Radio on a phone, over the internet and over the air
Two completely different things are called radio on a phone. Internet radio streams a station over data, works anywhere in the world and costs bandwidth continuously. Broadcast FM uses a receiver chip that many phones still contain, costs nothing to run, and works in a power cut. Knowing which one you want changes the app entirely.
The FM radio you might already have
Plenty of phones include an FM receiver, disabled by default and sometimes hidden. It needs wired headphones because the cable acts as the aerial, which is also why it will not work with Bluetooth.
- Plug in wired headphones Without them there is no aerial and no signal, whatever the app says.
- Look for a preinstalled radio app Many manufacturers include one. If it exists, the hardware is there.
- If there is none, try a third-party FM app They only work where the chip is present and unlocked, which varies by model and region.
- Accept that newer flagships often lack it The receiver has been dropped from many recent models entirely.
Internet radio apps
Straightforward, large station list, and it does not bury the stations under a recommendation feed. The simplest of the group.
The largest catalogue, including sports and news feeds that are hard to find elsewhere. Some content requires a subscription.
Radio plus recording, which is its distinguishing feature. Useful for shows you cannot listen to live.
A broad international directory, worth checking when a station you want is missing from the more mainstream apps.
Handles radio alongside podcasts, sensible if you would rather not run two apps for what is essentially the same listening habit.
iHeart. Thousands of live stations, strongest for the US, with podcasts in the same app.
Radio FM. A very large international directory with a light interface.
Personalised stations rather than live broadcasts, in the regions where it is available.
Scanner Radio. Live police, fire and aviation feeds, which are a genre of radio of their own.
Plays a station's stream address directly, useful for a station no directory lists.
What streaming radio costs
| Stream quality | Per hour | Per month at two hours a day |
|---|---|---|
| Low, 48 kbps | 20 MB | About 1.2 GB |
| Medium, 96 kbps | 45 MB | About 2.6 GB |
| High, 128 kbps | 60 MB | About 3.5 GB |
| Very high, 320 kbps | 150 MB | About 8.5 GB |
- Any station, anywhere in the world
- Consistent quality regardless of location
- Station metadata and track names
- Works over WiFi with no aerial
- No data cost at all
- Works with no network coverage
- Lower battery use
- Keeps working in an emergency
For speech radio, drop to the lowest quality the station offers. Voice at 48 kbps is entirely acceptable, and the saving over a month is substantial.
Keeping it running in the background
Radio apps are killed by aggressive battery management more than almost any other category, because they run for hours with the screen off. If playback stops when you lock the phone, exempt the app from battery optimisation. That setting, not the app, is nearly always the problem.
Plug in wired headphones and look for the FM app before installing anything. If you stream, drop speech stations to the lowest quality.
Frequently asked questions
Does my phone have a real FM radio?
Check for a preinstalled radio app and plug in wired headphones. If neither reveals one, the chip is probably absent or locked.
Why does radio stop when the screen turns off?
Battery optimisation killed the app. Exempt it in settings and it will keep playing.
How much data does internet radio use?
Between 20 and 150 MB an hour depending on quality. Speech stations at low quality are the cheapest listening there is.
Read next
A dot in the wrong city is not a broken receiver. It is a WiFi network that moved house.
There is no print button. There is a print service, and an entry in the share menu.
Aeroplane mode and a turn-based game will outlast any setting inside the game itself.
Read next
A search engine gives you a definition. A dictionary tells you how the word behaves.
A contraction timer is a stopwatch with good manners. It is not monitoring anything.
Every one of these apps is a location service with a chat attached. It is worth knowing what it is broadcasting.
