Apayrı received mostly positive reviews from music critics and was named among the best albums of Yener's career. While the dance-style infrastructures of the pieces and Yener's collaboration with other artists on the album were generally appreciated and praised, reactions to her new musical style were mixed. Some writers found the sudden change in the singer's musical style strange, but some had a positive reaction to it, finding it successful. In his book Eleştirmenin Günlüğü 2006, music critic Naim Dilmener praised the album and said, "Apayrı has been a different Hande Yener album; the reason for this is Mete Özgencil and Erdem Kınay. ... Yener has sung different songs and demonstrated different worlds [in this album]. In this atmosphere, even the 'Kelepçe' ('Handcuff') of Alper Narman and Fettah Can – who always write songs with the same style – doesn't make us bored." Writing for Sabah, Oben Budak commented positively on the work, adding "While Pop is going through a vicious circle that doesn't astonish anyone, Hande is constantly choosing a new way to renew herself and her music, regardless of the whole [community]." Similarly, Can Sayın from the same newspaper said, "Every song has a different musical structure, different interpretation and a different joy." Tolga Akyıldız from Hürriyet wrote that the album, which he believed was "entirely based on Western dance infrastructures", would be a turning point in Yener's career and praised the overall work as "much more complete and brave" compared to Yener's previous albums.
