Computeractive vs Bedside Radio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Computeractive
Your friendly guide to PCs, gadgets, and the web. Get regular news updates, project ideas, and expert advice on popular reader queries, anti-virus software, and consumer rights. Learn to get the most out of your computer with clear, plain English explanations.
- News updates
- Project ideas
- Help and advice
- Anti-virus software articles
- Consumer rights features
- PC and gadget guides
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Computeractive is the UK’s best-selling computer magazine and your friendly guide to PCs, gadgets and the web! It includes regular news updates, project ideas, help and advice on popular reader queries, articles on anti-virus software, features on consumer rights, and a whole lot more to help you get the very best out of your computer. Get PC advice in plain English today – get Computeractive! All the subscriptions are auto-renewable subscription directly from the App Store. Payment will be charged to your App Store Account at confirmation of purchase. This subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period, your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. The cost of the renewal will match the initial subscription price. You can manage your subscriptions through your Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. Subscription costs: - 26 issues (1 year) at £29.99 - 13 issues (Every 6 months) at £14.99 - 6 issues (Every 3 months) at £7.99 Please click here to read our Privacy Policy: http://www.dennis.co.uk/privacy and here to read our Terms of Use: http://www.dennis.co.uk/subs/terms
Bedside Radio
Transform your iPhone into a stylish alarm clock radio with customizable sounds and flexible alarms. Enjoy a deep dimming display for darkness and access to thousands of global radio stations. Perfect for any schedule, including shift work.
- Customizable alarm sounds
- 35,000+ global radio stations
- Deep dimming display
- Flexible alarm patterns for shift work
- One-tap sleep and nap timers
- Gentle wake feature
- Playlist integration
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Turn your iPhone into a beautifully simple alarm clock radio. Deep dimming keeps your bedroom dark. Flexible alarms fit any schedule, including shift work. Wake or fall asleep to local or worldwide radio, energizing or soothing sounds, or your own playlists. One purchase, yours forever. • Set a sound for each alarm - Wake to jazz on weekdays, news on weekends, or whatever suits your routine. • 35,000+ radio stations worldwide - Stream local stations from home or explore new ones from around the world. • Dims to near zero - Sleep in darkness without losing sight of the time. • Flexible alarm patterns - Once, daily, specific days, or custom rotations perfect for shift workers. • Skip next alarm - Wake early or sleep in without changing your schedule. • One-tap sleep and nap timers - Drift off or recharge easily. • Gentle wake - Gradually increasing volume helps you start the day smoothly. • Playlists and sounds - Mix music from your library with built-in or imported sounds, or use downloaded playlists from the Music app. Works with songs you've purchased or imported. • Personalize your bedside clock - Adjust snooze, brightness, colors, volumes, and add your own radio URLs. Ideal for your charging stand, turning it into a modern digital clock radio. Bedside Radio is designed to dim and stay visible while you sleep. If it isn’t visible at alarm time, you’ll hear the fallback: a 30-second wake-up sound from a notification. Apple requires apps to be visible to start playing the radio, so for the full experience, please leave the clock visible while you sleep. The app supports multiple languages and variants: English (Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States), French, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), and Spanish (Latin America and Spain). Perfect for bedside tables, charging stands, and those who appreciate a modern take on the classic clock radio.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Computeractive at Free against Bedside Radio's $9.99. Computeractive also leads on rating (4.2 vs 3.7). Bedside Radio's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 48) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 16 months). On ratings volume, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Computeractive is free to download; Bedside Radio costs $9.99 up front. Computeractive sells 48 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 3 months. Bedside Radio asks for nothing beyond the download.
Computeractive holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 6 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 43% of Computeractive's written reviews are positive against 70% of Bedside Radio's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Computeractive ships an update every 16 months, Bedside Radio every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Computeractive | Bedside Radio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 4.2 (9 ratings) — better | 3.7 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 43.1% of reviews | 70.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 9 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 16 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Subscription | Paid — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Future Publishing Ltd. | Ian Smith |
Customer experience
Computeractive
Bedside Radio
Bugs and requests
Computeractive
Reported bugs
40 issues- App not working
- Saying wrong format
- Cannot receive information
- Not showing any magazines
- Says turn on Java and cookies
Show 35 moreShow fewer
- Error message: The data couldn't be read because it isn't in the correct format
- Log in non-2xx response: 405 method not allowed
- Can’t retrieve feed of feeds
- No longer loads the magazines
- Back button goes to the cover
- Top of each page is hidden
- Links aren’t clickable
- App claiming no active subscriptions
- App frozen, spinning wheel
- Many bugs present
- Issue not available in the app
- Problems getting the latest edition
- Suddenly cannot access the latest edition
- Error code
- Keeps throwing up the same error
- Digital version often arrives after publication date
- Digital version may arrive in the afternoon or next day
- Constantly dropping out back to the home screen
- New version removed access to several years of magazines
- Latest update isn’t very good
- Bottom chopped off page
- Has frozen a couple of times
- Download screen changed
- Pages slip and slide around the screen
- Navbar appears and disappears at random
- Cannot get further than page 53
- Text cannot be selected and copied
- Table of contents isn’t hyperlinked
- Web hyperlinks take you to a random retailer
- Subscription isn’t coming over to the iPad app
- Keeps logging me out
- Lost all copies paid for
- Lost all previous purchases
- Unable to transfer magazines from original subscription
- No way to transfer current subscription
Requested features
14 requests- Fix app to show magazines
- Sort out login issues
- Fix error messages
- Make links clickable
- Improve iPad display
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Add index
- Allow printing pages
- Add interactive features
- Improve navigation
- Allow tagging magazines as read
- Add notes against magazines
- Allow login without internet connection
- Improve app for iPad Pro
- Allow 2 pages at a time in landscape
Bedside Radio
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Computeractive
- 3 Month Subscription$9.993 Months
- 6 Month Subscription$14.996 Months
- 6 Month Subscription$16.496 Months
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- 12 Month Subscription$39.991 Year
- Issue 414 of Computeractive Replica App$1.99
- Issue 405 of Computeractive Replica App$1.99
- Issue 396 of Computeractive Replica App$1.99
Show 41 moreShow fewer
- Issue 394 of Computeractive Replica App$1.99
- Issue 479 of Computeractive Replica App$1.99
- Issue 477 of Computeractive Replica App$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 670$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 672$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 673$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 674$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 675$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 678$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 679$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 683$1.99
- Issue 744$1.99
- Issue 740$1.99
- Issue 739$1.99
- Issue 735$1.99
- Issue 734$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 726$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 722$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 723$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 720$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 718$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 716$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 712$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 710$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 709$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 708$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 707$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 706$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 705$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 704$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 695$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 692$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 693$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 691$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 690$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 689$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 688$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 687$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 684$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 686$1.99
- Computer Active Issue 685$1.99
Bedside Radio
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Computeractive free?
Is Bedside Radio free?
Which has better reviews, Computeractive or Bedside Radio?
Do Computeractive or Bedside Radio have ads?
Which is updated more often, Computeractive or Bedside Radio?
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