Reports of iTunes Radio Working in the U.K. After iPhone Restore

Over the past several months, iTunes users in the U.K. and several other countries have noticed the availability of the welcome screen of iTunes Radio on their devices, hinting at an upcoming release.

As of today, MacRumors has had a few reports from U.K. and Australian users that have been able to access and listen to iTunes Radio on their iPhones. While some MacRumors forum members in the U.K. have been able to access the service, others say that it is not yet available for them. Similar reports are coming in on Reddit and Twitter.

It appears that most of the users that are able to access and use iTunes Radio had recently wiped and restored their devices, which suggests that iTunes Radio may be accessible after an iPhone reactivates. MacRumors is not, however, recommending that users restore their devices, and it's not clear if this is a temporary glitch as Apple prepares for the U.K. launch.

itunesradiouk
Image courtesy of @Marcus1090

iTunes Radio, which was first announced in June at the Worldwide Developer's Conference and later became available in September alongside the launch of iOS 7, has thus far been limited to listeners in the United States.

In October, Bloomberg suggested Apple would expand the service to Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand by early 2014, but the service has remained limited to the U.S. throughout January. While some U.K. users receiving access after a restore could indicate an imminent release, a similar situation arose back in October with some users in Canada and the U.K. temporarily able to access the service.

According to Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services Eddy Cue, launching iTunes Radio worldwide is a top priority for the company, with Apple ultimately aiming to have the service "in more than 100 countries."

(Thanks, @Marcus1090!)

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Mock Quick

iOS 27 Will Add These 8 New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday January 18, 2026 3:51 pm PST by
iOS 27 is still many months away, but there are already plenty of rumors about new features that will be included in the software update. The first beta of iOS 27 will be released during WWDC 2026 in June, and the update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense...
airpods pro 3 purple

New, Higher End AirPods Pro Coming This Year

Tuesday January 20, 2026 9:05 am PST by
Apple is planning to debut a high-end secondary version of AirPods Pro 3 this year, sitting in the lineup alongside the current model, reports suggest. Back in September 2025, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to introduce a successor to the AirPods Pro 3 in 2026. This would be somewhat unusual since Apple normally waits around three years to make major...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

MacBook Pro Buyers Now Facing Up to a Two-Month Wait Ahead of New Models

Sunday January 18, 2026 6:50 pm PST by
MacBook Pro availability is tightening on Apple's online store, with select configurations facing up to a two-month delivery timeframe in the United States. A few 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro configurations with an M4 Pro chip are not facing any shipping delay, but estimated delivery dates for many configurations with an M4 Max chip range from February 6 to February 24 or even later. At...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Thursday January 15, 2026 10:56 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another eight months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped 12 features rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models, as of January 2026: The same overall design is expected, with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, and a "plateau" housing three rear cameras Under-screen Face ID...
smaller dynamic island iphone 18 pro Filip Vabrous%CC%8Cek

iPhone 18 Pro Leak: Smaller Dynamic Island, No Top-Left Camera Cutout

Tuesday January 20, 2026 2:34 am PST by
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely. Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the ...

Top Rated Comments

OLDCODGER Avatar
157 months ago
Judging by the image, it's not worth the bother.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bushido Avatar
157 months ago
nada in Germany either. but im not surprised with our lovely GEMA. oh well back to my US Account.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
schappim Avatar
157 months ago
Unable to replicate

I'm in Sydney, Australia and have been unable to replicate this on my iPhone 5S running iOS 7 nor my iPad Mini also running iOS 7.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
StuddedLeather Avatar
157 months ago
Nice!

Also +1 for Gaga ;)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mike MA Avatar
157 months ago
nada in Germany either. but im not surprised with our lovely GEMA. oh well back to my US Account.

Like iTunes movies in the cloud, TV shows in the cloud, two step verification, a lot of Apple TV content and so on...either we get it late like iTunes Match or never :D
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
springsup Avatar
157 months ago
nada in Germany either. but im not surprised with our lovely GEMA. oh well back to my US Account.
Thank you for nothing GEMA.
GEMA are awful, it's agreed.

----------

I don't know anyone that has even heard of iTunes radio here in the UK let alone iTunes match.

Apple really are behind in streaming.

Especially since Spotify on Mobile in now free (shuffled playlists not on-demand) so that effectively replicates iTunes Radio.

Aside from the iTunes vouchers i get for christmas presents i can't remember the last time i spent money on the iTunes store.
...maybe because iTunes Radio doesn't exist in the UK yet?

When it launches, iTR will be a hit. People who listen to lots of music went to Spotify a long time ago, but the Mums&Dads who only listen occasionally are a big part of the market and are up for grabs.

To that end, having a streaming service built right in to the Music app is going to help them massively. Those people will just tap 'Music', type in some music they like, and stuff will start playing. That's a huge win for Apple over Spotify. Apple are lucky they don't have a monopoly in the smartphone space, or this wouldn't be possible (in the same way Microsoft bundling IE with Windows was deemed anticompetitive).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)