KQED: Bay Area News Reviews

by Horspiste

The original version had corrupt schedules, and radio streaming was spotty. The new version has no schedules for tv and radio, and the streaming is just as bad. Frankly, the most frequent use for me is checking the TV and radio program schedules..."what's on tonight?" KQED was the first stop, and the website scheduling is very onerous to navigate. But in the old app, multiple programs would show up for the same time slot, so it was very confusing. Now there is no schedule, which is equally frustrating. C'mon, this app, as the most listened to / watched NPR / PBS station in the US, it should be easy to put schedules on an app.

by Elisarounkle

I can’t get the this app app to listen to as I always have. The circle just spins endlessly and drains my battery. Please help me correct this problem. I’m frustrated.
Elizabeth Rounkle.
Long time sustaining member

by TheBoss2007

This new version does not have the Airplay icon visible. Ridiculous oversight by the developer.

by Rndnnee

I finally terminated my 40 some odd year sustaining membership due to this miserable app. It quits several times an hour and when it restarts it plays the commercials for its sponsors. I am now tossing my support to Cap Radio which has a much more robust and reliable app. this app, you need to fix KQED! The complaints about it go back years with no resolution.

by Opaldragon1081

I like to listen to NPR on my iPhone on WiFi at home. KQED used to work fine in the past. But it doesn’t seem to be compatible with the most recent iOS. It crashes after a few minutes every time I use it. Error message: “There was a problem downloading the audio.” Good grief! You’d think an an from the tech capital of the world would work better. I searched for an alternative and found that the Capital Public Radio app, from a Sacramento-based station, works fine. Now I can listen to NPR without problems. Wish I didn’t lose the Bay Area news, though.

by Kittis

Nobody carries portable radios around anymore. If this app wants its listeners to remain engaged in their programming, it needs a reliable live streaming app. If bandwidth is the issue then prioritize connections for active members.

That said, the current user experience is terrible. The stream drops regularly and when it cannot reconnect it just repeats the Barracuda sponsorship message ad nauseum. So now the very idea of Barracuda networks annoys the hell out of me. I'm certain Barracuda doesn't want to be associated with feelings of frustration and annoyance, but here we are. A session variable should be able to determine when to play the sponsorship announcement without being obnoxious.

Furthermore, if the live stream manages to reconnect, it is preceded by a sharp, painful scratching noise that makes me give up on the whole thing.

I love this app programming, but hate KQED. Unfortunately that means I won't be listening to this app during my train and bicycle commute.

by NobleMomto2

I can't listen anymore. It won't load! I open radio, then click on a link like CA Report. It completely shuts down KQED every time. For the past two weeks or more since the new iOS update for iPhones I haven't been able to hear the CA Report! Extremely frustrating to miss my daily routine after so many years of support. Come on this app get an update already. I've been sending multiple reports daily for several weeks (every time it shuts down when I reopen KQED it generates a message to report the unexpected shut down of KQED )! By now you should have a solution!!

by Songbird55

You’d think that the flagship station out of the Bay Area would have an app that reflected the best of Silicon Vally tech but you’d be wrong. I put up with this only for Forum live which I still love even after moving out of state. Every time I move away from KQED -even if it’s for 1/2 a sec- the darn thing reboots. And I have to listen to the “sponsorship” message for the umpteenth time which inevitably means I miss something important. Seriously, with all the $ you all raise and all the expertise at your fingertips Please do something about KQED. Stop abusing your listeners.

by SF Dawn

KQED quits frequently for no apparent reason. When I go to restart it, there’s a message “tap to restart”….which is directly in the way of the “start” button.
Please eliminate this message, we ALL know how to start/restart the intuitive app. Thank you.

by D2mo

Please remove the Warning pop-up that appears every single time you open KQED . It's annoying to see this message about an unnecessary alarm function that I don't want. The Warning modal should pop up only once, then never again. Thank you in advance for making this revision, and making KQED less annoying to use. I use KQED every morning to listen to this app. It's really handy to listen with my phone; in fact KQED is the only way I listen--carry it with me all over the house as I get ready in the mornings.

by A.Nutron

I really only have one complaint with KQED. When you first open it there's a prompt to give it GPS access. Why would it even need that information? No clue. Denying this access results in KQED showing you an alert that you need to go into settings to enable location services EVERY TIME YOU OPEN KQED . I've been using KQED for months now and have had to dismiss this alert a hundred times now. Very annoying.

by ETechie

This otherwise great app seems to have install/update problems. One of my most used and favorite apps, but broke after 1.0.4 update. Initially it stalled every few seconds during video play. Eventually it would only show splash screen for a sec and then close. Finally got it to work again after a number of deletes and reinstalls, but then it fails again. Suggest reboot AFTER deleting app and before new install to make sure all old data is cleared.

by Bonifp

KQED works great if you’re sitting in one place. However, KQED continually connects and disconnects, making you listen to the introductory sponsorship message. I often listen to this app as I am riding my bicycle and I’m having to listen to the sponsorship message what seems like every five minutes. It’s quite annoying. I don’t have this issue with my Pandora app, I never hear interruption whatsoever. Hopefully improvements can be made to stay better connected or buffer more data so there are less interruption. I have read other reviews with the same complaint.

by ThisNicknameIsNotTakenAtAll

When it runs correctly, this is a great app! The ability to stream a live radio feed without a wireless access point is easily my favorite part. But KQED is really finicky! It will lose it's live feed often and without warning and almost never reconnects on it's own.
My phone is my primary method of listening to this app and it concerns me that KQED can be so unstable. And it certainly adds another level of irritation during a Donation Month when you have trouble connecting to regular programming and then being asked for money. I would like to donate more to this app, but I would like to see KQED improved substantially before I do.

by Sonoma County Fan

I’ve been using KQED for so long I don’t remember not having it. Having this app handy around the world is fabulous. Where ever I am I can enjoy the news or one of the many podcasts. I also use the NPR app and NPR One and until recently I preferred KQED. But, the current release dies frequently. This is very frustrating, especially if the funding banner is repeated upon restart thus losing a measurable period of the broadcast. This occurred occasionally over the years but recently it can happen multiple times a day. I trust this is fixable and my fingers are crossed it will be corrected in the next release. Then it would be a 5-star app.

by Queen_0f_Diamonds

I listen to this app all the time, and would dearly love to see fixes to the below listed issues. KQED has difficulty with switching between wireless networks in my home, and from wireless to cellular data. When I walk from downstairs to upstairs, I have to stop and restart KQED when the phone switches networks. KQED usually requires the same protocol when I leave my house and the phone switches from one of my wireless networks to cellular data. On the upside, I prefer listening to this app on my phone (rather than my car radio) because the reception is never interrupted by static. Today, when I opened KQED Store to write this review, I noticed a note that said “Fixes for iOS 10.3 available.” iOS 11.1.2 has been out for a week. Thanks for any action you can take on these issues.

by AlexKastamanov

I use KQED quite often because it’s pretty nice to be able to listen to the radio on my phone. There’s a nice big play button when you open KQED , making it easy to start listening right away (of course a 3D Touch shortcut would be even better.) Aside from that much appreciated play button, the rest of the ui has looked mostly unappealing and I haven’t bothered to explore whatever else is on offer.

Now here comes the major flaw; when you first start listening, there is the paid sponsorship statement of about 10 seconds or so, this isn’t that bad and not the problem here— the problem is that whenever the phone switches from LTE to WiFi, KQED completely cuts the stream AND makes you listen to the sponsored statement again! This is a huge annoyance when I’m paying close attention to an interesting statement and my phone decides to switch networks. This happens a lot when pulling into the driveway and my phone pick up the WiFi.

Anyway, KQED is a pretty good way to get a high quality stream of this app aside from that one annoyance.

Of course, the real reason I can’t listen to the actual 88.5 FM signal is only because Apple won’t unlock the iPhone’s FM radio to developers, but that’s a different issue altogether.

by Poundsmack

I use KQED every single day to listen to this app through my headphones. The only issue I have with it is that I've never been able to get the alarm function to work properly because I would love to wake up to this app but every time I set the alarm and it doesn't go off. If they can get that fixed it'll get a five star, until then four stars, love KQED .

by Climbinghobo

What an amazing app!!

by Cincinfan

The new app is a drastic improvement. It’s much more user friendly. 5⭐️