u/Sweet-Helicopter2769

Hey folks, I wanted to share a a very big update on RadioStar, and thank you so much for all the support till now

Some of you might already be aware of the app from my earlier posts. First, thanks to the mods for encouraging tools and apps like this.

RadioStar started as a small passion project because I wanted to make the iPhone feel like a real radio again. Not a playlist app, not another algorithm feed, but something you turn on, tune, and discover.

The first version had a smaller curated list of stations. With v2.0, the app has grown a lot.

You can now pick a region like North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, or Oceania, then long press the region to choose a specific country. So if you pick Latin America and choose Argentina, the dial fills with tango, cumbia, rock nacional, and folklore stations. Pick Japan and you get J-Pop, City Pop, Enka, and traditional stations. Pick Nigeria and you get Afrobeats, Highlife, and local gospel. Every country has its own curated mix of around 65 stations.

The app now has 54 countries, 7 regions, and 3,516 curated stations.

What I really love is that the dial can feel different depending on where you are tuned. One moment you are listening to Spanish stations from Argentina, then Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, or Tamil stations from India, then Japanese stations, then Vietnamese stations, then something completely different from another part of the world.

It honestly made me realize again how much radio still connects people. Every country has its own sound, its own rhythm, its own local voices. You are not just picking a station. You are stepping into a small piece of someone else's day.

I also added two new radio skins.

One is an emergency-style yellow pocket radio with a warm amber display.

The other is a pocket digital radio with a green LCD display, auto-scan, station name display, and sleep timer. One small detail I'm proud of, the battery icon on the LCD actually reflects your real iPhone battery. Completely unnecessary. But it makes the whole thing feel like a real little device inside your phone and not just an app.

The whole spirit is simple: put the radio on a stand, keep working, cooking, studying, or relaxing, and let real stations from around the world play in the background.

The free version gives you a good feel for what RadioStar is about. You get the Classic Transistor skin with two finishes, North America and Worldwide regions, the US country filter which adds about 35 bonus stations on top of the default mix, two station presets, a sleep timer, and the live activity on your lock screen. No ads, no tracking, no accounts. It's a real radio experience out of the box without paying anything.

If you want to go deeper, premium unlocks all five radio skins, all 54 countries with 3,516 stations, all seven regions, six presets, extended sleep timers, and GPS-based local broadcast tuning. It's a one-time purchase at $4.99 right now. No subscriptions, just pay once and you have everything forever including all future updates. The price will go up a bit next month as the app keeps growing.

I haven't added custom station URLs yet because I want every station to be verified and reliable. But I know I'm not an expert in every country or every language. If there is a great station from your country that should be included, please message me. You know your local radio better than I do, and I would genuinely love suggestions.

A lot of Reddit communities have helped me with downloads, feedback, and support, and I really appreciate that. What started as a passion project is slowly turning into the "radio device inside the iPhone" that I always imagined.

Thanks for checking it out, and if you try v2.0, I'd love to hear what countries or stations you end up tuning into.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/radiostar-real-radio/id6762392786

My gym put this up just now

Hey folks,

So a few weeks ago some of you said something that stuck with me. "Why can't the radio just pick up what's local?" Like a real radio would. You turn it on, you hear what's nearby.

I tried building that with this update let me know if this works for you.

Local Broadcast Mode

Enable the mode in settings and RadioStar uses your GPS to figure out where you are. Then it fills the dial with actual stations from your area.

Now here is the honest part. The API I use does not support zip code or city level search directly. So I had to get creative. I pull station metadata and geotag it against your location. It is not perfect but it works just fine. Some of you are international so please try it and tell me if Tokyo, Mumbai, London, Sao Paulo or wherever you are actually populates correctly, if there is an issue let me know.

AM Finally Sounds Like AM

This one is thanks to a comment from one of you. "AM static sounds completely different from FM. Would be nice to get that nostalgic feel " Fair enough, I have tried replicating how AM sounds like , hope it’s close enough what AM sounds like.

FM still has that smooth warm hiss. The familiar one. But now when you switch to AM it crackles. It buzzes. There is this low 60Hz hum. Tune into an AM station and the audio should sound narrower, punchier, mono.

Switch back and forth between the bands. You will hear it immediately.

New Stations

You guys keep requesting stations 11 new ones added

🇯🇵 NHK World Radio · Jazz Sakura · Free FM 80 Tokyo
🇵🇭 DZMM Teleradyo · Star FM Manila · RMN Cebu
🇮🇳 All India Radio · Red FM 93.5 · Big FM Tamil
🇦🇷 Radio Mitre AM 790 · Radio Continental AM 590

Shout out to everyone who requested these specifically. If your station is not in there yet drop the name below and I will look into it.

Same Deal As Always

Free. No ads. No tracking. No accounts. The dial, the static, every station, all of it works without paying anything. There is a one time $4.99 lifetime unlock for the extra vintage skins and Local Broadcast Mode. A bunch of you already grabbed that and it should update seamlessly.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/radiostar-real-radio/id6762392786

Update is live right now. If you have not tried RadioStar before just download it and spin the dial. That is it. No setup, no onboarding, no tutorial. Just a radio.

I keep saying this but I think it is worth repeating. Everything about this app exists because I miss the simplicity of those days. Turn it on. Hear static. Find something, hope the effort of the app to bring back the transistor days in your hands is working through this app , let me know if there is anything else you want to see.

Hey everyone,

Remember that vintage radio app I posted a few days back? The one that turns your whole iPhone into a 1965 transistor radio? and thank you for all the feedback here on reddit and i have kind revamped or added some cool stuff (I think so ) 😄

Version 1.1 just dropped and I wanted to share what's new.

Two new radio designs:

These are based on two radios I've been obsessed with. The Pocket Compact is inspired by the Sony Walkman era portables from the 80s. The Minimalist Pocket takes cues from the Braun T3 from 1958, that Dieter Rams designed. Clean lines, function over decoration, that whole Bauhaus thing :) , hope you will all like it and our classic 60s tuner and it has its own skins..

If you already bought premium, these are included. If you haven't yet, this might be the push you need.

International stations:

I heard you. People asked for Japan, Philippines, India, Argentina, so added few stations , still curating few more will add in 1.2, please comment your requests here: Japan City Pop for those late 80s vibes. Anime Radio Japan because of course. Easy Rock Manila. Radio Mirchi for Hindi hits and Bollywood Classics for the throwbacks. Aspen and La 100 from Buenos Aires.

Also added: Bluegrass Country from DC for the free tier because why not.

Premium unlocks all of the regions across the world

Oh yes, one of the features requested, Dynamic Island support is added too, now when you're listening, the station shows up on your Dynamic Island and Lock Screen, so the radio plays in the background and you know what station it is on, but Im imagining some of you opening the app put it on your fav skin, on a iphone stand while you work on your desk to get that transistor radio feel :)

Improved haptics:

Idea was to make you feel the knobs turning, so added that, you should get slow haptic when you turn the knobs.. and feel like actual radio :) it responds to how fast you spin it. Slow turns give you gentle clicks. Fast spins feel snappier. It's that thing where you don't notice it's there but you'd miss it if it wasn't.

Bug fixes done based on the feedback:

The static sounded too harsh and loopy. Fixed that. It's warmer now with a natural drift so it doesn't feel mechanical, and annoying dial jump is fixed too.

Sometimes stations wouldn't play until you fiddled with the volume, that was another issue reported fixed too.

Yes this was also one of the requested features, station info now shows up if you long press for half a second instead of hunting through menus.

What's still the same:

It's still a full screen radio. No modern UI chrome. You still spin a brass dial and hear static and discover stations you didn't know existed. The tube warmup animation. The breathing LED. The AM/FM toggle. Five presets. Sleep timer. All of it.

Still free for the classic brown skin and North America stations. Still no ads, no tracking, no account required. Your radio doesn't spy on you.

Premium is still $4.99 lifetime. Not a subscription. One time. You get all the skins (now six total) and all the international stations.

What's next:

Also building more skins. A candy apple red Regency TR-1 (the world's first transistor radio from 1954). A turquoise Marvel 8. A cream colored Sangean pocket radio. A Zenith Royal 500. Each one based on a real radio that existed.

If there's a station you love that should be in there or a radio design you want to see, drop it in the comments. I read everything.

Download link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/radiostar-real-radio/id6762392786

Let me know what you think of this update , and yes I have uploaded a video with the latest skins and how they look like, feel free download and thank you for all the encouragement here.. This update is for you.

Long press the RadioStar logo in any skin to access settings and premium options

Hey everyone, wanted to share what we're working on for upcoming releases.

Version 1.1 is in progress and includes bug fixes for tone filters, static audio improvements, and fixing the dial jump issue. We're also adding more international stations including Japan, Philippines, India, and Argentina. Dynamic Island support is coming too.

Version 1.2 will focus on new skins. We're working on a Regency TR-1 style skin, a Marvel Transistor 8 skin, and a Sangean SR-35 pocket radio skin.

Future ideas we're exploring include CarPlay support, sleep timer improvements, and station favorites or presets.

What would you like to see in RadioStar? Drop your ideas below.

For those who want here is the App Store link : https://apps.apple.com/us/app/radiostar-real-radio/id6762392786

This is RadioStar, a passion project I've been working on. It recreates the experience of tuning a 1950s transistor radio on your iPhone.

Everything you see is functional. The dial tunes real stations from around the world. You hear actual static between stations. The whole thing fills your screen with no modern UI elements.

Available on the App Store if anyone wants to try it.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/radiostar-real-radio/id6762392786