TuneIn Radio (iPhone Application) > Reviews (1)

TuneIn is a radio service available to listen to, free, via the web or a whole host of other media, including mobile and TV devices. This review is of the mobile app available for iPhone known as TuneIn Radio (the free version) or TuneIn Radio Pro (the premium version).

Once you've downloaded and installed the app from iTunes (currently 13.1 MB in size), you are greeted with a browse screen enabling you to search for a radio station, a show, a song or artist. The screen also highlights various categories such as music, news, talk, sports, podcasts, recommended and recents. From here you can also view the app settings and any stations you have preset.

A great feature is that you can pause and rewind live radio. If you have shelled out 69p for the premium version you will also have access to any recordings you have made. For 69p you are getting arguably the best feature of this app. Being able to record the top 40 and listen to it constantly for the rest of the week. Perfect, no? Sorry, just reminiscing my youth.

The app can be listened to with either a 3G or Wi-Fi connection. Most tariffs currently have data limits; on 3G data plans, in particular, the app can really eat into your data limits. The amount of data depends on the quality of the audio and how long you listen for. A constant stream at 128 kbps is going to use up roughly 56 MB of data per hour. Although it must be said that a lot of radio stations allow you to select the (audio) quality – this can be as low as 24 kbps which is very low quality more suited to talk stations in my opinion. The settings screen includes the ability to view your data usage. Useful to keep a check on.

That's where the pro version can come in handy. Recording radio whilst on a wi-fi connection and then listening at any other time; the 69p outlay could possibly save you any hefty bills from your mobile provider without compromise on audio quality. The disadvantage is that you can't listen to the recordings outside the app - something to do with the licensing restrictions I am sure.

The alarm radio is a useful option although to work properly it needs to be plugged into the mains and left open rather than closing the phone down at night. Car mode is also useful with larger images to press whilst on the move.

As you listen to a station or podcast you can swipe the screen to see other stations similar to what you are listening to. The selection of stations is rather impressive. There are reportedly 50,000 stations available from across the globe.

On the whole reliability has not been a major problem in my experience but there are times when it will disconnect for no logical reason. As with many apps, the makers are regularly updating it to improve the stability and TuneIn is no exception to this; currently on version 2.7.

Overall, I love this app. Recommended.