Audible: Audio Entertainment Ratings and Reviews

EDIT one of my most used apps.

EDIT: Thanks so much for the response, team. I updated the app and am so relieved. I can’t tell you how much I was missing listening to my books. So happy it was just a bug! Definitely giving the app 5 stars overall!

I LOVE my audiobooks. Audible was one of my very top used apps, as I have a hard time focusing on tasks around the house/work/etc without some sort of sensory input. I have it running almost all the time. The last update ruined the whole app for me. I live way out in the middle of nowhere with no wifi and only the most tenuous connection to the data network. Suddenly, after updating the app, it won’t play any of my DOWNLOADED titles without an internet connection. What the heck is the point of taking up my phone storage space downloading all these books, if I now can’t even play them from my phone?? I am so disappointed, as I can’t listen to any of my favorite books at home anymore because I can’t find a place to connect enough to start the chapter. I know I’m just one random human to a huge corporation, but please, please, please, fix this. I am already missing my books acutely. It’s so disappointing to not be able to play my selection of downloaded books.

Developer Response ,

We’re sorry for the trouble! The offline error you experienced was a bug — we’ve since resolved this. Updating to the latest version of the Audible app should clear this up!

Why do they update, only to break the app

Had my new iPhone 15 pro max less then a month. Go to download my catalog of titles only to find out anything over a GB won’t work. It only streams, as I’ve tried twice since the most recent updates. I called and logged the issue with Audible, and told to download in parts. I love the bigger books all in one file. It was fine on my old iPhone 11 Pro Max. I have reflex sympathetic dystrophy, I can no longer hold books or write. So using Audible is so important to me when it comes to the Bible. Use daily and take notes through the app. The app even encourages customers to download all in one file. That’s great, but it doesn’t work anymore for books larger then GB. If anyone like me you have larger libraries, this means can’t even use higher quality downloads on many books. But it’s getting ridiculous the way Audible has gotten lazy. It happens every other year with iOS update and app updates. It either wipes out all of your downloads, or it breaks the app to be able to download.

I’ve been at the premium level since 2012, I can’t count the times I’ve bought three extra credits a month. When they had their reading challenges last year, had the amount listened to in a week. I love this app, but I need it to work at the level it has for so many years before. Need this to be addressed and fixed. I can call again and be told sorry, and given extra credits. I don’t want to call anymore if nothing is going to be done to correct the issue.

Pay 16 bucks and no credit?

Once upon a time I loved this app, I work a third shift job so listening to books was a great way to pass the time and I always had something fun to listen to. A big part of paying 16 dollars a month is to receive a credit to purchase any book in their library which is nice as some of the things I listen to is odd ball stuff that isn’t always free. All this sounds great right? Well it is until Apple takes your 16 bucks , it updates your account that it has been renewed but no credit. Ok this has happened more than once. I have over 600 hours of playtime versus my metrics and have had it happen 3 times. Now I did what anyone would do, you contact customer service and explain the situation and they give you the credit no problem right? RIGHT? Wrong , even though they can clearly see my renew date was updated and that I did not receive the credit as has happened in the past, nope…. Look I’m not asking for any special treatment, I just want the bill of goods that I paid for and that to date has not be resolved and it is disappointing to say the least that a company’s customer service is not bright enough to look at your account which I’m sure has more deltails than I have as far as metrics in my end to conclude that I am not trying to “get one over” on you . All I wanted it the credit which I pay for to be honored. I guess that was too much to ask.

Buyer beware is all I am saying here because it has happened multiple times to me

Most used app I have aside from gps

Love this app so much. Had it for years and does not disappoint. Thank you for being here, existing and being in my life. Such a great idea and concept. Sorry it took me so long to rate this amazing app! Get it, you won’t regret it, so many wonderful title and books and not over priced!

Update: This is still a great app but it needs to be said that the home tab is waaay too much noise visually speaking. Way too many suggestions and advertised books for an app. It’s not a clean look and honestly it’s ugly. The app needs a more sleek minimalist feel for ease of use. I literally get anxiety seeing the homepage with all the extra books recommendations, catalogues and so forth. When I use the app I just want to get to the point not be defaulted to a crazy looking page foot of book images. Please higher someone to update your app comestically. With the IOS update people are discovering less is more with widgets and less apps. Try to use that same concept, I want to see recommendations make it the last tab not the first. Have the first tab be the library and instead of a line chart of books maybe give the option of line display or chart display, just something more sleek please.

Update 03 May 2021: The app skips the audio for some reason and when the screen goes dark it stops playing. Please fix this. This is pretty frustrating and my settings don’t have anything that causes this to happen.

Developer Response ,

We appreciate you sharing this feedback, and will be sure to forward it to our team.

Rating in July - 5 stars. Rating now - 2 stars.

I have been an audible subscriber for many many years and have been happily using the app for as long as it has been around. The most recent update though has turned the audible app into something I don't want to use anymore. 1. For some reason the library completely reordered itself and no longer sorts by date added or most recent 1.a. this includes whatever book I'm listening to which is no longer at the top of the list 2. The app has been crashing CONSTANTLY unless the app is open and the screen is kept from going into power saving mode. 2.a. the app frequently just won't open at all and requires numerous attempts to open 3. About 90% of the time when I can get the app to open and I can get a book to open, there is no information available on the book or the information given goes with a different book. It may or may not open to the last location I was listening too. None of my created bookmarks are available nor can I create new bookmarks. 4. In addition to the library being randomly sorted, it is no longer searchable when in airplane mode. This added extreme frustration when trying to amuse myself while midair and unable to connect to WiFi. 5. The power drain has become enormous and my phone becomes dangerously hot if I try to charge it while using the app. Please fix this issues as soon as possible as the app is unusable in its current form.

Be careful

I was a big Audible user and supporter for years. When the membership terms required a monthly fee, I stayed with. Happy to use the large audio library for members only. The idea of earning a credit a month to use for any premium item also fine. I had accumulated four credits, when I decided to take a break . Now this is the problem, and in reality it is my fault for not reading the fine print. I THOUGHT that I would take a few months off of the membership to use credits that have been building up. Fully planning on rejoining in a few months time. What I did not realize was that once you suspend the membership you lose all of your accumulated credits .. back to zero. If you seek out this information you will find it. I never looked at the whole contract . Kind of silly to pay monthly and then lose all of you credits if you stop temporarily or otherwise.. Without this issue Audible is a five star company, but this nickel and diming was and is unfair, stated or not , fine print or not. So this is a cautionary tale. If you are a member or plan on becoming one be advised that if you stop your membership you will lose all of you amassed credits. If you are the type of person that uses the credit immediately, then you are fine. Otherwise heed the warning. You will get your credits erased too.

good for listening, awful as a library

It’s a good app for listening to books. But it’s clear that Audible’s main goal is not to make it easy to read a book you already have, but to try to get you to buy more. When I open the app I get nothing but ads. Click on library and I see my books, but there’s no way to search my library. The search button gives me a seemingly random list of matching books from their catalog, which may or may not include books in my library. I’ve purchased well over 100 books in the past 20 years, most of which are in the Archive, but I can’t search the Archive. You can put books into collections, but the process is awkward and there’s no way to identify orphaned books not in any collection. It’s galling for three reasons: it would be so easy for them to add a better search and an “Uncollected” collection; it is so obvious that they withhold any features that might make it easier for you to find books you’ve already purchased when they might be able to tempt you to buy more; and this is the only app you can use to listen to books from Audible—who also pressures authors to release some books as Audible exclusives so you have no choice. Thankfully our public library has a pretty good selection of audiobooks, but even they don’t have any of the Audible exclusives. It may not be a monopoly but it ain’t for lack of trying.

Better and better- not perfect

This app gets better and better but it isn't perfect. The app has great features and a few clunky ones. More good ones than it used to have. They are being improved over time. All in all, I'm happy with my experience. I can return books I didn't like if they are returned within 6 months. I don't read (listen to) them that quickly. I buy faster than I listen to them. Some times I finish them and the "finished" indication doesn't stay associated with the book through app revisions. Not Cool!

The stories included in the titles are often well done but some presentations need serious rework - not many - but the choice for presenter could sometimes be improved. I've listened to a couple dozen different presenters by now ( a couple hundred books ). If those that were "flat" could be trained or replaced with more skilled people a lot of the stories would be better but, sometimes the story is the problem and that is a shame. It becomes easier to tell the difference between problems in story and presentation as you hear more of each. The short samples offered before you buy are most helpful ( at least to me ) only after my ear has become trained by listening to a goodly number of books by many presenters.

Finding Me

Viola Davis is incredible!! An incredible actor, person, mentor. I love love love listening to her recant her childhood, her life. The raw truth, the struggles, the pain, tragedy, disappointment, fear. The FORGIVENESS to her abusive dad. I cried a million tears because I was so touched that she was able to build a loving relationship with her dad despite it all……He knew she truly loved him unconditionally and left this life with that knowledge in his soul. It reminded me of my own dad 😭and our relationship. The courage to tell her story the good bad and the ugly. And there were plenty of ugly events that many would not survive. The love for the family despite their short comings. The sincere prayer to God to bring her Julius, the love of her life. Owning her roots and who she is, where she came from and where she is now. Not forgetting any of it. Ohhhhh, the trip to Africa. Gaining affirmation from the Mother Land that she is SOMEBODY…that we are all somebody and figuring out who that somebody is in this cruel world and taking a dignified stand. Standing tall as a beautiful, dark skinned sister, beautiful inside and out!!
What an inspiration. Viola stated “The Purpose of Life is to Live It”. I’m so very inspired to live my life to the fullest, as tomorrow is promised to no one.
Thank you Ms. Viola Davis….thank you.
I loved it all.
ME

Have No Fear

After listening to this audible with Joyce Meyer it made me understand my fears I have with calling my clients. Listening to scripture made me do it anyways- the Lord is on my side. I have been listening to Joyce’s sermons for over a decade and have purchased some of her books. “Do it afraid ,” is by far my favorite audible I will buy this book to keep on my shelves for reference. Being in sales can be challenging when you get a lot of “No’s by people over the phone, would make me want to quit! But listening daily to Joyce about other normal everyday people with their fears and overcoming them with the help of my Lord Jesus opens my eyes, to see how little my fears are. I would say to myself- just call the first 10 people - then it would be 20 people, then 50 - after my calls were made and I completed the task with the help of the Lord Jesus it would not be as bad as I thought. I would say a little prayer~ Thank you Lord that you are always here by my side helping me build my business and to keep my accountable in my daily tasks- in Jesus name Amen.
Thank you Joyce Meyer for writing this book, and teaching me the scriptures in the Bible to help me daily do it Afraid but Not afraid anymore 🙏🏼 .
Lillian from Los Angeles