British Museum Audio

Name: British Museum Audio
Rating: 4.7 (1387 reviews)
Author: British Museum

The official app

Only for iPhone

Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPhone

1.4K Ratings
Ages

13+
Years
Category

Education
Developer

British Museum
Language

EN
English
Size

30
MB

iPhone

Start your visit early, make the most of your time at the Museum and explore the diverse collection from the comfort of your own home. Bring your headphones with you or purchase earbuds from the Guide Desk and British Museum Shop. The British Museum app features: • Expert commentaries on over 250 highlight objects from the collection • 65 gallery introductions available for free • Audio, video, text and images provide in-depth information • Self-guided tours for exploring the Museum, from ancient Egypt to Medieval Europe • A space where you can add objects to favourites • Practical visiting information, including a new interactive map, to help you prepare for your visit and find your way around the Museum. Prices (in-app purchases) Full bundle per language £6 Themed tour per language from £3 How to use this app Take a self-guided tour Choose from one of the self-guided tours which each explore a theme – from Top Ten to ancient Egypt. Each tour has an audio introduction, providing background information and context, before guiding you around the Museum. Explore the collection View some of the British Museum’s most popular objects at a glance. Browse pictures of all the objects in the Audio app by culture and theme – and see how the collection is displayed within the galleries – then decide what you want to explore. Dive deeper Listen to a diverse selection of commentaries featured in the Audio app. Using the latest research, they provide new insights into the British Museum collection. Languages Enjoy expert commentaries from curators in nine languages – English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and British Sign Language. Look for audio guide symbol The Audio app covers 250 objects in the permanent galleries – when you see the audio guide symbol on cases or next to objects, enter the number using the keypad on the app for audio commentaries and other information. Favourites Create your own list of favourite British Museum objects by adding objects to the Favourites page as you explore the Museum on the app.

Ratings & Reviews

4.7

out of 5

1.4K Ratings

Slow, slow, slow…
Jun 10

MWApps
The app has nice pictures and the £6/$8 to unlock the full content is quite reasonable. Unfortunately, the app is VERY slow. The developers, however, need to increase their server count/budget to reduce latency on the back end. As it stands (June, 2025), the app is very laggy.

Developer Response
Hello,Thanks for your feedback! To help us investigate the latency issue, could you please let us know :1) Were you using the app at the Museum? If so, were you connected to the free British Museum wifi or were you using your own mobile data?2) If you were using the app off-site, which city or country are you based in?We appreciate your input and are working to improve the app. You can reply here or email us at mobiledigital@britishmuseum.orgThank you!Mobile Digital team
Slow, slow, slow…
Jun 10

MWApps

The app has nice pictures and the £6/$8 to unlock the full content is quite reasonable. Unfortunately, the app is VERY slow. The developers, however, need to increase their server count/budget to reduce latency on the back end. As it stands (June, 2025), the app is very laggy.
Developer Response Jun 11
Hello,Thanks for your feedback! To help us investigate the latency issue, could you please let us know :1) Were you using the app at the Museum? If so, were you connected to the free British Museum wifi or were you using your own mobile data?2) If you were using the app off-site, which city or country are you based in?We appreciate your input and are working to improve the app. You can reply here or email us at mobiledigital@britishmuseum.orgThank you!Mobile Digital team
Needs work
08/18/2022

SSSrvw
The app professes to give tours. I tried two of them, each of which is merely an assortment of objects throughout the museum—no directions to these objects, written or narrated. So you must toggle between the map and room numbers shown in icons next to the objects; once in a designated room, you’ll need to hunt for the object itself. Rooms are large, so you’ll spend much more time searching maps and rooms than you will learning from the recordings.The app also isn’t updated, per current conditions. If an object you’re seeking via the app is on loan to another museum or the room you’re supposed to visit is closed for renovation, you won’t know it until you walk there.I suggest skipping the app and taking a guided tour on-site. The museum has many incredible assets, but its app is not one of them.

Developer Response
Hi, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Tour maps are currently not available in the app but rest assured as we have been working on new features to help with wayfinding, please stay tuned for the new updates. And thanks for flagging the issue with gallery closure, as some of the information were not fully updated in the app, and we apologies for any inconvenience this caused during your visit.
Needs work
08/18/2022

SSSrvw

The app professes to give tours. I tried two of them, each of which is merely an assortment of objects throughout the museum—no directions to these objects, written or narrated. So you must toggle between the map and room numbers shown in icons next to the objects; once in a designated room, you’ll need to hunt for the object itself. Rooms are large, so you’ll spend much more time searching maps and rooms than you will learning from the recordings.The app also isn’t updated, per current conditions. If an object you’re seeking via the app is on loan to another museum or the room you’re supposed to visit is closed for renovation, you won’t know it until you walk there.I suggest skipping the app and taking a guided tour on-site. The museum has many incredible assets, but its app is not one of them.
Developer Response 08/22/2022
Hi, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Tour maps are currently not available in the app but rest assured as we have been working on new features to help with wayfinding, please stay tuned for the new updates. And thanks for flagging the issue with gallery closure, as some of the information were not fully updated in the app, and we apologies for any inconvenience this caused during your visit.
This had so much potential. It’s a waste of data and time.
05/15/2023

illbilly
The paid tours are just random items it takes you too. No cohesion. Each of the features doesn’t provide any additional information than what is printed there already. Usually it provides less. I was hoping this would expand upon the experience of this museum, but it was very dissatisfying. Also the Musuem has slow wifi and bad cell coverage so things load slowly and then glitch because it doesn’t preload the audio and images before playing.
This had so much potential. It’s a waste of data and time.
05/15/2023

illbilly

The paid tours are just random items it takes you too. No cohesion. Each of the features doesn’t provide any additional information than what is printed there already. Usually it provides less. I was hoping this would expand upon the experience of this museum, but it was very dissatisfying. Also the Musuem has slow wifi and bad cell coverage so things load slowly and then glitch because it doesn’t preload the audio and images before playing.
Audio cuts out or doesn’t play
05/30/2023

jmwhite5
We downloaded the top 10 audio track. Sometimes the audio plays but quickly stops playing. Then you can’t hear anything anymore. I have only been able to hear about 10% of the audio content. We are on the museum Wi-Fi. The content is not pre-buffered. The museum is packed today. So maybe on a quiet day, this app might work better.

Developer Response
Hello! Thanks for your feedback. We apologize for the audio playback issue you encountered with the Audio app. We understand how frustrating this can be.We are currently in the process of upgrading the Museum's general Wi-Fi, but this may take a while to complete. We are working to solve the slow internet issue as soon as we can. In the meantime, we strongly recommend that visitors download the tour bundles ahead of their visit to the Museum. You can find the download button located at the top right corner of the tour and gallery pages. By doing so, you will have the audio content readily available on your device without relying on the Wi-Fi connection.Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for your understanding.Best regards,The Mobile Digital Team
Audio cuts out or doesn’t play
05/30/2023

jmwhite5

We downloaded the top 10 audio track. Sometimes the audio plays but quickly stops playing. Then you can’t hear anything anymore. I have only been able to hear about 10% of the audio content. We are on the museum Wi-Fi. The content is not pre-buffered. The museum is packed today. So maybe on a quiet day, this app might work better.
Developer Response 06/01/2023
Hello! Thanks for your feedback. We apologize for the audio playback issue you encountered with the Audio app. We understand how frustrating this can be.We are currently in the process of upgrading the Museum's general Wi-Fi, but this may take a while to complete. We are working to solve the slow internet issue as soon as we can. In the meantime, we strongly recommend that visitors download the tour bundles ahead of their visit to the Museum. You can find the download button located at the top right corner of the tour and gallery pages. By doing so, you will have the audio content readily available on your device without relying on the Wi-Fi connection.Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for your understanding.Best regards,The Mobile Digital Team

- Bug fixes and improvements

Version 1.6.6

Sep 9

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