christianaudio

I like the selection a books, but the app itself is in need of update and improvement. I read the reviews of other users, and these problems persist. For instance, in reading, a chapter book, if I close the app, the book goes down to the middle of the list of books that I own rather than being at the top even though I set the preferences to most recent. also, the app does not remember where I left off in the book, and I don’t believe there are any way to set bookmarks, so the only way I remember where I am in the book is to take a screenshot of the chapter and time. This is inconvenient. Audible really sets the standard for where any audiobook app should be. Audible has a timer, remembers your place, and even allows you to set bookmarks for books you are reading, even multiple bookmarks. The ChristianAudio app should also be offering these features for their users since they are charging the same price as audible. If you were going to offer an inferior product, at least charge, significantly less, not the same price as your “competitor.” I will keep the books that I have on christianAudio, but I don’t think I’m going to be buying any more content from them until they fix these issues and offer these features.

To the developers: I’ve read the reviews and determined that people love the IDEA of this app, an app this lets users download, manage, and listen to great book by amazing authors. But this has not been my actual experience. For starters, managing content is difficult with the lack of tools given. There is no way to group, categorize or sort content. Once you have more than about fifteen titles, you will find yourself wasting time looking for them—instead of listening to them. Case in point, I end up marking books as finished or downloading/deleting them to manage content, but even these features don’t work as expected. Even though I switch to look only at titles on my devices, the app continually switches back to showing what’s in the cloud. I can mark a book as finished, but the app does not retain that setting. When switching to the chapters screen, there is no obvious way to navigate away from it. On an iPhone 10 or later, the top icons are oddly squished around the notch making it nearly impossible to actually tap the buttons at times. I expect better from a Christian company, in fact, we should all expect the best from a Christian company. I hope this is helpful in making the app all that it could be. In over two years now since I wrote this review, there are still no updates. This company may be out of business for all I know.

What do you do when an app actually helps you achieve your goals? You write about it and spread the word. I’ve been using Christian Audio long before the app when there was just cd’s. Lots of cd’s. The switch to app based product enables me to access my library whenever I want. It also enables me to purchase books that I simply don’t have time to get through in paper form. I’m a therapist by trade so I need to get through more books than I have time for. You can imagine my relief when I discovered that not only can I listen to books on the go but I can speed them up. I fly through books on my way to work, at breaks at lunch, and then again when I have spare time. Sure I have the physical copy on my shelf that I use for reference, quotes and talks but the audiobook helps me to get through them. I love that I can sit in a sauna and be learning about addiction, marriage or theology. I also take advantage of the summer and winter sales to stock up. This app is a game changer for me and I am thankful to for it.