# Podcast Alarm: Wake & Listen — user reviews

> 53 indexed App Store user reviews of Podcast Alarm by Jonathan Wilson, rated 3.30/5 from 82 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/podcast-alarm-wake-and-listen/id1441890371/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/podcast-alarm-wake-and-listen/id1441890371.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 34 · 4★ 11 · 3★ 9 · 2★ 5 · 1★ 23

## What do users think of Podcast Alarm?

Overall sentiment: negative

**Pros**

- 💡 Great idea for an alarm
- 👍 Simple and clean design
- 💰 Free to use
- ✅ Does what it says
- 👍 Developer responsiveness noted

**Cons**

- 🐛 Alarm doesn't work reliably
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 App doesn't play latest episodes
- 🐛 Limited podcast selection
- 🐛 User-unfriendly interface
- 🐛 Paid app with many issues
- 🐛 Inconsistent performance
- 🐛 Requires app to be open
- 🐛 Cannot delete episodes from queue
- 🐛 Paid app, not worth price
- 🐛 Alarm doesn't stop
- 🐛 Issues with horizontal iPad use
- 🐛 Cannot edit set alarms
- 🐛 Alarm plays simultaneously with other audio
- 🐛 Play/pause controls not on lock screen
- 🐛 Tiny play/pause buttons
- 🐛 Cannot sync with Apple podcasts
- 🐛 Paid for an app that doesn't work
- 🐛 Fails to download episodes
- 🐛 Repeat feature doesn't work
- 🐛 Not the most recent episode played
- 🐛 Cannot get alarm to go off
- 🐛 Alarm doesn't go off
- 🐛 Stopped allowing alarms
- 🐛 Cannot link to paid podcasts
- 🐛 Alarm doesn't sound
- 🐛 Volume needs to be maxed
- 🐛 Over-priced for features
- 🐛 Cannot select order of automatic subscriptions
- 🐛 Cannot stop listening without starting new one
- 🐛 Cannot have daily speed setting
- 🐛 Alarm doesn't go off
- 🐛 Not much podcast access
- 🐛 Cannot get it to play sound
- 🐛 Cannot disable recurring alarm easily
- 🐛 Setting recurring alarm creates many individual alarms
- 🐛 Alarm only plays latest episode
- 🐛 Cannot edit set alarms
- 🐛 Cannot sync with Apple podcast app

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Alarm does not go off
- App crashes when setting alarm
- App does not play latest podcast episode
- Cannot delete episodes from queue
- Alarm does not stop
- App freezes and cannot be force shut down
- App fails to download episodes
- Repeat feature does not work
- Alarm does not play sound
- App doesn't always work
- Alarm only plays the latest episode
- Cannot edit set alarms
- Alarm plays simultaneously with other audio
- Play and pause controls not accessible from lock screen
- Alarm does not sound
- App crashes when trying to set an alarm
- Alarm fails to begin playing
- UI is laggy during alarm creation
- Cannot sync with Apple podcast app
- Recurring alarm creates multiple individual alarms
- Cannot disable recurring alarm easily
- Search function not working for podcasts
- App only plays previous day's podcast
- App resumes playing after phone call even on silent
- App cuts off features when used horizontally on iPad

**Most requested features**

- Ability to delete episodes from queue
- Ability to select order of automatic subscriptions
- Ability to stop listening without starting new one
- Ability to set daily podcast speed
- Ability to subscribe to multiple podcasts for continuous play
- Ability to set multiple alarms for snoozing
- Easy way to temporarily disable recurring alarms
- Dark mode option
- Add BBC global news podcast
- Add NPR Up First podcast
- Allow user to pick up where left off on latest episode
- Ability to skip ahead in podcasts
- Allow user to link to already paid podcasts
- Make play and pause buttons larger
- Allow play and pause controls from lock screen
- Allow alarms to pause other audio
- Make time in nightstand mode float to prevent burn-in

## Newest reviews (16 of 53)

### 2/5 — Unreliable so far

*2025-05-11, version 1.24*

The app has only worked a few times for me. Thankfully I set back up alarms just in case. I’ve tested it and it only seems to work when I have the actual app open. Won’t work if my phone is locked. I tried looking for tips on the website but it seems like I’m doing everything I can for it to work properly? I’d really like to use it but can’t have something unreliable. Any tips appreciated if I’ve missed something.

### 3/5 — GREAT Idea

*2024-10-12*

I love, LOVE, the idea of this so much. But the alarm is not set up-as far as I can tell, to play thethe podcasts under most circumstances. My experience is that the app has to stay open in order for it to work, which And setting up the podcast is a little confusing, and to play the selection as you’re waking up is hit or miss 😭

### 2/5 — Inconsistent

*2024-06-10*

This app has not worked all this week and I am so disappointed. When it works it is great, but when it’s not I thank God for waking me up in time for work. Get it together, people!!

### 3/5 — Limited functionality

*2024-04-23, version 1.24*

I was hoping this would be able to tee up multiple daily playlists in a particular order for my alarm and play them consecutively. I have a few daily podcasts I like and want to wake up to them in the same order every day. Instead it only plays one and sometimes it plays the previous day for some reason…for a paid app, I was expecting more functionality.

### 2/5 — Inconsistent

*2023-08-31*

This app has not worked all this week and I am so disappointed. When it works it is great, but when it’s not I thank God for waking me up in time for work. Get it together, people!!

### 2/5 — Inconsistent

*2023-07-20*

This app has not worked all this week and I am so disappointed. When it works it is great, but when it’s not I thank God for waking me up in time for work. Get it together, people!!

### 3/5 — Great, but limited podcast options

*2022-05-22*

I like it a lot! The only thing is that it doesn’t have my favorite morning podcast, NPR Up First. I’m not sure how hard that is to add. I will update my review to 5 stars when it gets added!

### 2/5 — It’s ok

*2021-11-17*

Been using it for a few days. The idea works, you are able to set up an alarm where your podcast plays.  However it is not the most recent episode. So, if you follow a daily podcast or a news podcast, you’re not going to be getting a daily play, you’re getting whatever day the app chooses to play. If the settings allowed for the user to figure out a way to ensure that you’re getting the most recent episode, this app would be great.

### 4/5 — Seems legit

*2021-11-13*

Good selection of podcasts, does just what it needs to do, developer seems responsive, quality app 👍🏼

### 1/5 — Doesn’t work

*2021-09-15, version 1.23*

I have set the alarm on this to play a podcast to wake me up & it has not once worked... however when I hang up from a call it randomly plays the alarm... deleting the app, waste of money

### 1/5 — App needs some work

*2021-09-04, version 1.23*

For the life of me, I can’t get the alarm on this app to go off with the podcast of my choice, which is the whole reason why I bought it. I just doesn’t work if you set it over like 10 hours prior.

### 1/5 — Late for work third day of use.

*2021-03-17, version 1.23*

The normal iPhone alarm hasn’t let me down in over 5 years. Third day of using podcast alarm and it didn’t go off and ended up late for work. Wouldn’t recommend

### 3/5 — Promising, but currently mediocre

*2021-02-07*

An app like this is really useful; waking up to podcasts instead of repeated screeching is great. And this app, unlike all other podcast alarms currently on offer, does not attempt to jury-rig a connection with the apple podcast app, it just keeps everything in-house — and that added stability and reliability is super important for my alarms. 

As of now tho, it has some issues. 

For bugs: 

-When I use this horizontally on my ipad, it cuts off certain features so that I have to turn my ipad vertical to be able to operate the app; 

-After an alarm is set you can only edit the time and repeats not the podcast being played. 

For features — not bugs, but missing features which would make the user experience much better: 

-There is no autoplay which starts the next podcast once the current one ends; 

-The alarm (using automatic source — where it picks from the latest episode of a subscribed podcast) always starts a new episode and does not give the option to pick up where you left off on the latest episode;

-Other podcast alarms give you the ability to skip ahead when a podcast alarm starts — to bypass early ads or long intros — this one does not. 

All in all, is it worth $3? Meh. I personally would say yes; but I’m on the fence and could definitely see someone else thinking it isn’t good enough to warrant that price. Has promise, and I’m still glad I bought the app, and in time I could certainly see it getting amazing, but it just isn’t all the way there yet.

**Developer response:** Thanks for the detailed review, I will be looking into your suggestions for future updates.

### 4/5 — Seems to work (mostly); lag with UI

*2020-12-11*

UPDATE #1:

I was able to find the complete podcast that I originally wanted. Its name was slightly different than I thought, so I wanted to quickly update this review to show that the app did not mess up there. 

However, I tried using it for my alarm this morning, but it never sounded. My iPad volume was completely down, though. Not sure if this played a role. The episode did not seem to be playing quietly, so it may have truly failed to begin playing. Regardless, if you have to max up your volume every night, that’s a huge pain. You don’t have to do that with the normal Apple alarm app. I’ll update more when I’ve used it for longer.

——————————————————————————————
Just installed this app. First impressions:

- The alarm worked with a podcast when I tried it just now on my iPad.
- It has the option to have repeated alarms (e.g., for weekdays). This is great (assuming it works).
- The UI (specifically the alarm creation process) was very laggy. I kept expecting the app to crash. However, it did work in the end.

Biggest problem:
- I bought this app for a specific podcast (a Spanish grammar podcast). I am 100% certain that this podcast (all episodes) is available for free through the Apple podcast app. However, I could only find the 10 most recent episodes via the app. They were not grouped together as a podcast, either. No podcast was found when I searched for it, just these 10 episodes. Clearly, the episodes are there, but for some reason the app doesn’t display that there is a podcast that they all belong to that has many more episodes. Very disappointed about this.

I’ll update this review if I find more bugs or if these issues are fixed. Thank you!

**Developer response:** Thanks for the detailed review! I have recently updated the alarm view, its concerning you mention it being laggy! I would love to find out what device you are using to see if I can recreate on my side. I would also love to hear your thoughts and input 1:1! if you wanted to you can reach me by email on jonathan@podcastalarm.app or on some of the social platforms.

### 1/5 — Do not buy this app !!!!

*2020-11-23, version 1.21*

I have a iphone 10 and the app simply doesn’t work, i tried everything (reset iphone, reinstall app etc). Everytime i try to set a alarm the app is crashing and closing (no other apps on my phone do this).

### 3/5 — Works in part

*2020-10-29, version 1.20*

The idea is great (and baffling it’s not possible natively). It works fine when selecting podcast episodes individually but the alarms don’t go off if “automatic” is selected (selects the last podcast in your subscriptions)

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Incredibly annoying

*2026-01-18*

The least user-friendly app ever. I cannot play the podcast episode I want to as an alarm and there is no way to delete an episode from the queue.

### 1/5 — Ne fonctionne pas. À fuir.

*2025-09-08, version 1.24*

J’ai pris cette application (payante) pour pouvoir me réveiller avec des épisodes bien précis de certains podcasts d’hypnose choisis précisément et sélectionnés (cela se nomme « queue » ). Même en maintenant l’application allumée durant la nuit, cela fonctionne une fois sur deux ou trois voire moins. Quand le jour de l’alarme est passé même si on a sélectionné « tous les jours » cela ne fonctionne pas : il n’y a plus rien du tout et il faut reprogrammer chaque soir. Bref. Cette application : c’est n’importe quoi. 7€ à la poubelle. Je dois me réveiller à 4:30. Autant dire que je double avec une vraie « alarme ».

### 1/5 — 検索が死んでる

*2024-07-25, version 1.24*

検索してもPodcastの曲が出てこなく、ラジオの番組しか出ないのは何故？

### 1/5 — Unreliable

*2024-02-14*

The app, even when left on in the background, will not set off consistently.

Could be due to the selection of podcasts I have, haven’t tried debugging it that far to see if different podcasts would make a difference.

It’s a shame, this app could be awesome with a little more work and testing.

### 1/5 — Not good

*2023-09-13, version 1.24*

This app is difficult to use and not helpful. Truly a waste of time

### 1/5 — Can’t download my own podcast I prefer

*2022-12-03*

Looks like the podcast are on there of the developers choice. He must get some kind of percentage of commission very few podcast to choose from. I would like a refund until he gets it fixed to where I can put my own podcast there.

### 1/5 — Mad glitches

*2022-09-14, version 1.23*

Won’t play the newest podcast released like promised - Keeps playing the previous day’s. If the app is left running in the background and I get a phone call, when the call is over (even if the cal isn’t answered, just finishes ringing), the app resumes what was playing. Even if phone is on silent. Not good for meetings or really to ever leave the app open. Lowered my rating from 2 to 1

### 1/5 — iPad Pro frozen and unable to force shut down…

*2022-05-26, version 1.23*

and now the alarm won’t stop (set for 7 am, but it’s now 11 pm). Extremely unhappy. Nothing I can do but wait for the battery to run out.

### 1/5 — Fails every other day

*2022-02-07, version 1.23*

It simply does not work properly. Every other day it “fails to download” episode… kind of defeat the purpose of a podcast alarm clock.

### 1/5 — Worst alarm

*2022-01-27*

Only works intermittently. Not reliable as an alarm. Doesn’t start when you want it to. Has a repeat feature that doesn’t work. Worst app I’ve ever purchased!

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — I'm awake

*2023-04-28*

Everything  I needed, no subscription, no ads. Very simple and clean design. (Except if there are ads built into a podcast recording but that's not the dev's fault.)

### 5/5 — Free!

*2023-01-23, version 1.23*

Great free podcast alarm!

### 5/5 — Can we have BBC global news?

*2021-08-16, version 1.23*

BBC global news is by far the best news podcast that I’ve been listening to for years. Any possibility that we could have that? Thanks

### 5/5 — Does what it says

*2021-06-16, version 1.23*

Wakes me up with the latest podcast in the streams I’ve chosen. Thanks

### 5/5 — Fab!

*2020-09-21, version 1.18*

What a brilliant idea. What better way is there to wake up than with a relaxing, enjoyable podcast of your choice? Great podcast suggestions and regular updates, this app is a must-have!

### 5/5 — Норм

*2020-05-18*

Просыпаться от голосов умных людей — бесценно

**Developer response:** Спасибо за обзор

### 5/5 — The best way to wake up

*2020-04-26, version 1.15*

I was looking for a better way to wake up, hoping to find an alarm app that uses music or podcasts. Googled and randomly found Podcast Alarm. Recommend to people who love podcasts and hate waking up to ugly sounds! 🤗🤗

### 5/5 — Amazing!

*2020-03-25*

I have wanted to wake to podcasts for years, and now I finally can!  This isn’t just any old app, though. You can schedule multiple alarms for multiple podcasts. There is a nightstand mode showing the time all night. The best part? A developer who really cares. I posted one request at Facebook and Bam!  New feature (I asked that they make the time in nightstand mode float a bit to prevent burn in on OLED iPhones).

**Developer response:** Glad you were able to leave me a review , that feature should be out and all. Thanks again for the support!

### 5/5 — Sleek and Intuitive Alternative to Everyday Alarms

*2020-01-23, version 1.12*

It’s quick to setup an alarm and easy to search for your favourite podcasts. I like how it can also act as a podcast player if you want to use it that way.

### 5/5 — Great way to wake up

*2019-10-01, version 1.1*

I can access my favourite podcasts and wake up to something I enjoy.

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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 2026-09-13.*