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The Download
- There are many free music apps that let you enjoy tons of songs without paying.
- YouTube Music, Spotify, and SoundCloud are great choices for streaming free music on your phone.
- Some music apps have ads and need a paid account to unlock all the features.
Music streaming allows you to listen to a wide array of music tailored just for you, and many services are available without a monthly fee. These free music apps enable you to stream music from virtually any location.
While many music services provide apps for Android and iOS, the following ones are top recommendations. Discover new artists and enjoy the bands you already love.
What We Like
Discover content unavailable elsewhere.
Includes live recordings, concert footage, and interviews.
Create unlimited playlists to share with friends.
YouTube Music offers an impressive collection of songs and videos from well-known artists as well as niche content creators. Its recommendation engine intuitively adapts to provide music and videos based on your previous activity, location, and current tasks. The smart search feature allows you to find songs even when you don’t know the title.
YouTube Music’s video offerings include popular music videos along with live recordings, interviews, and concert footage, representing decades of artist output. Add songs to your library and build playlists, or select from a variety of preset options. It can also automatically generate a playlist based on your preferences.
A standout feature in YouTube Music is the ability to read lyrics as the song plays, similar to a lyric video for all your favorite tracks. While lyrics are not available for every song, most have them, adding to the app’s appeal.
The basic, ad-supported version is free. YouTube Music Premium, priced at $13.99 per month, enables ad-free listening and offers an audio-only mode, allowing you to play a song without its video; music continues to play even when your screen is off.
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What We Like
Works on many devices.
Create an unlimited number of playlists.
Easily listen to playlists created by others.
Excellent Apple Watch integration and features.
Spotify is an exceptional music app that lets you follow artists and sync music from your desktop. You can create a radio station that plays recommended music based on your initial interest. It’s a great app for discovering music similar to what you already enjoy.
It allows you to find music by viewing top lists and new releases, and by searching for playlists, favorite artists, and albums. Like most apps with free music, Spotify lets you add favorite songs to your library for future playback.
One appealing feature of Spotify playlists is that anyone can create and share them, enabling others to play the same songs in their app. The app sends push notifications for updates such as new album releases from artists you follow or playlist changes.
The basic version is free. To remove ads, play any song at any time, download music, and more, explore the available Spotify Premium plans.
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What We Like
Easy to find new music.
Vast, frequently updated content.
Rare fast-forward feature.
Some free downloads.
SoundCloud hosts a vast array of audio uploaded by users, including homemade tracks and music from emerging artists. It’s an excellent platform for discovering new music.
Search for music, artists, and audio, and follow other users to monitor their latest uploads. With over 10 hours of user-posted audio every minute, you’re sure to find something you enjoy.
Create customized streams of favorite music and share playlists with others. Some devices support recording and uploading audio directly through the app.
Create a user account to access saved songs and data from both the app and website. A subscription includes ad-free listening, no previews, high-quality audio, and offline access.
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What We Like
Easy to use, even while driving.
Includes tens of thousands of live radio stations.
Includes podcasts.
Provides a sleep timer.
What We Don’t Like
Can’t hear specific songs because it’s a radio service.
Isn’t ideal if you want only a music player.
Lots of ads in the free version.
If you love radio but want the convenience of a mobile device, check out the free music app from TuneIn. I love that I can use it to listen to local radio stations wherever I am. In fact, it’s a pretty great music app for traveling, especially the car mode with big, easy-to-touch buttons and voice search.
Enter a song or artist, and you instantly have a list of all the radio stations around the country that play that song or artist. With a push of a button, you can listen to that radio station from your phone. TuneIn also lets you access podcasts and sports radio.
TuneIn Premium gets you commercial-free radio and fewer ads.
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What We Like
Includes music, radio, and podcasts.
Plays zero commercials.
Works on a variety of devices.
If you want a radio app, but TuneIn isn’t cutting it, give iHeartRadio a try. It supports tons of devices, has awesome features, and helps you find commercial-free radio stations.
You can also listen to podcasts and create music stations based on your favorite songs, search for stations, and look in categories like 80s and 90s hits, alternative, holiday, classical, rock, oldies, and more to find the music you like.
Save your favorite stations as presets and set one as an alarm clock, complete with a daily schedule and snooze option. Use the iHeartRadio music app to set a sleep timer to turn off a radio station after a certain number of minutes or hours.
I also like that this app lets me see lyrics as I listen, view an artist’s biography, and share stations.
Upgrading to iHeartRadio Plus or All Access gives you more features beyond what the free edition allows, including unlimited skips and playlists, instant replays, and more.
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What We Like
Start stations based on artists.
Pre-made stations for different moods, activities, and more.
Allows rating of songs to refine the music selection.
Watch ads to skip and play unlimited songs.
Pandora is popular for a reason. Many consider it the best app for streaming music, despite requiring a user account and limiting song skips. As a free music app, it stands out among the better options.
Enter your favorite artist, and Pandora plays their songs alongside recommendations from similar artists. It’s an easy way to discover new music that matches your existing tastes.
As you listen, rate songs to influence the app to play more music you like and avoid those you don’t. The service learns and enhances its suggestions based on your ratings, making Pandora an impressive music discovery tool with spot-on recommendations.
You can bookmark favorite artists for easy access later and stream podcasts directly from the app.
Register for free with Pandora to save stations and ratings across both the mobile app and website. Paid plans offer additional features like ad removal, offline listening, and unlimited song skips.
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What We Like
Stream music without a user account.
Lots of pre-made stations are one tap away.
Can adjust the audio stream quality.
Skip up to six songs per day.
What We Don’t Like
Expect occasional commercials between songs.
Not every feature is free; some require a paid upgrade.
Ads appear in the free version.
LiveOne (previously LiveXLive, and Slacker Radio before that) offers pre-programmed streaming radio stations for nearly every genre. While listening, you can fine-tune a station to play more songs you like, or keep it open to discover new music.
Create new stations and playlists, and keep track of your favorite and recently played songs.
The free version includes ads, doesn’t support offline music, has standard-quality audio, can’t play music on-demand, and limits song skips to six per day. Upgrading unlocks these features.
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