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How RadioShake compares

An honest, sourced comparison between RadioShake and the major free Android radio apps. Every feature claim links to the competitor's own public Play Store listing.

Last updated: 2026-06-10

Why this page exists. RadioShake is a small indie app competing against multi-year incumbents with much larger install bases. This page isn't a hatchet job — the established apps have real strengths and millions of happy users for good reason. The goal is to give you the information you need to pick the right tool, including the cases where RadioShake isn't it.

Feature comparison

Apps compared: RadioShake, TuneIn^[1], iHeart^[2], Radio.net^[3], SiriusXM^[4], Pandora^[5], Non Stop Radio^[6].

Feature	RadioShake	TuneIn	iHeart	Radio.net	SiriusXM	Pandora	Non Stop Radio
Free without account	Yes	Limited	Limited	Yes	No	Limited	Yes
No in-app ads (built-in)	Yes	No	No	No	Paid tier only	No	Yes
No analytics tracking inside app	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Unclear
Open station directory (radio-browser.info)	Yes	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	Yes
Automatic song identification (Shazam-style)	Yes	No	No	No	No	In-house only	ICY pass-through
Mood-based discovery (multi-mood)	Yes	No	Genre only	Genre only	Genre only	Yes	No
Shake to discover	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Button only
Wear OS Tile (control from watch face)	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Android Auto	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Podcasts	Coming v3.2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Local file playback (MP3/AAC/FLAC)	Coming v3.2	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
M3U / PLS playlist import	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Sleep timer	Yes	Premium	Premium	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stream recorder	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
10-band equaliser	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Custom HTTP/HTTPS stream URLs	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Live programme guide (EPG)	5 countries	Yes	US only	Yes	Sirius only	No	No

Where each app shines

RadioShake

Strongest if you want automatic song ID without an account, control from your watch face, and a privacy posture that doesn't depend on a toggle in settings. Weakest if you also want podcasts inside the same app today (coming v3.2).

TuneIn

Strongest if you want live sports play-by-play and an enormous podcast catalogue. Established library, good Android Auto. Trade-off: ads + sign-up nudges on free tier.

iHeart

Strongest in the US: deep integration with US commercial stations, curated playlists, original podcasts. Free tier shows ads and pushes upgrades.

Radio.net

Strongest European station coverage with a clean, fast UI. Ad-supported. Less feature-rich than TuneIn but lighter overall.

SiriusXM

Strongest for premium curated channels and major-league sports (NFL, MLB, NBA). Subscription-only — not a free alternative.

Pandora

Strongest for algorithm-driven music discovery (Music Genome Project). Not really a traditional radio app — closer to Spotify.

Non Stop Radio

Strongest if you want podcasts + local files in the same app as live radio with a similar privacy posture to RadioShake. Genuinely good — the closest like-for-like.

Honest gaps in RadioShake today

No podcasts yet. Coming in v3.2. If you primarily listen to podcasts, install something else for now.
No local file playback yet. Coming in v3.2. If you want one app for both radio and your MP3 folder, Non Stop Radio handles it today.
Small install base. RadioShake is new (v1.0 was 2026). The established apps have years of community-submitted station fixes; you may find a missing station here that TuneIn has. We submit any gap to radio-browser.info on request — just email.
EPG coverage is limited. Today we have programme guides for 5 countries (UK, US, ES, SE, NO, CA, AU). TuneIn and Radio.net have wider coverage.

What we promise

Free today. No paid tier shipping yet.
No account, ever. Not a free trial — we never plan to require one.
No in-app tracking. We use Firebase Crashlytics for crash reports (anonymous stack traces, no PII). Nothing else.
Your favourites and history will never sit behind a paywall. If we eventually ship an optional remove-ads purchase, it removes ads — it does not unlock features you already use today.

Have we got something wrong?

Each competitor feature is sourced from their own Play Store listing or official site (see footnotes). If you spot a feature we got wrong, please email us and we'll correct it.

TuneIn Radio — play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tunein.player
iHeartRadio — play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.clearchannel.iheartradio.controller
Radio.net — play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.radio.player
SiriusXM — play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sirius
Pandora — play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pandora.android
Non Stop Radio — play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.assistant.greekradio and nonstopradio.app

Last updated 2026-06-10 against v3.0.0 of RadioShake. Pricing tiers and ad models for competitors change frequently — if you spot a discrepancy please email and we'll refresh.