WBUR Reviews

by Npr Commuter

Been using it for years, but problems keep popping up. With recent upgrade to iOS 15.3.1 on my XS, the display took on a new format. The result is that the controls to listen to the live program scroll off the screen and you can’t get to them. If the developer was checking up on their work, they should have caught this, but WBUR hasn’t been updated in years.

by Colo Ski Gal

I’ve used WBUR for years and have always had issues but it’s gotten much worse. I generally use it to listen to this app 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, WBUR 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 WBUR 3 times in 10 minutes. Frustrating . . . but the quality of the this app programming keeps me coming back.

by Newf55

I’m a daily user (sufferer) of WBUR. The most frustrating thing by far is the buffering (which will sometimes cause a show to stop to rebuffer multiple times). The thing that annoys me the most is that you cannot rewind a program past a certain point - sometimes I can rewind a program a full two hours, but other times I can’t rewind 30 seconds... I was listening to Con Salsa which ends at 3 am - I paused the show at 2:58 to hear the end, and when I clicked play to resume at 3:01 it had timed out and wouldn’t let me rewind to where I had paused it. What an absolute piece of crap.

2020 update: WBUR has actually gotten worse. No wonder this app is in cost cutting mode, they keep losing listeners like me.

by Cheap B****

As much as I love and continue to use WBUR, 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, WBUR will only play content from the program list. It will not play live programming and it keeps crashing. Please fix your app! Thanks!

by David In Phoenix

Love WBUR and this app, especially Here and Now, with WBUR will not work correctly. It worked fine for maybe a year and then an update screwed it up. It works great the first time I open it up in place for a while but then eventually it starts closing if I switch between topics. Then it takes three or four tries to open it and have it load the program. Each time WBUR just abruptly crashes in the process of failing to load the stream.

by Harvard_Bob

I’ve listened to this app for many years. WBUR has had significant problems with buffering and crashing over many generations of iPhones and operating systems. Yet they continue to persist. Why hasn’t this app invested in the software maintenance to fix them? The interface is also archaic confusing and difficult to use. A very modest effort could clean up most of the problems in very short order. Why don’t they address the problems?

by Jveiga42

Use to love this app’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 WBUR 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 WBUR and features, but it’s getting to the point where I may just stop trying altogether. Hopefully someone will figure out a solution soon.

by Flagstaffequestrian

I listen regularly for long-ish periods of time. Fairly regularly it just quits. My iPhone is up-to-date, and my battery was replaced recently. When this happens I have to actually go open my phone, quit WBUR , and relaunch it. I’ve complained twice and get answers that are perfect for somebody who is never used an app on a phone before.

by PatriciaC12345

When I upgraded to my new iPhone 13 mini I no longer can use WBUR . The play button is hidden and I can’t get it to work. I can see the button if I swipe down but when I try to tap it nothing happens. I had removed WBUR about a month ago because I couldn’t even find the play button. I just use the website instead of WBUR .

by JEP999

The content is great but WBUR continues to shut down/crash unexpectedly, has some instability when streaming thru BlueTooth audio and the ability to rewind to the beginning of a show often does not work. I’ve been in the software development game for a couple of decades and I don’t know how to make an app crash as much as this one.

by MooseBZ2017

I love this app and WBUR mostly works fine, but the newish intro, “Welcome to this app....” every time you open WBUR (for me several times per day) is so annoying that I now mute my phone for the first 10 seconds to avoid hearing it. Dude, I know what station I’m listening to and that it’s a news app. It’s also nonsensical. “Get it!”? I ALREADY DOWNLOADED IT.

by Listenbre603

Every couple of days, I need to delete and reinstall WBUR because I am unable to select the live now section; some technical issue prevents me from scrolling to the top to select the arrow/start

by Kickincass

I love WBUR , I live in a foreign country so WBUR is great and it has my favorite shows to listen to. Unfortunately recently WBUR has been shutting down itself and I can’t listen to it anymore. I’ve tried restarting my phone, reinstall WBUR but that didn’t work either, hopefully I can use it again soon

by Whootang12

Once I get this working, it does a good job. But, it’s super buggy when changing sources I’m playing to like a Bluetooth speaker (usually stops playing and is picky about starting again). It’s also frustrating how long it takes shows to be available to play after they are not “live”.

by Heleni1776

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 WBUR 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 WBUR and reinstalled it. Figured it was having a senior moment and needed a new “lease on life.” Usually that takes care of it.

by Chesbay

this app 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 WBUR 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.

by Penelope5162

Love being able to hear my shows when not near my radio. Upsetting when buffering occurs but it does pick up where it left off. Bill Littlefield makes “Only a Game” worthwhile. Thank you!

by Fabio Rima

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, this app will be my station for ever! I don’t live in Boston (unfortunately) but thanks to this app I feel as I were there.
Thank you this app, go ahead ... you deserve our donation! You are able to fill our day.
Fabio Rima

by Nerdy NPRer

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.

by PASJL

All the shows I love whenever I want them. Remarkable local and national coverage available on demand. I frequently take advantage of the ability to restart a program that’s already in progress. Header says it all. Can’t live without it

by Jsilverhand

The station itself is a GREAT station. And when WBUR is functioning, it’s a great app. The ability to rewind the stream is a wonderful benefit. Unfortunately WBUR simply doesn’t work consistently.