christianaudio Reviews

To the developers: I’ve read the reviews and determined that people love the IDEA of christianaudio, an app this lets users download, manage, and listen to great book by amazing authors. But this has not been my actual experience. For starters, managing content is difficult with the lack of tools given. There is no way to group, categorize or sort content. Once you have more than about fifteen titles, you will find yourself wasting time looking for them—instead of listening to them. Case in point, I end up marking books as finished or downloading/deleting them to manage content, but even these features don’t work as expected. Even though I switch to look only at titles on my devices, christianaudio continually switches back to showing what’s in the cloud. I can mark a book as finished, but christianaudio does not retain that setting. When switching to the chapters screen, there is no obvious way to navigate away from it. On an iPhone 10 or later, the top icons are oddly squished around the notch making it nearly impossible to actually tap the buttons at times. I expect better from a Christian company, in fact, we should all expect the best from a Christian company. I hope this is helpful in making christianaudio all that it could be.

In over two years now since I wrote this review, there are still no updates. This company may be out of business for all I know.

I really don’t like giving neg reviews. For starters I didn’t see a warning that you would need to download all your books/bibles again. Secondly, when you listen to an audio bible every time you go to the books/chapters you are sent all the way back to Genesis 1 even if you’ve been listening to John’s Gospel. It’s very annoying. *Update - Still sends you all the way back to Genesis in audio Bibles when you want to change to the next chapter in any book. This was a good app now it’s very frustrating. Am I the only one with this problem? *Update 2 - thank you that original problem was fixed but new problems persist. christianaudio needs new update desperately. It does not work at all for me. Is continually refreshing and can’t get out or restart. I already deleted and reinstalled, downloaded all my books and fixed temporarily. Very frustrating. There’s no reason to purchase books from you if your app doesn’t work properly. *Update 3 - Does anybody at this app even read the reviews? This is app is just not getting better. Still can’t refresh to see new titles. Please rehaul your app. I will not make anymore purchases until you do.
Update 4 I was prompted to leave a review. Here it is: Still same problems. They still have not updated christianaudio in years.

I love the titles available and want to use christianaudio a lot more, but have been very frustrated with the download not working properly, and chapters disappearing after they are supposedly downloaded (download for a road trip, then it’s not there!). I have an iPhone 7 and am on iOS 14.2. It appears a recent update was for iOS 9!?! Please help us that want to use christianaudio more and listen to more books. These books enrich my life and the audio version gives me more ability to “read.” I’ve also tried to listen repeatedly to the Friendish book I just bought. I am trying to listen to chapter ten (I have read the paperback to this point, wanted to listen to the last chapter, then listen to the whole book again). 4-5 times in a row, chapter ten just stops. It won’t go any further. I can move forward in the chapter and then it starts reading at the beginning of the chapter again. Very frustrating. Not helpful with a deadline to get this book “read” for a study group. It’s not just this book as I had a similar experience on the last book I tried to listen to. Please help is use and enjoy tour app as we would like. Thank you.

What do you do when an app actually helps you achieve your goals? You write about it and spread the word. I’ve been using Christian Audio long before christianaudio when there was just cd’s. Lots of cd’s. The switch to app based product enables me to access my library whenever I want. It also enables me to purchase books that I simply don’t have time to get through in paper form. I’m a therapist by trade so I need to get through more books than I have time for. You can imagine my relief when I discovered that not only can I listen to books on the go but I can speed them up. I fly through books on my way to work, at breaks at lunch, and then again when I have spare time. Sure I have the physical copy on my shelf that I use for reference, quotes and talks but the audiobook helps me to get through them. I love that I can sit in a sauna and be learning about addiction, marriage or theology. I also take advantage of the summer and winter sales to stock up.
christianaudio is a game changer for me and I am thankful to for it.

This is a good app but needs investment dollars to get it where it needs to be. There are issues with freezing, and it doesn’t play well with my car’s Bluetooth. For example, when I hit the 30 second (or whatever you have it set to) rewind it does not work with my car radio. However, a certain well known “audible” book player works flawlessly. Of course, being part of one of the richest companies on the planet helps in producing great apps, which brings me back to my original point: Christian Audio needs a cash injection to bring the player up to the level the company name deserves: the best! I am a monthly subscriber and, by the grace of God, intend to remain so. In my opinion Christians aught to support Christian companies, but Christian companies cannot and should not rest on their laurels. I am not suggesting this is the case with Christian Audio! Although, I have witnessed such attitudes in the past. God bless the owners as they strive to improve this worthy app.

I listen to audiobooks very frequently and have used many apps. This is by far the glitchiest. I inwardly groan when a book I like can only be found here. First, when I choose to download the book to my device, I end up having to redownload chapters of christianaudio is closed. Second, the quick controls that appear on my screen when my phone is locked only gives me the option to go back a chapter or forward a chapter instead of a 15 second or 30 second option. It is so annoying if I accidentally hit it. Third, it does not turn off when I get a phone call. I will hear the person on the phone and the book. Fourth, it does not play well with my in car sound system. I hope the developers release some major bug fixes soon. I WANT to like christianaudio and not dread using it. It’s a wonderful resource, but I’m to the point where I will choose not to listen to a book simply because it’s only offered through christianaudio.

I recently bought several books cheaply in a sale, but I’ve had nothing but problems with christianaudio that is required to play them. One book downloaded twice and I can’t get rid of the extra copy. Every time I try to play the book later, it acts like I don’t have it and makes me download the chapter again. It often gets hung up and I have to fiddle around to restart the book playing or it doesn’t give a pause button and makes me exit christianaudio and start some other audio to stop the book from playing. I’ve even sent messages for technical help to customer service and after a couple days of waiting for a reply, their “help” does nothing to improve things. Currently, I’m writing this review while I wait for christianaudio to download again after it froze and I had to delete it. I would rather buy a book at full price from another platform than mess with all these hiccups.

I have an iPhone X, it’s up-to-date in iOS, I have contacted Christian Audio support and they told me to delete christianaudio add it back and restart my phone. I have done all this. Each time I go to play a book, I have to try to download it again. It says download all chapters, I click on that. I go to play and the play button doesn’t even appear. If I click on chapters, there’s an arrow showing me to download—After I have already clicked download all chapters. I can’t even play because there’s no play button- it’s just the download circle. This has is happened on several books. Randomly I’ve been able to listen to one book and part of another. I consider these purchases a waste of money because now if I want to listen to them, I have to go to Audible and buy them again. I do wish they would fix this issue has been going on for sometime.I have hesitated to write a negative review hoping they would fix this, but it’s been over two months and they have not.

I’ve used the Christian Audio app for many years. I’ve tried to work with them, but I’ve given up. At least twice I’ve had to uninstall christianaudio to download one book, or to make christianaudio work again, and sometimes that didn’t even work. It’s frustrating and very time consuming to re-download the whole Bible, one book at a time, and books like “Morning and Evening” by Spurgeon. Two weeks ago I used 4 credits for a book that was newly released. It says “download unavailable. I’ve restarted my iPhone, and refreshed multiple times. I contacted customer service, and promptly received a “we received your request” reply, saying it may take 24-48 hours, excluding weekends, to hear back from them. But I’ve gotten no response, and no longer hope for a reply. I don’t think I’ve ever given a negative review before. But they’ve lost me. I was able to quickly and easily purchase the book I wanted from another app. I’m not their customer any more.

I have tried over and over to reset my password. Yesterday I sat in front of my computer for hours waiting for the email to come to reset my password. I left my computer for 13 minutes. In the meantime that expected email came and I clicked on the link only to be told that the password link has expired - after 13 minutes had lapsed. I have tried multiple times to reset the password. I click on the emailed link but each time I get the message that the password link has expired - even after a few minutes. This started when I forgot my password and clicked on the link to reset it one time. Then I got the message that there had been too many requests - this was after clicking on it once. It has proved impossible to reset a password. Someone there might be trying to figure out what is wrong but in the meantime I give up. It seemed like a nice app until I forgot my password and tried to reset it.

Overall, christianaudio works great, and I love the books I’ve listened too, but there are a couple features that it lacks that really bug me.
1) When I click the button on my headphones, other podcast or music apps will pause and then if I click again they resume. This feature does not work on christianaudio for my iPhone 6. Seems like an easy feature to add which would be very very useful.
2) The lock screen controls in my iPhone done have a skip 30 seconds ahead or backwards button like the podcast apps do. If I want to jump back to re-listen to a portion, I need to unlock my phone and open christianaudio . This also seems like an easy function to add, which would go a long way in the usability of christianaudio .

Love having access to all my Christian Audio books in christianaudio . christianaudio itself could have a few more features or refinement of the current features. I wish the library had better sorting features. The reading speed needs more settings between the ones currently offered.

I have an iPhone 4s and your audio app disappoints on many levels. The fast forward, play/pause, and fast reverse buttons are too large and cover the scrubber. The scrubber is no longer functional. In addition, your older audio app gave info on downloaded books & the ability to review the book. These two helpful features have been removed. Finally, your new version does not appear to have retained the”hide” option for your book inventory section. I used the “hide” option to remove books that were read. Please consider updating your most recent update.

It seems to have gotten worse over the years. It now repeatedly crashes and frequently reverts to the middle of a track that is already finished. I've had numerous instances of removing an audio book only to have it re-download itself automatically. Certain audio books apparently cause it to crash so I can't even listen to those.

Update: christianaudio seems buggier than ever. If you pause it from the lock screen, christianaudio seems to record your progress from the lock screen differently than from christianaudio and I have frequently lost my place as christianaudio jumps back a few chapters. When connecting to the Bluetooth in my car, every other app stops playing when the car is shut off. This one sometimes does that but other times I open it to find my audiobook has been playing in the background the entire time, has finished, and I have no idea which chapter I actually left off on.

And it still deletes tracks from the device that I had previously downloaded, for no discernible reason.

I like the free audio books but it’s incredibly frustrating at times to fight against christianaudio constantly.

I like christianaudio. I like having access to christian audiobooks on my phone. I mark it down for a couple reasons. When i have christianaudio running the background, sometimes it doesnt respond to commands. If i swipe down and press pause, it doesnt always pause. Or sometimes it will pause the progress bar, but keep playing the audio. Then if i get back into christianaudio itself and hit play, it may start playing from where I had hit pause immediately, not from where I really was.

Also, if I take a phone call, the audio plays in the background unless i manually pause it after answering.

christianaudio / library has great books available however the audio playback has glitches on an ipad. When it goes into screensaver, the book continues but the actual app does not advance when it starts screensaver. There are a few times the play and pause are not responsive. And even though the book has been downloaded completely, sometimes when christianaudio is opened it will not play the next track until it is downloaded again

My goodness, I’ve NEVER been so frustrated in my life, I forgot my password and as others mentioned it is impossible to reset it!
You request a link, it takes forever to get it, once you get it you click on it and it says that link has expired, there’s no other way to contact this company but sending emails, I purchased 10 books last night and can’t listen to them! Come on guys! you need to fix this or find a better way for customers to access customer service, I was going to cancel my Audible account and use this service but forget that!
Good thing I’m a Christian, I’m going to offer this frustrating ordeal along with prayers for the conversion of non believers because I’m seriously beyond frustrated.

I really enjoy the selection of books and the prices are not bad at all especially when there is a sale. However there are a few continuous problems with christianaudio . When I completely download a book; I have to keep downloading the same book chapter by chapter in order to complete reading it. Also, I have purchased several books but get an error message when I try to download some of them. I have contacted you twice but the problem has not been resolved. It is frustrating to buy a book and then not be able to read it. Please correct these issues? Thank you.

I love listening to audiobooks on Christian Audio in my car, on walks, and while doing chores. Having messages of hope and encouragement in my ears at moments when my brain might otherwise have shifted into anxiety has been a sanity saver for me. I also love that Christian audio has a free book each month I can download even when I can’t afford something new that month. christianaudio is easy to use, the audio quality is great, and I’m more than satisfied with it.

Just sent to app feedback:

What happened to christianaudio? I don’t know if it’s the new version of christianaudio or the IOS, but on two iPhones with IOS 14.2 and 14.3 both running this build of christianaudio version I cannot download or play any books from my library. As soon as I press download chapter or all christianaudio minimizes, and when I bring it up again it starts over and does the same thing on both phones.

Version 1.4.2 Build 53
iOS: 14.2
Device model: iPhone9,2

I got an automated response to this that fixed my issue! It said to delete and download the title again. Even though all titles had the same issue I did that and it didn’t help. Step 2 was delete and re-download christianaudio . That fixed it! Sorry for the earlier knee jerk reaction, I love christianaudio! Make sure to check out the “Free Download of the Month “.

I am super appreciative of the monthly free books, and that is why I downloaded christianaudio . The book I am listening to now has a great narrator. The downside is having to use christianaudio .
There is no good way to play if you are the type of listener who has to start and stop a lot. Think mom with interrupting kids.
You have to download each chapter individually, and it doesn’t seem to store or allow downloading in advance. There is an often disappearing pause/play button, but it doesn’t do one listening much good if it is missing 95% of the time. How does one stop a book from playing when there is no pause? By closing christianaudio , when christianaudio is reopened the chapter must be downloaded again.
It often doesn’t remember where playing left off either, and restarts from the beginning.
Again, I appreciate the free books, but I am not enticed to purchase any due to how poorly christianaudio works.

I give this a 5 star because I appreciate what they’re doing- audio books that encourage us in our faith. I appreciate that very much. And once a month a free book? For someone who lives overseas in a place where English literature on the subject of God is about impossible to find, thanks be to God for projects like this.

Yes, christianaudio has its downside of being a bit unstable at times, but electronics are subject to the fall, too. Fallen creation molding what’s in the world is a recipe for imperfection. But God is good and I pray that He strengthens us all with grace for each other. I appreciate what y’all are doing and look forward to continuing use of christianaudio! May God bless your efforts to glorify Him

christianaudio is not user friendly and has several issues. When you download a book on your device the audiobook and listen to a book, christianaudio sometimes asks you download again even though you downloaded already. At times, the list of chapters disappears. The list of downloaded books does not return to the last book you were listening to either. When christianaudio was refreshed, I had to re-download all of the books again and refresh my list, then re-download the books on my device again. When you search for a book or author you will get items not searched for and have no relationship to the search. When you sort, there is no option to identify books already listened to and the sort and list sometimes does not have all of my books or does not refresh with new purchases.

christianaudio is very buggy, virtually at the point that it’s unusable.

1. Will randomly show that I don’t have any books on my device, even if I refresh. But then when I open again sometime later, books will reappear.

2. For downloaded books, will show some chapters/files as not downloaded, even if I’ve downloaded.

3. Is NOT able to remember where I left off when I hit pause and sometimes reverts back to my last saved bookmark. If I’ve been listening for a long time, this can be an hour out more.

4. Frequently displays the wrong Chapter and position after pausing when iPhone is unlocked. If God’s providence is smiling, it may find its place if I hit Play, but usually goes back to the previously saved bookmark.

This version is a major step down from the previous major version. And I am ready to abandon christianaudio and spend the extra time to download the MP3s to iTunes and convert to audio book and listen that way, although I’m not looking forward to the extra time that takes.

I am s techie, own and have used many apps on several platforms, and this the worst, most poorly written app I have ever used. I have hundreds of audiobooks I have purchased from this app over the past 10 years and I have no problem with the quality of the audio books. It is christianaudio itself that infuriates me. It just functions very poorly. And inconsistently. Today, of my hundreds of books that I have purchased I only -at this - only have access to about 20 books, and not the one I was looking for. What good is it if I can’t find the books I PAID FOR!!
Additionally, I get error messages about on regular, and all to often basis.
I have a long and forgiving fuse with this app, but I am about done. Although I listen to audio books every day on the way to work, it is really not worth the fight and aggrivation.

I have been using christianaudio almost everyday when I do my hour drive to and from work 5 days a week. I have not had any problem with it!!!!! I was surprised to see so many negative reviews. I have no problem downloading the current book through WiFi at my house before I leave for work. I have had up to 12 books uploaded at the same time with no trouble. I love the way I can mark places I want to go back to later and take notes on it.... more than happy with it... thank you Christian Audio!

this app is a really great company. They offer much much better deals than Audible, including free books without a paid subscription. They have some really nice sales throughout the year. They also are much more user friendly, allowing their books to be downloaded as MP3 files, that are able to be used on PCs, Androids, iPhones, MP3 players, etc. They also publish audiobooks.

Customer service is very good about dealing with issues and they have fixed the stability problems they were having with their app.

I really appreciate Christian Audio, and I’ve purchased over 135 books through their online platform over the past four years. Prior to christianaudio , I would download my purchases to iTunes and then load them onto my phone. I am grateful for christianaudio because it saves me multiple steps and lots of time! However, christianaudio has been inconsistent ever since its inception, and there seems to be little overall improvement. The biggest issue right now is that books are sometimes removed from my phone and christianaudio ’s cloud for no reason. I hope CA will soon correct these problems with christianaudio so that it becomes a reliable resource.

Every time I go to download a book, I have to delete christianaudio & redownload christianaudio to get my new book. Also, whenever I open christianaudio to listen to a book that I am currently in the middle of listening to, it appears that I have to download the book again. I have found a work around, by going to the bookmarks & choosing my last bookmark, but sometimes the time lags a bit & it is not keeping up. If I am not paying attention, I will bookmark something that I had listened to 40 minutes earlier. I do listen at 1.5x speed & this May have something to do with it.

I have appreciated the ability to listen to my books on the road through christianaudio and want to recognize that I wouldn’t have been able to read many of the books I have wanted to apart from it. Unfortunately I have had to delete and reinstall christianaudio 2 times in the past 6 weeks which is a bit inconvenient and unnecessary. Hope this app will update christianaudio and work out the bugs so it can be a 5 star rating in the near future. Thanks for giving us the ability to listen and continue to grow through the writings of God’s people.

I preordered a copy of Free to Focus from Michael Hyatt and it included an audiobook. The purchase went through successfully, after I created a this app account, but then I had to download christianaudio.
I was able to download and sign in to christianaudio rather easily. Then I couldn’t download nor listen to the audiobook. Instead, I keep receiving an error: “the downloaded file size did not match the track size. Please check your connection and try downloading the track again.”
Well... I did that. Quite a few times. And nothing works. I wish Michael Hyatt would have released this on a more reliable service like Audible. Or even Dropbox for that matter.

I just started using christianaudio on my phone and couldn’t take it anymore.
I’d be listening and the chapter wouldn’t be quite done before the new chapter started. I’d go back and see if i missed the anything and it’d jump again. The first time I just let it slide, but then it happened again when the chapter just started and in the middle of a sentence. The normal screen said there was only 2min in the chapter, but when you go to where the chapters are listed it said there was 29min. I deleted that particular chapter and redownloaded it. This time the regular screen said 5min in the chapter. Not the whole chapter but an improvement.

The reviews with low ratings are all too accurate. The downloading is very sketch, often prompting you to re-download a chapter (since you can’t press the play button when the download button is up) just to get a chapter playing again. And even when it finishes downloading the chapter, it begins playing the chapter from the beginning again and prompts you to download again rather than pause or anything. Then it starts over again. I have to go through this process at least two times whenever I open christianaudio now.

I agree with other problems mentioned. The biggest frustration I’ve had is when the place where I stopped listening is not where it picks back up. It starts over where I started the time before, whether or not I “refresh”. This means it’s repeating a lot of the chapter unnecessarily. I also wish the audio would pause when you bookmark a section so you can make notes.