3 Best Radio Apps To Listen To Local AM/FM Radio Without Data For Pixel 3 XL

Want to save some data when streaming music or talk radio with your Google Pixel 3 XL? One way to do that is to take advantage of your phone’s radio chip inside the phone, that is, if the chip is enabled. By default, the radio chip — at least in the United States — is disabled by default; however, there are a handful of devices that might have it enabled, though that generally requires you to put in a request with your carrier.

Even if you cannot get the radio chip enabled, there’s still a handful of ways that you can listen to your favorite local radio stations.

So if you’re wondering how you can start listening to your favorite AM/FM tunes, be sure to follow along with us below. We’ll show you how!

TuneIn Radio

First up, you might want to download TuneIn Radio to your Google Pixel 3. This one is free to download, but you do have to make an account to use it. TuneIn Radio will give you a free trial with it, but afterwards, you will have to subscribe. The subscription is well wroth it though, as TuneIn Radio gives you access to well over 100,000 radio stations — both local and national! Many of your hometown’s local radio stations can be found in TuneIn Radio. In fact, I can even listen to Nash FM from a few cities over, and even WYCD, which is based out of Detroit, Michigan.

TuneIn Radio does use streaming, as the audience that they advertise to generally do not have the radio chip enabled on their smartphones. TuneIn Radio really is a great way to listen to your favorite content, especially if you’re willing to pay for that subscription.

Download it now: Google Play

iHeartRadio

iHeartRadio comes in as second on our list, but it’s not only an excellent way to listen to your favorite radio stations, but also other content, such as talk shows, radio personalities, podcasts, and recently, even music streaming. No matter where you are in the world, iHeartRadio will allow you to listen to all of your favorite radio content. You could be in Canada, and you could still listen to, say, WYCD out of Detroit, MI.

They have a great mixture of content available, too. If you’re a country music fan, a pop music fan, a rap fanatic, or a talk show kind of guy, iHeartRadio has something on here for you. You can even listen to online personalities like Dave Ramsey, Ken Coleman, and even the UFC’s own Joe Rogan Podcast. And the best part? You don’t have to pay a dime to listen to any of it! You will have to deal with advertisements, though.

As we mentioned, you can even stream music with iHeartRadio. A recent subscription tier that iHeartRadio started offering will allow you to stream all of your favorite songs in a Spotify or iTunes Music sort of style!

Download it now: Google Play

NextRadio

NextRadio might be last up on our list, but it’s an excellent way to listen to local AM and FM radio stations. NextRadio is one of the few apps on the Google Play Store that has the ability to take advantage of the radio chip inside of your phone. But once again, it does have to be activated in order for NextRadio to use it. Not only that, but plug a pair of headphones into the audio jack or USB-C port, and NextRadio will actually use that as an antenna for a stronger signal!

But don’t worry if you don’t have that radio chip enabled — if you don’t, NextRadio can still let you listen to local AM and FM stations through streaming. This will use your data connection, but the way that NextRadio optimizes it, it won’t eat through your data plan.

You can snag the NextRadio app for free on your Google Pixel 3 XL at the link below.

Download it now: Google Play

Verdict

Listening to local AM and FM radio stations over the traditional AM/FM signal on smartphones is difficult. This is because most carriers in the United States don’t want to enable the radio chip for consumer use. It’s a little more common to have it enabled in International markets. Still, many of these apps we’ve listed here today will allow you to listen to local radio stations, but over your Pixel 3 XL’s data connection instead of actual radio waves.

Do you listen to local AM or FM stations through your Google Pixel 3 XL? How do you do it? Let us know in the comment section below.