It was announced earlier this year by the UK-based BBC that its BBC Sounds app is going to become unsupported and unavailable to listeners over abroad, such as here in the United States.
BBC Sounds is home to the BBC’s radio stations such as Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, and others, along with its talk shows and podcasts.
There is no official date yet announced by the BBC. What we do know is that it has said it will become unsupported in the U.S. and other countries in “Spring 2025.”
It does appear as though the BBC has actually gone out and removed the BBC Sounds app from the American App Store, but those who still have the app on their Apple devices will still be impacted by this change since the app will at some point be unusable.
As for why this is being done, the BBC has said, “BBC Sounds is a UK licence fee funded service. To offer better value for our UK listeners, BBC Sounds will be made available exclusively to UK audiences.”
The question for many fans and listeners of the BBC’s live and on-demand content is “where can I listen to said content now” or when the changes do go into effect.
First of all, the BBC app is currently the new home provided by the BBC for its podcasts and radio stations. However, for the radio stations, it is currently only providing access to the BBC World Services and Radio 4 stations.
To stream other BBC radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, and others, that can actually all be done through Apple’s Music app.
What a lot of people do not know that the Music app does have integration with TuneIn and iHeartRadio, giving users free access to radio stations across the U.S., as well as across the world. Best of all, you do not need to have an Apple Music subscription to access these radio stations. You can simply type in the station that you’re looking for and the majority of the time, the station is there.
That is where the Music app comes into play here since you can stream live BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, and Radio 3, and more BBC stations right from said Music app at no additional cost.
Sure, it’s nice to have your own Apple Music playlists or use Apple Music Classical to get some of the best classical music the world has ever seen in your ears, but sometimes you want the old fashioned DJ shuffling the music for you, which is what you can expect to hear on stations like Radio 1 and Radio 3 (Pop/Top 40 on Radio 1 and classical music on Radio 3).
Of course, when it comes to the BBC’s podcasts, all of those can be accessed on the Apple Podcasts app as well.
What are your thoughts on these changes coming to the BBC Sounds app and the alternative of using Apple’s Music app to listen to the BBC radio stations? Comment below or let us know on X at @appleosophy.
