Next Radio. Get FM radio witout data usage.

[Geek-9pm]

This is new to me. Many, maybe most, smartphones can receive FM radio tiredly. The chip had the circuitry to recitative standard local FM radio.
Not Apple.
This is for Android Smartphones like Galaxy. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzM9tfwDD_8
Think about it. No data usage. Direct local radio
There are two or three  three videos that explain. Se link above.
It is in the Google Android store.
Also look at http://nextradio.com for more information.
They claim it even works on Apple devices. I don't think that is so.

[Mark.]

I’m still riding the Spotify love wave.
Unless I’m in the car, there’s no reason for me to listen to FM stations.

[Salmon Trout]

They claim it even works on Apple devices. I don't think that is so.

Why wouldn't it work? It is an app that connects an iPhone user to those radio stations that happen to stream their live output.

[strollin]

Salmon - You're thinking of a station streaming it's content.  This involves having actual FM Radio receiver hardware built into the phone as if you had a pocket transistor radio.  It would be subject to the limitations of radio (fade, noise, static, etc) but the advantage is that listening to it wouldn't effect your data usage like streaming does.

My Samsung Galaxy S7 is supported.  It requires that you plug in headphones so it can use the wiring in the headphones as an antenna.  Works decent enough, I'm currently listening to a local Classic Rock station (96.9 The Eagle, Sacramento, CA).  This station does stream as well but this is an alternative way to listen.

[Salmon Trout]

Salmon - You're thinking of a station streaming it's content.  This involves having actual FM Radio receiver hardware built into the phone

I know the difference. I am an Android fanboi. My Moto G has an FM chip and a built-in app to use it. Geek noted that Apple phones don't have FM radio chips, and mentioned something called nextradio which he "didn't think" would work on Apple phones. I said it would because it uses streaming radio stations if the phone's FM chip is not activated (or is absent, as in Apple phones).

[strollin]

You're right, the app will stream aswell but, as I said before, streaming will use data.

[Salmon Trout]

as I said before, streaming will use data.

I know. (Did I imply otherwise?) I have been using smartphones since my first ZTE in 2009 and they have all had FM radio chips. I regard the streaming method as the clunky alternative.

[BC_Programmer]

From what I can find, as with the chips used in Android phones, Apple's A# (or at least A7 and A8) Chips have integrated FM Receivers. Of course whether they are *available* is another question which I don't have the answer to.

Music on Smartphones still kind of defies me. It seems like you need to use some sort of music streaming service in order to get a reasonable experience. I have a Nexus 6. I was able to, after some effort, find  the *legitimate* version of VLC on the Android Play store, And I copied over a section of my Music Folder, but VLC seemed arbitrary in what it saw. It was missing entire albums, missing specific songs, or it was seeing some of them and then not letting them play. I couldn't find any pattern- of the things it found, there was FLAC, VBR MP3, normal MP3, OGG; and of the things it didn't find was the same file types and properties.

Paired with the fact that the battery lasts maybe 3 hours when playing music, that 32GB of space has to be shared with everything else on the phone, and that even if I was able to get all the music to appear, I'd have to laboriously build playlists one music track at a time by digging through various hamburger menus, I ended up wiping most of the music tracks altogether and just use my "Walkman" MP3 Player for portable music. it only works properly with MP3, which is why I wrote a bulk transcoder that converts files to MP3 from various source audio formats.

And if I was inclined to listen to the radio- the MP3 Player has that already anyway. Doesn't need an "App" installed either.

The Smartphone? "$400 glorified alarm clock" is the most accurate description of it's usual task so far for the last 4 years.

[Salmon Trout]

I've been using Total Commander file explorer and media player across my last 3 smart phones. Lightweight, no ads, and seems to play everything I ask it to. Lots of plugins.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ghisler.android.TotalCommander&hl=en_GB

[soybean]

Music on Smartphones still kind of defies me. It seems like you need to use some sort of music streaming service in order to get a reasonable experience.

I've occasionally listened to Google's Play Music app (pre-installed on Android phones) and enjoyed it.  And, for some great music videos, youtube can be hugely enjoyable.  Of course, listening to quality stereo sound requires a headset (wired or bluetooth).

[Salmon Trout]

My Moto G 3rd generation has USB OTG (On The Go) so I can plug a 64 GB pen drive in with a good selection of my music library. I can't do that with my mp3 player. Nor use my 17 GB Google Drive, as I just found out and tested. I have a 4 GB/month data plan, so I can do a bit of streaming from the cloud. As it is, my plan rolls over about 3.5 GB every month. (I then have 30 days to use it).

[Geek-9pm]

There are many smartphones that do have the FM chip installed. I have found at least two apps to turn it on. I also found two old phones in my junk box with FM radio in the settings. To be honest, the quality was good, but not great.

Anyway, there are few reasons to use it. Think of it as tool for certain jobs.
Example: You go to a public conference and you find the  sound system is mushy and hard to hear. The organizers knew ahead of time and warned delegates to bring an FM radio and earbuds if they find the sound is weak in some parts of the auditorium. In that case your smartphone will give you good sound via the local FM device they have just for this purpose.  This is a common practice at convention venues.