Police Scanner + Fire Radio is a news-category app for iOS that aggregates live emergency, police, and fire radio feeds for real-time situational awareness.
Product velocity
Maintenance
Daily rank 🇺🇸
#92
News · free
Sentiment
4.6
12k reviews
Nemesis
Police Scanner Radio & Fire
The App DNA
What makes this app unique?
The app removes the friction of searching for local emergency frequencies by providing a centralized, GPS-enabled directory of live audio streams.
For Emergency services enthusiasts, news listeners, and individuals requiring local radio monitoring for situational awareness.
Key features
Rewind and listen to past radio events via 24/7 cloud-stored archives.
Capture live station audio for playback or export as MP3 files.
Maintain audio stream while using other applications on the device.
How much does it cost?
The freemium model gates advanced utility features like recording and archives behind a subscription to monetize power users.
Velocity
Maintenance developmentUX improvementsperformanceShow more...
Development activity for this app is characterized by long periods of silence punctuated by occasional bursts of updates. While the latest release introduced UI refinements and custom station support, the overall cadence remains low, with only 10 releases identified over a long-term window and 107 days since the last update. The development trend is stable but slow, focusing primarily on minor performance improvements and occasional feature additions rather than a consistent, high-frequency release schedule.
Who built it?
User Sentiment
What do users think recently?
Review voice lately leans mixed. Users appreciate long-term users value the reliable access to diverse local fire and emergency radio feeds and the free tier provides sufficient value for casual listeners to monitor local emergency events.
How are ratings & reviews evolving?
What users say, by theme
- Long-term users value the reliable access to diverse local fire and emergency radio feeds
- The free tier provides sufficient value for casual listeners to monitor local emergency events
- Recent interface changes make navigation obtuse and remove preferred customization options like custom icons
49 of 49 recent reviews analyzed · high confidence · Mixed overall
Read the full review analysisUnlock 2 more frustration themes and 1 user request, each backed by review evidence.
Access the full report for freeCompetition
Competitive landscape for Police Scanner + Fire Radio
How's the News market?
Police Scanner + Fire Radio maintains a consistent presence in the News category, currently ranking #83 Free in the US. The gap between its discovery-driven free rank and its grossing performance signals that the current subscription gate requires better alignment with user-requested features like CarPlay.
Read the market outlookThe rivals identified
By Smartest Apple, Inc.
The most direct competitor with a massive database of feeds and a nearly identical feature set including background play and recording.
Police Scanner + Fire Radio vs Police Scanner Radio & FireUnlock the deeper market read.
Access the full report for freeThe Analyst's Read
Key takeaways for Police Scanner + Fire Radio
Where is it heading?
The market for emergency radio monitoring is consolidating around apps that prioritize audio fidelity and vehicle-safe interfaces. Police Scanner + Fire Radio's maintenance-mode cadence and recent UI friction leave it exposed to rivals that offer native CarPlay support and consistent signal quality, which will erode its user base into the next quarter.
- UI regressions in the latest update (navigation, lost customization) erode the daily active habit, which compounds the rating drag already visible.
- Recurring audio quality complaints (slurred, scrambled signals) prevent clear monitoring of emergency feeds, accelerating churn pressure to more stable alternatives.
The SWOT
- Reliable access to diverse, hyper-local emergency feeds sustains long-term user retention
- Native CarPlay integration addresses the top-requested feature for safer in-vehicle monitoring
Next best moves
Pivot navigation UI because the latest update's minimalist controls are the #1 churn driver → stabilize user retention.
+ 2 more prioritized movesThe counter-intuitive read
The app's reliance on a minimalist UI update…
Read the full takeSince the last report: The app's competitive position has declined following a UI update that triggered navigation friction and intensified user complaints regarding audio quality and billing transparency.
Bottom line
Addressing the navigation regressions and audio clarity issues is critical to stabilizing the user base, as the current sentiment decline threatens the long-term retention of the core emergency-monitoring audience.
Unlock 1 critical friction, 1 market threat, 2 more prioritized moves and the analyst’s take.
Access the full report for freeFAQ
Is Police Scanner + Fire Radio free to use?
Does the app support CarPlay for safer listening?
Why does the audio sometimes sound slurred or scrambled?
Sources
- [1] App Store, source
Report last updated