Audials Play: Radio & Podcasts - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

Yes, our team had a long history of developing powerful PC and server applications before turning to Android app development.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

The "Audials Play" app features the most complete radio station directory with more than 100,000 stations, and it provides real-time information about "what track is currently playing" for most of them.

The most challenging part to reach that was definitely the server-side backend. We operate a cluster consisting of several single servers, which both scan the internet for any available radio station, but also connect to each station to find out "what's playing right now". Additionally, we operate complex servers that add "music knowledge" (to better display artists, cover arts, etc.). Also, we had to put quite some effort to bundle all this information into an API, which is used by our mobile app.

Challenges are also the precise recording of radio into single tracks and fast and reliable audio buffering.

And of course, to reach a nice, modern, easy to use user interface.

_{Audials Radio Software}

Audials AG is a leading software company specializing in the recording of audio and video streams. Audials technology has received numerous awards from the international specialized press and has been crowned winner in public polls on multiple occasions. The products are available online at Audials.com or at specialist retailers. Audials software is optimized for Microsoft Windows (Windows 11, 10) and is also available as an app for smartphones and tablets running Android and iOS.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

Spotify as it provides excellent usability. TikTok, as it is just fun.
Android auto, as it brings so much functionality of millions of apps (including ours) into cars.Chrome browser, as it's simply the best available web rendering engine on mobile.

How long have you been working on this app?

We have been working for a bit more than 10 years now on this app!

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

Users should be able to enjoy any radio station or podcast in the world and save any music played on them, to easily enjoy music and contents of any genre in a fun, effortless, and personal way.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

- Audials has the most complete radio station directory. This is also important, as we have the richest choice no matter how niche your personal taste is

- Audials features excellent realtime information about "what's playing"

- The app can cut radio streams precisely (by millisecond) into single, well-tagged music files

- We provide several favorite lists, allowing us to sort stations e.g. by genre

- Users can find stations playing their favorite artists right now

- We don't put any ads into the app, but trust that enthusiast users will purchase other products to help fund it

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

We have many plans and great features under development and on our roadmap. But usually, we avoid "promising" any of them, as we only release things if and when they provide great user value - therefore, we cannot really answer this question.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

If you like the app, please leave a rating and review in google play store.
Have a look at audials.com, maybe you will love our PC products, too.

If there is anything you'd like to have improved in the app, feel free to contact our support - we're always happy to hear about bugs or feature wishes.