iOS 4.0 Update

We are working on getting a new version of the SomaFM app with background streaming support (and hopefully a few other upgrades) out by mid-July.

iPhone 3.0 Compatibility Note

Please make sure you're running the latest version of the SomaFM App. It's a free update from the App Store.

Common Questions/Issues:

Q. The SomaFM app stops playing when I go to the main iPhone menu.

A. This is an unfortunate limitation of iPhone Apps, which aren't allowed to run in the background. So if you go to the main menu to get to another application, our player has to stop. Apple announced some new background features in 3.0 that we'll support as soon as it's available.

Q. Can you stop the iphone from ringing when playing SomaFM?

A. No. This is a design feature of the iPhone where an incoming call will override any running application. You can put your phone into Call Forwarding mode and it won't ring.

There is a complex way to force all calls to voicemail. First, determine your voicemail number by dialing *#67# - you'll see the display say "Voice Call Forwarding When Busy Forwards to +XXXXX" where X is the number you forward to. You can then go into Settings -> Phone and add that number to your call forwarding, and turn call forwarding on. When you're done listening, you can go back into Settings->Phone and turn call forwarding off.

Q. Does the SomaFM app support Soma's 48k AAC streams?

A. No, our current app only supports MP3 streams. We hope to have an update that supports AACplus in the near future. With iPhone version 3, our Webapp does serve up 48k aacPlus streams to the built-in quicktime player. At this time, we don't have aacPlus for all our channels yet.

Q. I purchased the app but it will not open, it just flashes open for a second then goes away.

A. This has been reported on phones that have been "jailbroken", and has to do with the code signing of Apps from the App Store. You should be able to delete and reinstall the app to get it to work again.

Q. Not all stations are showing up in my list.

A. You are running an old version of the SomaFM app on a version 3 phone. Update the app and the problem is fixed.

Q. I'm using the iPod Touch via wi-fi and it won't connect to stream the music, it does however update the song listings as it appears on each stations. It just gives me the error when I press play "unable to connect to the station try again later".

A. This is usually caused by a firewall that blocks connections "high ports", which we use for our streams. We are now including a firewall friendly stream which will be tried if the normal stream can't be connected to, so this problem shouldn't happen anymore.

Q. Why don't you use in-app purchase for making donations, rather than taking the user to Paypal in Safari.

A. By using Paypal instead of in-app purchases, SomaFM gets significantly more of the money. Paypal/Mastercard/Visa costs us 3% + $0.40 transaction fees, where as Apple has a 30% transaction fee, so any donation over $1.50 is more cost-effective via Paypal.

Q. How much data does the app use?

A. Our high bandwidth streams are 128k, and the low bandwidth streams are usually 56k. At 128k that's about 60mb an hour; so about 33 hours of streaming would use about 2gb of data. For long periods of listening you're better off using a WiFi connection.

Q. I purchased the app for my iPod Touch...the high bandwidth stream was too choppy, but when I switched to the low bandwidth option, it does not connect at all.

A. You are probably behind a firewall that's blocking our streams. If the streams are choppy, it means either your internet connection is saturated or there is a "proxy" installed that is interfering with the streams. Try using a different internet connection.

For other SomaFM iPhone support questions

Post a message here and we'll respond. You can also email dj@somafm.com and we'll get back to you. Please include as many details of the problem you're having, your carrier, iPhone/iPod Touch model, and what you were doing when the problem happened.

Frustration! I am to the point of being really irritated about the player not being iOS4 compatible. I mean really...it's not like it just showed up yesterday. Saturn5 are idiots and don't answer their email. Everyone's whining and bitching about this issue, and you even say on your web site it's coming in "mid-July" but then elsewhere you say "by the end of the year." Is it really that hard to just fix the damn player and make it work as it should? It wasn't free, either -- I could see a free app being completely ignored and unsupported. But we paid MONEY for it (although not much). Someone's making money, why can't they do their job? -- Buck, August 29, 2010 at 9:44a

I like the music and I'm looking forward to the iOS 4.0 update. -- John, August 28, 2010 at 6:26a

Hello. I love your music, especially Drone Zone, and would love to play it on my iPhone 4. Is there an updated release time of the app for OS4? Many thanks, great work. -- Adam Boughey, August 15, 2010 at 3:15a

When does the OS4 version of the player is gonna be released. You say mid July on your site, it's now mid August and still no release. I purchased the OS3 version, but without background streaming it simply doesn't worth it. Please respond. Thanks. -- Roy, August 11, 2010 at 8:04a

Mid-July was weeks ago. iOS4 version anywhere in sight? -- Michael, July 29, 2010 at 5:46a

I have just purchased your app and it appears that I can not pause play in your app using my bluetooth's pause play button. This is a feature that I would like to see implemented at some point. Thanks Much -- River cox, July 27, 2010 at 11:31a

I recently upgraded to OS 4, and lost my debit card at the same time. After installing the new OS4, I tried to re-download the SomaFM player I already paid for. It doesn't let me. I want it back because I love GrooveSalad. How can we get this fixed? -- Derek, July 1, 2010 at 7:03p

I purchased the app for my iPod Touch...the high bandwidth stream was too choppy, but when I switched to the low bandwidth option, it does not connect at all. This happens on ALL stations via the app. -- Low Bandwidth Connectivity, June 14, 2010 at 9:26a

I love this app! I'm just wondering if it uses a lot of data? Is it comparable to YOuTube in its data usage? I left my phone on with the Soma app on for 4 hours and it seems to have used an awful lot of data. I just need to know so I'll use with wifi instead, when I can. Thanks and keep up the great music. -- Daniel Royer, May 17, 2010 at 12:56p

It'd be great if the SomaFM app would stop playing when I remove my headphones from the jack like the iPod and Shoutcast apps do. -- Chris, May 5, 2010 at 2:17p

I am a long time GrooveSalad listener and an iPhone developer. I just updated my iPhone to the 4.0 beta and was wondering if there was any way I could be involved with testing the new version of the SomaFm app that supports the background audio? I purchased the older version of your app. Thanks, Steven Behnke -- Steven Behnke, April 11, 2010 at 2:13p

I just purchased your somafm iphone app ,mostly to support you guys, but I was hoping that your app would have automatic reconnect, to give it an edge over apps like shoutcast player. It would be really cool, if you could implement it in the next version. Keep up the good music. Avid groove salad listener here :-) Peter -- Peter, April 5, 2010 at 2:13p

Hey, thanks for your great service. I only recently discovered SomaFM and it became my main musical hangout immediately. I'm using both the SomaFM app and Tobit's RadioFX to stream Soma on my iPhone 3GS. One thing that does not seem to work, however, is background streaming via Safari/QuickTime. Clicking on the streaming links on your website only results in Safari opening some ASCII code or so. I'd be grateful to receive some hints on how to fix this. Thanks a lot, ladies and gentlemen, aand ll the best, Martin Born -- Martin Born, March 11, 2010 at 1:56p

Hi, Do you know how to stop the iphone from ringing when playing soma? I’m an I.T. technical person and I love listening to your station while I work – but I get called by people – I don’t answer – I let it go to voicemail so I can continue with my work… Do you know how – if indeed it is possible – to set it up so that the calls do not interrupt? Thanks, Steve iphone 3gs -- steve, March 10, 2010 at 8:53a

esta padre -- alanjoskate, January 22, 2010 at 6:47p

esta padre -- alanjoskate, January 22, 2010 at 6:46p

I'm still curious to know the answer to Marcel's question back in October: Does the SomaFM app support Soma's 48k AAC streams or not???? I'd certainly buy the app if it did. -- Sunspot, January 12, 2010 at 12:40a

Plugin was working for a week, then for no reason - when you click on the plug in you get the splash screen to somafm and then it crashes? or basicaLLY QUITS -- Barry , December 17, 2009 at 7:35a

Hello, I noticed you had a similar problem with your NPR app stopping after 30 min. Did you find a solution to this besides exiting and restarting the app. Thanks, Chris -- Did anyone solve the 30min-NPR problem?, December 9, 2009 at 6:18p

I have no volume for 2 days through paid app. Was able to listen on free site. My iPhone is working fine with other apps. -- Chris, November 20, at 5:21a

I purchased the app but it will not open, it just flashes open for a second then goes away. -- Steve, November 12, at 11:47a

somafm player should grow in-app purchase for making donations, rather than taking the user to Paypal in Safari. -- Jason Thorpe, November 11, at 10:00a

Hi, does the SomaFM Player for the iPhone make (full) use of the 48k aac plus streams that are available on somafm.com if the bandwidth is limited to 64 kbit/sek? The german radio station RMN Radio already offers an app that lets you listen to their 48k aacPlus streams btw. Best Regards Marcel -- Marcel Bott, October 30, at 5:52p

ghggh -- rakesh, October 30, at 2:43a

I have listened to Groove Salam via itunes for a while. Figured I would buy the iphone app to give you guys some money. I am having the same problem, wont let me buy says no longer available. -- JT, October 19, at 3:33p

When I try to purchase the application in iTunes it tells me it is no longer available. Just like the other posts bellow me. Will this be resolved so we can give you guys some money? =) Thanks -- Larry, October 19, at 7:07a

When I try to buy the app I tells me app no longer available. What can I do? -- John, October 19, at 5:28a

Hi! Everytime I try to buy the somafm app for my iPhone, it says "No Longer Available"... is it anywhere else, or under a different name? Would love it on my iPhone! Peace - R. -- Rufino, October 18, at 1:31a

OLA,,ME GUSTARIA TENER ESA MUSICA -- CLAUDIO, October 9, at 1:08p

Nevermind. I figured it out. Keep up the good work Soma! -- Ryan, October 5, at 10:36a

I just purchased the SomaFM iPhone app, and I can't get any of the stations to play. I have 4 bars on the 3G network, and I get no music. I tested some other apps on py phone, like NPR and Pandora, and they sound fine, so I know it's not an internal setting. Can't seem to find a place to get support for this app. Little help please?!? -- Ryan, October 5, at 10:35a

im using the ipod touch via wi-fi and it wont connect to stream the music, it does how ever update the song listings as it appears on each stations but it errors when i press play "unable to connect to the station try again later" with all the stations. pls help -- Carlos, September 21, at 5:47p

Does the iPhone application use the same "i.somafm.com" stream addresses as the web app does? It appears my phone company is blocking some of the ports used to run stations on the i.somafm.com site. From the web app I can access all the listed stations in both EDGE and 3G/WiFi lists while I'm connected to WiFi but when I drop back to 3G only some of the stations work. The broken links flash up a warning saying Safari can't connect to the server. I can access the blocked stations through the "somafm.com/play" links on the main home page instead so it's not a big problem, just an inconvenient one. I'll go through the whole station list on the web app today and find which ones are working and which ones aren't. I'll pass this list on to my phone company. The blocked ports seem to be the whole number ones like 6060 or 6050 so they may be caught up in some peer to peer port blocking. -- Tim Duggan, September 13, at 6:33p

After a few minutes of streaming music through my itouch on a wireless network the music stops playing. I have diabled the automatic lock to the device. What am I doing wrong? -- John, September 7, at 10:04a

I'm using the iphone/ipod touch app on my wifi at home, and a lot of the stations will update playlists but not play music (only Groove Salad, Drone Zone, Indie Pop, and Secret Agent work). Do these communicate through a different port? The firewall in my modem/router is set with low security, but are there any particular ports your app uses that I can specifically open? -- Ciro, September 4, at 4:12p

Thank's -- Djino, August 29, at 2:57p

Your Iphone APP was working GREAT until the update of firmware 3.0.1.Now the APP wont even load.Is there any fix 4 this ? Dave -- Dave Gregory, August 29, at 7:28a

Hi there, I downloaded the SomaFM app and it worked wonderfully for a few days. But now it never gets past the main screen before it quits back to the app listing in my iPod Touch. Anything I can do to make it work? -- Brian, August 25, at 3:04p

Best app and channel ever! Is it possible to buy a t-shirt with drone zone logo on the front and soma fm on the back?? Soma fm rulezzzzz!!! Cheers -- Max from france, August 20, at 3:51a

Hi, Got a new iphone 3G here in France. Download the somafm applet, but i can't hear your stations. It seems the phone can't reach your server. No other info. Just that little flower in the middle on the phone that is turning and turning. What can i do ? Thanks, Jean-Etienne -- jean-Etienne, August 11, at 9:37a

is the lush station available on the iphone app i heard it wasnt if it isnt when it going to be added -- juan, August 9, at 6:48a

Hi Rusty - really nice to see this available for my iphone!! I am having a problem with the music stopping after 30 minutes - all the time - I've been using the app for only a week but it happens every time. The error message I get is: "Error: unable to load this station. Try again later." Any ideas? Thanks again for the great music! Pierce -- Pierce, August 4, at 7:43p

Feature suggestion and question: what about a link from each station to the stream in Safari? Even just as a temporary fix until apple releases background. Should be easy to add? Would really help those of us that sometimes have to switch to a few different apps and don't want to interrupt our music. Next question is, is there any way to pause the stream when you unplug headphones? Having it play continue playing through the external speaker isn't really practical. Don't know if apple supports this. -- Miles, June 21, at 6:35p

... well I guess they are updating, but there are other old (time) entries interspersed... weird. -- Daniel, June 18, at 11:47p

Rusty, it seems that on the 3.0 software the songs aren't updating anymore either... -- Daniel Sofer, June 18, at 11:09p

People seem to want backgrounding. A quick and dirty way could be to add a link in the channel menu (by "bookmark this song" and "switch to low bandwidth") that would forward to the same stream as the iphone site uses. That stream can be backgrounded really easily. -- Paul, June 18, at 3:43p

I had this app on another phone and regularly listened to beat blender. I just got a new phone, and repurchased the app, and there is no beat blender station in the new app.? Is this right? -- Jay, June 9, at 1:24p

I love the app, but please, please, please allow it to work with Backgrounder or Insomnia. I bicycle long distances, and have my iPhone mounted on the handlebars to use TrackThing and other Navigation software, and often leave FStream running in the background (via Backgrounder app) streaming Lush or GrooveSalad from SomaFM. The fact SomaFM Player doesn't at least work with Backgrounder, is very disappointing. -- Crypto den Drum, June 6, at 4:27a

I bought this app for my iPod touch and it doesn't work even though I'm on wi-fi. I figured it would work like Pandora. Can it work, or did I just waste my money? -- Susan Beezley, May 29, at 6:36p

With the web-based app I could close the browser window and music would keep playing while I used any non-Safari app. With this new app it appears that as soon as I close the app the music stops, so I can't listen to music while I'm doing other stuff. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is there a way around this? -- Andrew MacLean, May 24, at 1:34a

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