BBC will start switching off its iPlayer Radio app today

The BBC will today start switching off its iPlayer Radio app, to the fury of listeners.

Instead, they must download the controversial youth-focused BBC Sounds app, which has been plagued by complaints.

The closure of iPlayer Radio begins today, with some users affected immediately, but will take a few weeks to wind up. 

Until then, listeners will be pestered with in-app messages telling them to download Sounds.

BBC Sounds, which launched last November, contains all BBC audio content, including radio, music and podcasts.

Users have complained that they have not been able to access the latest Archers episodes, that it was difficult to navigate and was missing an alarm feature.

Despite these niggles, James Purnell, the BBC’s director of radio, insisted BBC Sounds now ‘matches’ the main features of the old app. 

‘We’ve been improving Sounds all the time,’ he said.

But one listener said: ‘This is a disaster. No high-quality audio. No sensible sorting. How can you turn off iPlayer Radio before Sounds can match its functionality?’

Another said: ‘The interface is hopeless. It’s also difficult to navigate.’

The BBC has decided to axe its red button teletext service, the last form of its Ceefax pages, after 45 years.

Viewers will no longer be able to access the text-based news and weather forecast service from the beginning of next year.