If you’re on the go, use a free music streaming app to listen to your tunes just about anywhere. We compiled a list of the best free music apps to help you enjoy your personal music library, discover new artists, identify songs, listen to streaming music, and find radio stations near you.
All of these apps are completely free and compatible with Android and iOS devices. Use the link to download the app or find it in the app store on your device. You’ll be up and running in no time.
There are also plenty of free streaming music websites, online radio stations, free music video sites, and websites where you can download free music.
Pandora: Most Popular Music Streaming Service
Pandora is popular for a reason. For most people, it’s because they find it to be the best app for streaming music.
Start stations based on artists.
Pre-made stations are available for different moods, activities, decades, and more.
Lets you rate songs to fine-tune the music selection.
Play on-demand by watching ads.
A user account is required (it’s free).
Shows advertisements.
Lets you skip a limited number of songs per day.
Enter your favorite artist, and Pandora plays their songs along with similar artists it recommends. This is the easiest way to find new music similar to the songs you already love.
As you listen, rate songs so that the app will play more of the music you like, or won’t play songs you don’t like. The service learns and improves suggestions based on your ratings.
Bookmark your favorite artists to access them later, and stream podcasts from the app.
The app works best when connected to Wi-Fi, so you can stream music with little to no buffering.
Register for free with Pandora to save your stations and ratings across the phone app and their website if you also listen on your computer.
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Shazam: Name That Tune Anywhere, Anytime
Apple’s Shazam app is a cool reverse audio search tool that’s great for when you don’t know the name of a song you heard in a store, during a movie, or in your car.
Identifies songs with one tap.
Stores every song it tags in your user account.
Auto Shazam listens to every song it hears until you turn it off.
Supports an automatic mode to listen every time you open the app.
Buying music from the app is easy.
No ads.
Lyrics are available for only some songs.
It listens to a song that’s played and tells you the name of the song and the artist. You can share your discovery, watch a music video of it on YouTube, and play it in Spotify. You can also find tour information, view a discography, read album reviews, and create a Pandora station based on that artist.
Each song that’s identified through the app is saved as a tag. Share these tags with your friends and view their discoveries as well.
Sometimes, depending on the song it identifies, you can watch the lyrics scroll by as you listen along.
If you create a user account, you can view your Shazamed music from a computer.
Spotify: Stream Your Favorite Music on Any Device
Spotify is an awesome music app that lets you follow artists and sync music from your desktop. Like Pandora, you can create a radio station so it plays recommended music based on your initial interest.
Works on many devices.
Make an unlimited number of playlists.
It’s easy to listen to playlists made by others.
Try the premium features free for 30 days.
Excellent Apple Watch integration and features.
Only six songs can be skipped every hour.
Shows advertisements.
Must make a user account to listen.
Find music by viewing top lists and new releases, as well as by searching for playlists and your favorite artists and albums. Add your favorite songs to your music library and play those songs again later.
One thing that makes playlists enjoyable with Spotify is that anyone can make one and share it with others so that they can play the same songs in their app. The app allows several push notifications, alerting you to things like a new album being released from an artist you follow, or when a playlist is updated.
The basic version is free. If you want to remove ads, play any song at any time, download the music, and more, there are Spotify Premium plans to pick from.
iHeartRadio: Commercial-Free Podcasts and Radio Stations
If you need a radio app for your mobile device, iHeartRadio has you covered. It supports tons of devices, has awesome features, shows no commercials, and finds nearby radio stations with ease.
Includes music, radio, and podcasts.
Plays zero commercials.
Works on a variety of devices.
Must log in to your user account before listening to music from the app.
Only a certain number of songs can be skipped on a daily basis.
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.
iHeartRadio also lets you view lyrics as you listen, see an artist’s biography, and share a station with others.
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.
LiveOne: The Successor to Slacker Radio
LiveOne (previously called LiveXLive, and Slacker Radio before that) has pre-programmed streaming radio stations for about every genre. While listening to a station, fine-tune it to play more of the songs that you like, or leave things a bit more open to find new kinds of music.
Stream music without a user account.
Lots of pre-made stations are one tap away.
Can adjust the audio stream quality.
Alerts about music news and sports updates.
Only six songs can be skipped per day.
Occasional commercials between songs.
Not every feature is free; some require a paid upgrade.
Create new stations and playlists, as well as keep track of your favorite songs and recently played songs.
The free version includes ads, doesn’t play music offline, has standard-quality audio, can’t play music on-demand, and doesn’t let you skip an unlimited number of songs. You can upgrade to get those features.
TuneIn: Listen to Local Radio Anywhere
If you love radio but want the convenience of a mobile device, check out the free music app from TuneIn. Listen to local radio stations wherever you are, which is perfect when traveling.
Easy to use.
Includes tens of thousands of live radio stations.
Finding music to listen to is easy.
Includes podcasts.
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.
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.
If you like the service, consider subscribing to TuneIn Premium for commercial-free radio and fewer ads.
SoundCloud: Find Up-and-Coming Artists
SoundCloud contains tons of audio uploaded by other users, including homemade audio and music from up-and-coming artists.
Easy to find new music.
There’s a lot of content, and it’s always being updated.
Fast-forward through songs, unlike most free music players.
Some music is free to download.
Most of the music is from new artists, so you might have trouble finding tracks you’ve already heard.
Requires a user account.
Search for music, artists, and audio, and follow other users to keep track of their new uploads. A combined 10-plus hours of audio is posted every minute from other users, which means you can find something interesting.
Playlists can be built on the iPhone to create a customized stream of your favorite music and share the playlists with others. Some devices let you record and upload your audio through the app.
If you create a user account, access your saved songs and other data from both the app and the website. An account and subscription to SoundCloud get you ad-free listening, no previews, high-quality audio, and offline listening.
YouTube Music: Stream Music Videos and Live Performances
YouTube Music provides a staggering number of streaming songs and videos from popular artists as well as lesser-known, niche content creators. Its powerful recommendation engine adapts seamlessly to offer songs and content according to what you played before, where you are, and what you’re doing. Its smart search function helps you find songs even when you don’t know the title.
Find content you won’t find anywhere else.
Enjoy live recordings, concert footage, and artist interviews.
Build as many playlists as you want and share with friends.
Need a Premium account for ad-free music and offline listening.
The audio quality isn’t always the best.
Only paying users can continue streaming in the background when the device is locked.
The YouTube Music video offerings include popular music videos along with live recordings, interviews, concert footage, and more, spanning decades of artists’ work. Add songs to your library and craft playlists, or choose from a variety of preset playlists. It can build a playlist for you based on the music you like.
The basic, ad-supported version is free. Music Premium ($9.99 per month) lets you listen and watch ad-free and offers an audio-only mode so that you can play a song without its video. Music continues to play even when your screen isn’t activated. There’s also a Family and Student plan. Try the premium edition free for 30 days and see if the upgrade is worth it.
Spinrilla: Best Hip-Hop Streaming App
Spinrilla is the best app for hip-hop mixtapes. Listen directly from the app or download the music for offline use, and browse the offerings in several ways.
No limits.
Save songs offline.
View upcoming releases.
Unique features.
Ad-supported app.
User account is required.
At the top of the app is a section for new music, popular songs, and singles. The Upcoming Tracks area of the app is complete with a countdown until the day the music will be available.
Unlike some music streaming apps, this one lets you scroll back and forth through any song, leave comments on individual tracks, create playlists of the songs you see in the app, and save the music to your device.
There’s also a built-in radio that lets you listen to top hits, instrumental music, and location-specific radio.
- Can I stream Apple Music for free?
- There are a few ways you can access Apple Music streaming for free, for a limited window of time. New subscribers can try the service out for free for one month. You can also get six months of free Apple Music with the Verizon Unlimited plan.
- How do I record streaming music on my computer for free?
- You can directly record streaming music from your computer by using one of several third-party recording apps like Audacity. The settings may vary based on the software, but you can use Audacity to record audio directly from your computer, whether you’re watching a video or listening to music.
- What free streaming services will work on the iPad?
- A number of free music streaming platforms have their own iPad apps. If you search the App Store you can find downloads for services like Pandora Radio, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and more.
There are a few ways you can access Apple Music streaming for free, for a limited window of time. New subscribers can try the service out for free for one month. You can also get six months of free Apple Music with the Verizon Unlimited plan.
You can directly record streaming music from your computer by using one of several third-party recording apps like Audacity. The settings may vary based on the software, but you can use Audacity to record audio directly from your computer, whether you’re watching a video or listening to music.
A number of free music streaming platforms have their own iPad apps. If you search the App Store you can find downloads for services like Pandora Radio, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and more.
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