It used to be the case that a few mobile phone models included an FM radio, with headphones acting as an aerial. This is far from common these days, with smartphone now being able to access online radio stations through other means. The BBC’s iPlayer app proved very popular with mobile users, making it easy to access the most recent television broadcasts from mobile devices. BBC iPlayer Radio is along very much the same lines, but this time with radio in mind.

You can use the app to listen to live broadcasts from any of the BBC’s numerous radio stations, but the catchup service – which can be used to listen to any programme from the last seven days – is something that is going to go down very well with users. When listening live you can keep up to speed with what has been played, interact with shows as they happen and share content via social networks.

Navigating through the app is very pleasing, with a beautifully implemented dialler wheel providing you with access to your favorite radio stations at the bottom of the screen. This is not quite the same as manually tuning in an old fashioned radio, but it certainly harks back to this idea. You can also access programme podcasts and many shows also feature music videos as well as footage of in-studio sessions and show webcams.

There are other great features such as the alarm clock function that can be used to wake up to your favorite radio show, and you can set reminders from the schedule so you need never miss a show again. The schedule itself is a delight to use and is an easy way to keep track of what is coming up. It may seem slightly odd breaking the radio side of iPlayer away into a separate app, but it many sense it makes sense, and the dedicated interface is something that works very well indeed.

Note that this is suitable for UK users only.

What's new in version 2.15.5?

- Fix relating tosign in issues. Thank you all for your feedback