Thanks to TuneIn Radio, local radio stations can now be streamed in CarPlay. The app was updated to version 7.3 with CarPlay compatibility. TuneIn offers over 100,000 radio stations to stream ranging from sports and news to music and talk radio.
There are two versions of TuneIn Radio available in the App Store. The free version displays ads in the iOS app. The paid TuneIn Radio Pro ($9.99) is ad-free and lets you record stations. If you have both those apps installed on your iPhone, you will see both on the CarPlay homescreen.
There is no way of accessing your favorited/following stations/shows from the CarPlay interface. Instead, TuneIn has added a "Recents" tab for streaming stations you recently listened to.
The Pro version of the app also offers a Car Mode, which puts up large buttons on your iPhone. Car Mode also allowed users to access their favorited/following stations/shows. However, you probably won't be using Car Mode if you use CarPlay.
The TuneIn CarPlay interface has a structured menu layout like any other CarPlay-compatible app. The good thing is, you can start listening to any station of your choice without signing up for an account. And TuneIn remembers the last station you were playing, so when you launch the app, the same station starts streaming without having to do anything.
I like the large, teal colored menu item icons. The "Now Playing" screen has 30-second skip forward and skip back buttons. When streaming radio stations, TuneIn allows users to pause the stream. Recording a stream or playing back a recorded stream is not possible through CarPlay.
Here are some more CarPlay screenshots...
How does the list of radio stations compare to iHeartRadio?
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