# Rick Steves Audio Europe™ — user reviews > 176 indexed App Store user reviews of Rick Steves Audio Europe™ by RICK STEVES EUROPE, INC., rated 4.30/5 from 493 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rick-steves-audio-europe/id414357125/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rick-steves-audio-europe/id414357125.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 345 · 4★ 47 · 3★ 25 · 2★ 33 · 1★ 43 ## What do users think of Rick Steves Audio Europe™? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Unparalleled free content - 👍 Engaging and informative guides - 💡 Comprehensive city and attraction tours - 🎧 Convenient audio format - 🗺️ Helpful maps and directions **Cons** - 🐛 Occasional crashes and audio issues - 🔋 Battery drain when app is in background - 🤖 Outdated and buggy user interface - 🚫 Requires pre-downloading content **Commonly reported bugs** - Audio cutting in and out - Playback issues when pausing/resuming - Inability to resume tours after switching apps **Most requested features** - Improved background audio playback - Ability to zoom and pan maps - Support for more countries and cities - Integration with ticket booking and planning ## Newest reviews (17 of 176) ### 2/5 — Audio cuts in & out constantly *2025-11-29, version 4.1.26* The audio constantly cuts in & out. Makes the whole experience really bad. ### 3/5 — Don’t pause it *2025-10-23, version 4.1.26* If you pause the playback briefly, the app can’t resume easily. Either won’t PLAY at all, or sound cuts in and one. This is a longstanding issue ### 4/5 — Time to update the app *2025-08-26* App needs updating! Sound volume is fading in/out when iPhone screen is closed. Meaning, you must leave the screen active and waste battery life in order to listen. Not ideal for a long day Without your battery dying ### 5/5 — Great app *2025-08-16, version 4.1.26* We used it in Athens for the acropolis and ancient agora tours,Worked great and made things that we would usually stroll past interesting and engaging. One or two cheesy moments but still great. Would definitely recommend and use for other city’s ### 4/5 — Good with bugs *2025-07-31, version 4.1.26* I’ve used their guided audio tours through several cities in Europe. I really like their app, but the UI is quite outdated. More frustrating is the audio bug that’s been around for at least a year. If you pause or resume outside the app, the audio goes in and out. You have to re enter the app and pause/unpause. ### 5/5 — High recommended *2025-06-01, version 4.1.26* It does a great job of giving you the context and history, while being concise and guiding you on an efficient route to see the important sights. We followed it for our Italy trip, using for some city walk tours and museum/sight tours. For some museums we wanted to go more in-depth in, we rented the audio guide there as it has more content. Most guidebooks don’t have routes designed so you spend time trying to find your way around. We also tried some other apps and they were not as good, wasting our time rambling on unimportant facts. Remember to bring headphones. You can also download guides to use offline. ### 4/5 — Great audio tours, some issues with app *2025-05-29* We used several of Rick’s audio tours for our first trip to Italy. His tours really brought to life the history of what we were seeing in famous places like the Colosseum and Roman Forum. We loved his tours of the Vatican Museum and Uffizi Gallery, letting us zeroed in on the art we shouldn’t miss. We did experience a few technical issues. The audio would sometimes cut-out. This especially happened if I paused the app. I would then have to stop, get out of app and get back in. Not great, but overall loved the tours-they added so much to the sights we were seeing! Thanks Rick! ### 2/5 — Apps functionality is horrible for a podcast app *2025-05-26* Every audio app that is popular works functionally much better. While the content/podcasts are solid and the overall information is good, the actual app is the opposite. The apple version does not play consistently if the phone is locked, and causes cutouts/breaks of sound during the podcast every few seconds. The only way the audio would play uninterrupted was keeping the app open and pulled up. If any other app was pulled up, or the phone was locked, the podcasts go back to be choppy and almost unlistenable. ### 2/5 — Poor Execution *2025-05-13, version 4.1.26* As others have said, the audio is choppy, frequently stopping when the phone screens goes dark. One must restart the app. The content is so-so. The directions at various sites are poor. One is easily lost trying to follow obscure directions. The narration is typical Rick Steves cynicism and snarkiness. Rick frequently and inappropriately imposes modern views on ancient subjects. As a Lutheran, Rick’s narration is liberally sprinkled with subtle or openly anti-Catholic statements. ### 5/5 — Great *2025-05-03, version 4.1.26* Wow this is a great app with tons of information. Works well at home in the US. Will see during our next international trip. ### 5/5 — Good *2025-04-29, version 4.1.26* Good ### 5/5 — The best app for Tour *2025-04-14* Really like and recommend this app. If you travel to Europe, it is in the must list. ### 5/5 — Fab! Just what I needed. *2025-04-11, version 4.1.26* I love the tone of voices, the pace, and the excellent maps available too. The podcasts excite me about my trips, and help me feel prepared. ### 4/5 — Good stories but app could use some work *2025-03-31* Started the Munich tour today and it was quite interesting. But… after my iPhone 15 screen went to sleep, the audio would fade in and out and jump around. The tour became unusable unless I kept the phone awake/on, thus wearing out the battery. I abandoned it. ### 4/5 — App not usable *2025-03-25* Recently installed the app on my iPhone 13., latest iOS. The App starts out playing an audio tour just fine. But when you pause and then resume, the audio becomes either very choppy or the app simply hangs. Only way out I found is to force close the app and start again. This makes the app unusable, unfortunately. This is not just in my phone, but my wife had the same issue. Deleting and reinstalling the app didn’t help. ### 5/5 — Best travel partner *2024-11-10, version 4.1.26* One of the best travel guide ever. If you have this app on your device, then no need to hire a tourist guide in Europe 💯 ### 5/5 — Goat *2024-08-14, version 4.1.26* Too good ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Obnoxious *2025-11-26, version 4.1.26* Why allow downloads if the app doesn’t work without a cell/WiFi signal? Idiotic. ### 1/5 — iPhone choppy audio playback *2025-06-11, version 4.1.26* I’m a big fan of Rick’s content, but this app keeps cutting in and out, making it all but unusable. I’m sitting in Syntagma Square in Athens trying to do a tour and it’s not working. Also didn’t work right in Rome in December. ### 1/5 — Information *2025-04-09, version 4.1.26* The interviews are lackluster and information outdated. Culture in most of these countries is dwindling. ### 1/5 — Terrible. *2024-06-17* We tried to use the audio guides for the colosseum and roman forum etc. after seeing them recommended on several sites as good overview tours. I was very disappointed! The tours felt like they were more about making cheesy jokes than actually telling the history and significance of the structures and their details. It felt kind of disrespectful in a way. I learned more by listening to guides talking to their tour groups for about 20 seconds while they stood around us than during nearly the whole audio tour. Would not recommend. There is an official audio guide tour for the colosseum and possibly forum as well that comes with your ticket so that might be better—pay attention for info when you buy tickets. Unfortunately we couldn’t download the app on site due to connection issues so we couldn’t use the official tour and were left with Steve. ### 1/5 — doesn’t work any more *2024-01-28, version 4.1.6* The app crashed when opening so I deleted and reinstalled it. Now it opens and I can download audio tours, but nothing plays. It stays paused and even when I hit play the timer doesn’t update and there’s no sound. ### 1/5 — Disappointed. *2023-09-26* I personally like Rick Steve’s travel guides, but this app is actually horrible. The UI is super frustrating and annoying. To access audio tours, you need to download in advance which is something that you should know before you travel since it takes so much data to download without wifi. For the audio, it kept glitching in and out. It would stop without being prompted and would not turn back on even when I manually clicked back in. This was the experience for my travel partner as well. Many of the audios are outdated. This is disappointing because when I go to a location intending to use Rick’s audio tour and it DOES NOT work or match, I have to waste more time finding a new audio tour to use. Very disappointing given my high expectations for Rick. ### 1/5 — Great content, poor app *2023-08-13* You can’t stop and restart using the button on AirPods. If you exit the app to take a pictue, you have to exit your current tour, select another ine, then return to the first; otherwise you’ll just see a blank screen. Love the audio, though. ### 1/5 — Navigation directions within the Louvre is terrible *2023-06-28, version 4.1.6* The title says it all. Very frustrating to use. ### 1/5 — Poor experience *2023-06-28, version 4.1.6* The audio guides are amazing but they constantly freeze / audio constantly cuts out. I have to close the app and restart it to fix it. ### 1/5 — Anti-Catholic Remarks *2023-03-24, version 4.1.5* I don’t understand why Rick Steves has to ruin such a potentially great product with his anti-Catholic commitments. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — A must have audio tour app! *2026-06-11* I used this application during my two week trip in Italy (Rome, Florence, Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capri), and during a ten day trip in London and Paris and it was AMAZING. Group tours at museums and cities can be slow and boring. With this app, you can move at your pace, pause and start the audio at your leisure, and enjoy Rick’s wisdom and humor along the way. Buy yourself some nice Bluetooth headphones and enjoy your visits. Rick is a human treasure and he made traveling to Europe incredibly accessible and fun. I HIGHLY recommend this application. ### 5/5 — Excellent information and FREE *2026-05-08, version 4.1.38* Used it during my short stay in Athens. Followed the free city walk and Acropolis audio guide. Provides just right amount of information for someone who does not have deep knowledge about the ancient world. Highly recommended. ### 5/5 — Perfect for unplanned travel days! *2026-04-01* This app was a godsend when my partner and I were in Rome. We had our original flights cancelled due to the CrowdStrike outage in July 2024 and had to push back our flights. So we missed our original plans for tours of the colosseum, the Vatican, and other landmarks. With this app we were able to get free audio tours of the landmarks and got to have an amazing experience at the sites and even just walking the streets of Rome. The guide was super specific and helped point out a ton of things we wouldn’t have noticed or understood the significance of. Highly recommend to anyone that’s traveling somewhere new! ### 5/5 — Amazing! *2026-02-09* Great app to visit main sites in Italy! Thanks !!! ### 5/5 — Some bugs… but unparalleled *2025-12-23* Rick‘s guides and tours on this app are in a league of their own. What you get for free here is better than most paid audio tour content you can find online and on other apps. There are occasional crashes, and bugs where the audio control stops working when the app is in the background for too long, but it’s well worth those hiccups. I used this on an over 2 month excursion to Europe and every time I visited a new city I was excited to hear what Rick (and his friends) could teach me about it ### 5/5 — Pleasantly surprised *2025-11-11, version 4.1.26* I was in the midst away from the US for a year and was on a train from Poland to Germany when a man and his family mentioned they were using this app as a tour guide. After that I found it greatly helpful. Rome was especially great, but Paris and London were great as well. I used to just listen to whatever app the tour site lists, but I’m glad I found this one. Thank you Rick. ### 5/5 — Most amazing app *2025-10-10, version 4.1.26* No where else can you find this amount of free guides. Absolute cinema ### 5/5 — Rome and beyond *2025-09-29, version 4.1.26* Great tour of the colosseum in Rome. Step by step guide to the places they are talking about and useful for whatever access level you get to the colosseum. ### 5/5 — It’s like have Rick Steves with You *2025-09-18* The app has been wonderful guiding me and my wife on great tours around France. We each had one ear bud so we can listen at the same time. It was extremely helpful navigating the crowds at the Louvre and Versailles. Each guide also has relevant maps and info which was helpful. I downloaded everything to my phone before ever leaving home so I could go to my playlist even if I didn’t have reception and play the audio. ### 5/5 — Essential *2025-08-18, version 4.1.26* This amazing app has accompanied me to five European cities so far. It’s essential if you like learning about the history of where you’re visiting. I always look forward to hearing the fun banter between Rick, Lisa, and other cohosts when I’m at a new destination. --- *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.*