How to Listen to Radio on Apple TV

Published 26 September 2026

Apple TV is often plugged into the best speakers in the house — a soundbar, a HomePod pair or a full home cinema — which makes it a natural place for radio. It has no web browser, though, so the way in is different from a smart TV. There are three routes, and the first works with any station.

Method 1: AirPlay from an iPhone or iPad

AirPlay sends the sound from your phone to the Apple TV over your home Wi-Fi.

1. On your iPhone or iPad, open 72fm.com in Safari and start a station.
2. Open Control Centre (swipe down from the top-right corner).
3. Tap the AirPlay icon on the music controls and choose your Apple TV.

The station now plays through the TV or whatever the Apple TV is connected to. Both devices need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. Your phone stays in control — you can lock it or use other apps while the radio plays.

Method 2: AirPlay from a Mac

1. Open 72fm.com in any browser and start a station.
2. Click Control Centre in the menu bar, then Sound, and choose your Apple TV as the output.

On older versions of macOS, the same choice is under the volume or AirPlay icon in the menu bar.

Method 3: A radio app on the Apple TV itself

The App Store on Apple TV has radio apps — TuneIn and iHeartRadio among them — which run on the Apple TV without a phone. The trade-off is the same as on any other device: each app only carries the stations in its own catalogue, and some play adverts before a station starts. The Music app's Radio section also carries Apple's own live stations.

Keeping the radio on

• The TV screen. Apple TV sends audio over HDMI, so the TV usually needs to stay on — unless your sound system is connected so that it can play with the screen off. The screen saver doesn't interrupt the music.
• HomePod as the Apple TV's speaker. If your Apple TV uses HomePods for its sound, you can also AirPlay a station straight to the HomePods and skip the TV entirely.
• Sleep. If the Apple TV goes to sleep during a long session, change Sleep After in Settings → General.

Better sound

The weak link is rarely AirPlay — it's the station's own stream. A 128kbps stream through a good soundbar sounds like a 128kbps stream. For the best results, pick stations streaming at 256 or 320kbps; the station page on 72FM shows each stream's bitrate, and radio audio quality explains what the numbers mean.

The short version

Play the station on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and AirPlay it to the Apple TV. For a station without a phone involved, use a radio app from the Apple TV App Store.