Audio drama apps for Apple Music compared: Hörspielzentrale, Hörspieler, HörBär and zentr

The short version

• All four apps use Apple's MusicKit interface and need an active Apple Music subscription. None of them downloads episodes itself.
• Hörspielzentrale is the best known and free at its core; CarPlay costs extra. Hörspieler and HörBär are built for kids.
• All four remember your position per episode. They differ on parental locks, CarPlay, sleep timer and pricing model.
• Kids mode with a parent code: Hörspielzentrale locks the search, zentr shows kids only your favorites and nothing new.
• zentr is the pick when audio dramas sit next to podcasts, music and YouTube. What zentr does and doesn't do.

What they all share: your Apple Music subscription

Apple's Music app plays a single episode cleanly from start to finish. Its gaps lie between episodes. It forgets your position as soon as you play something else, has no played state and sorts albums by title rather than episode number. It has no sleep timer either. How to cope inside the Music app is covered in Audio dramas on Apple Music.

That's where the audio drama apps come in. They access your account through MusicKit, Apple's official interface, and play the catalog with your subscription. Without one, they stay empty. None of them downloads Apple Music episodes itself: offline, you only hear what you downloaded in the Music app beforehand. Hörspieler says so in its App Store description.

The apps at a glance

Audio drama apps for Apple Music on iPhone and iPad (October 2026, based on the makers' own descriptions)

App	Who it's for	Kids mode	CarPlay	Sleep timer	Podcasts & own files	Model
Hörspielzentrale	Audio drama fans of any age	Parent code locks the search	Yes, as in-app purchase	Yes, with Apple Health matching	–	Free, extras as in-app purchases
Hörspieler	Kids	Whole app is kid-friendly; parental lock: n/a	Yes	Yes	–	Free, Pro mode as in-app purchase
HörBär	Kids	Whole app is kid-friendly; lock via iOS Guided Access	n/a	n/a	–	Free trial, then app subscription
zentr	Anyone who listens to more than audio dramas, families too	Parent code; kids play only your favorites, nothing new	Yes (without YouTube)	Yes, with 15-second fade, Live Activity and Apple Health matching	Yes	zentr Play (subscription or one-off purchase)¹

Hörspielzentrale: the best known

Hörspielzentrale launched in 2024 and has been the best-known of these apps since: free at its core, ad-free, no tracking. It remembers your place in each episode, sorts series chronologically and notifies you about new episodes. Smartskip skips the intro, theme music or outro. Add a sleep timer, a Lock Screen Live Activity, a play queue, playlists and a Discover section. Since version 1.9 the sleep timer checks Apple Health for when you fell asleep.

For families there's a parent code that locks the search. Kids then only hear what you set up beforehand.

Less good: CarPlay and CSV export are premium features. The App Store lists them as in-app purchases, reports describe a subscription. Podcasts and your own files are out; the app deliberately sticks to Apple Music.

Hörspieler: built for the kids' room

Hörspieler is made for children: big covers, little text, and on request it reads album titles aloud for kids who can't read yet. Search, favorites, remembered position and CarPlay are in the App Store description, the sleep timer in the version history. Audio dramas you added to your library in the Music app show up as well.

The pricing model has changed. Hörspieler used to be a one-off purchase; today the App Store lists it as free with Pro mode as an in-app purchase. Earlier buyers got Pro automatically, according to the developer.

Less good: the official descriptions don't mention a parental lock; only user reviews do. Adults managing long series will find the stripped-down interface limiting.

HörBär: Apple Music as a story box

HörBär is the youngest app here, in the press since early 2026. The developer filters the Apple Music catalog down to kid-friendly series; his website puts that at around 5,000 audio dramas. The app sorts by character and series, remembers your position and flags new episodes of your favorites. He positions it as an alternative to the Toniebox and the CD shelf, since no episode has to be bought individually.

HörBär has no parental lock of its own; the developer points to iOS Guided Access. Setting it up is covered in Kids' audio dramas on the go.

Less good: on top of Apple Music, the app needs its own subscription after a free trial. Neither the App Store nor the website mentions CarPlay or a sleep timer, hence “n/a” in the table.

What else is out there

• Muky: parents build Apple Music playlists, kids listen in a player mode only a password can leave. Now a subscription, and more music player than audio drama app.
• Fonie Kinder Player: a free player for one playlist from your library, usable without reading.
• Hörspiel Player by Sony Music: a separate streaming service with its own subscription and kids' profiles, Europa's catalog only.
• Ooigo: Europa's former free app for Spotify and Apple Music, discontinued in favor of Hörspiel Player according to iphone-ticker.

zentr: audio dramas as part of everything

zentr isn't a pure audio drama player. It brings audio dramas, Apple Music, podcasts, YouTube channels and your own files into one inbox and one queue. If you only want audio dramas, filter both to that section; auto-play then plays only the visible episodes. For audio dramas, that means:

• Position per episode: track and second, even if you play something else in between, synced via iCloud on iPhone and iPad.
• The right order: episode 2 comes before episode 10, played episodes are marked and can be hidden. On request Apple Intelligence sorts by episode number, on the device.
• Chapter filter: zentr automatically skips the synopsis, theme music or credits, extendable with your own keywords.
• Sleep timer: 15 to 90 minutes or to the end of the episode, with a 15-second fade. A Lock Screen Live Activity shows the remaining time and extends it with a tap. With sleep data from Apple Health, zentr offers in the morning to rewind to just before you fell asleep.
• CarPlay: queue, inbox and favorites on the car display; every episode carries on where you got out.
• Your own files: old CDs as MP3 or M4B go into your iCloud Drive, and from then on they behave like Apple Music.
• New episodes of your series land in the inbox automatically, with a notification if you like.
• Kids mode: turn it on under Settings → System → Kids mode with a four-digit parent code. Your child can then play everything in your favorites, with all episodes, but nothing new: Find, recommendations and similar artists are hidden, and Settings only open with the code. New episodes of your favorite series still arrive in the inbox.

Where others are better: zentr's kids mode decides what a child plays, not how they use the app. The interface stays the regular one, without extra-large covers or read-aloud for kids who can't read yet. Hörspieler and HörBär do that better. Your child can't turn kids mode off, but can leave the app; that's still a job for iOS Guided Access. CarPlay leaves out YouTube; only audio plays there. And zentr is a beta: you install it through TestFlight, and some features are still changing.

Which app suits you?

• You only listen to audio dramas: Hörspielzentrale. Longest on the market, free at its core, with Smartskip and a sleep timer. Budget for the CarPlay purchase if you listen in the car.
• You have kids: Hörspieler if you need CarPlay and prefer a purchase to a subscription. HörBär if the filtered catalog matters more. For your own series alongside: Hörspielzentrale with the parent code. zentr if the family shares one iPad: in kids mode your child plays only what you put in your favorites.
• You want everything in one app: zentr. Audio dramas run in the same queue as podcasts, albums and YouTube videos, and a filter shows only the audio dramas when you need it.