Police Scanner Radio & Fire Reviews

by Eddie Jacobus

I just installed PoliceScannerRadioFire to check it out. Wasted 5 minutes of my life I can’t get back.
Sounded like a nice addition to my CarPlay.
I put on Parsippany NJ police. I heard one call after a few minutes. During that time there was a slot machine ad on the screen. No big deal. Then the entire screen became one big flashing ad with screaming audio. (Great way to cause an accident so I can listen to the police coming to cut me out of my truck)
I deleted PoliceScannerRadioFire and came here to hopefully warn someone else before they wasted their time.
Pop up ads are ok. I usually pay after a few days or trial anyway, but to insert a full screen ad with someone yelling something on an app I’m going to use while I’m driving tells me the developers aren’t too bright. I have to assume that lack of brilliance extends to all aspects of PoliceScannerRadioFire .

by Dred242

After the most recent update PoliceScannerRadioFire has become unusable. I can accept a scanner feed being temporarily down or unavailable but when an app fails to load on first launch or becomes severely crippled by pop-up Ad’s to the point of having to completely close PoliceScannerRadioFire and start over, this is absolutely unacceptable. Also, PoliceScannerRadioFire use to work great when launched in Apple CarPlay, but now the feeds just shuffle around the screen when tapped and never loads the selected choice. Every few months I upgrade the free version of any app on my phone that I enjoy, to paid versions to support the developers. I had planned to pay for PoliceScannerRadioFire but now I consider PoliceScannerRadioFire completely broken and not worth paying for. This free version will end up in a drawer until a functional version is offered.

by Retired FD Alum

I purchased PoliceScannerRadioFire for the specific purpose of Fire calls and airport emergencies in Clark County, Las Vegas Nevada. Most every time a structure or commercial fire alarm is reported PoliceScannerRadioFire goes offline and listeners are unable to hear dispatch or fire units communicating. This also occurs at the same time a airport emergency comes in at McCarran airport all reported by another app called Pulse Point which provides alerts to all fire calls in Las Vegas Nevada. I don’t recommend buying Polive Scanner or Broadcastify scanner apps in Las Vegas. Most police and fire scanners are operated by Broadcastify App which I recommend not to purchase PoliceScannerRadioFire either which is the main feed to all other police and fire scanners. Buyer beware.

by AlconburyBlues

I wrote a review stating that I purchased Scanner Radio Pro back when that’s what PoliceScannerRadioFire was called, and there was a free version and a pro version. Now it has apparently changed to where you need a subscription. I thought it was unfair that I had to pay twice. So I suggested the idea that maybe SRPro owners should get a year sub for free to make up for the fact that they paid full price already once before. Developer response was not even close. Told me to “restore purchases”. Obviously he did not read everything. “Restore purchases” comes back with “no subscription found”. Proving that suggestion pointless. So I lowered my rating by one star because he did not actually read any detail. After which he deleted my review.

by TBYRD5150

Of all the scanner apps I have downloaded and used, this has been the easiest and best one I have found so far, but keep in mind this is only the opinion of a retired disabled former US Army infantry specialist that has used in many forms of radios and scanners it’s real life and military life. So far this one even beats out the bearcat scanners that I personally have paid hundreds of dollars for to put on my desktop and in my vehicles or carry on my person because I don’t have to pre-program it to the area I’m in. Even the price of it is more than reasonable if I want to upgrade from the free version to the ad free version. It is more accurate than anything I have found in the store and I can switch over whatever county I am in when I am traveling. It works with Wi-Fi or without Wi-Fi. I never give anything five stars because there’s always room for improvement and things are always upgrading and changing anyway, so the best I do just give four stars. Again I remind you this is only the opinion of a retired disabled former US Army infantry specialist it is very familiar with all kinds of radios and scanners. Since I found this one I have not looked for any others. I am put this one on all of my mobile devices. Everybody will find one that they like as I have. This is the one I recommend, but for those that do not like this one you will find one that you do like and remember to write a review about it. Thank you. OEF/OIF Veteran

by Ford216

Whenever Police cars whiz by my home, I immediately log on to this scanner app to try to learn what’s happening. Then..... crickets. No talking, no chatter. Just silence and an occasional check in from a remote location. Maybe I don’t know exactly how PoliceScannerRadioFire is supposed to work? But it’s not for keeping up with current events in the town. (Feel free to educate me on the purpose of PoliceScannerRadioFire and I’ll be happy to remove this rating!)

UPDATE: 9/2. PoliceScannerRadioFire provider gave me the broadcast location to solicit feedback. I’ll send them a note directly and see if I can make progress. Upgraded to 4 stars for the kind customer service

by Firespinner2011

This is a very useful app and I use it a lot. One request though: please be selective in what ads you allow upon startup. The recent ads are not okay here. I opened up PoliceScannerRadioFire yesterday and was hearing our local sheriff arrive on a scene and then his words were drowned out by all this screaming! It was alarming and I thought I was about to get called out for an EMS run but it turns out it was an ad for some game and the cartoon character was falling down a chute and screaming. It was not okay to have that screaming overlay a cops radio traffic. Please go back to ads with no sound and certainly not screaming.

by Bob'n'Along

For nearly 40 years until retiring, I was an editor (and reporter) for a daily newspaper. I can say that without the services of scanner radio traffic, we would have been severely hampered in presenting to our reading public all the “breaking news” that would’ve given us the edge among media outlets.
Unfortunately while I was editor, your scanner service was not yet available to us, where facilities were concerned as we relied exclusively on crystal devices that limited us decidedly.
Computer generated scanner traffic is much more efficient and if I had it when I was at the newspaper, our news edge would’ve been second to none.
Thank you for this opportunity. I continue to listen to scanner traffic in my retirement days.

by NeedsCoffee17

I absolutely love PoliceScannerRadioFire, it’s super informative and interesting to listen to different events across the world. That being said, it could use some improvements. The biggest I could see helping PoliceScannerRadioFire would be furthering the range of options for the ‘What’s happening right now?’ button. This could help attract users to the different channels when something happens. Another thought would be to add a transcript of the radio traffic in the large empty space in the center of the UI, sometimes the output or input is fuzzy but having a transcript could help listeners understand the situation better. That being said, PoliceScannerRadioFire is great and I applaud whoever created it- I would highly recommend PoliceScannerRadioFire over others on the market.

by Benjamin From CA

Out of all the scanner applications I have tried this one is still the best. A big thank you to the developer for making the recent updates. I chose to purchase the option to remove ads once it became available and now I see there is also an option to purchase the ability to change the theme. I do wish there was a way that we could try the themes before we commit to the purchase. I am visually impaired and believe the black theme may be of benefit but don’t want to waste the money if it does not end up being that way. Even if only a 24 hour test run it would be nice.

by Ilamdbk

This app allows people to follow the happenings in their own neighborhood … as well as demonstrating the skills of the personnel , who work hard to keep the public safe! A special ‘shout out’ to Monroe, MIichigan’s amazing emergency team! Thank you to our awesome dispatch team , the police depts., fire depts., and paramedics for protecting each other, as well as the people in our communities! It is clearly because of these skilled employees, and their excellent teamwork abilities, that allows them to provide such great service to our communities!
Thanks to PoliceScannerRadioFire for allowing us to
see just how very hard these men and women work every day!

by RobertGipson831

Great app! Does exactly what it’s supposed to as far as connecting me with local dispatch and fire information. Even better, it provides features like finding local and abroad channels for me. I just tap and can listen as in. The amount of ads is tolerable. Of course, for a couple bucks a month you can get rid of the ads and gain some impressive features. THANK YOU for the this great app!
Also, thank you to the every day heroes like police officers, firefighters, EMT’s, those who serve and are veterans, doctors and hospitals, scientists, to our government, and patriots who keep our Nation safe and secure.

by Jane Doe Not

During these times it’s important to keep up with what’s going on in your community. For this reason I downloaded PoliceScannerRadioFire . PoliceScannerRadioFire does what it’s supposed to when you’re finally able to get at it. But lately ads layer over on top of PoliceScannerRadioFire - over and over and over - no matter how many times you try to close them and start the free app.

On top of that clicking close often leads you OUT of PoliceScannerRadioFire and into PoliceScannerRadioFire Store.

Once you actually get to PoliceScannerRadioFire it’s great. There are many fine features and includes aids. But this kind of advertising behavior should not be allowed.

by FlyboyJMH

PoliceScannerRadioFire is a great scanner listening tool. Works well and is very stable. I have used several different scanner apps and this is now my go-to app. In particular I love the alert functionality!

I do have an enhancement request/suggestion. Please consider adding the ability to filter alerts, possibly to restrict alerts by country (ie US only) and also the ability to hide certain feed alerts. With no disrespect to the feed provider, I really am not personally interested in receiving alerts for Elko, NV twenty times a day. I certainly respect the providers zeal and passion but not being anywhere near there, I really don’t need to know about every minor event.

Thank you!

by Wibbage

Fast access into breaking news national headline stories from the front lines. When you listen to alerts, you have a front row seat as police arrive and set up perimeters and search. You’ll hear them discuss how to deal with media and where to set up news interview posts and how the strategically plan to search for shooters.

I was alerted to the tragic shootings in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and at the country dance hall in Northern California. I over heard a pilot of a major airline on landing approach to Tampa International airport radio the control tower that he “just hit birds.”

Excellent quality overall but depends on the monitoring source.

by Tommy NCL

Back in May I talked about PoliceScannerRadioFire stopping working. I never could get the alerts to work. Eventually Gordon the developer and I began emailing (he’s extremely responsive!) and eventually I deleted and re-downloaded PoliceScannerRadioFire over the course of a month or so along with some troubleshooting. The latest download cleared the problem on my IPhoneX. This may very well have been a corrupted file on my own device all along.

Regardless. Can’t recommend this enough. Great app and great support!

Earlier post from May:
For years this was my go to app. Having come from first law enforcement and now own a media company for past 15 years. This would always notify me of something happening anywhere in the country if the listeners met a certain threshold. It no longer does that as before. You can manually go in and look. But it’s not automatic. Still decent for manual listening. But the loss of auto notify is a big disappointment.

by Cfol1382

I found PoliceScannerRadioFire a few years ago. Glad I did because is great. Always comes in well, you can see what the top departments are being listened to at the very moment. It will list the situation going on in a certain place. I have noticed some places being taken down, but it has nothing to do with PoliceScannerRadioFire . It’s the people adding the certain companies that dictates who’s on and who’s not. All in all, great app if your a fire buff, police buff, ambulance chaser, or just wondering why sirens are going off near me? Great app, check it out.

by TCapple

I’ve tried dozens, and no other scanner app compares. There still room for improvement, and some features that I don’t understand why nobody ads. For example, let’s create a Scanner app that actually lets us scan multiple channels… I don’t see any technical reason why you couldn’t monitor two or more at once. That said, I’m giving it five stars because of how it compares to all of the other apps in the store. Not holding back because of the new features that I’d like to see. This developer has been rolling out updates frequently, the user interface is already the best there is, and I hope to see more and more updates going forward.

by Tribe 72

This is a very easy to use app. Free version comes with advertisements, but the ads are very unobtrusive and do not detract from user experience. Has a great variety of choices from police, fire, air control & more. Recommend LAPD “Hot Shot” frequency for pretty dramatic special operations including coordination between police helicopter & ground units.

My son is a professional firefighter & EMT. I enjoy keeping PoliceScannerRadioFire playing in the background while he’s on duty. Makes it more fun to have a conversation about his work experiences when I’ve heard the radio traffic between dispatch, command, & his unit.

by RandelllMalavida!!!

The San Mateo Law Enforcement frequency on this scanner is a great way to stay informed in nearly real-time communication of the events that transpire outside our walls and in the community 24/7 that are handled by the Men & Women charged with safety. crime prevention and so much more. It doesn’t take too long to learn the codes and phonetic alphabet so understanding what is happening outside, becomes like looking through a window at what life’s drama impacts so many lives being played out in our streets.
It can be tragic, sad, comical and most of all it is the reality of the on duty professional voices, those Officers whom face fearlessly into the abyss everyday.
It can become addicting and I love it.
Randy Chavez

by Nick Doll

Developer, I have had a paid subscription to PoliceScannerRadioFire for years. Ever since the recent update to the format it now shows ads. Even if I click the "remove ads" button it will say"restore purchases" when I do this it says "purchases restored" but nothing happens. Still ads, and still says remove ads in the upper right hand corner. What's going on? Use PoliceScannerRadioFire literally every night for the past 7 years. Until the purchase issue is corrected it gets one star. Developed stated in another comment that he never offered PoliceScannerRadioFire for purchase which is a lie. Numerous people have complained that they already purchased PoliceScannerRadioFire . Also, I purchased PoliceScannerRadioFire on an iPhone which he stated was not possible. No clue what's going on here but I'm going to have to go elsewhere. Something's not right. Making people buy PoliceScannerRadioFire within PoliceScannerRadioFire versus through PoliceScannerRadioFire store is very fishy if not greedy.

by JeepGyrl68

As an over the road truck driver, I find PoliceScannerRadioFire to be indispensable in routing myself around traffic jams due to accidents or other incidents such as the shootings in Las Vegas that I was less than 15 miles away from when they happened...
A few things that would be helpful if it is possible to implement would be:
1- In the broadcastify alerts, if the abbreviation for the state could be included. That way, depending on my route, I could determine whether it will impact me or not.
2- If there were a way to actually add my routing using major freeways, so that those came up as a ‘special alert’ then I could again, determine if a route change was in order.
Also, I did not see a way to contact the developer from within PoliceScannerRadioFire , unless I missed it..?
Overall, PoliceScannerRadioFire is my go-to to keep track of all of the areas where my loved ones live, as well as wherever I travel and I don’t know what I would do without it!

by Tina D 117

I’ve had notifications set for PoliceScannerRadioFire for both local and worldwide alerts once a scanner was over a certain amount of listeners. I know if 4000 people are listening to a scanner, something major is going on. I don’t remember when, but it’s been quite a while since I’ve received alerts. Is there something I’m missing? I’ve checked my phone settings, and alerts are enabled as they are in PoliceScannerRadioFire . I really like PoliceScannerRadioFire & like being in the know.

Thanks

PS I didn’t know of any other way of getting in touch.

by Creepperklr2

PoliceScannerRadioFire works as expected, very useful, when you can understand what people are saying on the scanner. Definitely useful when I know something big is going down. Now, why doesn’t something simple like this have some Apple Watch functionality? I mean start with the basics first of course, but any chance we could see an Apple Watch extension? I’m not expecting this review to get any traction, but hey, maybe I’m wrong, and this will get the attention of the devs. Hope to hear something about it!

by Eastmarch

Update: Thank you for replying and looking, as I obviously care about your app and didn't want to have privacy issues. I no longer see the specific references to indefinite data retention which is positive (although current legal language can be interpreted in many ways, "stored for as long as required by the purpose they have been collected for"). I hope the analytics and Unique Device ID will go away when ad removal is purchased. Previous: I've had PoliceScannerRadioFire for several years, it has the nicest interface of apps like this, I don't mind paying to remove ads. But, its privacy policy linked from its page on Apple is unnecessarily invasive at 7 pages: Geolocation & User location, Analytics usage data, Unique device indentifiers, and says that the data will be stored indefinitely. I don't want to be tracked forever by my location and unique device id. I wish the author would address this and remove these provisions. I'm paying to remove ads, I don't want to be a product tracked forever, and it's inspiring me to do without it altogether.

by Cman99

They are ads, get over it. You click the scanner you want, and it loads. You get out of PoliceScannerRadioFire and you can listen all day long. Heaven forbid you have to see one or two ads. Would you rather PoliceScannerRadioFire just got taken off PoliceScannerRadioFire Store? This is the Be app ever. So simple and the most accurate. Wish you could select specific channels (like which specific police dpt or fire dpt within the county) that way you don’t hear only parts of the transmissions, but I’m sure that is due to who is broadcasting. Thanks for the great app!!

by Neiljess1998

I’ve use the scanner Radio pro for years now about a week back ads started popping up and the remove ads button won’t let me restore used to be a 5 star app. I see that a lot of people had the same problem. You keep saying that you must of purchased from a different developer but this is PoliceScannerRadioFire the orange icon and mine used to say pro in the bottom right hand corner. Well last night I sent my 2.99 to Broadcastify pro because in not going to double pay for a app!

by Egirlpitch

*Edited* went back & found my receipt. It was the same app but the name was scanner911 so the name has changed. That's why it won't find out past purchases

I love this application and paid for the full upgrade years ago specify for the option to get notifications when "so" many people were listening at once. It wants me to pay again. I'm confused that you say there was never an option to upgrade. Are you the original developer or did you aquire it?

by JeffreyEinkorn

I love PoliceScannerRadioFire! It has its moments just like any other app. But as long as you live in a city that it covers, its worth the few bucks to upgrade if you like listening to what’s really going on rather then what the local news lies to you about. I listen to it a lot while I’m at work since I have a wife and little one’s. Just in case something is happening close to where they are, I can warn them, and hopefully keep them safe and out of harms way.