How to download apps to Unity Star

I am retired on a fixed income. I have been listening to internet radio over my Unity Star during dinner for some months now. I sent a $500 donation to a Hawaiian station I like, but not yet to the others I like. Now those others require me to download their app (and subscribe to each). I will not have control over the music played, just need to pay each station a monthly fee to listen (whether I listen or not). I must decide now whether I wish to send money to each of these stations monthly from now on, meaning I will have to be taught how to access those apps with my Naim device (else it gets loaded onto my iPad), or sell my Naim gear and just listen to records when I want to listen to music (not during meal time of course). What do you suggest?

You can’t install applications on the Star or any Naim streamer. If you install and open the Naim app on your phone/tablet, go to the radio section and look for those stations you like - maybe they are already there.

If they are not there, it may be possible to add them on the vtuner website and add their access URL in the app, but I am not a big radio listener and don’t know how this works exactly. Someone else will surely post soon and tell you.

Some radio stations require their own apps. In this case, install the relevant apps on the phone/tablet and stream from there to the Star. This should work by Airplay if you use an Apple mobile device, or by Chromecast if you use Android.

It would help if you tell us the names of the stations

Lastly, $500 is a big donation, if I may say so, in particular on a fixed income (unless of course your fixed income is many thousands per months)

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I wrote how I was listening to a Hawaiian music station that I really liked for free on my Unity Star and was berated by some readers for not supporting the station I was listening to. I paid off my mortgage early as I hate paying payments (and interest), so I thought I would make one big payment and be done with it, listening to it for the rest of my life without guilt. But if they go the way that at least five others have gone, I will need to download another app and make payments for the rest of my life.

Yeah I am seeing those posts. Wouldn’t call it “berated” but sure, there is nothing wrong with donating to the things we like to help their survival. However, in my opinion there is also nothing wrong with listening for free to something that is offered for free. It’s all a question of balance and you can relax knowing that you have done your part.

As for your question, adding a station to vtuner was recently discussed here, but it seems to have some pitfalls:

As mentioned, that won’t work if the radio station requires playing through their own app. In this case you will need to install the app on your mobile device and Airplay or Chromecast from there

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I think perhaps bang um like a tenner mate, rather than using up your life savings. What a strange thread.

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No, they provide URL links, that can be used not only on their apps. I use third party app can can be played.


And what is it for?
Anyone has successfully added radio link to it?

You use the vTuner web page to create a login which includes the MAC address of your Naim streamer.
You can then add the URL of a radio station you want to use if it’s not already listed in the iRadio input menu.
This has worked for me when I’ve tried it, although whether it’s really necessary is debatable given the many thousands of internet radio stations that are already available.

Is there a response here that explains how to add the various apps that the internet radio stations that I used to listen to now require, to a technically-challenged old guy? If so, I am missing it.

If an internet radio station runs on its own app and that is how you prefer to access it, you would use either AirPlay or Chromecast to send the stream from that app to your Star.
If you use Apple devices you will probably prefer to use AirPlay. For other devices use Chromecast.

It’s not a question of preference, they no longer stream for free and require the purchase/subscription through an app if I want to continue to listen. The first station I liked that switched to app-only was West Norfolk radio, now several more (all belonging to “calm radio”). The only radio station that I like that is still available to me is the Hawaiian station that I donated to.

Regardless of what you prefer, if the radio station requires using their own app, then you must use their app. Install it on your mobile device and use Airplay or Chromecast to stream to the Star.

I start the “Star” by an app on my iPad. If I purchase an app, how do I get The unity star to turn on, recognise and receive Air Play from the iPad.

If the Star is in standby (what Naim sometimes calls Network Sleep), it can definitely be woken up remotely by the Naim app and by the Uniti remote. I don’t know if Airplay from a third-party app wakes it up as well, you’d have to try or wait for someone who knows.

If it doesn’t, in the worst case it would require one button press on the remote’s power button.

Somewhere within the app there will be a button that you tap to reveal AirPlay devices that it can see on your network, such as your Star. Unfortunately different apps do this in slightly different ways so you may need to hunt around the screens to find this button. Sometimes it’s only found in the screen that appears when you are already playing something so you may need to start to play music first. Then tap the button and select your Star from the list.

For example, this is the Radio Paradise app, a popular iRadio station. The round ‘button’ in the lower right corner is what you need to tap:

This will reveal a list of available streamers. In this case it shows my 3 Naim streamers as Upstairs, Downstairs and Kitchen because that’s how I renamed them. I just tap the streamer I want to use and it will start to play:

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Thank you, I will try this then (should I decide to continuously pay for music that I sometimes listen to during dinner).

Yes that is what I want the answer! But input the supplied code to the Naim Vtuner, and added to the Vtuner, the Naim app doesn’t show up at all. Of course I can listen to the stations in many ways, such as using the Bubbleupnp, which I could add the URL links for the audition, but don’t understand why the “added station” column from Naim app show nothing?!
Why I prefer to use the links instead of the thousand of free stations on the site! I have mentioned before! "Quality " would be the answer!

Within the Naim app in “Settings” / “Input Settings” / “Airplay” / Ensure “input enabled” is selected.

Go to your other app eg Amazon Music and then play a tune. It will play the tune on your iPad. Then touch the screen on your iPad in top right corner and draw your finger diagonally to the centre. This will give you a control box with options including airplay. Select the airplay there and it will give you the option of your Naim Uniti Star. Click this and then airplay will send it to your Naim and you will hear the music through your unit and speakers

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