# Pocket Beacon — user reviews > 272 indexed App Store user reviews of Pocket Beacon by Critical Role Productions, LLC, rated 3.30/5 from 351 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocket-beacon/id6477957665/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocket-beacon/id6477957665.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 107 · 4★ 57 · 3★ 69 · 2★ 69 · 1★ 49 ## What do users think of Pocket Beacon? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 🚀 Smooth streaming - 🎥 Great content organization - 💰 Good value for subscription - 👍 Easy to navigate **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs - 🔍 Inconsistent progress tracking - 🔇 No background audio playback - 🔒 Repeated login issues **Commonly reported bugs** - Videos starting from the beginning - Freezing when switching to audio mode - Inconsistent behavior when locking screen **Most requested features** - Picture-in-picture mode - Offline video downloads - Customizable playback controls - Apple TV app support ## Newest reviews (22 of 272) ### 4/5 — Finally able to offline view!!! *2026-08-12, version 1.40.0* I can finally rate this app 4 stars now that we can download videos to watch offline 🙏!! The last thing that keeps this from being 5 stars is that it loses my place in the videos sometimes, and it’s hard to find where I am in a campaign (hard to find which episodes you’ve already watched quickly when looking at campaign view). ### 3/5 — A glitch or two but a good start *2026-08-12, version 1.40.0* Every so often the screen goes dark, so there’s a missing setting to note that the app is active while displayed through Apple TV. I keep having to click something to make it realise I’m watching. This was within 15 minutes of starting an episode of Sallowlands, age of Umbra ### 2/5 — Incredibly buggy. *2026-07-24, version 1.37.0* Chromecast function works for about a minute then gets stuck in a constant one-second loop. App also gets stuck when viewing content just on the phone. I feel like CR has the money to make a better app. ### 2/5 — Longtime fan, but cannot stand the app *2026-07-14, version 1.37.0* It gives me so many headaches. The latest issue is now suddenly the screencast functionality has stopped working so I cannot watch anything from the app on my TV anymore. ### 2/5 — Content is awesome, app less so *2026-07-10, version 1.37.0* Love the content, but this app is frustrating, along with it not keeping me logged in, it doesn’t integrate with auto populating usernames and passwords, and I currently can’t even log in, it stalls out after entering my credentials. ### 3/5 — Content Value is High, Please Stop Logging Me Out Mid-Show *2026-07-06, version 1.37.0* Love CR and the shows they produce, but the app is a bit of a nightmare. Constantly logs me out mid-stream and sometimes blocks me from logging back in. It also crashes quite a bit. ### 3/5 — Love the Content, Fix This Bug *2026-06-30, version 1.34.4* I’ve been a fan of Critical Role Since Campaign 1 and have fully watched every mainline episode of each campaign. I will consume any content they put out, but if I have to login 1 more time, I might explode. ### 2/5 — Great content, bad app *2026-06-28, version 1.34.4* The app logs me out 3-4 times a day, has no mechanic to remember my email address so I have to type it manually every time, forgets my place within episodes, and eats up massive amounts of battery life. Still preferable over watching on YouTube with ads, but seriously, please fix this app! ### 2/5 — Buggy Still *2026-06-26, version 1.34.4* Constantly getting kicked out/logged off of the app. Many times the episodes will just stop playing and take me quitting the app to resume. And often times when I pause an episode to come back to later it picks up at a lot earlier of a spot in the episode. I do badly want to like this app but these are all major issues with being able to just simple enjoy content. And it’s unfortunate that there is still no download/offline option. ### 2/5 — Barely runs *2026-06-26, version 1.34.4* Lags constantly, logs me out every time I use it just the same if not more as it did months ago. Kinda crazy to have this much of this same feedback here for this long and even acknowledging it for it to just be seemingly worse than before, kinda feels like a slap in the face especially if I’m paying for it as long as I have been now, ill just go back to monday crew if it keeps up not everyone can afford to ignore and deal with this every month with their subscriptions. ### 2/5 — Videos restarting constantly *2026-06-25, version 1.34.4* I love the content but the app gets worse with every update. I didn't have a lot of the issues other people did when it launched but now every video restarts 3 or 4 times before it finally plays through properly and trying to skip to a specific time in the video also causes restarting or it just stops working altogether. I also can't cast it to any other device, even though it's on the same WiFi network and the buttons are available. I'm still watching the main streams on YouTube instead due to these technical problems, but maybe that's the idea - get us to pay for exclusive content on the app but still get our ad revenue on other services. ### 4/5 — Love Crit Role, struggling with this app *2026-06-23, version 1.34.4* For starters, I love having a hub for all my favorite content. If you’re a fan, instant access, and the Cooldown are enough to make this app worth it. I also really dig the feature to choose between listening and watching, thats great. In addition, the progress bar shown on your lock screen isn’t scrubbable. You’ve got your 15 second scrub buttons, but the bar is just an indicator, which i super love. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve accidentally lost my spot over the years on that progress bar. That being said, I’ve been using the app for over a year now, and have yet to see them fix some key flaws. The biggest is it loves logging you out. It’ll log you out any opportunity it gets. If you step away from it for more than an hour, there’s a good chance it’ll log you out. If you were away for most of the day, just assume it did. The other is offline access. Truthfully, not the end of the world, but it’d be soo nice to download episodes for flights or campouts. I still have to refer to youtube to download episodes, and if it’s not the following Monday after the episode, you’re kinda stuck without the episode. Truthfully, those are my only issues with it. The logging out is genuinely glaring and annoying, the other would just make sense to help me stick to one app, which I’d love to do. ### 2/5 — I love you, but stop logging me out *2026-06-22, version 1.34.4* I love critical role and want to always support but every day and even during videos the app logs me out automatically, tis quite annoying ### 2/5 — I LOVE Critical Role *2026-06-21, version 1.34.4* As a fellow Critter it pains me to rate this so low but the app is nigh unusable. I’m a huge fan of CR and love their content which is why I’ve spent so much time on this app in the first place! But the bugs are absolutely unbearable (randomly restarting episode in the middle of watching, getting automatically logged out of the app regularly, changing my timestamp every time I change apps by swiping on iPhone, losing my place in the video sometimes when I close my phone or click a notification while watching). Plus, the lack of a comment section makes me feel very excluded from the building of community. I know they’ve got a discord but it’s not the same. Anyway, they’ve got a lot going on but they HAVE to give more love to this app when it’s the exclusive source of much of their extra content and the only way to watch without the INSUFFERABLE amount of ads on YouTube. I will GLADLY adjust my review once these improvements are made. ### 2/5 — Great content, infuriating app *2026-06-16, version 1.34.4* It’s 4am and the baby is hungry. I wake up, feed her, and watch some CR while I calm her down. It’s a nice respite in a difficult time. C4 is going great. Baby starts to stir again so I pause Pocket Beacon to get a bottle ready. Pick up the fussy baby with one and a half hands, pick up the bottle with the remaining half hand, and hit play by pressing my earbud to my shoulder. Error. It logged me out while I paused it to get a bottle. It logged me out when I had very little physical or emotional bandwidth to log back in. It logged me out for - no exaggeration - the third time in 24 hours. And it’s been logging me out so often and for so long that I’m not surprised, I’m just disappointed and a little mad. ### 2/5 — Continuity issues *2026-06-15, version 1.34.4* Hi. I love your content. I’m just really frustrated with the app. It logs me out, restarts the show, or just freezes in the middle of watching. On top of the fact that it doesn’t always remember where we last left on an episode, so we have to try and fast forward. But that always causes an issue. Would love to see these fixed. ### 2/5 — So disconnected *2026-06-12, version 1.34.4* Constantly logging me out, not connecting with apple’s pw manager so you have to manually type user/pass every time. Love CR but this app is awful. ### 4/5 — Good app glaring flaw *2026-06-10, version 1.34.0* It’s got what I want and does what I need it to, but the getting logged out just cause I moved away from it is quite annoying. Hoping that enough complaints get it fixed but other than that I’m happy ### 2/5 — Great Content, Buggy App constantly logging me out and losing place in video. *2026-06-09, version 1.34.0* It’s been 6 months since I subscribed, and they still haven’t fixed this extremely annoying bug where the app logs you out randomly—even in the middle of watching a show! I’m having to re login 5-6 times to watch one episode. Also they need to fix the UI of the playback progress bar in landscape mode so that it doesn’t move me to the middle of the episode every time I need to swipe up to switch apps. There’s no excuse for this, especially when you can use AI to help fix bugs like this easily. ### 2/5 — Great content; garbage app *2026-06-06, version 1.34.0* CR’s content remains amazing but this app is poor. Online-only viewing and constantly being logged out (including while I’m using the app) makes for a garbage experience. ### 4/5 — 3 only cause I love critical role so much *2026-06-02, version 1.34.0* I love the content but the app is unfortunately bad. It’s poorly made where it will constantly log you out anytime you have to swipe away from the current viewing and because of the location of the play bar it is incredibly easy to accident scrub your video to a random playtime and lose your place. It’s not bad design or price and the content is the best but the platform needs to much polishing. ### 3/5 — Content is great, app could use some work *2026-06-01, version 1.34.0* Why am I getting logged out ever time I go to use the app? Why does the app keep jumping forward for no reason. Like really just go license whatever Dropout built. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Awesome content, awful app *2026-06-26, version 1.34.4* This is my third time being prompted to login for the day… I thought you guys had fixed this? UPDATE on my fifth login now ### 1/5 — Buggy App *2026-06-14, version 1.34.4* The content is great, but the app is very buggy. ### 1/5 — I’m sorry but this is trash *2026-06-10, version 1.34.0* I want to support the crew but it’s honestly shocking how bad this still is. It can’t cast, it constantly loses place, won’t keep me logged in and I just struggled for 10 minutes trying to advance ahead to the place I was already at. This app is embarrassingly bad. Please do better. ### 1/5 — Amazing show, terrible app *2026-06-07, version 1.34.0* I’ll keep subscribing to support Crit Role but this is the worst app I’ve ever kept on my phone and not instantly deleted. You can’t go 30 mins without whatever you are watching freezing and stuttering, and then requiring you to close the show and restart. It constantly logs you out for no reason and doesn’t save your details to allow for easy login. A terrible app for an incredible show. ### 1/5 — Great content, rotten app *2026-05-29, version 1.34.0* Login often doesn’t work , and required to login almost weekly, no enduring login on the same device. ### 1/5 — Need to be able to download *2026-05-27, version 1.34.0* Don’t currently have my subscription due to this issue, as well as many other minor issues pointed out by other reviews that build up to be more trouble than the subscription is worth. ### 1/5 — Worst video player app out there *2026-05-06, version 1.33.0* I love the content on this app, unfortunately I don’t think that’s what the rating is for. This is the worst video player I have ever seen on the web or in an app. MULTIPLE times I have been 3.5 hours into a session and the player will stop, black screen, and revert back to a completely random time stamp. I think I have been forcefully logged out over 20 times in the very short time I’ve used it. When you use the skip buttons, it doesn’t compound. Meaning you have to wait for every 15 seconds of the video to load before the skipping actually occurs. I wasn’t expecting YouTube quality or anything but even when compared to DROPOUT this thing is a POS. ### 1/5 — I expected better from Critical Role *2026-04-21, version 1.30.1* For clarity, this is a review of this specific app, not of Critical Role as a whole! I really enjoy Critical Role and wanted to support what they do by subscribing to Beacon. However I have been very disappointed in the quality of this app. Often the app will simply stop playing, or will encounter an error when I rewind 30 seconds. Tonight I went to listen and had a recurring error that prevented me from listening. This app has been around long enough that these bugs should be fixed by now. There also isn’t any way to download content which is standard on paid streaming apps. ### 1/5 — Great service horrific app *2026-04-07, version 1.30.1* I love cr and all the content that come with the beacon subscription but the app is truly terrible, I have to log in 3-4 times a day, every episode I have a problem were the timeline skips around completely at random so I lose my place constantly, really just delete everything copy/paste whatever dropout did with a Vimeo player and go with that cause this feels like a lost cause ### 1/5 — Love CR but this app is trash *2026-04-04, version 1.30.1* Content is great, but this app is awful. I was very forgiving when the app first came out, but after almost two years there has been no progress with all of the technical issues. Episodes randomly stop playing or restart from the beginning for no reason, and it doesn’t always save progress between watch sessions. The only reason I haven’t cancelled the subscription yet is because my husband really enjoys the Cooldowns. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Fantastic improvements *2026-08-14, version 1.40.0* Looks like they’ve fixed some of my biggest frustrations so far! The point you’ve watched to in the video gets saved now, so there’s no reloading when you lose reception or swipe out. The embedded video function works really smoothly and keeps playing when you turn off your screen, which is great when I’m driving or puttering around the house. And they just enabled downloading episodes!! 🤩 much love for the continued tweaks and improvements, well done! 💕 ### 5/5 — Not as bad as they say *2026-08-12, version 1.40.0* I’ve been using this app since the beginning, and I don’t really have the bugs that get mentioned in other apps. Offline watching has just been added as well! This app is the only way I watch CR now, and even an occasional bug is well worth it. ### 5/5 — FINALLY CAN DOWNLOAD *2026-08-12, version 1.40.0* After the feedback and frustrations for the past few months/years with this app, looks like it’s finally shaping up to be usable. You can FINALLY download episodes and Many of the bugs have been/are being addressed. ### 5/5 — They’ve fixed the issues from other reviews. *2026-06-17, version 1.34.4* The reviews saying they kept losing their place had me seriously worried. I listen at work and while I could use YouTube, I want to get as much value out my Beacon sub as I can. Since I work at a mechanic shop it would be a serious pain to keep losing my spot. I am happy to report I have not had a single problem with the app outside of one losing the ability to pause or rewind the video. This was circumvented by minimizing the video/audio to the small bar and pausing/rewinding from there. ### 5/5 — Love the content but the app.. *2025-12-18* I love that we have a ton of content from the past, also we have the new podcasts, Weird kids and Beacon webcomic. However the can be glitchy and we haven’t had enough exclusive content to keep supporting the “exclusive subscription” Price worth. Now with Daggerheart and Darrington Press there should be more than enough people to add more exclusive shows or continue with the the older shows like “All work and no play”and “4-sided tavern” etc. Edit: Like the new update it makes the app a little of a new layout that is easier to navigate. Honestly every thing has been working better in the past months. I like the new stuff they added for the holiday seasons. I can’t wait to see more for the next year! ### 5/5 — Background play works! *2025-10-04, version 1.17.0* Background play is working! Thank you! ### 5/5 — Picture in Picture works on iPhone! *2025-08-08, version 1.17.0* Significant improvements and fixes have been done in this app. It is absolutely fantastic now! You can watch Picture in Picture mode and lock your phone and playback continues now. App is highly reliable and the issues I had initially been concerned about have all been resolved! ### 5/5 — Excellent *2025-07-10, version 1.17.0* Love Critical Role, love the content. It’s nice to have it all in one place. Worth every penny. ### 5/5 — Joy *2025-05-30, version 1.17.0* It’s great to have a place where you can find all the critical role content and they have started to branch out and do more content. Got into them last year and I’ve managed to get caught up on mostly everything. ### 5/5 — It used to be glitchy but they fixed the major issues *2025-03-14, version 1.16.0* It used to be glitchy but they fixed the major issues --- *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 2026-08-27.*