New Mormon Channel iPhone/iPod App Available

I am pleased to report that the free Mormon Channel iPhone application is now available. This application allows iPhone users to tune into content being broadcast on the Mormon Channel, as well as listen to audio recordings of General Conference addresses, magazine articles, and the Church’s standard works. This application also works on the iPod Touch.


Get it here.

The Church just recently launched a new iPhone app, called “LDS Radio”. It is a streaming application to play content from the Mormon Channel (radio.lds.org) as well as other content, such as the scriptures, magazine articles, etc. You can see the application in iTunes by visiting
this link.

So far the reviews of the application are EXCELLENT. Except we have one individual who is obviously not friendly with the Church and is writing bad reviews that have NOTHING to do with the application. Please go to the iTunes store and click the “report a concern” link next to his review. The review is entitled “Is that Mormon rock? Well, turn it up!” and it was posted by “Staka Lee”. Also, if you want to write a review (positive or negative) go for it! We value all feedback. But please...keep it about the program.

Also, you can keep track of the movements of this program by visiting it's wiki page here

Thanks

Tom

Here's a page that picked up the app for its listings almost immediately after it was posted on the App Store. You can comment about and rate the app here too, I already have.
.
http://www.appsafari.com/religion/9364/lds-radio/

Congratulations in the iPhone app. According to the wiki it streams using MSS.

Are these streams using RTSP via MSS? If not, any chance you can publish the raw stream?

A raw MP3 stream would be even better.

I'd like to remove the chains of my computer and put this on my and my father's internet radio in the living room.

I think it's better to have this type of programming throughout the house rather than just in the computer room.

Thanks

I've got some bug reports, but I'm not sure where the best place to report them is. I want to do more than just rate the app.

1. The LDS Radio app shuts down when the iPhone goes to sleep either manually or automatically (via Auto-Lock) .

In contrast, the iPod functions within the iPhone and the MPR Radio app do not do this but continue to play while the iPhone is asleep.

This means that not only does the display have to remain lit, running down the battery, but the touch screen also remains active to input.

For example, while listening to LDS Radio while mowing my lawn with my iPhone in my pants pocket, every so often I would move just right that it would trigger the app to switch to a different stream such as from Radio to Scriptures or Conference.

2. The LDS Radio app appears to have difficultly connecting to the stream via the cellular network, and frequently crashes upon start up.

One way I have worked around this when it keeps happening is to start the MPR Radio app first, let it connect to its stream, and then shut it down and start the LDS Radio app. The LDS Radio app then seems to be able to figure out how to access the stream via the cellular network instead of immediately crashing upon launch or getting stuck in an endless "Waiting for stream" mode.

3. While the app will play through the headphone jack when the iPhone Ring/Silent switch is set to Silent, it will not play through speakers connected via the Dock Connector unless the Ring/Silent switch is set to Ring.

It's a good first start. I too am concerned about the display having to always be on. Can't be good for the display to leave it on all day. I have lots of other radio turners on my iPhone, and they all work when it is sleeping. I am guessing these are easy tweaks to fix and we'll see them in the next version.

How about an online schedule?
How about LDS web cams?
How about also providing the BYU radio streams?

See, you give me and inch and I want the world

Thanks for the app.

Shawn

jbh001 wrote:I've got some bug reports, but I'm not sure where the best place to report them is. I want to do more than just rate the app.

I have gone ahead and reported your bugs into the Community Jira issue tracking system. That's the best way the developers of the app will see the bugs.

You can see them here: https://tech.lds.org/jira/secure/IssueN ... nent=10013

Although, maybe you have to be logged in or registered as a Community developer first...not really sure...

I can see the bug report and I'm not registered.

The bit rate seems to be a 64kbps stream after looking at my data usage.

mkmurray wrote:I have gone ahead and reported your bugs into the Community Jira issue tracking system. That's the best way the developers of the app will see the bugs.

You can see them here: https://tech.lds.org/jira/secure/IssueN ... nent=10013

I can see the bug reports you submitted in my behalf just fine, and have 3 words by way of response:

Wow!
Cool!
Thanks!

That's nice and everything, but I wish the app worked on MY phone.

TechnoBabel wrote:That's nice and everything, but I wish the app worked on MY phone.

I've been talking with Tom Welch about getting the same app started for Windows Mobile. Soon I think, very soon.

As for BlackBerry and Android, someone will just have to talk with Tom about getting those projects started.

kyleh wrote:Congratulations in the iPhone app. According to the wiki it streams using MSS.

Are these streams using RTSP via MSS? If not, any chance you can publish the raw stream?

A raw MP3 stream would be even better.

The stream is an MMS stream. We would have liked to use raw MP3 but there were technical limitations with the content delivery service we are using.

jbh001 wrote: 1. The LDS Radio app shuts down when the iPhone goes to sleep either manually or automatically (via Auto-Lock) .

This bug has been fixed. The next version will play while it is asleep.

2. The LDS Radio app appears to have difficultly connecting to the stream via the cellular network, and frequently crashes upon start up.

We think this bug is fixed. If you would like to help test, contact me and I'll add you to a test list.

3. While the app will play through the headphone jack when the iPhone Ring/Silent switch is set to Silent, it will not play through speakers connected via the Dock Connector unless the Ring/Silent switch is set to Ring.

Not fixed yet and we are looking into it.

Thanks!

Tom, nice work. Keeping fingers crossed for a blackberry app someday.

A couple of comments related to earlier messages.

1. For BYU Radio and some of the other LDS themed webcasters and iPhones, you might want to check out FStream and CastCatcher at the Apple app store. One is free, the other is two dollars. They allow you to input the stream URL and bitrate and you are set.

2. I found that the stream is .wma, that came from viewing the page at radiotime.com for Mormon Channel. Clicking the listen now link there brings up another window which shows the flash player. However, watch what it does immediately when the box opens on your browser as that is how I discovered this.

Turns out 64kbps WMA is as good as 128kbps mp3 files are for audio quality. I've also heard that 64kbps for anything is the optimal streaming rate for mobile phones anyway given current speed rates on most 3G networks. Once everyone goes to 4G, then higher rates will be more possible and prevalent but it may be a while before 4G (Wimax, etc.) catches on and is fully deployed.

mkmurray wrote:I've been talking with Tom Welch about getting the same app started for Windows Mobile. Soon I think, very soon.

Good, good

JamesAnderson wrote:A couple of comments related to earlier messages.

1. For BYU Radio and some of the other LDS themed webcasters and iPhones, you might want to check out FStream and CastCatcher at the Apple app store. One is free, the other is two dollars. They allow you to input the stream URL and bitrate and you are set.

2. I found that the stream is .wma, that came from viewing the page at radiotime.com for Mormon Channel. Clicking the listen now link there brings up another window which shows the flash player. However, watch what it does immediately when the box opens on your browser as that is how I discovered this.

Turns out 64kbps WMA is as good as 128kbps mp3 files are for audio quality. I've also heard that 64kbps for anything is the optimal streaming rate for mobile phones anyway given current speed rates on most 3G networks. Once everyone goes to 4G, then higher rates will be more possible and prevalent but it may be a while before 4G (Wimax, etc.) catches on and is fully deployed.

So is there an mms link that would allow me to listen to the Mormon Channel through windows media player? Thanks.

nielsondc wrote:I am pleased to report that the free Mormon Channel iPhone application is now available. This application allows iPhone users to tune into content being broadcast on the Mormon Channel, as well as listen to audio recordings of General Conference addresses, magazine articles, and the Church’s standard works. This application also works on the iPod Touch.


Get it here.

Well Done! I'm really enjoying the App! I can't wait for the Pandora style thumbs up/thumbs down rating system! Just kidding. Really though, it seems to be working really well now (after the update), and I've been enjoying it. Thanks for putting it on the iPhone.

primetime34 wrote:So is there an mms link that would allow me to listen to the Mormon Channel through windows media player? Thanks.

There is not a published mms link at this time. I think that there are some server resizing issues that need to happen before the group responsible for the Mormon Channel feeds make the URL's public.

Tom

Thanks Tom, and you are right also.

Also, give these sites to the team that handles the feed URLs, as these are sites that aggregate stream URLs for various wifi radio devices.

http://www.radioroku.com/
http://www.miroamer.com/
http://www.reciva.com/

There are other sites that also aggregate listings of streams for wifi players, but those are the top 3 that I know of. Some of the others are simply listings of either purely Internet streams, OTA radio stations that have online feeds, or both.

tomw wrote:There is not a published mms link at this time. I think that there are some server resizing issues that need to happen before the group responsible for the Mormon Channel feeds make the URL's public.

Tom

So there is no way to listen to the Mormon Channel through say Windows Media Player? I'd really like to be able to listen to the channel through my windows media center setup, but can't unless I have some sort of media feed (at least not any way that I know of). Any idea when something might be available for us non-flash users?

primetime34 wrote:So there is no way to listen to the Mormon Channel through say Windows Media Player? I'd really like to be able to listen to the channel through my windows media center setup, but can't unless I have some sort of media feed (at least not any way that I know of). Any idea when something might be available for us non-flash users?

If you read his comments closely, Tom did indicate that the URL is not yet publically published, and it appears that the goal is to hopefully have it published in the future.

mkmurray wrote:If you read his comments closely, Tom did indicate that the URL is not yet publically published, and it appears that the goal is to hopefully have it published in the future.

Okay..thanks for the help..now the waiting.....

ANy update on the Windows Mobile App?

Piacenterm wrote:ANy update on the Windows Mobile App?

Well, here is a page regarding consolidating links to all of the proposed mobile platforms that this app is being ported to: https://tech.lds.org/wiki/index.php/Mormon_Channel

I'm the one that created the Windows Mobile page and have talked with a few willing and helpful volunteers. Unfortunately, if you read the wiki page for the Windows Mobile app, they are some fundamental issues that we can't seem to figure out at the moment. We'll definitely keep trying, though I must admit these problems have belittled my enthusiasm quite a bit.

Thanks for the update! If I had the skills, I would be happy to help! Thanks for your efforts!

Can anyone offer insight how the magazines (Ensign, New Era and Friend) are updated (I have the July issues and am looking to get the August issues) in the Mormon Channel iPhone app? I don't get any "updates" from the iStore and I don't see any buttons to update in the app itself.

lgrobbins wrote:Can anyone offer insight how the magazines (Ensign, New Era and Friend) are updated (I have the July issues and am looking to get the August issues) in the Mormon Channel iPhone app? I don't get any "updates" from the iStore and I don't see any buttons to update in the app itself.

The app itself finds out what is available via web service calls. The app itself shouldn't need any updates to see the new content. The only factor is probably the content being published to the web services on the Church's servers.

As soon as the Web site (http://www.lds.org/mp3/newarchive/0,186 ... -1,00.html) is updated the app will be updated. Like Mike so eloquently stated

andrewmoquin wrote:Congratulations in the iPhone app. According to the wiki it streams using MSS.

Are these streams using RTSP via MSS? If not, any chance you can publish the raw stream?

A raw MP3 stream would be even better.

All of the content EXCEPT the Mormon Channel radio feed are just links to MP3s and so the iPhone downloads them via HTTP. The radio feed, however, is an MMS feed of a WMA formatted file. This is a requirement of the content delivery network vendor we are using.

Tom

andrewmoquin wrote:...any chance you can publish the raw stream?

I'll point you to my previous comment earlier in the thread...

mkmurray wrote:If you read his comments closely, Tom did indicate that the URL is not yet publically published, and it appears that the goal is to hopefully have it published in the future.

tomw wrote:There is not a published mms link at this time. I think that there are some server resizing issues that need to happen before the group responsible for the Mormon Channel feeds make the URL's public.

Tom

Any update on this? I'm looking for a public mms/wma link to pump this into my Dad's Roku Internet Radio. He'd love it.

Thanks

As of yesterday evening I have been unable to connect to the Mormon Channel radio feed via the iPhone app. I have tried rebooting the iPhone, removing the app and reinstalling it, but I still haven't been able to get the radio feed to work via EDGE, 3G, or WiFi networks for almost a day now. The other feeds seem to work fine in the app. Anyone else having similar problems?

I just connected to the radio feed at 10:30pm with no problems.

jbh001 wrote:As of yesterday evening I have been unable to connect to the Mormon Channel radio feed via the iPhone app. I have tried rebooting the iPhone, removing the app and reinstalling it, but I still haven't been able to get the radio feed to work via EDGE, 3G, or WiFi networks for almost a day now. The other feeds seem to work fine in the app. Anyone else having similar problems?

Radio feed coming through loud and clear in Las Vegas this beautiful Sunday morning!

zaneclark wrote:Radio feed coming through loud and clear in Las Vegas this beautiful Sunday morning!

The radio feed seems to have fixed itself on my end as well.

In case this ever occurs again, try rebooting the iPhone. For some odd reason, many iPhone devices occasionally fail to initiate the wireless antennas properly, and a reboot is necessary. Alternatively, turning the phone to Airplane Mode momentarily and then taking it off will correct wireless problems. This can be applied to any iPhone app.

I notice that when I listen to something other than the Mormon Channel (like a scripture chapter), when the file is done playing and I hit a button to get back to the main menu, the app crashes and closes. I was hoping to use it to listen to scriptures on my bus commute, but it's so combersome that I just go to the LDS website and click on the links there.

I would like to see this app "bookmark" where you are in the scriptures, general conference, magazines, etc. Then I could resume listening where I left off in each environment instead of trying to remember the chapter or article I last heard.

And with even more work, this app could be a "hub" of information for LDS members on the iPhone. Access and listen to the current Sunday School reading, listen to scriptures in the current Priesthood/Relief Society lesson, etc.

I have updated to the version 1.5 of Mormon Channel app on my iPhone 3GS. It will be crashed every time when I open it.
Does anyone meet this situation as like as me? When I used the previous version, it had few times to meet this bothered thing on main memu (radio) but not every time. It really bothers me as I like this app very much.

This app contains what I need and love channels: General Conferences, Church magazines,and Scriptures.

If someone knows how to figure it out and share to me, I will appreciate very much.

silene wrote:I have updated to the version 1.5 of Mormon Channel app on my iPhone 3GS. It will be crashed every time when I open it.
Does anyone meet this situation as like as me? When I used the previous version, it had few times to meet this bothered thing on main memu (radio) but not every time. It really bothers me as I like this app very much.

This app contains what I need and love channels: General Conferences, Church magazines,and Scriptures.

If someone knows how to figure it out and share to me, I will appreciate very much.

Try removing the Mormon Channel app, power cycling the iPhone and then reinstall it. This happened to me several months ago and a remove & reinstall fixed it.

I did try as following macsense comments. Unfortunately, it does not work for me. I wonder which version macsense uses. The previous version is okay to me but the current version.

I am interested by a phenomenon. If I open this app during daylight, it works fine. If it will be run in the evening, it likes to crash (seems to remind me the time you should sleep). Just similar right now, I cannot run this app well. So sad.

I am not sure whether or not the cause is from the downloading schedule fail on the main menu.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, Macsense.

I also experienced some unexplained crashing on every startup. Various combinations of rebooting the iPhone and removing/reinstalling the app all failed to fix the problem. However, by chance I ran a different app (Star Walk) that I don't think even needs to access the Internet. Uncharacteristically, it chugged and sputtered and finally caused my iPhone to hang. I forced the iPhone to powercycle, after which that app recovered and worked properly. Since that was such an atypical thing to happen for that app, I decided to try the Mormon Channel app again, and it has worked properly ever since.

I speculate that that when the Star Walk up tried to clean itself up after its crash, it also somehow cleaned up or reset whatever was causing the Mormon Channel app to crash on every startup. But this is only a guess, and I'd hate to have someone go spend $5 on an astronomy app in an attempt to fix a free radio app.

silene wrote:I am interested by a phenomenon. If I open this app during daylight, it works fine. If it will be run in the evening, it likes to crash (seems to remind me the time you should sleep). Just similar right now, I cannot run this app well. So sad.

I've noticed that the app (version 1.5) performs rather well now on my 30-minute commute to work, but struggles on the 30-minute commute home from work.

My guess is that it either has something to do with problems of hopping from one cell tower to the next or a difference in the cell traffic for that particular time of day, or some combination of those two things.

Does this application work for the iPad?

jbh001 wrote:I've noticed that the app (version 1.5) performs rather well now on my 30-minute commute to work, but struggles on the 30-minute commute home from work.

My guess is that it either has something to do with problems of hopping from one cell tower to the next or a difference in the cell traffic for that particular time of day, or some combination of those two things.

That is true!
It is always crashed when I move different cell tower (I use 3G cellular network support to get on internet).
It should be a bug, isn't it?

allen.blodgett wrote:Does this application work for the iPad?

I guess you asked iPod touch, didn't you?
My friend uses iPod touch and installed previous version on it.
It works on his iPod touch.
You may try it.

Good luck.

allen.blodgett wrote:Does this application work for the iPad?

Considering that it isn't shipping yet, I don't think anyone knows for sure.

They aired the live presentation of the iPad's launch on CNBC and during that they said that the iPad would take all present iPhone apps 'unmodified' which means you should be able to use them without any real issues.

But as noted, it has not quite shipped yet, so what was said may be not quite what happens in reality, things have a way of coming up when least expected, especially when unveiling a totally new concept like the iPad.

Tom was kind enough to inform me of an update to the iPhone Mormon Channel (1.5.1), which now includes an optional "unlimited" streaming for allowing the next audio stream to play after one has finished. I'm just dropping by this thread to inform you all if you haven't done so already. Enjoy!

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSt ... =319828221

There's a new site that summarizes many resources for LDS members with iPhones, Androids, Blackberries or Windows Mobile devices. It also places the Mormon Channel at the top of the list and lists it as a "MUST HAVE" with a 10 out of 10 score.
http://www.ldsmobile.net

Only the radio gets reception through the cellular network.... All others require wifi... I read an earlier post where this had been reported and another that said it had been corrected.... Could it be a problem with my network?

I was listening to Mormon Radio on my way in to work every morning and had gotten to Moroni 2. Now the application won't continue. I'll try to troubleshoot to see if it is only after that passage if you are interested. I'm in Utah Valley and have an iPhone 4 with iOS 4.3. I've rebooted my phone several times since this started. I believe it started just before I installed iOS 4.3, not afterwards.

Alt.Raymond.Babbitt@gmail.com

I have an older generation itouch and was told the highest iOS
I can update to is 4.2.1, but the current Mormon Channel states
that I need iOS 5 to run it.

Where can I get an older version of Mormon channel, or a version
that uses iOS 4.2.1?

kshowa wrote:I have an older generation itouch and was told the highest iOS
I can update to is 4.2.1, but the current Mormon Channel states
that I need iOS 5 to run it.

Where can I get an older version of Mormon channel, or a version
that uses iOS 4.2.1?

I have an iPhone 3G and am in the same situation. If you don't already have an older version of the Mormon Channel app (prior to v 4.5, which was the first to break compatibility with iOS 4.x), the only way to get it on your iPod Touch is if the devs update the app to restore compatibility with iOS 4.2.1.

R36_9346 wrote:I have an iPhone 3G and am in the same situation. If you don't already have an older version of the Mormon Channel app (prior to v 4.5, which was the first to break compatibility with iOS 4.x), the only way to get it on your iPod Touch is if the devs update the app to restore compatibility with iOS 4.2.1.

Me too! Please restore compatability with iOS 4.2.1!

jtprete wrote:Me too! Please restore compatability with iOS 4.2.1!

Please note that these pleas for the developers to do something are probably not being heard on this forum. This is a community-supported forum, and there's no guarantee that anyone on the development team reads any of these posts. If you want to make sure your request is heard, please follow the instructions for reporting issues found in Gospel Library support - iPhone.

Thanks Alan, that's the best place anyway for that.

However the broader argument for retaining compatibility with older versions of iOS is there, simply because of one fact, and we hear this every time a new Apple device is released to be sold. That is, these devices sell by the millions very quickly as people switch over and drop their old ones. That means that the wireless providers often sell the older ones to others who want something that works with a lot of apps even though it is a couple of versions back.

There will be a point in the end that the older iPhones and Touches will be useless, they are not obsolete quite yet. But for now almost all except the first three iPhones (before 3GS) and maybe the first couple Touch iterations are in heavy use among users still. Androids have the same fast-sell and fast-replace life cycles with older devices going to those that only want an older one because it's cheaper, not with less app availability and compatibility.

When downloading content, the app resets. So if I want to download a couple of episodes, I have to find the series again and then scroll to the next episode so I can download it. When trying to download the ensign while connected via wifi, it's really time consuming to select each article to download. It would be very nice to be able to download the entire magazine worth of files all at once.

The app looks very nice and the controls are working better than the last beta. Thanks for a great app that delivers a lot of great content.

Finally, when I tried to send a bug report via the app, I received an undeliverable report:
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:
AA-BH@ldschurch.org
Your message can't be delivered because delivery to this address is restricted.