There have been several radio apps over the time with varying levels of success. Never before has there been a radio app designed specifically for all Australian radio stations. Today the ingeniously named RadioApp has been released by Commercial Radio Australia focusing specifically on Australian radio stations.
RadioApp includes streaming access to 250 Australian radio stations and “is designed as the best way to stream radio on your smartphone”. It puts commercial AM, FM and DAB+ digital radio stations. It allows you to see what is playing on air with the ability ti search for stations by name, town or frequency and the ability to change stations with a simple swipe of the display (Tinder for radio??) with more features coming in future builds.
Having used the app for the last few days it is easy to use and find radio stations, although using the search icon at the top of the favourites causes the app to crash. An update is rolling out over the next 24 hours or so to fix this bug. Unfortunately the main problem I had with the app was the iOS design language used for it. If I showed you a screenshot of just the app there is no way to distinguish it as being an Android app. There is no Material Design, no hamburger menu but instead the usual white iOS-design navigation buttons and icons down the bottom. With a Material Design version on the roadmap for future developments it appears that they just first wanted to get something stable out there and working onto the two main platforms so we can forgive them for now. I would hope that the Androidy app isn’t far down the road as the iOS interface does ruin the experience on an Android device with its design being so different to every other app I have installed.
At this stage there is also no Android Auto integration, which would be great for those that have either poor radio reception in their cars or want to listen to a DAB+ station and do not have the capabilities built into their car stereo. This is something the developers are looking at implementing further along the roadmap as well.
What the app does do well is bring all the radio stations together in a single, easy to use app. The app is developed by local developers so head over to the Play Store, support our Aussie developers and check out RadioApp. Feel free to let them know how important Material Design is to you.
It got an update overnight and it looks like they’ve added Android Auto to it. Keen to test it today and see how it goes.
Is it just commercial stations or ABC as well?
Android Auto would complete the app. There’s also some DAB+ radio stations missing such as Rythmos from Melbourne.