features, not sure what Pauls All is talking about, I have the latest Pro version and love its ability to go back 10, 20 or more seconds as well as forward to skip commercials. I use auto record to catch my favorite shows and songs while my tablet is in locked screen mode.

FYI - iHeart has no pro or premium version, it cannot go forward or back and cannot record. In addition, it has no control for length of cache.

Tune In outperforms iHeart and all of its competitors. Two things - I wish it would stop looping and repeating what was played 15 seconds ago, it does so frequently. Next I wish to pause a song or show that it would not revert to live once the cache has played. I would like to come back later to hear the complete show or song without having to record it.

TuneInRadio works wonderfully but the two main reasons I subscribed to pro were 1) audiobooks (they had some fantastic titles and $9.99 was a hell of a deal to have access to them) and 2) football. After today audiobooks are no longer available and football season is over after this month so I’m cancelling. Maybe I’ll subscribe again when football revs up in the fall but it def won’t be a year round thing for me any longer. I don’t know if the issue with audiobooks was financial on the side of the publishers, not enough interests from listeners or both. Tunein never really advertised the feature very much, I sort of found it accidentally. Shame to see it go though.

I absolutely hate the new way games are shown with college basketball.
Upcoming events used to show you everything that was going on, but now it only shows three? Why in the world would you change that? Horrible change. Change it back.
I counted on TuneInRadio to show me who was playing and what time. It no longer does that for me.
It also only shows me a couple of live event so I can’t even listen to all the games I want to listen to. I don’t care about that top ranked team stuff. I want to know who is playing, who is on right now, who I can listen to, and not just put the top ranked teams are.