FCC Urges Apple to Protect Safety of Americans by Activating FM Radio Chip in iPhones [Updated]

[69Mustang]

An FM tuner chip is useless unless it can be connected to a suitable antenna. There is no headphone jack, and there may be no RF signal path from the Lightning jack, making any FM tuner circuit on the chip useless.

Considering the vast majority of iPhones actually do have a headphone jack then that tuner seems a little less useless doesn't it? If activation requires a software update, then the antenna excuse isn't that tenable anymore. If it requires hardware, the argument is carries a bit more weight.

 

[Analog Kid]

Wow, this escalated fast.

Messenger aside, he's still speaking for the FCC which carries a lot of weight. Hopefully this will go somewhere. I don't expect I'll ever use it for entertainment, but I have a hard time disagreeing with the public safety implications.

To those thinking Apple isn't doing this because it would bypass Apple Music, I don't get the point. There's plenty of ways of streaming radio over the net. I don't think this is an Apple Music thing.

To those arguing that your phone isn't the ideal device to receive safety information, I'll just say this: the device you have is the best device. Knowing that a hurricane is coming isn't the whole story here-- knowing what to do on the ground at the moment is critical. A little information flow can prevent a lot of bad decision making among a desperate population.

 

[TsMkLg068426]

So the crazy FCC chairman with the big Recess mug wants old technology brought to the iPhone that is killing a lot of bandwidth and hurting wireless networks? How about no and we move on to HD Radio instead when HD Radio has been around since OTA went full digital. I swear this FCC chairman has no respect to technology or the internet only for his wallet.

 

[porkrind]

Considering the vast majority of iPhones actually do have a headphone jack then that tuner seems a little less useless doesn't it? If activation requires a software update, then the antenna excuse isn't that tenable anymore. If it requires hardware, the argument is carries a bit more weight.

That assumes that they bothered to create a physical connection from the FM chip to the headphone jack. Given that they never sold FM radio as a feature, I cannot imagine that they bothered to engineer the necessary connections into the circuit boards.

 

[aolbites]

To put out the most obvious question... Why? Why is it so important to have FM when you ALREADY HAVE CELLULAR? You can accomplish the same types of things. Cellular text alerts and warnings for instance. The only real benefit to FM is that you can have a larger antenna that carries for a longer distance. But still, if an antenna blows over, it blows over. If the FM antenna does, you lose 100% of coverage. Cellular by its very nature, is mesh. That means even if one tower is damaged, another could still work. It's more resilient for that reason.

I just don't see the point. Go out and buy yourself a $5 FM radio receiver if you are facing a hurricane. Or better yet, have the government buy everyone one... oh wait, that's right. The government doesn't want to be the government any more, only outsource it to the highest bidder...

Cellular towers go down. Cellular towers don't cover as large of a range. Everyone usually has their cell phone with them, even in a sudden emergency. FM antenna's can be powered by backup generators to ensure constant contact, cellular towers do not have that functionality.

 

[sherwinzadeh]

Yes Please! One thing I love about my old iPod nano is the FM radio.
Sometimes I'm listening to something interesting on the radio in the car and I want to continue listening after I finish driving.

 

[iConcept]

Powerful storms can leave thousands or millions of people without power or cellular service for weeks or even months

First off, where would they charge it?

In this scenario, people are undoubtedly using the phone as a torch and now they want a radio, so if Apple provides an app to overclock the internals, we can fry up some sausages on the screen too, cos phones have the capability to overheat. What a stupid idea, why are smartphones the thing everyone turns to to solve all of life's problems nowadays? What happened to smartpeople? With the chance of sounding like my grandparents generation, what did people do before smartphones, how did we survive?

Fair enough, if Apple develop that side of the antennae as a feature for people to listen to FM, but requesting it as a safety feature is a joke.

How about if you live in a hurricane area, and can afford a $700+ phone, you spend $50 on an friggin' FM radio and torch and stop expecting everyone else to come up with a solution to nature?

 

[xplora]

To all those agreeing with the FCC, try a google search on iPhone FM antenna, and you will find multiple articles that point out the iPhone is missing vital hardware necessary to make the FM receiver in the cellular modems work. There is no FM antenna, nor amplifier for the FM radio to work with, this means even if someone hacked an iPhone to add software to talk to the FM radio, at best they would have to be standing under the transmitter to get a signal that would probably still have some static.

 

[69Mustang]

That assumes that they bothered to create a physical connection from the FM chip to the headphone jack. Given that they never sold FM radio as a feature, I cannot imagine that they bothered to engineer the necessary connections into the circuit boards.

That's why my opinion was conditional: "If activation requires a software update, then the antenna excuse isn't that tenable anymore. If it requires hardware, the argument is carries a bit more weight."

 

[aolbites]

That assumes that they bothered to create a physical connection from the FM chip to the headphone jack. Given that they never sold FM radio as a feature, I cannot imagine that they bothered to engineer the necessary connections into the circuit boards.

I never heard of android phones selling it as a feature.
They have similar chips.
They were able to update their OS and allows access to the functionality.

 

[VulchR]

Yeah, not sure why only some people are getting this. They can’t enable it because there is no antenna! FM requires a long antenna (the headphone wire) and there’s no headphone jack. I’d be really surprised if it’s possible to use a non-analog port (lightning) to pick up FM transmissions in the same way using lightning EarPods. Try removing the antenna wire or stick from a radio — instant static.

I am no engineer, but perhaps some piece of existing metal could be used in an emergency (wireless charging coil? same antenna as used for phone communications? Blue tooth antenna?). If it can be done without too much fuss, then why not? If not, then so be it. Perhaps some engineers could comment.

 

[69Mustang]

Yeah, not sure why only some people are getting this. They can’t enable it because there is no antenna! FM requires a long antenna (the headphone wire) and there’s no headphone jack. I’d be really surprised if it’s possible to use a non-analog port (lightning) to pick up FM transmissions in the same way using lightning EarPods. Try removing the antenna wire or stick from a radio — instant static.

People probably aren't getting it because the vast majority of iPhones in the wild actually still have a headphone jack.

 

[Bacillus]

I am no engineer, but perhaps some piece of existing metal could be
Perhaps some engineers could comment.

Let that opportunistic benefactor Cook override Ive to bring back the headphone jack

 

[nutriousmitten]

On a side note, this reminded me, and I just fired up my HTC M7 from years ago that I have as a music player, and backup phone. What a great device. FM radio (like all, you need headphones to plug in as they act as the antenna), dual front speakers, and an IR blaster, as part of the wake/sleep button on the top) for changing channels.

Zero reason why Iphones and all phones sold in North America can't have the FM activated. No extra hardware needed. A bit more tricky for the latest phones who don't have headphone jacks, but a dongle for this purpose (or even if the supplied usb-c headphone dongle will work) looks no worse than charging an Apple pencil.

 

[amadigan]

On the few Android phones that do have FM capability, headphones must be connected because the headphone cable acts as the FM antenna. I doubt the pre-7 iPhones have the FM antenna wired to the headphones, and I also doubt that Apple will ever release a new iPhone with a headphone jack, so all of this just ends up looking like political posturing from a foolish FCC chair.

Reception was never very good on my Android phone, Apple probably decided not to do FM because it wouldn't be a very good user experience. A disaster like a hurricane is probably one of the few cases where you'd be willing to setup your phone properly in a spot with minimal interference, and put up with poor audio quality so that you could hear news reports/evacuation instructions. The rest of the time, you'd use it for five minutes, realize the quality was terrible, and switch to something else.

Dedicated FM receivers work much better than a device where it's an afterthought. The Motorola app for FM was terrible too, but I think that speaks more to Motorola's software than to the underlying hardware.

 

[aolbites]

A disaster like a hurricane is probably one of the few cases where you'd be willing to setup your phone properly in a spot with minimal interference, and put up with poor audio quality so that you could hear news reports/evacuation instructions. The rest of the time, you'd use it for five minutes, realize the quality was terrible, and switch to something else.

*Hurricane hits* UGHHHH!!! I have to put up with radio static!! I wish the hurricane had just killed me!
[doublepost=1506621991][/doublepost]

First off, where would they charge it?

In this scenario, people are undoubtedly using the phone as a torch and now they want a radio, so if Apple provides an app to overclock the internals, we can fry up some sausages on the screen too, cos phones have the capability to overheat. What a stupid idea, why are smartphones the thing everyone turns to to solve all of life's problems nowadays? What happened to smartpeople? With the chance of sounding like my grandparents generation, what did people do before smartphones, how did we survive?

Fair enough, if Apple develop that side of the antennae as a feature for people to listen to FM, but requesting it as a safety feature is a joke.

How about if you live in a hurricane area, and can afford a $700+ phone, you spend $50 on an friggin' FM radio and torch and stop expecting everyone else to come up with a solution to nature?

Who's fault is it that phones set themselves as the beall endall of communication? I hardly fault the consumer. Second, you have a very first world mentality when you think $50 is no big deal, but in many of these areas, those suffering are the poorest who have the least access and may have only been able to afford a 6 year old iphone 4 for $30.

Also, Android was able to offer the same feature through a firmware upgrade with a similar chip. Are you saying Android is more technically adept than Apple?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I don't disagree with enabling FM, but Ajit Pai pretending to be the hero here is laughable. He's been a major PITA for net neutrality for the past while and as such has zero credibility behind his voice. If you want FM to be enabled, find a better spokesperson than this joke.

What does one have to do with the other? You dismiss a person because they don’t follow you thinking on one issue even though they might on some other one? Welcome Robots.

 

[Beachguy]

If I get this right, the FCC chairman is requesting Apple to enable an FM chip in their device to use a service under his jurisdiction that is in decline instead of forcing telcos under his jurisdiction to offer a service that would resist a hurricane.

I would be willing to bet you've not been through a major hurricane.

 

[psac]

There's really two reasons that the FM antenna hasn't been activated.

iTunes and Apple Music.

From the very beginning of the iPod, Apple wanted you to buy music, as opposed to the FM Radio that was enabled in every portable music player (e.g., Walkman) back then. It's never changed. Why give away free radio on your devices, when you can charge people to buy music or now charge people for your Music service?

But now that FM radio competition has become largely irrelevant, they really should make the necessary changes to enable them on the next gen of devices if there is an emergency benefit for it!

 

[C DM]

People probably aren't getting it because the vast majority of iPhones in the wild actually still have a headphone jack.

Is it all as simple as just having headphones plugged in and the chip enabled, or is there something else that might need to be there to actually "connect" the antenna-like functionality that headphones could provide for radio purposes?

 

[AppleMad98004]

I believe this is a hardware problem and not software. I don't think the internal connection exists.

Maybe someone who tears these things down has the answer.

 

[Beachguy]

If it requires hardware, the argument is carries a bit more weight.

It does require hardware.

 

[ackmondual]

Or you could just buy an FM radio that will last for days on batteries, as opposed to using your phone which will last for hours.

people could've also bought a superior standalone camera with much better battery life, but that ship has long sailed since folks preferred going converged.

 

[ironpony]

iPod nano has functionality and an app right? I'm not sure how some think this is impossible in a phone, or that Apple is not already charging for this FM receiver ... then not having an antennae "whoops".

 

[jkichline]

This should be a no brainer. In emergencies, you might need the FM on your phone to listen to life-saving information.

Or the life-saving information can be push messaged to your phone or send emergency alerts hyper-localized to your location via cellular. Time to dig yourself out of the past.