Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Apple Podcasts vs Apple Music

Apple Podcasts 4.9★ · Free + IAP 40
Winner Apple Music
Apple Music 4.9★ · Free to download 75

While Apple Music offers a more polished and reliable experience for paid music streaming, Apple Podcasts struggles with fundamental functionality and a high volume of bugs, making Apple Music the clear winner.

Full reviews: Apple Podcasts · Apple Music

Apple Music is praised for its extensive library, ease of use, and ad-free experience for subscribers, despite some complaints about its algorithm and occasional bugs. Apple Podcasts, on the other hand, is plagued by severe issues with search, playback, queue management, and general unreliability, leading many users to express deep frustration.

Head to head

Features and Content edge: Apple MusicR3R4R7R12
Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts users appreciate the availability of diverse content for learning and entertainment, but many feel the app offers only the 'bare minimum' of features compared to competitors R3R7. Users specifically request better search capabilities for episodes R4, improved queue management R12, and a history feature .
Apple Music Apple Music is lauded for its vast music library and features like showing song credits, artist bios, and generally making it easy to find music and create playlists . However, some users note that certain popular songs or demos might be missing .
Ease of Use and Interface edge: Apple MusicR1R3R4R36
Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts receives significant criticism for its confusing, clunky, and slow interface R1R3R36. Users find basic tasks like searching for podcasts or episodes incredibly difficult R1R4. There are complaints about icons moving and the inability to sort alphabetically .
Apple Music Apple Music is generally considered easy to use for making playlists and finding music . However, some recent updates have led to complaints about the GUI becoming less functional, with volume controls buried and difficulties disabling random play . Users also desire better sorting options for playlists .
Reliability and Performance edge: Apple MusicR5R9R10R15
Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts is widely criticized for being buggy, slow, and unreliable R10R31. Common issues include podcasts not playing, episodes restarting or losing their place, inconsistent downloads, crackling audio, and general unresponsiveness R5R9R15R16. Many recent updates are seen as breaking the app .
Apple Music Apple Music generally offers a smooth experience with no interruptions R80R99. However, some users report occasional issues with the app not loading on computers , music not syncing between devices , and songs freezing or refusing to play, especially after recent updates .
Price and Value edge: Apple MusicR7R8R21R22
Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts is free to use, which is appreciated by some users R8. However, many free users are frustrated by excessive and poorly placed ads R21R22R24. Some users also feel that the app's limitations and bugs make it less valuable even as a free option R7.
Apple Music Apple Music is a paid subscription service, with users appreciating the ad-free experience R62R80R99. Some users find it expensive R114 and are disappointed that there is no free option to even browse songs or that canceling a subscription can lead to losing playlists R70.
Pick Apple Podcasts if

you only listen to podcasts occasionally and are willing to tolerate significant bugs, poor search, and frequent ads for a free app R8R22.

Pick Apple Music if

you are looking for a comprehensive, ad-free music streaming service with a vast library and generally smooth performance, and are willing to pay a subscription fee R62R99.

Evidence note: Reviews for Apple Podcasts are overwhelmingly negative, focusing on core functionality issues. Apple Music reviews are generally positive, with negative feedback often related to recent UI changes or the lack of a robust free tier.

Frequently asked

Is Apple Podcasts free?
Yes, Apple Podcasts is free to use, and some users appreciate this, but the free experience includes frequent and disruptive ads R8R22R24.
Does Apple Music have a free tier?
Apple Music is free to download, but it is primarily a paid subscription service, and users are disappointed that there is no free option to listen to music or even browse songs without a subscription R67R70R114.
How do Apple Podcasts and Apple Music compare on reliability?
Apple Music is generally more reliable, with users praising its smooth, uninterrupted playback, though some report occasional loading or syncing issues R80R99. Apple Podcasts, however, is widely criticized for being extremely buggy, with frequent problems like episodes not playing, restarting, or failing to download R16R31R48R58.
Are there ads on Apple Music?
No, Apple Music is an ad-free experience for subscribers, which is a major positive for users R62R80R99.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R3] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Love podcasts but this app is the bare minimum: The app itself could offer a far superior experience. They seem to only offer up Top Shows. Those are the easiest to find. Seems like it needs an overhaul so people can find shows they’ll like more easily.
  2. [R4] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Can’t search for episodes: I can’t search any episodes for shows in this app. So if my favorite show had a topic or guest years ago, the only way to find that old one is to scroll and scroll and scroll. Crazy such a feature is missing.
  3. [R7] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Do apple devs use this app?: This app lacks so many features other apps offer on their free tier. It makes it so confusing to listen to one podcast with only the unlistened episodes in any order new to old or old to new, it jumps to different podcasts when I want to listen a specific podcast episode after episode, it replays episodes I have already played…. I feel with a little bit of interest and
  4. [R12] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Can’t control the queue: Is no one noticing that you can’t drag and drop the order of shows in the queue? You have to remove everything and then re-add in the order you want. I always end up ending this and then going to another device.
  5. [R1] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Worst app ever made by Apple: Just try doing a search / it’s the biggest piece of trash you could ever imagine. It is absolutely unfathomable how something that is used by so many people can be so unbelievably useless for things like search. Literally everybody who worked on this app should be fired.
  6. [R36] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Stories are all good bu the App needs improvement: Enjoy listening but the app is So hard to navigate through various podcast and select episodes
  7. [R5] Apple Podcasts 4/5 · US Great but…: This app works great. I’ve been using it for a long time but recently it’s had this glitch where without me touching anything it starts speeding up first two times speed then four then eight then 16 etc., and the only way to stop it is to manually delete and reinstall the app
  8. [R9] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Has a few issues…: Podcasts have a tendency to not play on occasion, and on any kind of parental control/restricted mode, you can’t even listen to the clean episodes of a podcast if it has ONE explicit episode. Oof. You should at least be able to listen to the clean episodes. Also, the interface is pretty buggy, my settings for podcasts keep getting reset, especially the ones that dictate what e
  9. [R10] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Not working: App doesn’t work welll
  10. [R15] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Good organization/ bad download functionality: Non-explicit episodes labeled explicit for unclear reasons. An entire program went from played to unplayed inexplicably. The automatic download setting is somewhat broken… at the very least it is inconsistent. And the automatic play It’s generally a good app otherwise, but these are core functions that it fails at..
  11. [R8] Apple Podcasts 5/5 · US Language development: This is the most helpful app that I’ve ever used for improving my English skills! Now i see myself using this app everyday. Is there any way to get rid of this addiction? Haha Please keep this app FREE!
  12. [R21] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Great App: It’s a great app for podcasts to listen to work and other things but…. Currently for some reason I seem to be getting random ads while the podcast is in mid thought or sentence
  13. [R22] Apple Podcasts 2/5 · US Commercial, commercials, and commercials.: It's been a while since I listened to a podcast on my iPhone using the Apple Podcasts app, and I honestly can’t take it anymore. The commercials crammed into a single podcast are beyond excessive. It completely ruins my listening experience. At what point does enough become enough? Does every app have to squeeze every possible dollar out of its users?
  14. [R24] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Ad free subscription: It’s a good app that i use for all of my podcasts. But it has a problem with the placement of ads in the middle of sentences or other bad spots. Also the volume of the ads seems to be alot louder than the rest of the podcast. Why can’t this app communicate with apple music subscriptions and allow for an ad free podcast experience?
  15. [R67] Apple Music 1/5 · US I’m broke: Costs money
  16. [R70] Apple Music 1/5 · US Disappointed: So, there is no free option. If you are not subbed you can’t even look for songs to buy to add to your phone. They will go in and delete what’s downloaded to your phone and iCloud without your permission. They did that to me.
  17. [R114] Apple Music 2/5 · GB I’m upset: Overall, I loved this app. I could listen to whatever I wanted to whenever I liked and they had so many songs. Now, I have to pay 10.99 a month to listen to them? You may as well just pay for the whole app. What’s the point of having it if I cannot listen to anything now. I want to listen to Ariana grande’s new song! 😩. I think it’s very unfair, prices nowadays have gone up enough. I am
  18. [R16] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Video issues: The playback experience has become incredibly frustrating. If I pause a podcast and come back later, it often restarts from the beginning instead of resuming where I left off, causing me to lose my place. On top of that, there are times when commercial audio plays over the podcast audio at the same time, making it impossible to listen. These issues happen frequently and have made the
  19. [R31] Apple Podcasts 2/5 · US This app has become incredibly buggy.: For over a year this app has become more and more buggy, and as of writing this review it appears to be in the worst state ever. The app has become unresponsive and unusable. Transcripts are unusable and podcasts constantly fail to load. It's not being addressed.
  20. [R48] Apple Podcasts 3/5 · US Frequent Download Bugs: Every few days the app just refuses to download podcasts. They will begin the process but then can’t get past about 15%. Extremely irritating.
  21. [R58] Apple Podcasts 1/5 · US Makes me want to cancel subscription: I switched to Apple Music from Spotify in December 2025, so now I’ve been using the Apple Podcast app since and it is awful. I listen to podcasts almost daily and the amount of lagging and glitches I experience. Safe to say I have not gotten through a single podcast episode without having to close out of the app and restart. Makes me consider switching back to
  22. [R62] Apple Music 5/5 · US Game changer: Oh my heck. I used to have pandora and it sucked. Adds and it didn’t even have all the music I wanted. And I would reach a limit after I listened for a while. It was ridiculous. Apple Music seriously is a game changer. One hundred percent recommend!!! It’s 67 yk?
  23. [R80] Apple Music 5/5 · US Jearomy Thomas: Amazed no interruption
  24. [R99] Apple Music 5/5 · US Sleep token: I absolutely adore sleep token, Definitely listen to them. They are a great band and a great Fadmon. But I don’t enjoy it when people Ask about who they are underneath the mask, but This app is amazing! Definitely Use it. It’s smooth, no adds at all!<3, Enjoy your favorite bands like sleep token. Blink 182, slipnot!. Pierce the veil and many more.

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store