BBC Radio live streaming hits nearly every smartphone, except the iPhone

The BBC have revamped their policies on live radio streaming to smartphones, making it far easier for users to access the BBC’s many stations from their mobiles.

Though it may come as a surprise to hear (thanks to the many apps that already offer the functionality), but until now the BBC hadn’t officially supported live radio streams to mobile phones. Initially, the BBC were concerned that streams would consume too much data for many networks, and cause spiralling data charges for their users. Times have moved on, and with many tariffs now supporting unlimited data plans, the BBC felt the time was right to streamline the process for listening into their stations.

To make things easier, each mobile version of BBC Radio sites now include a link at the top of each page to quickly tune into a stream. The site should be able to recognise automatically the majority of devices attempting to tune in, and configure your stream appropriately.

However, iPhone’s and iPod Touch players are currently not supported in the new stream links. Apple fans would be better off grabbing an app like Fstream, or using “Auntie’s” own iPlayer app.