Physical Address
5106 Whitman Way, Carlsbad, CA 92008
8 Best Free Music Apps for Android and iPhone
Video didn’t kill the radio star, streaming did, at least, mostly.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.
In fact, it means you can be your own DJ and you can do so without all those annoying talk overs that always spoiled the intro to your favorite tracks in the golden age of radio.
And you don’t need to pay for this. It’s completely free.
There are plenty of great free music apps for Android and iPhone that will give you access to hundreds of millions of tracks from all your top artists.
Spotify
There’s no doubt that the biggest name in free music is one of the best app providers out there.
You only get 160kbps streaming on Spotify but that’s more than enough except for the fussiest of audiophiles.
With over 90 million songs to choose from, plus podcasts and a ton of other interesting features, we’d say it was pretty much impossible to go wrong if you opt to install Spotify.
The premium service lets you get rid of ads and up your bitrate and is also great value for money.
YouTube
Sure, there’s more to YouTube than just music but the huge number of official music videos which can be streamed for free make it a great source of tunes.
We like the recommendation algorithm from YouTube and find that over time, it can really start to anticipate your mood and deliver music to suit.
Ironically, though, their “mood-based playlists” are pretty terrible and tend to be all over the place.
In addition to the free service, there’s an ad-free premium version which also lets you download tunes to your phone for offline listening.
Amazon Prime Music
OK, Amazon Prime may not be free but we can’t imagine there are very many Americans that don’t have access to Prime, particularly after the pandemic.
And if you do, then one service included in that membership is the Amazon Prime Music which has no ads and 2 million songs to choose from.
It’s also fully Alexa compatible which is handy. There is also a premium option that allows you to upgrade the audio quality significantly.
Pandora
For those that miss the radio, then Pandora might be the free music app you’re looking for as it allows you to listen to the radio as well as streaming songs.
There is also an excellent selection of podcasts available on the platform for free.
You can also pay for an upgraded service and grab tunes for offline and higher quality audio files.
However, one downside to Pandora is that it’s only available for US users. Everyone else is, sadly, out of luck.
Deezer
We like what Deezer has to offer a lot, though we’re not so impressed with the “how it offers” it.
The music is good, the podcasts are great and we can live with 128kbs audio.
The downside, however, is a really basic app which makes finding new music hard.
The upside is that it’s very easy to use, so if you’re looking for your first music app, this might be a good place to start but if you’re looking for something more customizable, maybe not.
SoundCloud
There is no bigger selection of music in the world than the 200 million tracks available on SoundCloud!
It’s also available pretty much everywhere in the world which is awesome news for those not based in the United States.
However, if you want to pay for the premium offering and offline listening and no ads, then you’d better live in a Western country as it’s only available in a handful of places, which is a shame.
TuneIn Radio
TuneIn’s definitely made for the listener that longs for the good old days of radio and it’s all about providing radio stations of all different kinds.
That means it’s not just about music and you can get news, drama and more on TuneIn and it also means you can’t set up playlists of individual tracks.
If that’s what you want in terms of music on the go, then TuneIn is great.
iHeart Radio
OK, it’s not got quite as many options as some of the really big names but this is a really solid app that delivers music, podcasts and radio options.
You can even create personalized lists that focus on the artists that you love the most.
Sadly, it’s only available in Western and English speaking countries.
The internet age isn’t always a good thing but we think that one great thing about it is the ability to listen to the best artists in the world, wherever you are, for free.
These free music apps are all excellent. These are the kind of services that you couldn’t have imagined you would have access to 20 years ago or, at least, not for free.
So, install one today and get your groove on! You’ve got nothing to pay and nothing to lose.
