# Audm — user reviews

> 50 indexed App Store user reviews of Audm by Listen In Audio Inc., rated 4.79/5 from 5,955 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/audm/id1138892702/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/audm/id1138892702.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 5,392 · 4★ 234 · 3★ 108 · 2★ 83 · 1★ 138

## What do users think of Audm?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🎧 Excellent narration by professional voice actors
- 📚 Access to high-quality long-form journalism
- 🔍 Diverse range of publications and topics covered
- 🕰️ Ability to listen to articles while multitasking
- 💰 Good value for the subscription price

**Cons**

- 🐛 Buggy app performance with crashes and playback issues
- 🔍 Limited content selection and slow updates
- 🔀 Difficulty navigating and managing the queue
- 🔊 Inconsistent audio quality and pacing between narrators
- 🔍 Lack of content filtering and personalization options

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Frequent app crashes and playback interruptions
- Syncing issues between devices and lost progress
- Unreliable Bluetooth connectivity and integration
- Inconsistent performance on older devices

**Most requested features**

- Bookmark/save feature for favorite articles
- Improved search and content discovery tools
- Ability to cast/stream audio to external devices
- More flexible queue management options
- Customizable playback speed and audio enhancements

## Newest reviews (12 of 50)

### 3/5 — Needs some additional features.

*2022-06-09, version 2.22.1*

I love Audm for many reasons - especially the long form journalism from the New Yorker, Atlantic, NYT, Mother Jones, etc. However it would really benefit from some improvements. 

1. It can be buggy and sometimes clears my history/queue unprompted. At other times it gets stuck on the same article (it keeps suggesting that I’m about to listen to an article that I listened to and cleared from my queue a couple of months ago). 

2. Most frustrating is that there is no way to save certain articles that I’ve listened to and may wish to revisit later. It’d be helpful if there was a playlist feature that would allow me to sort and save different articles. 

3. The content can be inconsistent. Sometimes I want to listen to all of the articles and sometimes there isn’t much added on a given day and nothing really appeals. Other times it gives you a part of a series but not all of the accompanying articles. Why only upload the introductory essay to a series on private equity firms from Mother Jones?

### 3/5 — Stop using NYT reporters as readers

*2022-04-16, version 2.22.1*

I like Audm generally but a few things keep me from using it as often as I had hoped. My complaints-1) I’d like more longform pieces. When the feed is overrun by 5-10 minute short pieces and op-eds it’s disappointing. It’s the longer news stories, profiles, features, and investigative pieces that I really want from this app. Also, there are times when a long print piece from a participating publication will get a lot of attention on social media during the work week, and I will think “great, I will catch that on Audm this weekend” and it never appears. Or it takes several weeks. Not sure what’s happening there. 2) The car interface is annoying because you have to line up all of your preferred articles in a queue in advance. You can’t just play straight through the current news feed. 3) This is probably the most important item— please stop having NYTimes reporters read their own work. Stick to the professionals voice folks. It genuinely impacts the quality of my listening experience with this app, to the point that I will often just switch to another article, podcast, audiobook, or NPR because I just… cannot. It is a lot like listening to your classmate being made to read a passage out loud to the class— awkward, and sometimes even cringey, for listener and reader both.

### 4/5 — Great Idea - Needs More Content

*2022-04-08, version 2.22.1*

Love the idea and what they do have available is high quality, but as someone who expected to be able to listen to 15+ pieces of quality journalism and writing monthly, it fell rather short. In my opinion, they need to add more sources ( e.g., Washington Post, LA Times, etc ) and I expect content updated bi- weekly for the price of the subscription. If you’re looking for a service that will allow you to listen to 10 or fewer, quality, long form pieces of journalism monthly for $8.99, this is money well spent. Anything more, and you’ll quickly run out of content. Unlike other reviewers, I had no App issues with my iPad Pro. Narration and sound quality outstanding.

### 3/5 — A few improvements can bring this to the next level

*2021-12-11, version 2.21.3*

Great concept overall, but could use a few improvements to make it even better:

- seemingly not up to date with newest articles with Audm recordings. I’ll see a new article on NYT’s own site with a play Audm recoding option but just can’t find that article on Audm. And then it will only show up after maybe a week on audm’s own app.

- there should be a link on each recording to the ORIGINAL publication source/website. so if viewers want to look at the pictures / illustrations accompanying each article they can easily do so.

- search feature is abysmally useless. Often I first see an article that has an Audm recording on an individual newspaper’s own site, then wanting to find it in Audm. I can type in that article’s name exactly as is from the publisher and the search will show nothing close to that article. Discovering an article should be much easier than that.

- No discovery mode, you can only filter by specific publishers and that limits you to the specific news publications you know, hard to discover interesting articles from other sources

### 3/5 — Used to be better

*2021-05-30, version 2.16.2*

I enjoyed Audm for quite a while but lately its range has narrowed considerably. Only about three new stories appear per day, mostly about lefty politics, edgy cultural issues and trending entertainment figures. I could not care less about most of these issues. Only by delving into the archives can I find the long-form narratives about adventures, crime, etc that I used to enjoy on Audm.

I’m spending much more time on Curio these days. There, I can hear more stories on psychology, technology, economic trends, philosophy, etc., along with the sorts of topics that Audm covers. 

I’ll probably renew my Audm subscription this year, since it’s fairly inexpensive on a yearly basis, but I’d be much happier if it broadened its scope.

### 3/5 — Amazing Product, Frustrating Application

*2021-04-01, version 2.15.1*

I love this subscription so much — the ability to listen to long-form news and magazine articles while working or traveling is such a great thing to have. The individuals who do the readings are engaging and soothing to listen to, and the breadth of article availability is awesome.

The app, however, is so very frustrating. I’ve frequently had articles stop playing as soon as I minimize the article or when my phone locks, which obviously isn’t sustainable for a listening app. I have also had articles stop playing every time they reached the end of a paragraph. CarPlay integration is similarly dysfunctional. Each article takes up too much space on the main screen, it takes an inordinate amount of scrolling. The author filter is nice I guess, but you have to scroll through an endless list of authors to select one. I think a voice actor filter with the ability to type to complete would be more handy for an app such as this. Genre/topic filters also seem like a no-brained to add. And I pray for the day when the desktop player is finally implemented.

I still recommend the service, but it has a ways to go.

### 3/5 — A terrific start

*2021-03-07, version 2.15.1*

I really enjoy Audm at it’s core. Listening to articles I might otherwise miss due to paywalls or lack of awareness makes this app really useful and worth subscribing. I don’t use it as an everyday app as there isn’t quite enough content for my taste for that. Instead, I peruse the available articles and queue things up for when I’m on a walk or on a longer drive as often as I remember. I would use the app more if I could cast audio to a smart speaker while doing things around the house. The UI is also a little clunky and the queue especially could use some retooling in its core functionality. It’s real close to an excellent app.

### 5/5 — Great! Just great!

*2020-12-29, version 2.15.1*

I think the service provided by Audm is one of my best finds over the last year. Being able to listen to these wonderful articles in multiple journals while I’m driving somewhere or even just sitting at home listening is a real pleasure. At first I felt a little guilty that I was listening to these articles instead of reading them. But after a while I realized it was no different than listening to the books I listen to on Audible or to the podcasts that I listen to. The narrator‘s are excellent and the addition of this service to my listening pleasure has been exquisite. I strongly recommend it and have actually purchased subscriptions for a few friends and family already. I certainly hope it continues to grow and improve over time but for right now it’s just a pleasure to have it.

### 3/5 — Too one-sided

*2020-12-12, version 2.15.1*

I used to listen to this all the time and really loved how many different periodicals contributed. But, as time has gone on, I have found the various stories to be part of an echo-chamber. While the narrators are superb (they really are), the featured stories themselves are all of a piece: primarily NY-based, liberal, etc. Don’t get me wrong; I *am* liberal, but the effect of having pieces from the NYorker, the NYT, the Atlantic, etc...they’re all pretty much the same after a while (or covering the same topic). There’s just not enough variety. I find myself listening only to the book reviews nowadays (principally London Review of Books) or those from Outside. Otherwise...I find the lack of variety of topic and viewpoint to be both stultifying and too much of an echo-chamber. I’m not learning anything “new,” and I will be canceling when my subscription runs out.

### 5/5 — Deep journalism out loud! versus doom scrolling)

*2020-11-23, version 2.15.1*

I found Audm just before the COVID lockdown. And after I blew my ACL. Compared to the repetitive doom and gloom of news (even NPR), the articles presented deep analysis, historical context, and even inspiring pieces about artists and how they work.  

Listening, instead of reading, is fabulous for a screen-weary time.  My quarantine pod listens to articles together while cooking, Then we talk about them at dinner.  I listen while I work on paintings, driving, taking a walk.  

I’ve recommended it to everyone, and they all say it’s a lifesaver.

Product requests: (1) Pease let me bookmark articles I like so I can find them easily to share. (2) Let me search articles by keywords.

Content request:  Work with content providers to Increase number of articles in general, but specifically articles about positive developments in climate action, the arts, countries/cities that are doing innovative things in democracy - give us hope that humans can intelligently, inclusively and creatively solve the problems we face. Revise we can. “Attack the problem, not the people!”

### 5/5 — Pleasantly surprised

*2020-09-20, version 2.14.0*

I originally downloaded this app to listen to some specific article fully intending to delete it after the free trial period because really who needs another subscription, especially when podcasts exist for free. But surprisingly I found that it’s well worth it - for one, subscriptions to all the different magazines audm pulls from would be way more than $9 a month. There’s a pretty steady stream of new articles available too. The narration is audiobook quality and for the narrators who read a bit too slow for my taste, the option to listen on 1.1x speed basically eliminates that issue without making it sound distorted or weird. I spend all day looking at a computer for work so it’s really nice to be able to listen to great journalism without having to spend more time sitting looking at a screen. 

My only complaint is I wish they had some ways to filter articles by genre or content, like categories or tags for “film” “music” “opEds” “literary criticism” “tech” etc. For new subscribers there’s a significant back catalogue of articles and I’m sure there are interesting finds in there, but it’s difficult to navigate through them if you don’t either have a specific one in mind, or don’t want to scroll through every single one.

### 3/5 — Could be so much better

*2020-09-09, version 2.13.4*

This would be an everyday experience for me- fantastic articles and fabulous readers well-worth the annual cost - but there are shortcomings that make me seriously hesitate now that renewal time draws near.  
1) navigating within the article is mysteriously difficult- I want to scroll back to sections that were particularly interesting or that I need to refresh my memory for relevant details - sakes alive, some of the articles are nearly an hour long and the 15 second review button ain’t gonna help much.  
2) The article menu wastes visual space on pictures that don’t help me decide whether or not to listen to an article. I would much prefer a 2 sentence summary of the article rather than a picture and 6-7 words. If I have a print magazine in front of me, I can easily skim to decide but that’s extra difficult here. 
3) i wish I could track and save articles that I particularly enjoyed or that I want to refer back to. As it is now, they just slide ever-farther down the article scroll, endlessly replaced by new articles that make me realize how much I’ve forgotten because I can’t find them again.

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Still buggy after all these updates

*2022-10-29, version 2.22.1*

AUDM has great content though, as others have pointed out, has sparse offerings from some of the publications that may have attracted you. The app is a stripped down audio player with no bookmarking, cross device play is hit and miss if you use more than one device, forget trying to fast scrub by touch—it isn’t supported. The app stutters, does weird time indexing (buffer mishandling), inserts strange awkward pauses. “Did the article end?” “No it’s just pausing for irritating effect.” It is very difficult to recommend the service as implemented despite the great content. Today I could not get the app to play for several minutes without quitting the app repeatedly. Older devices crash the app. These are issues still present from prior versions! No bug fixes for 6 months. Today it lost my profile. I had to delete and reinstall. I discovered that even automated support is nonexistent.

### 1/5 — Horrible

*2022-03-18, version 2.21.3*

This is a horrible app. The content is fine although you have to pay for things you are already paying for if you are a subscriber to any of the publications. Also, quite few articles are published here. But the really horrible part is the reading. Even if you set it to 2x speed it is mind boggling slow. The worst part however is that every time the article has a full stop the audio pauses for several seconds. As in many many seconds. So stressful and it really makes the app useless. iOS even things the audio has stopped so it pauses and restarts. Very strange. The pause is what you would expect between two articles but not something that happens hundreds of times in one article. Having listened to one article for 40 minutes, which should have taken maybe 20, I have never been more stressed ever. To preserve my health I have now deleted the app.

### 1/5 — Authors reading their own pieces sound terrible; tech issues

*2021-11-08, version 2.20.1*

Audm used to be a great app, but lately it has gotten bad. First, they have started allowing authors to read their own pieces (as opposed to qualified voice actors/readers). Many of the authors SOUND TERRIBLE. I’m sorry, I get no joy hearing an article read by someone with a heavy lisp and awful vocal fry. Second, would it kill them to expand the sources they use? I’d love to see Jacobin or some more cutting-edge journals/magazines featured, not the same things over and over and over again. Third, the app randomly will add and intersperse long pauses between paragraphs for no reason, and/or crash. 

Please stop having authors read articles. It adds nothing. Use your professional voice actors, the ones we pay for to read these pieces. And please, add some more sources and fix your tech.

### 1/5 — Nefarious Tracking?

*2020-05-19, version 2.12.2*

The first thing the app does is ask for Bluetooth permission. No audio or video app should ever ask for this. Why? Because playing audio thru bluetooth is handled by the OS and doesn’t need permission. So then why ask for permission? Unless the app needs access to a specific Bluetooth piece of hardware (think GPS or heart rate monitor, etc), when they ask for permission, usually it’s to use Bluetooth as a tracking system thru beacons. So in absence of an explanation for why they need this access, I’m going to assume it’s for tracking. The sad thing is I bet most people click ok to allow access thinking that if they don’t, they won’t be able to use their headphones or speakers or car stereo. Shady.

Second: when creating an account, neither the email or password fields do not use the OS api for password creation or management. So you can’t generate a strong password or account during the set up process in the app. Unless you make something up or switch to a password manager and set up an account and cut n paste. 

Never got to step 3 since I gave up. The Bluetooth permission thing is shady (yes, I denied access, but it shouldn’t even be there) and the bs pain point of generating a password externally we’re enough to stop me from continuing. 

Horrible UI/UX experience.

### 2/5 — Generally disappointing

*2022-07-30, version 2.22.1*

Audio is very glitchy. There’s noticeable chirps between paragraphs and some sentences. Seeking is also painful, probably because of the quirky and questionable UI choice the developer team made to have the text of an article scroll in sync with the spoken words. Kinda a useless embellishment in my opinion, and it makes seeking forward in an article truly painful.  Queue sorting is also buggy. Often sorting changes are lost, and more often the app will outright crash when trying to sort a playlist. On the subject of content, i feel a bit cheated by their claims of “professionally narrated content” (or something to that effect, in their  marketing). Many articles, particularly those by NYT are narrated by the authors themselves, who are not necessarily professional narrators, a pretty obvious cost-cutting measure.  The curation of content is also lacking, or perhaps just slow—i check back often but don’t see a meaningful amount of new articles posted on a frequent basis.  By and large this app disappoints, but I’ve already paid for a year in advance so my only recourse is to publicly shame all the very rough edges. Their devs put some effort into refinement. There’s tons of potential here.

### 2/5 — Great idea but app issues make it unusable

*2021-12-29, version 2.21.3*

The playback will consistently become stuck at the end of paragraphs for 5-10 seconds. More often than not, when it resumes playback it will have skipped the next paragraph. It’s really annoying to have the app playing while doing something else but have to go back into the app and force it to play a paragraph it skipped when suddenly the story doesn’t make any sense. Then it makes you wonder what other paragraphs it might have skipped that you didn’t notice, but I never have the patience to go back and check. It’s a great idea that I’d gladly pay the price they ask for if it worked as expected, but I’m finding the app unusable.

### 2/5 — Too many short NYT columns read by author themselves

*2021-10-05, version 2.20.0*

I have been using this app for nearly 2 years now and I have been enjoying it. There are still some longstanding pesky bugs and issues with the usability, but that's not what I'm here for. Since NYT acquired Audm, this app changed for the worse. Previously Audm mostly marketed itself as an app for verified longform articles, which were read by professional narrators. I liked it a lot. But since the acquisition, Audm is full of short NYT columns or op-eds which don't have much info. Sure, NYT has good articles too; but what NYT pushes to Audm are short columns that are mostly not very informational. And worse still, those short NYT columns are *read by the reporters*. Where have the professional narrators gone? Sure, some of the reporters have really good voices clear pronunciation, but the quality of the narration varies a lot depending on who reads it. Why all NYT articles should be read by the authors themselves? They are not professional narrators. Can Audm please come back to its old self, the app with verified good-quality longform articles, read by pro narrators?

### 2/5 — I want to like this

*2021-09-23, version 2.19.0*

Second time around subscribing hoping the scope quantity would have increased, but the articles that are available just don’t seem to be the ones from the publications that I would like to hear.  Not sure why expected all articles to be read from these magazines, not a fair expectation, just not sure how they choose with articles to read.  Wish they were the ones that I wanted to read. Also, the refresh of new content seems very slow. Today get the writer a mic one piece of software, Audm should do slight edits and boom, much more content. But again no idea their business model so…Kinda just venting. Going to cancel and try again in another year

### 2/5 — Great idea, but not well implemented

*2019-11-01, version 2.6.0*

As the title of this review indicates, I think the developers of Audm had a great idea. Sadly, it has not been implemented very effectively. From a purely technical point of view the user interface is a bit clumsy. The way in which articles are selected, queued, and played could be a lot cleaner. More annoying is the app’s propensity to crash. For example, as I am writing this (the last day of October 2019), the app nearly always crashes when scrolling through the list of available periodicals. 

I could perhaps live with these technical shortcomings, but far more troublesome are the content issues, viz., the lack of good articles from which to select. Given the lengthy list of periodicals the app touts, the developer would have prospective users think that there is a vast, vast number of quality articles from which to chose. But that’s not really the case. To cite just one example, the last article available from “The New York Review of Books”, a semi-monthly publication, was two and a half months prior to the writing of this app review.

### 3/5 — Great listening, app has missing features

*2022-10-02, version 2.22.1*

The content on Audm is fabulous. Great narrative stories with excellent readers. The app, however, is frost rating. Like other reviewers said, I come here for long form journalism, compelling stories, and profiles. The feed is taken up by 5 min news clips. The Trending section needs to get refreshed for recency. A story about Hunter Biden’s laptop has been the top story for weeks. Who cares. I’d like to filter by story types- longform, profile, narrative journalism, crime etc. I would also like to follow publications. And the queue functionality needs improvement. Currently there is only the option to “play next”. I would like to play next, play later, play last like the Apple Podcasts app.

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Review

*2023-01-10, version 2.22.1*

I love having very important articles read to me that I would never have taken the time to read!  In exploring topics that I formerly regarded as “secondary,” i.e.,articles that I didn’t agree with,  my eyes have been opened to the severity of dangers to the U.S., it’s legal foundation, and our democracy.  Now that I’m aware, I’m talking to my friends about my concerns and fears.  Thank you for this superb compilation of readings and thank you for bringing them within my reach by reading them to me.  The readers, too, are easy on the ears, and they don’t read too fast which allows me to absorb the material which sometimes requires deep reflection.

### 5/5 — Fabulous fabulous

*2022-09-13, version 2.22.1*

Easy to use. Excellent content. Engaging voices. Good pacing. Incredible value.

If you are a person who often looks longingly after articles shared on Twitter that exist behind paywalls that you either can’t afford to pass or know you won’t have time to make it worth it if you did choose to subscribe, then this is absolutely for you. 

I’ll be honest, if you don’t actively want to read more excellent articles, I am not sure it will create this desire for you, but if you have any inclination towards excellent journalism- I recommend this so much.

### 5/5 — Too busy to read?? You can listen to great journalism

*2022-08-06, version 2.22.1*

I love AUDM! Grocery shopping, loading and unloading the dishwasher and doing the laundry - along with endless other boring stuff I have to do - is now an opportunity to be catching up on terrific articles that I don’t have time to sit and read. 

if you are in the same fix and don’t have enough time to sit and enjoy reading great articles, AUDM is godsend for frustrated readers, providing audio versions of great long form journalism from terrific  publications and you get access to dozens of articles from an extensive list of magazines including The Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine, New Yorker and many more. The monthly cost is best described as a screaming deal - I don’t know they do it, but I am just glad they do!

### 5/5 — EXACTLY what I've been seeking

*2022-05-18, version 2.22.1*

Not an audiobook, not a podcast, it's the articles I would read if I had the time. Excellent selections read by true professionals, it's truly a pleasure to listen to. And the best feature of all is that the text scrolls in time with the audio! So when they're reading names, for example, you don't need to guess at the spelling to google for more information. I can't believe no one has done this before. Apps like audible truly missed the boat on this one. 
Without a doubt the best value subscription service I use. Highest recommendation!

### 5/5 — Great content in a simple interface

*2021-07-28, version 2.18.2*

I started listening to articles in Audm during the height of the pandemic. When stuck at home all the time, staring at my screens too much, it was such a relief to close my eyes and listen to high quality recordings. I prefer Audm articles over podcasts because they're polished and professional, and also over audiobooks because they're short enough that I can explore a lot of different topics. This is probably the content subscription that I use the most right now, since it doesn't present the same decision paralysis problems as TV / movie apps.

### 5/5 — Life-changing app, Incredible articles!

*2021-06-20, version 2.16.2*

I live in LA and I’m in the car a lot. I love my New Yorker and Atlantic, but don’t always have time to plow through the long-form articles… though I want to, since they tend to be well-researched and beautifully written - not to mention about fascinating topics. This app has changed all that. I can “listen” to all these amazing articles by having them read to me by fabulous voiceover artists while driving. What a treat!  Worth every penny. The other bonus is I’ve stumbled across terrific pieces from other magazines I don’t normally pick up. It has seriously broadened the depth of my knowledge in many different areas. Highly recommend!!

### 5/5 — My favorite app

*2021-04-07, version 2.16.2*

I really love this app. I really like the longer pieces, and the people who do the audio are top notch. The writing featured on Audm does contain some current events and news, but I prefer the typically longer profile pieces, in depth reporting, narrative nonfiction, etc. I find myself most often selecting articles by the Atavist, Outdoor Magazine, the New Yorker, and the New York Times Sunday articles, just to name a few. 

The overall design and UI is great. I really wouldn’t change a thing, except that I find myself running short on articles some weeks. Don’t get me wrong, there’s tons of content on Audm, but I use this app constantly.

### 5/5 — “Read to me, please”

*2021-03-10, version 2.15.1*

My retirement life seems to have far more “listening time” then “quiet time” where I sit in a quiet place with a cup of tea and a long article. For example, mowing the lawn, doing errands for the grandkids, daily exercise including walking. Although I love quiet time and reading, I love even more accessing and consuming long article format in the magazines covered by Audm. An additional benefit is that I get a good selection of articles for magazines that I would subscribe to if the household treasurer would let me subscribe to everything I wanted. However, her eagle eye skips over the modest monthly fee for Audm and I get access to some great long article and Public Intellectual magazines.

### 5/5 — I Love This App

*2021-01-18, version 2.15.1*

This app is worth every penny. The readers are excellent, and the content is top flight long form journalism. Sure, I wish it were cheaper, but i use it almost every day, and the pricing is fair. That said, I’d love to see more content, and a few more sources. The editors draw most heavily from the larger established publications, such as the New Yorker and the NYT. Although Mother Jones is in their stable, I seldom see articles posted. I almost never see articles read from the New York Review of Books. This is understandable perhaps, but a bit more diversity would be welcome. Utne Reader? Anyway, love the app. It’s great for driving and exercise sessions.

### 5/5 — The “Audio book” for magazines

*2021-01-01, version 2.15.1*

I’m someone who rarely has time to sit still to read, but I can often absorb a story, podcast, or article while physically doing other things.  In the same way audio books have allowed me to absorb way more books than I normally have room for, this app has let me take in some great long-form magazine articles I’d typically not have the time for.   The narrators are all first rate and some recognizable from the audio books I’ve listened to. 

My only constructive criticism would be that sometimes the narrators can lay on the emotive tone a little thick, and dial it back a notch, but for the most part, they strike a good balance.

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*