Deezer: A Review of the Music Streaming App

Deezer is a lesser-known but equally compelling and reliable music streaming app. The streaming app industry has been on the rise for a while now, and the likes of Spotify and Apple Music have long dominated the scene. But while these options may be the most popular, that is not an excuse to simply follow the crowd. A lesser-known app like Deezer might be the answer to your music streaming woes, with its comprehensive music library, easy-to-use user interface, dynamic features, and affordable subscription rates. And so let’s take a deep dive into Deezer’s features and what it has to offer.

What Is Deezer?

You might have seen its logo around somewhere before and wondered, “What is the Deezer app?” Granted, it’s not as widespread in reach as Spotify, and however, it has slowly become large enough for many people to be vaguely familiar with it.

So let’s get things straight. First of all, what is Deezer? Deezer is a music streaming service like Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal, but it’s somewhere in the middle. While it may be unfamiliar to some, it already has over 14 million active users in more than 180 countries. Deezer also boasts an impressive content library with over 56 million tracks and 100 million playlists.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like it has much of an edge against other streaming services. However, if you take a good look, there are key differences. From the familiar music streaming and podcasts to live radio and HiFi quality, Deezer has many features up its sleeve.

Deezer’s Features: Yay Or Nay?

Like most streaming services, what makes an app subscription-worthy lies in its features and offerings. So, what does Deezer do? Let’s take a look at Deezer’s different features to help us gain an understanding of just what it can offer.

1. Availability

One of Deezer’s many benefits is its presence on a variety of platforms. Of course, it’s available in more familiar media like the web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. However, you’d be surprised to learn that it’s also available on even more obscure platforms like the Xbox One, smart speakers, smartwatches, or even Roku. If you like listening to music in your car, it’s also available in some car operating systems like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. That’s a plus if one of your main concerns is cross-platform compatibility.

Deezer is also available in 182 countries out of 192 countries globally. So if you’re looking for a widely available streaming service, you might want to check it out. It’s also one of the few music streaming services widely offered in most countries with a high-end sound quality premium option.

2. Plan Variety & Pricing

How much is Deezer, and are its plans’ prices worth the quality of its music? Let’s take a look at the different plans Deezer has to offer.

Free

Like a lot of good streaming services, Deezer offers a free, ad-supported version of its app. However, its capabilities are limited as it’s exclusive to online listening and only has shuffle play with limited skips. Moreover, Deezer’s free version only offers low-quality streaming at 128 kbps in MP3 format. If all you want is to be able to listen for free, then this is a good choice.

Premium Plan

Most people will want to be able to skip a few songs or listen offline. If that’s you, you might want an upgrade (for a price, of course). Deezer also offers four paid premium options for a boost in quality and features. These include a Premium Plan, Student Plan, Family Plan, and a HiFi tier in which you can listen to higher-quality audio.

Deezer Premium is a $9.99/month subscription with upgraded features and higher-quality audio at 320 kbps MP3. Of course, its music is still compressed, but it has high sound quality. It doesn’t come with any annoying ads, either. Moreover, it offers unlimited streaming and skips with offline access. If you want to try it before you jump in, there’s a 30-day free trial available for you to check out. This is great if you want to know how to get Deezer premium for free, albeit for a limited time.

Student Plan

Deezer’s Student Plan offers a discounted monthly price of $4.99/month with a 30-day free trial. This plan offers essentially the same features as the premium plan with offline listening and unlimited skips.

Family Plan

If you aren’t a student, but you know many people interested in Deezer, then you should check Deezer’s Family Plan. It offers all the same features that Deezer Premium does but with a discount at $14.99/month. If you opt for the family plan, you can get up to six different profiles for six different people. That’s less than the cost of a meal at $2.50 per person per month!

HiFi Plan

Lastly, Deezer boasts in its HiFi “CD quality” premium plan with 16-bit, 1,411 kbps music in FLAC format. Not only that, but HiFi premium is also uncompressed, meaning it has a lossless sound quality for audiophiles. Deezer also has a unique edge with its 360 Reality Audio that no other streaming service offers in this plan. It comes with a generous three-month trial period—enough to gauge the quality of your experience. Keep in mind, though, that this plan doesn’t have a family plan included. You won’t be able to split the bill with you and your friends.

3. Interface

If you’re wondering how to use Deezer, it’s pretty similar to other streaming platforms you might be used to. The interface and placement of libraries and songs are similar, albeit a bit more stripped down. That goes for both the desktop and mobile versions.

Granted, this may be your first time considering music streaming app. In that case, how does Deezer work? It doesn’t matter if it’s like other apps if this is your first time using one. If you want to know how to navigate Deezer, read the next bit well.

While listening to music, you’ll find your playback bar at the bottom of the screen. On the left-hand tab, you’ll find that you can see most of the areas you’ll want to go. From your Music (home), Shows (podcasts), Explore (discovering new music), and Favorites.

Under the Music tab, you’ll find personalized playlists and the ability to explore tracks by charts, popularity, moods, or by new releases. If you’re looking for the radio stations, they’ll appear at the bottom of this area. The Shows tab is where you’ll find podcasts, the Explore tab for exploring different music, playlists, and Flow, and your Favorites have all the songs and playlists you’ve saved.

4. Downloads & Offline Listening

If you want to know how to listen to Deezer offline, no worries, and it’s pretty easy as long as you know how to download from Deezer. While this may have been a feature absent from Deezer’s offerings in the past, it’s now widely available on Deezer’s mobile apps.

Go to Favorites and select the playlist, album, or podcast you want to download on mobile. Once you’ve selected what you want, use the slider and slide it to the right or just tap it once. It’ll download the content automatically over WiFi. If you’re on mobile data, though, you’ll have to navigate to the Settings first. Once you get there, go to Audio Settings and scroll down to the bottom. Tap on the slider next to “Download via Cellular Network” so you can download songs even without WiFi.

You can download all your favorites via the desktop app on a desktop. This should be available on most computer platforms. When you open the app, just choose the album or playlist you want and click on the download button.

If you finally want to go into offline mode, just go to Favorites > Settings > Offline Mode. Tap on the slider in this section, and offline mode should be activated. It’s perfect for when you want to listen on your commute or during a flight.

5. Lyrics

If you’re an Apple Music user, then you’d probably know that they recently added lyrics as a feature. However, they’re not the first music streaming service to do this. Deezer has had a lyrics feature since way back. So, if you’ve always wanted to sing along to your favorite tunes, Deezer makes it easy with on-screen, on-time lyrics.

6. Content Library

Deezer has a vast collection of songs with a wide library of over 56 million tracks. If one of your considerations is the amount of music you can listen to, then Deezer should certainly be an option. It has over six million more tracks than Spotify or Apple Music and more than half as much as Tidal.

7. Discover New Music

If you’re the type of person to explore music by genre, Deezer offers libraries divided into genres, moods, and interests. So, if you’re in the mood for some rock, or perhaps you want to hear sad songs, then check out these labels offered by Deezer.

If you don’t like searching by genre or want something more personalized, then Deezer’s got you covered. In addition to the genre/mood exploration options, Deezer also offers many different ways of discovering new music. They have personalized recommendations to let you explore more music they think you’ll like. These personalized recommendations will take your listening history, favorite artists, playlists, and songs into account. The more you use Deezer, the more this feature will be personalized to suit your tastes.

Recommended Releases

Perhaps you don’t want to discover music via an algorithm. Maybe you’re a people person, and you trust certain artists that you’ll like their music. If so, Deezer makes it easy to discover your faves’ new releases with its Recommended Releases tool. This feature gives you newly released music from artists you follow, but it also gives similar music that you might like.

Recommended Radio Stations

Sometimes the problem with streaming is it overlooks the radio stations we all love to listen to. With Deezer, this isn’t an issue. Radio fans will rejoice once they hear that Deezer has recommended playlists and radio stations right on its platform. This feature might not be as curated; however, it is an edge over competitors without partners to radio stations.

MP3 Import Feature

Lastly, if you find that your playlists are a bit boring, you might be pleasantly surprised to know that Deezer has a way to import MP3s. When you import these files, you can include them in your playlist so they’ll play along with the music you already have.

8. Flow

We covered a few of Deezer’sofferings for helping you discover new music. However similar Flow might be, it’s a different experience compared to the others. Flow is one of the niftiest features available on the Deezer platform. What it does is it puts all your favorite music and adds new recommendations in the mix. Then, season it with a bunch of old songs you forgot you used to love, and you’re good to go! All is automatically done for you, so you won’t even have to think about it.

Flow is a cool feature if you have days when you don’t want to listen to a specific album or playlist. Just let Deezer choose your songs for you based on how it knows you and viola! It gives you an infinite stream of music, so you won’t even have to think about the next song. All you do is just press the button and get into the flow.

9. Sound Quality

We’ve scratched the surface of this in the Plan Variety section, but what is Deezer music actually like? As we previously mentioned, different plans offer different sound qualities. If you were hoping for great sound quality using the free version, you’ve got another thing coming. However, if you decide to upgrade to any of the non-HiFi premium plans, you’ll get better sound quality at 320 kbps. Although, they’re still compressed files so you’ll still lose a bit of sound quality. If you don’t mind, these should be a good enough option.

HiFi Plan

Now it’s time for the big guns: Deezer’s HiFi Plan. More than the 1,411 kbps sound quality; the HiFi tier even offers that one-of-a-kind 360 Reality Audio. If that sounds a bit alien to you, it’s basically like surround-sound movies but for your music! 360 Reality Audio gives virtual spatial sound creating many virtual speakers in your listening experience. It’s surround sound right in your headphones/earphones.

Deezer App

The only downside if you want to avail of this feature is that you’re going to have to download the Deezer 360 app. What is the Deezer app for 360? It’s basically just an app that gives you the 360 feature for HiFi users. There’s not much of a difference except for that,, so you’ll be able to access all other features Deezer has. Be warned that since this is a new technology, there’s a limited number of songs that offer a 360 experience.

Another thing to note is that the high-end music quality setting is only available for certain mobile devices. So if you’re an audiophile hoping for the right app, you might need to have the right phone. If you don’t have that kind of mobile device, you might want to reconsider.

10. Cancellation

Sometimes when you’re a bit tight on budget, you have to let go of some of your streaming subscriptions like Netflix or Deezer. How to cancel Deezer is pretty easy with an anytime cancellation policy through the Deezer app or website.

In the app, all you need to do is go to Favorites > Settings > Manage My Account (or My Account for iOS) > Manage My Subscription > Cancel My Subscription. Once you’re there, enter your reason for canceling your subscription and tap on Confirm.

On the website, you first have to log in to your account. Once logged in, go to your user profile icon in the upper-right corner. Here, you’ll be able to see your Account Settings. Click on that, then Manage My Subscription > Cancel My Subscription. You can also enter your reason for cancellation before you confirm your cancellation.

If you’re worried about losing all your data, don’t worry. Your account will still be active as a free Deezer account. You might lose all your other premium features like unlimited skips, downloads, and higher sound quality. However, your playlists and favorite tracks will all remain intact. So if you decide to go premium again in the future, it’s all a click away. Easy-breezy.

11. Customer Service

If you find yourself caught in a pickle while using the app, then you ought to know how to contact Deezer. While Deezer does have Deezer Support on their website with things you might have concerns with, you can also contact them directly.

Unfortunately, Deezer doesn’t have a customer service landline like other companies. However, you can still generally get in touch with them through online means. On their website, you can submit a request when you have a question or concern you want to bring up. They also have a “Chat With Us” feature that pops up when you visit their website. You can send them a message and raise your concerns there.

Pros and Cons

While the Deezer app is easily comparable to other streaming services in terms of pricing and library content, the service still has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of the streaming service:

Pros

Discovery features

One of the first advantages of the app is that it offers multiple ways for users to discover new features. These features include “Flow” and “Inspired By” which allows users to get automated playlists largely inspired by the music they have listened to before. Another feature called “Mixes” automatically generates playlist recommendations based on the users’ favorite songs and artists.

Free tier

Another advantage that Deezer has over the competition is that it offers a free tier on top of a free trial when you subscribe to any of its premium tiers. Unfortunately, the free tier comes with a few limitations, which we will explain later on.

Sizable music library

Additionally, Deezer also presents with a sizable music library. It has over 70 million songs in its library and ​160,000 podcast titles, and over 32,000+ radio stations. All of this is organized into more than 24 main categories, including everything from pop music to classical music. It also features non-traditional categories for music like events, holidays, and moods.

Uploads and Downloads

Aside from having a sizable music library, Deezer also offers the option to upload stored music straight from your desktop or other devices. For example, if you have a collection of classical pieces on your desktop, you can upload them to your account to access them online.

On the other hand, premium users can also download content for offline listening. The ability to download songs to your phone or laptop helps you save on internet data, especially when you are on the move.

Availability

There’s also the cloud-based format of the app, which is available in more than 180 countries globally. As long as your country is included in the list, you can rest assured that Deezer’s library will be accessible. It’s slightly different from podcasts, audiobooks, and radio shows with geographical limitations.

The Deezer app is also compatible with multiple devices, including those that don’t typically support music streaming. The list includes the Apple Watch, Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, and mobile phones.

Creative freedom

Another very interesting aspect of Deezer is that they allow unsigned artists and aspiring musicians to post their content on the site. Of course, Deezer would have to screen the content first, but the key takeaway is that they allow aspiring artists to showcase their work.

SongCatcher

Another unique and practical feature is the SongCatcher, which identifies songs for you. When prompted, the feature will listen in on any song playing through the app and bring up the song title and artist.

Cons

Social media limitations

While Deezer can match the likes of Spotify and Apple Music in terms of music coverage and basic features, it seems to lag behind these apps in the social media aspect. Spotify and Apple Music have far-reaching user bases, making it easy to search for friends and family. With Deezer being less popular, it can be harder to find friends and family to share music with.

Deezer Free limitations

Another problem has to do with Deezer’s free tier, which seems intent on pushing users to move to a paid tier. For starters, most of the songs come with thirty-second ads that can’t be skipped. Additionally, some tracks can only be played in thirty-second snippets instead of as a whole.

Understandably, ads are Deezer’s way of keeping their content free, and some tracks are better off reserved for premium subscribers. But the overall restricted nature of the premium tier also leaves you to wonder why they even bother to offer it in the first place.

The free tier is also considerably low-quality compared to the premium tiers, with audio quality maxing out at 128 kbps in MP3. You are also limited to six audio skips per hour and no offline mode.

Limited customer service options

Deezer could also use a few improvements with regard to their customer support. Because as things stand, the only way you can get in touch with the company is by leaving a message through their website and then waiting for a reply. They don’t offer customer support via landline, email, or chat.

Lower HiFi Quality

For those who love CD-quality streaming, Deezer offers a high-fidelity (Hi-Fi) tier promising CD-quality streaming at 1,411 kbps. At this level, the quality of the music should be as faithful to the original recording as possible, with little to no data removed during streaming.

But even then, 1,411 kbps still pales compared to some of the competition. For example, Tidal HiFi and Qobuz HiFi can offer up to 9,216 kbps for some of their tracks, while Amazon Music can go up to 24 bits for their Hi-Res Lossless music. Spotify has yet to release a HiFi version, but it’s reported to be around the same level as Deezer HiFi.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even with the volume of information already presented, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the service. Let’s take a look at some of the more frequently asked questions about Deezer and the answers to them:

Will I be required to log in to use the app?

Yes, you will have to log into the app with your designated email and password to be able to use the app.

How do you deal with slow-loading songs?

The problem can be caused either by your internet connection speed or the app itself. The free plan tends to load songs slower than the premium plans, so you may want to consider upgrading to the latter.

Who should use Deezer?

Deezer is an all-around music streaming service designed for individuals, couples, families, and students; practically anyone who wants to stream music online. The service is flexible enough to accommodate most people’s tastes, except for tastes that lean towards offensive, violent, or sexual content.

Which subscription is the best?

Despite lower audio quality and ads, the free tier is a good place to start for people who enjoy casually streaming music. There’s also an advantage to using your desktop computer over your phone in the free tier since the desktop app can offer better audio quality.

However, if you take music streaming a little more seriously and love to use your mobile phone to do it, then the Premium tier should have everything that you need to get your daily music fix.

Having said that, there’s an option for audiophiles that are meant to take your listening experience to the next level. If audio quality is of utmost importance to you, and you have no problem paying a little extra for it, then the HiFi tier comes highly recommended.

How do you download Deezer?

Deezer is compatible with Android, iOS, and Windows devices. For Android and IOS devices, you can download the app straight from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. As for desktop computers and laptops, you can download the app from the Windows Store, which is natively available on Windows OS devices. ou can d

Does Deezer have good sound quality?

Deezer grants full access to its content library across all tiers (except for the free tier). But one aspect that sets the various tiers apart relates to audio quality or resolution. Essentially, the songs are the same, but they will play at different resolutions, depending on your subscription.

The Premium and Premium Family tiers both offer an audio quality of up to 320 kbps in MP3 format, while the HiFi tier offers an audio quality of up to 1,411 kbps. Meanwhile, the free tier offers the poorest audio quality, which can be anywhere between 64 to 128 kbps.

Does Deezer support 360 audio?

Deezer recently released a new mobile application offering spatial audio created with a technology called 360 Reality Audio. This technology redirect sounds into multiple audio channels, creating the illusion that the sounds are coming from multiple directions.

While this feature is definitely gen-generation, it requires a separate app to be downloaded on top of the Deezer app. Additionally, the app is exclusively accessible by Deezer’s HiFi subscribers. It’s not available for subscribers of the Free, Premium, and Premium Family tiers.

Can you access Deezer while traveling abroad?

Yes, it’s possible to access Deezer from abroad, and it shouldn’t be a problem for the 180 countries where Deezer is currently available. Deezer is currently available in more than 185 countries around the globe, and the company is seeking to add more to the list in the near future. To check whether Deezer is available in your country or the country you are visiting, here is a list of countries that support Deezer.

On the other hand, it’s also possible to access Deezer from countries that don’t support the app, but you will need a VPN or proxy. After signing into the app, you would have to use the VPN to change your IP address to match a location or country that has Deezer service (i.e., Canada or the US). Using this access point, you should be able to maneuver around the VPN restrictions within your area.

The Verdict

Deezer’s premium plans pretty much cost the same as Spotify with similar sound quality. When it comes to the HiFi option, their HiFi tier costs about the same as Tidal’s (although Deezer has twice as much music as Tidal). If you’re looking for good music streaming app with a pretty good price, Deezer’s a worthy competitor. With a huge content library of music, podcasts, and even radio stations, Deezer has an edge. Additionally, if you’re adventurous when finding new music, it’s a good choice. What’s more, Deezer’s especially worth it if you’re looking for high-quality sound with an extensive content library. If that’s you, their HiFi tier is certainly worth considering.