Comparison

Black Library Audio vs The

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Black Library Audio

Access and play a vast collection of Warhammer audiobooks and dramas on your mobile device. Browse, purchase, and manage your library of over 170 titles from the Warhammer 40,000, Horus Heresy, and Age of Sigmar universes. Enjoy immersive listening with a built-in player and powerful search functionality.

Highlights
  • Vast audiobook and drama library
  • Filter by setting
  • In-app purchases
  • Remote storage and download
  • Integrated audio player
  • Search by title, author, keyword
  • Free audio samples
Features
Read full description

ABOUT THE APP The Black Library Audio app is the ultimate way to experience Black Library’s wide range of audiobooks and audio dramas wherever you are, whenever you want, right on your iPhone and iPad. Choose from a wide range of over 170 audio titles set in the immersive worlds of Warhammer 40,000, The Horus Heresy and Warhammer Age of Sigmar. KEY FEATURES STORE View the vast range of audiobooks and dramas, filtered by setting. Find your favourite series, or a new one, and buy every title that belongs to it. Get a taste of the action with a free sample before buying. LIBRARY Browse the audiobooks and audio dramas you’ve purchased in the app’s Library. Sort your audios by purchase date, title or series. They’re all stored remotely for you to download to your device whenever you want to listen to them. You can toggle freely between titles on your device and everything you’ve purchased. PLAYER The app also features an audio player, allowing you to listen to your downloaded audiobooks and audio dramas wherever you are, whenever you want. Never be without your fix of fantastic adventures from the worlds of Warhammer! Link up via bluetooth to listen remotely with cordless headphones or in your car. SEARCH A fully-featured search function allows you to find the audio you’re looking for in a variety of ways. You can search by title, author or keyword. Looking for stories that feature Ultramarines? Just type it into the search bar and you’ll find them all. The search function will even shortlist and show titles based on what you type, as you type it. EXPERIENCE With our audiobooks you get to experience the story as it was meant to be heard. Word for word your narrator will read the story to you, straight from the page. Audiobooks are usually full and unabridged versions of novels, novellas or short stories. With our audio dramas you are immersed in the story. Gunfire, battle cries and music form the backdrop on which actors play out the characters. The narrator links the tale together so all you have to do is listen to the action. Audio Drama’s are uniquely scripted and can range in length between roughly 10 minutes and 2 hours.

About

The

Access a vast library of video content designed to elevate your competitive tabletop gaming skills. Learn advanced strategies, analyze meta-game shifts, and master specific factions through expert-led sessions and professional match breakdowns.

Highlights
  • Hundreds of hours of video content
  • Advanced strategy sessions
  • Live streamed professional games
  • Deep dives on every faction
  • Cutting-edge meta-analysis
  • Master class series
Features
Read full description

Want to join a global community focused on taking your competitive 40k skills to the next level? The War Room is the subscription for you! Whether you are new to the hobby or a tournament veteran, we offer hundreds of hours of video content focused on making you the best competitive 40k player! If you don't have the time to play dozens of matches, the War Room allows you to skip the steep learning curve of 40k and easily access the combined knowledge of professional players. We've got you covered with advanced strategy sessions, live streamed games between tournament champions, deep dives on every single faction, cutting-edge meta-analysis, and master class series to help you play like the pros. Sign up today to access our entire catalog of videos to start winning with your favorite faction in no time! What video series do we offer? Coaching Matches: Live streamed games between professional 40k players focused on teaching you how to think, ask questions, and develop strategies like the pros. Strategy Session: A weekly session focused on a specific strategic (macro) or tactical (micro) concept. Popular series include the mission series, terrain series, secondary discussions, combat jank, and retrospective analysis of mistakes made during a coach’s games to teach you how to learn from the games you play. Master Class: A series which condenses a coach’s expert knowledge of a faction into a five part video series. The first focuses on the faction’s optimal playstyles. The second and third explain the key datasheets and how to get the most out of them using the faction’s strongest synergies and rules. The fourth zooms out to a macro perspective on suggested gameplans, matchups, how to deploy, utiltize terrain, choose secondaries, and much more. Lastly, the fifth video puts everything you have learned up to that point into practice walking you through high level professional matches demonstrating exactly what you need to do to win with your faction consistently and improve your gameplay! Faction Focus: There are several faction Focus videos each week, which will give you a snapshot of the ever-evolving landscape of what recent lists look like for that faction, tech choices and strategies that are performing well, advice on winning tough matchups, and community Q sessions. Faction Focus - Datasheets: A short form video series that centers on a specific datasheet relevant to the meta that you need to know. It details its significant rules and synergies, how it plays on the tabletop, and its weaknesses for when you fight against it. Know Thy Enemy: A detailed breakdown of everything you need to know about how to play against a specific faction. This series is done in two parts. 1) A macro perspective of the faction’s rules and datasheets and 2) A session showing you how to beat them on the tabletop. To access all features and content you can subscribe to The-War-Room on a monthly basis with an auto-renewing subscription right inside the app.* Pricing can vary by region and will be confirmed before purchase in the app. In app subscriptions will automatically renew at the end of their cycle. All payments will be paid through your iTunes Account and may be managed under Account Settings after the initial payment. Subscription payments will automatically renew unless deactivated at least 24-hours before the end of the current cycle. Your account will be charged for renewal at least 24-hours prior to the end of the current cycle. Cancellations are incurred by disabling auto-renewal. Terms of Service: https://thewarroom.vhx.tv/tos Privacy Policy: https://thewarroom.vhx.tv/privacy

Screenshots

Black Library Audio1 screens
The4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: The at 100% against Black Library Audio's 10%. The also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.6). Black Library Audio's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. The sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $39.99 per month. Black Library Audio asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

The holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 83 and 116 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 10% of Black Library Audio's written reviews are positive against 100% of The's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Black Library Audio ships an update every 7 months, The every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Black Library Audio versus The: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlack Library AudioThe
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.6 (83 ratings)5.0 (116 ratings) — better
Positive reviews10.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings83116 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB94 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperGames Workshop LimitedArt of War Gaming LLC

Customer experience

Black Library Audio

All ratings83 ratings
Positive36.1%
Neutral7.2%
Negative56.6%
Written reviews109 reviews
Positive10.1%
Neutral7.3%
Negative82.6%

The

All ratings113 ratings
Positive99.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.9%
Written reviews71 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

User reviews

Black Library Audio

From 83 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📚 Extensive Black Library audiobook collection in one convenient app
  • 🎭 High-quality professional narration and voice acting
  • ⚡ Fast download speeds for audiobooks
  • 📱 Convenient mobile access to stories
  • 🎧 Works well when functioning properly

Room to improve

  • 💰 Extremely high prices (£30/$50 per book vs £7.99-£15 on Audible)
  • 🔗 Cannot link to existing Black Library web account purchases
  • 🐛 Frequently loses playback position and restarts from beginning
  • 📥 Download failures and corrupted files (0:00 duration)
  • ⚙️ Poor app stability and frequent crashes

The

From 116 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 High quality content
  • 👍 Excellent for learning 40K
  • 👍 Great value for money
  • 👍 Entertaining personalities
  • 👍 Cutting-edge strategies

Room to improve

  • 💡 More army-specific content needed
  • 💡 Additional search/organizing/sorting functions would be good

Bugs and requests

Black Library Audio

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Playback position not saved - app restarts from beginning
  • Downloads fail or result in 0:00 duration files
  • Chapter selection doesn't work on many books
  • App crashes during playback or download
  • Audio skipping and stuttering after 30-40 minutes
Show 7 more
  • Restore purchases function doesn't work
  • Books disappear from library after app updates
  • Purchase buttons fail to load (infinite spinner)
  • Bluetooth connection causes app to restart book
  • Incompatibility with current iOS versions
  • Inconsistent chapter metadata across titles
  • Books lost when switching devices

Requested features

13 requests
  • Link/sync with existing Black Library web account
  • Sleep timer functionality
  • Proper chapter selection that works reliably
  • Streaming option in addition to downloads
  • CarPlay support for car integration
Show 8 more
  • Account login system instead of app store-only purchases
  • Unified Warhammer account system across all GW apps
  • Notification system for deals and new releases
  • Series ordering display (especially for Horus Heresy)
  • Ability to export purchases to other players
  • Subscription or discount model for bulk purchases
  • Settings menu to view account information
  • Better device transfer support for purchases

The

Requested features

2 requests
  • Additional search/organizing/sorting functions (e.g., sort all videos by newest)
  • More army-specific content

In-app purchases

None

Black Library Audio

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

The

Subscriptions1
  • The-War-Room Monthly$39.991 Month

Questions

Is Black Library Audio free?
Black Library Audio is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is The free?
The is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Black Library Audio or The?
The is rated higher. Black Library Audio averages 2.6 out of 5 from 83 ratings, while The averages 5.0 from 116 ratings.
Do Black Library Audio or The have ads?
Neither Black Library Audio nor The shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Black Library Audio or The?
Black Library Audio ships an update every 7 months, and The every 4 months. Most recently, Black Library Audio was updated on November 1, 2026 and The on November 3, 2026.

Other comparisons