Report updated May 19, 2026
Police Scanner Radio & Fire
For local news enthusiasts, public safety observers, and individuals monitoring emergency activity in their area.
Police Scanner Radio & Fire is an established news app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.6/5 rating from 519.1K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate clear and informative audio streams provide valuable local news and emergency awareness for listeners, though intrusive and persistent advertising patterns disrupt the listening experience and block core app functionality remains a common concern.
What is Police Scanner Radio & Fire?
Police Scanner Radio & Fire is a news and utility app that provides live emergency radio streaming for local news enthusiasts on iOS and Android.
Users hire this app for real-time situational awareness during local emergencies, replacing traditional radio hardware with a mobile-first, alert-driven experience.
Current Momentum
v2.6 · 2w ago
Active- Shipped user profile viewing via Clips
- Fixed area map and notification stability
Active Nemesis
Police Scanner: Fire Radio
By Guru Network Limited
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
NewsRating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Push notifications triggered when specific scanner feeds exceed 2,000 listeners or Broadcastify alerts are posted
Tool to capture, save, and share segments of live scanner audio with the community
In-app chart defining common police and fire radio codes for listener context
How much does it cost?
- Free ad-supported access to all scanner feeds
Ad-supported model relies on high-volume listener traffic to monetize through inventory.
Who Built It?
Providing real-time public safety audio and breaking news alerts to keep communities informed during emergency events.
Portfolio
2
Apps
What other apps does GordonEdwards.net make?
Scanner Radio - Police Scanner
Explore the full GordonEdwards.net report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by GordonEdwards.net.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 90 of 143 total reviews analyzed · Based on 143 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate clear and informative audio streams provide valuable local news and emergency awareness for listeners, but report intrusive and persistent advertising patterns disrupt the listening experience and block core app functionality.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
How have ratings & review volume moved?
Rating, review sentiment, and total reviews over time, with release markers showing the post-launch impact.
Vertical markers = app releases. Hover any release for the post-release impact delta.
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Police Scanner Radio & Fire?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (3)
How's The News Market?
How does it evolve in the News market?
The app maintains a #9 Free / #12 Grossing position in the US, holding the #9 slot for the current period. The gap between discovery and monetization signals that ad-intrusiveness is likely suppressing long-term revenue potential.
Rank progression
105 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
Which niche is Police Scanner Radio & Fire in?
to listen to live emergency radio broadcasts
Explore the full Public Safety Players niche
Every app in this space — 1 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
With over 159,000 reviews and a high rating, this app serves the exact same niche of live emergency audio streaming as the target.
Differentiators
- Focuses exclusively on emergency radio feeds without the distraction of general news or podcast content.
- Maintains a dedicated emergency-first UI that prioritizes rapid access to local scanner streams.
- Provides a streamlined, single-purpose experience that reduces the cognitive load for emergency monitoring users.
Head to head
The target app must decide if it wants to be a general news hub or a specialized scanner tool; it should consider a 'Scanner-Only' mode to compete directly with this rival's focus.
Contenders(3)
While specialized, it captures the same 'public safety' intent as the target app through high-velocity mapping updates.
Differentiators
- Integrates real-time geospatial mapping of wildfires, providing visual context that audio-only scanners lack.
- Employs a high-frequency update model that delivers critical safety information faster than traditional news outlets.
Directly competes for the same emergency-monitoring audience with a similar feature set and long-term market presence.
Differentiators
- Offers a simplified, lightweight interface that prioritizes immediate audio playback over complex news aggregation.
- Provides a more traditional, radio-tuner style UX that appeals to legacy scanner hobbyists.
A long-standing direct competitor in the scanner niche with high update velocity and a massive legacy user base.
Differentiators
- Maintains a massive, long-term database of global scanner feeds that exceeds most niche competitors.
- Aggressive update cadence ensures compatibility with the latest iOS versions and hardware performance standards.
Same space(2)
A dominant player in the general news category that competes for the user's time during major breaking events.
Differentiators
- Provides professional, high-production-value video reporting that serves as a contrast to raw scanner audio.
- Offers a global news perspective that shifts the user focus from local incidents to national headlines.
Competes for the 'local news' attention share, though it lacks the live scanner audio component.
Differentiators
- Leverages a massive, AI-driven local news aggregation engine that provides hyper-local updates beyond emergency audio.
- Utilizes a social-first engagement model that encourages user-generated content and community reporting.
New entrants(1)
High release velocity and platform backing make this an emerging threat in the audio-consumption space.
Differentiators
- Provides robust, creator-focused audio tools that could easily pivot to include live-streaming capabilities.
- Leverages Spotify's massive distribution network to rapidly capture new segments of the audio-listening market.
Compare Police Scanner Radio & Fire against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Police Scanner Radio & Fire
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Breaking news alerts drive session frequency during high-interest events
- Audio clipping loop functions as a viral acquisition lever
- CarPlay integration extends usage to commute windows
Critical Frictions
- Ad-interruption of audio feeds causes high churn
- Unreliable feed availability erodes trust in safety utility
- Subscription conversion processes lack transparency
Growth Levers
- Geospatial mapping integration provides visual context
- B2B partnerships with local news for verified alerts
- Scanner-only mode to defend against niche rivals
Market Threats
- Ad-light competitors siphoning power users
- Platform policy changes regarding intrusive ad-blocking
- General news apps competing for attention during major events
What are the next best moves?
Implement silent ad formats because ad-interruption is the #1 complaint → reduce churn
Sentiment analysis identifies ad-interruption as the primary driver of negative feedback.
Trade-off: Pause the development of new social-sharing features — ad-retention has higher revenue impact.
Audit feed-buffering logic because unreliable access is the #2 complaint → increase session duration
User reviews frequently cite offline status and buffering as reasons for abandonment.
Trade-off: Delay the rollout of new UI themes — stability is critical for safety-tool perception.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's #9 chart rank is a liability, not an asset, because maintenance-mode at the top makes it more vulnerable to a single live-ops rival than a lower-ranked app.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Geospatial mapping (available in Watch Duty but missing here)
- Emergency-first, ad-free UI (available in Police Scanner: Fire Radio but missing here)
Key Takeaways
The app holds a strong discovery position, but aggressive ad-monetization is actively eroding the user base, so the PM must prioritize silent ad formats to stop churn before the #9 chart rank slips.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The emergency-monitoring market is consolidating around high-reliability, ad-light experiences, leaving this app exposed. Maintenance-mode updates that fail to address ad-intrusiveness will accelerate churn to specialized rivals, so the PM must pivot to silent ad formats to protect the current chart position.
Persistent ad-blocking bugs in the latest update erode the daily active habit, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.
The gap between Free and Grossing rank suggests that current ad-monetization is actively suppressing the conversion of listeners into long-term revenue.