Radio FM

Radio FM combines three kinds of listening that usually require separate apps: live radio stations from around the world, podcasts, and audio drama. That third category is what distinguishes it. Short audio dramas across romance, thriller, suspense and other genres are produced as exclusive content, and they occupy a space that has been largely empty since radio plays fell out of fashion. A drama is a different experience from a podcast: it is performed rather than discussed, with actors, sound design and a plot that resolves, and it suits a commute or a walk in a way that a two-hour conversation about current events does not. The catalogue is extensive and organised by genre, so you can pick by mood rather than by title. Live radio covers stations worldwide, which serves both the person wanting news from home and the person wanting to hear what a city on the other side of the world sounds like at breakfast. Podcasts complete the set. More than a hundred million listeners use it, and Google has featured it as an Editors' Choice, which is a reasonable signal of quality in a category with a great many indistinguishable apps. Playback continues in the background across all three formats.