Smooth Player vs 89.9 TheLight
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Smooth Player
Stream your favorite music and radio stations on the go. Enjoy live broadcasts, curated playlists, and a vast library of podcasts. Stay updated with news, sports, and finance, all in one easy-to-use application.
- Live radio streaming
- Curated music playlists
- Hundreds of podcasts
- On-demand news
- Switch between stations
- Apple CarPlay support
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The easy place to relax is with you wherever you go thanks to the official Smooth Player app. You’ll enjoy free and unlimited access to all your favourite Smooth FM stations, an endless playlist of songs you know and love, the latest news, sport and finance on the go, plus hundreds of podcasts to explore from the NOVA Entertainment Podcast Network. Features: - Listen live to Smooth FM stations wherever you are with local news, traffic and weather. - Keep track of your favourite Smooth FM shows and switch between different music playlists. - Enjoy more music and radio stations than ever before from within the app switch from Smooth FM to Nova, FIVEAA and Star 104.5 with a swipe. - Access on-demand news from within the Player sourced from our partners including The Australian, News24, The Daily Telegraph, Fox Sports Australia, and News.com.au. - Listen your way through hundreds of podcast titles in the Nova Podcast Network. - Choose from news, sports, comedy and entertainment titles with new content uploaded daily. - Listen with Apple CarPlay - Enter Smooth radio competitions for your chance to win! From Michael Bublé to the Bee Gees, Backstreet Boys to George Michael, Madonna to Robbie Williams, the Smooth FM playlist includes all your favourite music to shut out the noise of everyday life. Join hosts Cameron Daddo, Richard Wilkins, David Campbell Bogart Torrelli, Ty Frost, Simon Diaz & Byron Webb as they take you on your smooth listening journey with more music, less talk. Listen to: - Smooth FM 95.3 Sydney - Smooth FM 91.5 Melbourne - Smooth FM Adelaide - Smooth FM Perth - Smooth FM Brisbane - Smooth Relax - Smooth 80s - Smooth Vintage - Access all of NOVA Entertainment's FM and AM stations including Nova, Star 104.5 and FIVEAA. - Listen to our Partner stations, such as News24 Radio, The Rock, Coles Radio, FOX SPORTS News and talkSPORT - Plus hundreds of podcast titles on the NOVA Entertainment Podcast Network
89.9 TheLight
This app provides positive, encouraging, and family-friendly radio content. Stream multiple channels for music, news, and inspirational messages. Discover content on family, entertainment, parenting, and more, with opportunities to win prizes.
- Family-friendly radio streams
- Positive and encouraging content
- News and inspirational messages
- Lifestyle content (family, parenting, sports, money)
- Contests and giveaways
- Multiple radio channels
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89.9 TheLight is Positive Radio, dedicated to delivering positive, encouraging, family friendly radio in a fun and engaging way. Through our app, you can find laughter, news and inspirational messages. The music and content is family-friendly and free of cynicism. You can also access the latest on family, entertainment, parenting, sport, money and gadgets – along with your chance to win, daily! Tune into either 89.9 TheLight, LightDigital and in the festive season, our pop-up station LightChristmas. Let us know what you think about our channels, and your online experience with us. Contact the app team directly at development@thelight.com.au. Or connect with us at https://facebook.com/899thelight or https://twitter.com/899thelight.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: 89.9 TheLight at none against Smooth Player's shown. 89.9 TheLight also leads on review sentiment (94% vs 67%) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Smooth Player's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (71 vs 11). On price, rating, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Smooth Player against 5.0 for 89.9 TheLight. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Smooth Player has 71 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Smooth Player's written reviews are positive against 94% of 89.9 TheLight's.
Smooth Player ships an update monthly, 89.9 TheLight every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Smooth Player | 89.9 TheLight |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (71 ratings) | 5.0 (11 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 67.5% of reviews | 93.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 71 — better | 11 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nova Entertainment | Positive Media Inc |
Customer experience
Smooth Player
89.9 TheLight
User reviews
Smooth Player
From 71 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎶 Great music selection
- 😌 Relaxing vibes
- 📻 Favorite radio station
- 🎵 Continuous music
- 🎶 Awesome throwbacks
Room to improve
- 😩 Pre-roll advertising irritant
- 📱 App not working
- ⚠️ App crashes on startup
- 🚫 Won't open
- ❌ Can't login
89.9 TheLight
From 11 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🙏 Uplifting and positive content
- 🎶 Great music selection
- 💬 Engaging hosts and conversations
- 👨👩👧👦 Family-friendly content
- 🌍 Accessible anywhere via app
Room to improve
- 🎶 Too much Taylor Swift (specific artist preference)
- 🐛 App not showing what's playing
- ⏳ App takes a long time to load
- 🎄 Light Christmas station not playing
Bugs and requests
Smooth Player
Reported bugs
19 issues- App crashes on startup
- Blank white screen on startup
- Opens to blank page
- Cannot log in on iPad
- Login button off screen
Show 14 moreShow fewer
- App not working on iPhone 14 Pro
- App not working on iOS 12.5.7
- CarPlay integration broken after update
- Player stops when volume is down
- Cannot raise volume when player is not playing
- App frozen on privacy page
- App doesn't load
- Cannot mute without shutting down
- App drops out frequently
- App doesn't automatically pick up after calls or leaving car
- App drops out on Wi-Fi, requires phone data
- Play button does nothing
- App chewing through data (2GB+ in 2 hours)
- Streaming quality not optimal
Requested features
8 requests- Support Siri Shortcuts
- Timer/sleep function
- Alarm function
- Siri functionality
- Improve streaming bandwidth
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Bring back Smooth Vintage
- Bring back Smooth 80's, 90's & Relax
- Bring Koffee back
89.9 TheLight
Reported bugs
2 issues- App not showing what's playing
- Light Christmas station not playing
Requested features
3 requests- Fix Light Christmas station functionality
- Improve app loading speed
- Ensure 'what's playing' feature is always working
In-app purchases
Smooth Player
No in-app purchases
89.9 TheLight
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Smooth Player free?
Is 89.9 TheLight free?
Which has better reviews, Smooth Player or 89.9 TheLight?
Do Smooth Player or 89.9 TheLight have ads?
Which is updated more often, Smooth Player or 89.9 TheLight?
Other comparisons
