There's an unofficial way to listen to Beats 1 on Android

Yesterday, Apple launched its Apple Music streaming service and Beats 1 always-on worldwide radio station, which is available for iOS, OS X and Windows users to enjoy. However, Apple Music won’t be making its way to Android devices until later in the year, which prevents us from tuning in to Apple’s radio station.

Fortunately a workaround has already been discovered, which allows Android users running Android 4.1 or later to eavesdrop on the Beats 1 station. There are a couple of conditions though, it looks like you’ll need to either be using a stock-based Android browser or Chrome for it to work correctly.

To listen, just click on this link and hit play.

The workaround was discovered by Twitter user Benji R, after he stumbled upon an unencrypted HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) URL for the service, which anyone can simply tune into with the right address. There’s no real hacking or bug exploitation going on here, just a lack of security on Apple’s part.

Alas, this method of access will in all probability be shut down sooner rather than later, although it hasn’t happened at the time of writing. Until then, have a listen and let us know what you think about Beats 1.