Orbadio Support
Orbadio (环听) helps you discover live radio around the world. You need an iPhone running iOS 18.0 or later and an internet connection. No Orbadio account is required. Station availability can vary with the broadcaster, network, and region.
Quick start
- Open Orbadio and choose a station, or use the next-station control to explore.
- Drag the globe to rotate it, pinch to zoom, and double-tap to zoom in.
- Pause over a region or search for a city to browse matching stations.
- Save a station with its bookmark, or save the current song with the heart.
Prefer a list? Open Settings and choose Simple mode under Home display. It provides discovery, favorites, and recent stations with playback controls at the bottom. Switching display modes does not interrupt the current station.
A station will not play or keeps buffering
- Try another station to check whether the problem affects one feed.
- Check Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity and whether iOS allows cellular data for Orbadio.
- Update the station directory in Settings, then retry.
- If few stations appear, relax the bitrate, language, or genre filters.
Some feeds go offline, restrict listeners by region, or have limited capacity. The player tries available alternative feeds. Settings also lets you choose whether to switch stations after all feeds fail. A cached station directory does not provide offline audio.
Why are some cities or stations missing from the globe?
The community directory does not provide equally detailed location information for every station. Some points are approximate, and zooming cannot create missing coordinates. Try searching the city name or station name, zooming out, and updating the directory. Include the station name and its website when reporting an incorrect location.
Does reopening resume the program where I left off?
Orbadio remembers the last station. Reopening connects to that station's current live broadcast. It does not replay the part you missed or resume an earlier audio position. Automatic playback on launch can be changed in Settings.
Song recognition does not find a match
Start a music station and tap the recognition waveform. Recognition samples the live stream directly and does not use your microphone. The current version supports sampling compatible MP3/AAC feeds; HLS (.m3u8) sampling is not supported. Try again during a clear music segment and keep the same station selected until it finishes.
Speech, advertisements, short samples, unsupported audio formats, network issues, or a song missing from the recognition catalog can prevent a match. Song titles supplied by a station also depend on that station's metadata and may be missing or delayed.
What do song favorites and music links do?
A song favorite saves its title, artist, and available source details locally so you can find it later. It does not download the audio. Tap a selected station bookmark or song heart again to remove the favorite; saved songs can also be removed from the library. Deleting the app removes the local library, and Orbadio does not synchronize it between devices.
Music links open Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, QQ Music, or NetEase Cloud Music. Apple Music may open a direct song page when recognition supplies a link; otherwise the service searches by title and artist. iOS opens the installed app or website as supported. Catalog availability and any subscription requirements belong to the selected service. Favoriting in Orbadio does not add a song to that service's playlists.
Lock-screen and background listening
Start a station in Orbadio, then return to the Home Screen or lock your iPhone. While the playback session is active, iOS can display the station and playback controls on the Lock Screen and in Control Center. If controls are missing, return to Orbadio and start playback again. Force-quitting the app ends its playback session; an unavailable feed or lost network connection can also stop playback.
Directory updates and mobile data
Orbadio checks the directory when it launches or returns to the foreground and refreshes it when the last successful update is at least 24 hours old. You can also use Update directory now in Settings. If an update fails, the app continues using the local cache.
Live audio uses data continuously. Higher bitrates use more data; a 320 kbps stream is about 144 MB per hour before network overhead. Preparing the next station and requesting song recognition use additional data. Cellular preloading is optional in Settings.
Language and CarPlay
Orbadio follows your iPhone's preferred supported language: English or Simplified Chinese. There is no separate language switch inside the app. CarPlay support is being prepared and is not yet available in a public release; availability will be announced in the release notes.
Contact support or report a station
Email cuitinglei@qq.com with the subject “Orbadio Support.” Include your iPhone model, iOS version, Orbadio version (shown in Settings), steps to reproduce the issue, any error message, and the station name and approximate time if relevant. Screenshots are helpful when you choose to share them. Do not send passwords or private recordings.
Station operators or rights holders can use the same address for content or listing concerns. Include the station name, website, and a description of the issue. Read our Privacy Policy for information about support emails and other data handling.