Listening to Hörspiele on Apple Music: how to make it work on iPhone

The short version

• German audio dramas (Hörspiele) are included in a regular Apple Music subscription. No separate audiobook service needed.
• The fastest way in is to search for the series name and open its artist page.
• The Music app is built for music: it doesn't reliably remember your position, doesn't sort by episode number and doesn't flag new episodes.
• Audio drama apps for Apple Music fix that. They use your subscription but organise episodes like a series.

Which audio dramas are on Apple Music?

Nearly all the big series: Die drei ???, TKKG, Fünf Freunde, Die drei !!!, Benjamin Blümchen, Bibi Blocksberg, Bibi & Tina, John Sinclair and many more. Labels such as Europa (Sony Music) and Kiddinx have put their catalogues on streaming services for years, and the long-running series often have well over a hundred episodes.

What you see depends on the country of your Apple Account. The catalogue is most complete in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; outside Europe, Die drei ??? in particular is almost entirely missing. The numbers for 36 countries are in our country check.

Finding audio dramas in the Music app

1. Search for the series, not the episode title – “Die drei Fragezeichen” rather than the name of episode 42. The spelling with question marks usually works too.
2. Open the artist page of the series. Every episode is listed there as an album. Watch out for separate pages for audiobooks or special editions – many series have several.
3. Add the episodes you want to your library, so you'll find them under Library → Albums without searching again.
4. Download them for the road. Any album in your library can be downloaded in Apple Music. “Sync Library” needs to be on in Settings → Music.

In German-speaking storefronts, Apple Music also has a dedicated audio drama and audiobook section in the Browse tab. It's nice for discovery; for a specific series, search is faster.

Three weak spots of the Music app

Asked about better audio drama features in 2025, Apple Music boss Oliver Schusser said the team simply hadn't had the time yet. Day to day, you notice it in three places:

1. Your place gets lost

On Apple Music an episode is an album made of many short tracks. Play a song or another episode in between, and the Music app starts from the top next time. If you spread an episode over three evenings, you'll be hunting for the right track every night.

2. The order is wrong

The Music app sorts albums by title or release date. Neither suits audio dramas: alphabetically, “Folge 10” comes before “Folge 2”, and release dates of reissues and box sets rarely match the episode number.

3. New episodes slip by

When a new episode comes out, you usually find out by accident. Apple Music can tell you about new music from artists you've favourited, but only inside the app – and an audio drama series is easily buried among music releases. More in Never miss a new album on Apple Music.

Tips that help right away

• One episode, one playlist: If you only use the Music app, keep a “Now listening” playlist and play the episode from there. It's quicker to find – though it won't save your position.
• Shuffle off: Shuffle is fatal for a story. Check the little icon in the player.
• Use a sleep timer: The Clock app has Timer → When Timer Ends → Stop Playing. Apps that fade out gently are better, as we explain in Falling asleep to audio dramas.
• Download ahead: In the car, on a plane or with kids in the back seat, a downloaded episode saves the day. See Audio dramas in the car and Kids' audio dramas on the go.

Audio drama apps for Apple Music

Because Apple hasn't closed the gap, independent developers have built their own iOS apps. They use Apple's official interface (MusicKit) to access your Apple Music subscription and handle what the Music app doesn't: remembering your place, sorting episodes, showing new releases. Well-known examples are Hörspielzentrale, the kids-focused Hörspieler and our own zentr. All of them need an active Apple Music subscription.

The difference is the approach. Dedicated audio drama apps focus entirely on Hörspiele. zentr is a player for everything you listen to and watch – audio dramas, music, podcasts, YouTube and your own files in one shared queue. Which fits better depends on whether audio dramas are your whole programme or one part of it.

Listening to Apple Music audio dramas in zentr

• A position per episode: zentr remembers the track and second of every episode, even if you play something else in between – synced via iCloud across iPhone and iPad.
• The right order: “Folge 2” before “Folge 10”. Optionally, a smart sort powered by Apple Intelligence – on device – orders episodes by number and groups series.
• New episodes in the inbox: Favourite a series, and new episodes land in your inbox automatically, with a notification if you like.
• Chapter filter: Optionally skips recaps, theme music or credits – extendable with your own keywords.
• Speed: Seven steps from 0.75× to 2×.

How favourites, inbox and queue work together is explained in How zentr works.