iHeartRadio Logo
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4.7

Overall Score

Author: Kaitlyn Short

LAST UPDATED: January 14th, 2024

iHeartRadio is an Internet radio platform. Since its creation in 2008, the service has expanded its offerings to include music recommendations, customizable stations, podcasts, and a radio network with content from more than 800 iHeartMedia stations across the United States. In 2014, iHeartRadio introduced the iHeartRadio Music Awards, which continue to attract hosts of popular artists. In 2015, artists Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, and Sam Smith won the “Innovator,” “Artist of the Year,” and “Best New Artist” awards, respectively. iHeartRadio regularly hosts concerts in Los Angeles and New York City, with ticket contests featured across the 800 stations. 

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The Good

iHeartRadio is a platform for curated music, with a wide range of features:

  • The service is completely free. There are no hidden charges or paid packages available. However, you can choose to upgrade, which is not free.
  • iHeartRadio offers 19 genre stations, more than 400,000 artists, 15 million songs, and 1,500 live radio stations.
  • Users may create their own stations according to genre or artist. These curated stations display lyrics and artist bios and include links to purchase songs from other vendors, like Amazon and iTunes.
  • All custom-made stations are commercial-free.
  • While listening to live radio, the website displays a station page with links to the station's official website. The page also displays the station's genre, location, and latest tweet, in addition to the current host's name and the schedule for other hosts that day.
  • Users can upvote or downvote songs as they play. Upvoting a song will make it play more often, while downvoting a song will ensure it never plays again.
  • Live radio station pages display the name, artist, and album art for each song that plays. This display updates constantly, even when users aren't currently listening.
  • iHeartRadio is available in an app.
  • The iHeartRadio platform also offers a wide range of podcasts, sorted by popularity and category. Categories range from Health and Food to the Paranormal.
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The Bad

  • As an online streaming service, iHeartRadio's music quality is subject to the strength of users' Internet connections. Songs are not available for download through the site, even for a price.
  • iHeartRadio does not allow users to make playlists of their favorite songs, which means that users are at the mercy of the station's song order.
  • Custom stations are limited to one seed, which means that users can't create stations that feature more than one artist or genre. Stations generated by artist-especially composers with a wide range of material-are rarely harmonious.
  • Users can't navigate music on the iHeartRadio site using their keyboards.
  • Compared to other curated radio services, iHeartRadio offers relatively few songs.
  • Users may only skip fifteen songs per day, and six per hour per station. Once a user has reached this limit, the only way to switch songs is to switch stations entirely. Returning to a station will only replay the current song. The skip limit also applies to songs longer than three or four minutes.
  • Upvoting, downvoting, or skipping a song cannot be undone. Once a song has been skipped, even in error, that skip counts toward the daily limit and users can't play it again until it returns organically. Once a song has been disliked, it will never play again unless a user locates it through the search tool and upvotes it independently.
  • There is no option to censor explicit lyrics.
  • Users can't rewind, fast-forward, or record music while it's playing.
  • When using Google Chromecast or the Xbox app, users can only stream iHeartMedia-owned radio stations. Radio stations owned by other media companies are only available on the website or the mobile app.
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The Bottom Line

iHeartRadio's extensive offerings set it apart from most other radio streaming services available online. It is available on more platforms, with more options for customizability, but interaction is fairly limited. iHeartRadio's curated service is best suited for people who enjoy live radio and don't mind switching stations or enduring mediocre sound quality to find music they enjoy. Audiophiles, look elsewhere.
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Star Rating

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3.7

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156 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

38%

4 grade

26%

3 grade

15%

2 grade

7%

1 grade

14%

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abw fsu Tallahassee, FL

iHeartRadio is the best for long car rides! I love how it goes from music, to news updates, and back to music. It might seem just like a regular radio station, but it's so much better because iHeartRadio is personalized! I only hear news and music that I'm interested in. Although I do not like commercials, at least they're relevant to what I want to hear. I love the wide array of stations to choose from, especially the trucker stations.

3 years ago

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Alan lozoya

The streaming is great i can choose an artist and that type of music is played with very little commercial time. With a basic subscription you get unending music and happieness .

6 years ago

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Ted Johnson Pleasant Grove, UT

I have listened to iHeartRadio many times and I like their selection and up-to-date music that they have. They also have good input from the artists themselves and I get to feel connected and love to hear about them and the latest news.

5 years ago

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Estefi Arreola Leyva Gilbert, AZ

I used use IHeartRadio a lot when I was younger, it was a good app. The app played different stations from around the country. The app is like an actual radio which I thought was cool. What was also cool, is you can play streaming music when you leave the app and go onto other apps.

6 years ago

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Vy Ha Birmingham, AL

I heart radio is a positive listening experience because of how diverse and broad their artists are who are always performing on the show. I listen to Kpop so it’s always nice to see artists I recognize on the show.

3 years ago

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Karen Torino Tallahassee, FL

iHeartRadio is good for discovering new music and what is hot today. It is not my choice of streaming service though because I prefer to have remixes and different versions of songs that are often not available.

3 years ago

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Karen Torino Tallahassee, FL

I like using iHeartRadio to see what is new in music today or what is popular, but it is not my top favorite as it does not provide as great as a variety in music as some other apps do.

5 years ago

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Tyler Jenkins Hattiesburg, MS

IHeartRadio is really cool because I can listen to a radio built off of one artist and then learn things about the artist through the biographies and fun facts that they have.

5 years ago

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Juliann Mecham Managua, MN

I would say I heartradio is a quality way to find good music. It gives quality songs to the similar type of music that you like, and is a new variety to find new music. I would recommend.

5 years ago

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Don Boren American Fork, UT

There are a good variety of stations with music that I like. The free version has a lot of ads, but that's to be expected when you don't pay for the ad-free version. Streaming is smooth without much lag.

5 years ago

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Randy Scoville Pleasant Grove, UT

I have the free app on my phone. I like it that I can listen to local and national radio stations. Makes it easy to listen to FM stations, since I don't have many music players that play FM radio anymore.

5 years ago

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Whitney Stanko Smithfield, UT

Loved listening to this station when I was younger. Nice listening to the Disney music and other music. Sometimes the radio didn't work very well but when it did it was super nice.

5 years ago

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Sierra Beck Herriman, UT

I hear about this on the radio all the time and so I went and tried it. It was fun to be able to select a certain station and have it play related music. I was able to find a couple new songs by an artist I didn't know.

5 years ago

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Myah Smith American Fork, UT

I like using iHeart Radio. It is nice to have that option to listen to the playlist of songs without me having to do anything but click play. It always has my favorite music and the quality is amazing.

6 years ago

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Katie Howard Pleasant Grove, UT

I use iHeartRadio through my Alexa app on Amazon. I ask it to play a certain artist, and it chooses songs and similar artists for me as well. I don't usually use it for live radio because I don't like the ads.

6 years ago

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Katie Kearney Vienna, VA

I found Iheart radio a little hard to use, personally. There were a lot of ads and talk shows that I did not really enjoy. When it was playing music, I liked the variety, it just wasnt my first choice for music streaming.

6 years ago

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Joseph Faenza Ashland, PA

I really enjoy using iHeartRadio for when I want to listen to my local sports radio but I’m out of the listening area.

1 year ago

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soporia moment Tallahassee, FL

While I was in middle and high school I was able listen to iHeartRadio on my lab top while doing work usually websites like YouTube doesn’t work with school WiFi

3 years ago

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JR Suguturaga Orem, UT

I like that I can listen to radio stations from other states, especially my old living areas. I can catch music or shows that I would normally not have easy access to.

5 years ago

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Zac Marx Brighton, CO

iHeartRadio is a family favorite. All of the popular stations and latest music can be found instantly. I also love the app connecting me to all of my favorite hits.

5 years ago

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Rylie Crandall Draper, UT

I love iHeartRadio because I don't have to think about what music to choose, they have a great selection of music that I can listen to without having to think about it.

5 years ago

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Shawn American Fork, UT

I like to sometimes stream the sports station 97 to 5 FM in Utah to listen to jazz games and sports commentary. Seems to be a good service depends on Wi-Fi connection.

6 years ago

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Alicia Holman Gilbert, AZ

Loved the music and the setup, but the App crashed frequently. I like the App better now than in the beginning.

6 years ago

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Audrey Mitchell Managua, MN

Iheart radio is an awesome station to have when wanting the newest music to listen to. They also have so many giveaways!

5 years ago

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Brooklyn May Logan, UT

Great music and streamed great when it would work. Lots of time it wouldn’t load for me or work. Also lots of same music replayed

5 years ago

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Grant Lofgreen Provo, UT

Good variety and excellent quality. Commercials are annoying but I could just pay and get rid of them. Overall very pleased.

5 years ago

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S Suguturaga Orem, UT

I like that you can tune in to various radio stations across the country especially in cities that I used to live in. Great product, user-friendly.

6 years ago

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Jason Anderson Lindon, UT

I love the ability to listen to radio stations that are not in your area. Can take them and local stations wherever I go.

6 years ago

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Shanna South Jordan, UT

I really like using iHeart Radio. They have a lot of options in every type of music I listen to. I like that the sound is really clear and clean.

6 years ago

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Derek Scoville Pleasant Grove, UT

I really like a few certain stations from my home town. I love that I can still listen to those stations even when I am out of town.

6 years ago

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bridgetmassie Ashland, OH

its good, however, still playing songs that i down thumb. please fix this problem.

7 years ago

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Mia Tallahassee, FL

Definitely easy to make playlists on here where you do not have any ads to interfere with the songs.

5 years ago

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Randi Nelson San José, SJ

I like Iheart radio more than pandora, and it has the music that I actually like and gives great options.

5 years ago

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Amanda Montebello, CA

I enjoy using iHeartRadio music because of the variety of playlists and different options for genres.

5 years ago

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Nathan hanzel Saratoga Springs, UT

This service always was able to entertain me, and I really like how it is already integrated into a lot of hardware!

6 years ago

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Josh F Chandler, AZ

My favorite free app to fulfill all my listening needs from music to podcasts.

1 year ago

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Dr Charles Wayne Kendall

they have a tendency to drop you off line, at least 3X in 4 hours

6 years ago

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Hailey Nilson Salt Lake City, UT

I love the music selection played. I also like how it provides a thorough artist bios.

6 years ago

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Eli Slesk Alpine, UT

I like how I am able to get my favorite radio stations that are not currently local to me.

6 years ago

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Shari Evers Lehi, UT

Love listening to my favorite artists without the constant repeat of songs like on the radio!

6 years ago