New Pandora Desktop App Now Available for Both Windows and Mac

[Pandora]

 

Following the recent launch of Pandora’s new desktop app for Mac, we’re glad to announce that the new Pandora desktop app for Windows users is available via the Microsoft Store starting today.

Now, the Pandora desktop app gives easy, full-featured access to Pandora across all tiers of service (Free, Pandora Plus, Pandora Premium) right from your computer, whether Windows or Mac — no more flipping through browser tabs.

Plus, there are lots of other new desktop features including:

• Keyboard controls that let you play, pause, replay, skip, shuffle, or thumb up/down songs right from your computer keyboard.

• On-screen song notifications that graphically display the artists, albums, and song titles for the music that’s currently playing.
• App-based controls for our new Pandora Modes feature, which lets you customize the music you hear on your Pandora stations using selectable “modes” including Crowd Faves, Deep Cuts, Newly Released, Artist Only, and more.

Windows users can download the new Pandora desktop app here. (requires Windows 10)

Mac users can download the new Pandora desktop app here. (requires macOS version 10.10 and above)

[TannerPandora]

Hooray! This is great new! 

[umcomplab]

Absolutely NOT likeing this new layout, nor performance. It's slow. It takes a long time to find collected albums. Visually not pleasing nor functional. Very disappointed.

[npack]

The new "song notifications" are distracting when I'm trying to get work done on the computer. They pop up in the corner of the screen on-top of whatever is there and take me out of my current work thought. I don't need to be notified of the song name and artist every time a new song starts. If I like the song I'll switch to the app to see what is playing. 

Is there a way to disable the song notifications?

[ErickPandora]

@umcomplab Thanks for your feedback, I'll make sure to pass this along.

@npack To turn off the notifications, you can use the following steps from your computer settings.

• If you're using a Windows computer:
  • Go to Settings.
  • Then select Notifications & Actions.
  • Find Pandora. Some users may need to scroll down to Get notifications from these senders.
  • Switch setting to Off.

•  If you're using a Mac computer:
  • Go to System Preferences.
  • Then select Notifications.
  • Find Pandora.
  • Set Pandora alert style to None.

Hope this helps. Thanks for listening to Pandora!

[npack]

Sweet, I had been looking only in Pandora's settings. This is great, thank you for the reply.

[scotepi]

How can I stop this from opening when I sign into my computer? Really annoying to have yet another app to close at sign in and something else trying to slow down getting stuff done when I don't need it. If I want to listen to music, I will open it.

[ErickPandora]

@scotepi You'll have to disable auto-start for the Pandora app through your computer's settings. This is how you'd disable any other apps that auto-start as well. 

[PhoneBill]

I have NO audio from the new application. I can see songs playing and I can raise, lower, mute the audio in the application but there is no audio output to my default or any other audio device. Where are the application settings to manage the audio output device? I have multiple devices and the new Pandora is not playing on any of them, I never had an issue with the previous application.

[ErickPandora]

@PhoneBill The audio output settings are managed by your computer, not the Pandora app.

I suggest holding COMMAND + pressing the space bar to bring up your Spotlight Search and then searching for "Sound." In the Sound settings, select your Output and decide on where you want the audio source to play from.

[PhoneBill]

Hello @ErickPandora, the problem is exclusively with the new Pandora app, no other application has a problem with the audio, e.g. Google Hangouts, Windows sound effects, Firefox browser, SIP (VoIP) client all play audio out the correct device. In fact, Pandora in a browser is fine and the previous Pandora thick client worked without any audio issues. It is only this new Pandora application that does not work. Since this is not using the default audio device, how is the audio device selected from the Pandora application? If your answer is "there is no option in the application," how do I get support for this? I am a plus customer and have had no issues until this "improvement."

[ErickPandora]

@PhoneBill Thanks for taking the time to confirm that the output of your computer is set to play through your default audio device.

I've reached out to our Support Team who will be following up with you via email at the email address associated with your Pandora account to provide you with further support to help get you back to listening. 

[ohgracie98]

I'm not a fan of this updated app. First, it now asks if I was still listening. It is really annoying to have to pause my work to go to the app and click "I'm still listening". Second, the window layout is large and awkward.

[AdamPandora]

@ohgracie98 Thank you for your feedback on the new Pandora Desktop App - I will make sure to pass this information along to our product team.

For more information on why the "Are you still listening?" pops up, see my response on this post left in the Account space. 

Hope we continue to see you around the community!  

[berto412]

I also do not like the new interface of this updated Pandora app. The old interface was much cleaner and this new app looks exactly like the web version. I enjoy the service though.

[devmonkey22]

This new version broke HTTP proxy support as far as I can tell. I have to use an HTTP proxy at work but Pandora doesn't seem to honor the system proxy settings anymore. Before the upgrade, I could at least listen through the proxy, even though certain features like my Station List wouldn't load. Now, the "Connecting" window just says "Trouble Connecting To Pandora". I like the new UX on Windows (its different, so takes a little getting used to), but can't use it for 8+ hours a day while I'm at work.

[PhoneBill]

Restarting my computer resolved the issue with no audio from the new application. The computer had not been restarted since the update. I seldom reboot the computer, hibernate each night. Thank you @ErickPandora for escalating this to support.

[BubblyJoe]

I love the new layout and how it matches the IOS layout, but i absolutely despise how slow and just plain dysfunctional both the windows app and the web browser version are. I'll click on a song to play and it wont play it at all, then it'll skip to another song randomly, but start playing the new song at the time mark the old one would've been, had it been playing. its annoying and frustrating.

[AdamPandora]

@BubblyJoe I recommend running through the troubleshooting steps listed on this page.

Let me know if this helps. 

[BubblyJoe]

@AdamPandora I ran through the steps and if feels almost slower now. Definitely did not improve anything.

[AdamPandora]

@BubblyJoe Sorry for your continued trouble - our support team will be reaching out to you via email to the email address your Pandora account is registered under. 

Please keep an eye out for their message and they'll be happy to look into this further. 

[velasarius]

Nice WebViewer, but really the opportunity for the Mac is project Catalyst to port apps from the iPadOS to the MacOS environment. That's what fans of Pandora really want. As I understand, it will not take much effort to make this port happen.

[madmankinu]

Since this update, I have not been able to use pandora.com. The page loads, appears to start to play a song, then skips to the next rack, no audio is playing, the Album cover is a constant turning icon and never resolves. I only have this issue at work. I have been using Pandora for years at work and never have had this problem until this new update. There have been no network changes done here. I read in another thread that you can no longer use a Proxy server to access Pandora? What company doesn't run a proxy server to control internet traffic?

[koalawoman]

LOVE IT!

---

@Pandora wrote:

 

Following the recent launch of Pandora’s new desktop app for Mac, we’re glad to announce that the new Pandora desktop app for Windows users is available via the Microsoft Store starting today.

Now, the Pandora desktop app gives easy, full-featured access to Pandora across all tiers of service (Free, Pandora Plus, Pandora Premium) right from your computer, whether Windows or Mac — no more flipping through browser tabs.

Plus, there are lots of other new desktop features including:

• Keyboard controls that let you play, pause, replay, skip, shuffle, or thumb up/down songs right from your computer keyboard.

• On-screen song notifications that graphically display the artists, albums, and song titles for the music that’s currently playing.
• App-based controls for our new Pandora Modes feature, which lets you customize the music you hear on your Pandora stations using selectable “modes” including Crowd Faves, Deep Cuts, Newly Released, Artist Only, and more.

Windows users can download the new Pandora desktop app here. (requires Windows 10)

Mac users can download the new Pandora desktop app here. (requires macOS version 10.10 and above)

---

[ssicely22]

The Microsoft Store just says 'Pandora is currently not available'. Any ideas how I can download the windows desktop app?
I'm running a 64bit computer with the latest OS for Windows 10, so I know system requirements is not the issue.

[TechMonkey]

Where's the best place for App feedback? Windows app - main complaint is that there's no vertical scrolling if your song list is longer than what's displayed.

[Adal]

Hello Pandora makers.

Been using pandora since I first came across it many many years ago, and now a premium subscriber since I make decent money now. It is amazing.

The one thing I would love  to see here is DARK MODE. 

A dark mode for this app would be a god  send. Would this be something that would be hard to implement?

I like having the app for the keyboard control, but would love to see a dark mode available. This would make it better fit on my machine's screen at night when I am using it for music, or entertaining, and it just over lights  up the room, when one is trying to darken the room for more intimate ambiance.

Thank you for your time on this, and please consider Dark Mode on the Win10 App. 

Respectfuly,

-Adal Felix

[Grant_Carlson]

Why is Pandora so focused on desktop? I have to believe that the vast majority of it's users do most of their listening via mobile, which is sorely lacking in features. Increased functionality would also be great on streaming devices like Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV etc, but mobile should a no-brainer.

[TechMonkey]

What do you mean "focused on desktop"? It's pretty darn new...

I friggin' love having a Desktop client, both Windows and Mac, and the Android version does most everything I need it to. Just because something doesn't match your use case/scenario/circumstance, doesn't mean it's not important to someone else.

Also, best case scenario the desktop versions are still using some/all of the same frameworks, and deploying to multiple platforms tends to expose bugs/inefficiencies, so work on one platform/target benefits others as well.

[Alltypes4me]

Will you be updating the Xbox One app?

[djostrei]

LOVE the Mac app!  Any chance of incorporating touchbar controls?  Please 🙂

[5278]

where do i go to listen to my stations that i already have for pandora

[wicked503]

👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎

I'm sorry - but the Mac OS X Pandora player is absolutely TERRIBLE.  I used to use the old Adobe Air mini player.  But I made the fatal mistake of upgrading to Mac OS X Catalina.  That killed support for 32 bit apps - including Adobe Air.

I'm running the 15.0.3 version of the Pandora app.  The layout is awful.  But that's a by-product of using a Material Design based framework.  Material Design is the anti-Usability pattern for modern applications.  Brain dead easy for an untrained engineer to slap together a UX, but completely opposite of all principles of Usability.   May the stupidity around this UI/UX "design" come to a grinding halt SOON!

With the 15.0.3 version of the player - there are MANY problems beyond just the usability faults of Material Design apps.

• FATAL FLAW Consumes WELL over 18% of the CPU when not even actively playing songs - 2x helpers, one at 11.5 to 13% on average, the second at 2.5 to 4%, then the main Pandora app at 4.5 to 5.0 % CPU consumption - NOT EVEN PLAYING !!!  (see screen shot below - NOTE, NOTHING playing !!!)
• The app won't shrink very much - the smallest size I can make it is about 6x larger than the old Adobe Air based player - that's ridiculous
• The interface design is unfriendly - and mostly riddled with the failures systemic to Material Design barf
• When opening up, it does not remember the windows previous size or location when it was closed - meaning I constantly have to resize and place it on my desktop every time I open it
• Because it snarfles up CPU like mad - I have to close it all the time now - exacerbating the above problem
• When it minimizes, it creates a second minimized icon in my Dock bar - the old Adobe Air based icon never did that
• Since the app is so busy sucking CPU cycles uselessly, it seems to respond relatively slowly to user in put - for example, hitting "Play/Pause"; there is a noticeable lag between clicking the button and the reaction of the App (eg start Playing or Pause playing)

CPU Utilization WHEN NOT EVEN PLAYING !!

CPU Usage - when not even playing !!!

[zeb]

Would like to see the desktop apps keep pace with the Mobile UI. Same applies to web interface: (https://community.pandora.com/t5/Feature-Requests/For-You-icon-on-web-interface/idi-p/21803) 

[private-private]

Absolutely Refuse to load Any app thats on the Micro$oft store ..ever .  Every so called 'metro' / UWP app that i can has been uninstalled .

Wish i would have knew this before i signed up .. that there's no 'outside' the MS store version of the Windows Desktop app ... I never would have signed up .

[Devil2U]

Needs DARK MODE!

[YourName]

The Microsoft store has been broken for me for a long time. Why isn't it a downloadable application?