Bose SoundTouch Internet Radio After the Cloud Shutdown: How to Keep Listening

Published 16 October 2026

Bose ended the SoundTouch cloud service on 6 May 2026, after first announcing 18 February. Since then the speakers no longer play radio by themselves: the preset buttons and the music services inside the SoundTouch app stopped working. The speakers still play anything you send to them, so internet radio is a phone or computer away.

What stopped and what still works

According to Bose's own notice:

• Stopped: the presets, both the buttons on the speaker and those in the app; browsing or playing music services directly from the SoundTouch app, which is where internet radio used to live; stereo pairing for the SoundTouch 10; Alexa voice commands.
• Still works: streaming from your own apps over Bluetooth, AirPlay, Spotify Connect and AUX; setting the system up; play, pause, skip and volume; grouping speakers.
• The SoundTouch app updated itself to a version that works locally, without the cloud. The speakers no longer receive security or software updates.

For multi-room listening, Bose says that only AirPlay 2 can now group speakers into one experience.

Way 1: AirPlay from a phone, tablet or Mac

If your SoundTouch speaker or soundbar supports AirPlay, this is the closest thing to the old radio menu. Play the station on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, in a radio app or in the browser on 72FM, then pick the speaker from the AirPlay menu. With AirPlay 2 you can send the same station to several speakers at once.

Way 2: Bluetooth from any phone or computer

Every SoundTouch speaker that has Bluetooth still pairs. Pair your phone or computer, start the station, and the speaker plays it. Bluetooth reaches only a few metres and carries one source at a time, so it suits a single room.

Way 3: a cable into AUX

A cable from the headphone socket of an old phone, tablet or laptop into the speaker's AUX input turns the pair into a radio that does not depend on any service. A small streamer with an analogue output works the same way, and many accept your own station addresses.

Way 4: the speaker's local controls (for the technically minded)

Bose published the SoundTouch API documentation so that independent developers can build their own tools, and the speakers keep their local network interface. Community projects, such as SoundTouch integrations for Home Assistant, report playing a radio station on the speaker directly from its stream address this way, with no phone in the middle. It is unsupported by Bose and takes some setup. If you go this route, you need each station's stream address: the radio stream URL finder gives it for any station in the open Radio Browser directory, and internet radio in Home Assistant covers the Home Assistant side.

Owners have also reported that a speaker which is factory reset after the shutdown may not be able to register new services, so leave the reset button alone unless the speaker is otherwise unusable.

Which way to choose

• iPhone, iPad or Mac in the house: Way 1, AirPlay.
• Android phone, one room: Way 2, Bluetooth.
• A radio that just plays, without a phone: Way 3, an old device or a streamer on AUX, or Way 4 if you run Home Assistant.

Other brands had the same problem when the directories behind their radio menus closed: vTuner not working covers Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo and TEAC.