Apple Faces Renewed Pressure to Enable FM Radio Chip in iPhones Amid Strong Hurricane Season [Updated]

[gbc204]

Didn't the square ipod shuffle have a radio tuner built in? and the headphones were the antenna? It's not like they don't have a radio app ready.
BUT... at this point, if Ajit Pai is calling for something, I have a natural tendency to think it's a bad idea.

 

[codewrangler]

This would be a great option, but would obviously impact revenue for streaming services as well as the carriers' data plans. It won't happen.

If anything, they should include AM tuning to get mostly non-music channels for emergencies.

I'm pretty sure these chips don't include an AM band radio. Mostly, cause they are for smartphones, etc. and the space to put an AM antenna in a smartphone would make it really bulky. Most recent smartphone designs skew towards thinner, lighter, etc.

If it was possible, I would want it.

 

[OUsooner08]

Enabling the FM capability doesn't fit their agenda/business model, and their vested interests in Apple Music. If Apple ever enables FM radio in iPhones, I'll eat my shorts. It's the same sort of stubbornness streak that keeps Apple from supporting open protocols, codecs, standards, etc. (except for a select few that meet their business interests).

That's how businesses in general work, they don't do stuff that is contrary to their business interests. This goes for every business, not just Apple.

 

[HarryWild]

Not that there could be plenty of other things in play aside from profit.

No, FM radio has been on both Windows and Android phone for a long time now! Even some flip phone had FM radios in them. Only Apple iPhone have left it out; at first due to U.S. Carriers request and now Apple has music streaming service, would be a "free" competitor to it own music service! LOL!

 

[OUsooner08]

Just buy a emergency radio, I live in Texas and have one on the night stand, it's really not that big of a deal.

 

[C DM]

No, FM radio has been on both Windows and Android phone for a long time now! Even some flip phone had FM radios in them. Only Apple iPhone have left it out; at first due to U.S. Carriers request and now Apple has music streaming service, would be a "free" competitor to it own music service! LOL!

Which still in no way shows that there can't be all kinds of other things in play aside from profits.

 

[HarryWild]

Smartphone Tech blog discussion said Apple will never give assess to FM due to profit fears! They are building their own communications logic crystals board to get rid of Qualcomm, Broadband and Intel ones that have built-in FM receivers too! LOL!

 

[840quadra]

No, FM radio has been on both Windows and Android phone for a long time now! Even some flip phone had FM radios in them. Only Apple iPhone have left it out; at first due to U.S. Carriers request and now Apple has music streaming service, would be a "free" competitor to it own music service! LOL!

So is Pandora, Spotify, Podcasts, internet streaming radio, YouTube, and many more.

If competition is a valid argument, then why was it on the iPod Nano? Clearly OTA radio was competition against iTunes sales. Right?

 

[Mxbzz]

Screenshots from on air radio? That is a app what also possible is on a iPhone.

This is NextRadio, which uses the FM tuner on the phone. Here's a screenshot of when headphones aren't plugged in FWIW.

 

[sandbender]

If anything, they should include AM tuning to get mostly non-music channels for emergencies.

This. If everyone pushing for this was serious about the emergency/safety aspect of this they would be pushing for AM to be included in the chips and enabled on the phone as well. FM is line of site, AM is not. In the case of Puerto Rico, residents would be able to get a clear channel AM station out of Miami as long as the FCC gave it permission to boost it's power. There's no chance of that happening with an FM station. Given that a disaster bad enough to knock out cellular is probably going to several hamper local FM stations, if not take them off the air completely, this is a very important advantage. It's also easier to repair/setup a local AM station b/c the technology is simpler and cheaper.

The fact that even the NAB is not pointing this out makes the cynic in me certain this is just an attempt to claw back listeners for advertising dollars.

 

[C DM]

This. If everyone pushing for this was serious about the emergency/safety aspect of this they would be pushing for AM to be included in the chips and enabled on the phone as well. FM is line of site, AM is not. In the case of Puerto Rico, residents would be able to get a clear channel AM station out of Miami as long as the FCC gave it permission to boost it's power. There's no chance of that happening with an FM station. Given that a disaster bad enough to knock out cellular is probably going to several hamper local FM stations, if not take them off the air completely, this is a very important advantage. It's also easier to repair/setup a local AM station b/c the technology is simpler and cheaper.

The fact that even the NAB is not pointing this out makes the cynic in me certain this is just an attempt to claw back listeners for advertising dollars.

Is there an existing way of supporting AM on mobile phones?

 

[jdillings]

This would seem to be an easy decision for a company that brags about how progressive they are. Helping people in need...I thought that was what Timmy was all about.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I have never understood why this was not done a long time ago. Tuners in Phones was a standard practice at one time and made a lot of sense both for when no data link was available, in emergency situations as outlined above and generally for saving data bandwidth. The headphone on these phones always acted as the arial so not sure how this would be handled today in the Apple world where the headset has been removed.

Been using phones for a very long time almost 2 decades as not even in Feature phones did the leader of FM Radio did Sony place it into every phone they made. You can check gsmarena.com to contest if you’d like

I think its a good idea. They can make an app pretty easily for that that is an optional download.

But for people's safety it would be a great feature. Heck I would use it when I'm biking I think. Data free!

I think some of the frequencies are being taken down for Rutherford data enhancements in the near future ... more about what I think Apple WILL do.

"Apple declined to comment on the report, and its stance on the activation of FM receivers in iPhones remains unclear."

I think Apple's position is quite clear. The just don't want something in writing stating implicitly what they are doing.

I don’t think you understand what they’ll most likely do in ha is matter. How can Apple fix 10yrs of phones in use with hardware after production and sales??

Apple will most likely implement a direct connection, FCC approval, along with Amazon, IBM, and Google using their device and cloud assistants and messaging to PUSH state, city, and country or continent alerts.

Think:
Google Now, IBM Watson, Apple Siri & iMessge (which already has a direct connection to carrier SMS, I presume Google Hangouts may also), and Amazon’s Alexa powered devices verbally with high pithed alarms that immediately repeat (say 3x and on every 30mins) interrupting all searches, music/video playback. Announced after a call completes. Apple can go one further and auto on device reserve battery power for such alerts to repeat for safety.

I've used my laptop as a giant iPhone battery in the past for that very reason. Lasts a very long time that way, just have to keep your laptop in sleep mode.

I’d have a look at the USB ports on your laptop and check if any have a lightning bolt to indicate dedicated USB charging. Of present then check in your laptops BIOS to enable this even if laptop is off. You’d get one to 2 more charges out of the laptop battery for your phone in such an emergency.

I don’t understand why a selling point to the iPod Nano isn’t enabled on these phones to add functionality. Clearly they have the ability to create a decent tuner application. They even had commercial skip / rewind functions in it.

That way when we receive one of those Amber Alerts, we can tune into something over the air, as opposed to relying on someone to update a website for us.

Even better, Enable the WX band on chips that support those frequencies, and put in a NATIVE weather radio application.

See my idea above. Covers a LOT more devices already sold implemented without the need for new hardware which may not support all devices.

 

[jamesrick80]

Well I would also be thinking a FM radio may come in handy in other situations including nuclear attacks, mass power disruption , and some other situations especially considering our president is a rogue. Thank you Samsung for maybe helping save my life one day......

 

[haralds]

Given the cell networks, there are better ways to distribute emergency info that are more efficient.
FM needs an additional antenna, which is a design problem.
Broadcast is going the way of the Dodo.

 

[TheRealTVGuy]

This isn’t about safety, it’s about increasing reach, listenership, and ad sales revenue.

Hey NAB, tell your members if they want more listeners, provide better programming.

 

[frozen220]

FM Radio might hurt Apple Music subscriptions, though. What to do...

If that was really a concern I bet Apple could only make it work when cellular/wifi connection is definitely not working... i.e. if Apple can ping their own music servers when someone is trying to turn on FM radio then FM radio functionality won't work. If they can't, then FM radio apps work. Of course people can hack this especially if they have control over their WiFi network, but the vast majority of users won't know how to hack it.

 

[sandbender]

Is there an existing way of supporting AM on mobile phones?

There's nothing preventing it. An AM receiver is actually easier to implement than an FM one (not that either is even remotely challenging as compared to WiFi or LTE). However, while many (most?) phones have FM support, they don't have AM support. It would have to be included in new chips which is why I mentioned the phones should be required to support it.

 

[kdarling]

Given the cell networks, there are better ways to distribute emergency info that are more efficient.

How many working cell towers in the hit Caribbean islands right now, do you think? A handful out of thousands? And how many months until they all do?

Cell networks are fragile. They depend on tower power, and the ability to send/receive data to/from the towers over cable to central locations that also need power and cables.

In comparison, broadcast radio is an extremely efficient way to distribute emergency info.

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

Timmy says, "Not having the Bag O' Hurt called FM radio is a feature!"
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What good ia a radio when your battery dies? Why can't people just have FM radios?

All batteries die. How is that a valid argument? If anything, your battery will last much longer on FM than cellular/data.

 

[C DM]

There's nothing preventing it. An AM receiver is actually easier to implement than an FM one (not that either is even remotely challenging as compared to WiFi or LTE). However, while many (most?) phones have FM support, they don't have AM support. It would have to be included in new chips which is why I mentioned the phones should be required to support it.

Would the differences be so inconsequential? No differences in how the antennas would need to work or anything of the sort?

 

[newellj]

Is there an existing way of supporting AM on mobile phones?

Yeah. Blow it up to the size of a packet of cigarettes and stick in the antenna that AM reception requires. If you really need AM reception, spend $10 on a cheap AM/FM radio, or better yet spend $40 on a decent crank or solar rechargeable AM/FW/SW radio.

There's nothing preventing it. An AM receiver is actually easier to implement than an FM one (not that either is even remotely challenging as compared to WiFi or LTE). However, while many (most?) phones have FM support, they don't have AM support. It would have to be included in new chips which is why I mentioned the phones should be required to support it.

Size. You aren't going to get an AM receiver into an iPhone, or any other smartphone anyone wants to carry today.

The point that has drifted around some of the replies should be emphasized. FM reception at best is basically local. Try to receive an FM signal with something like a smartphone using wired earbuds as an antenna and it's truly local - which means the disaster scenario is a red herring, because your local FM stations are almost certainly off the air after an Irma or Jose event.

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

If it's like the FM chip on the Android phones, it's analog FM only. As a broadcaster I would love to see it support HD Radio, but I don't think that will happen due to licensing requirements (which is a different rant altogether that doesn't pertain to this forum)

Nothing that I know of makes any use of HD Radio on the iPhone since before the Lighting connector like this from Gigaware, still sold on eBay. With a lightning adapter, this tiny device barely works and is 32 bit, and buggy. But yes I have heard HD radio on my iPhone with this. As opposed to analog FM, this is a battery drainer, at least in this clunky fashion. I'm sure Apple could come up with a much better solution than this if they wanted to. The problem is that HELL NO, they simply do not CARE about national crises. It's all about money and this would make them NO MONEY!
Also, this device is tiny, meaning the tech in this device could easily fit inside nearly any cell phone. Half of it is already inside a cell phone already. The only thing the iPhone lacks is the iBuiqity HD decoding chip, which I'm sure they would give away!

Btw, with every new IOS release, Apple increases the number of warnings NOT to use this device, and with IOS 11, it is officially obsolete, non-functional.

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The point that has drifted around some of the replies should be emphasized. FM reception at best is basically local. Try to receive an FM signal with something like a smartphone using wired earbuds as an antenna and it's truly local - which means the disaster scenario is a red herring, because your local FM stations are almost certainly off the air after an Irma or Jose event.

You missed the point. It's the warnings BEFORE that are important too. The FM stations would be on the air then, and even in Maria, many FM stations were quickly back on the air before cell phone service was repaired. One radio station in Puerto Rico even kept up a studio to transmitter link up and running during the storm, literally by holding it by HAND so it didn't blow away!

 

[newellj]

You missed the point. It's the warnings BEFORE that are important too. The FM stations would be on the air then, and even in Maria, many FM stations were quickly back on the air before cell phone service was repaired.

Technically, that would work, but honestly, if people aren't paying attention to all the media already working around them do you really think they'd go out of their way to find a set of wired headphones so they could listen to now-very-old-tech FM on their iPhone to learn about a storm that's all over every other media channel already? Yeah, it is possible, but it seems extraordinarily unlikely.

 

[MH01]

Which still in no way shows that there can't be all kinds of other things in play aside from profits.

Do tell? Vague responses are great and all, though given devices from many manafactures in 2017 do not have FM radio disabled (aka user can enable the ) what exactly is on play that forces Apple to block theirs on purpose?

The difference here is, apple blocks theirs. Let's use some examples two leading phones iPhone 8 and Samsung S8 .

To me it seems profit is a very good reason why it's blocked . I'm sure Samsung will block the S8 when the run thier own version of iTunes and music streaming.