Emergency Radio app review: tune in to everything from the Los Angeles Police Department to the New York Fire Department

Introduction

If you are looking for a cheap scanner app for your iPhone or iPad, then Emergency Radio is a great app for you, available for only $0.99 at the moment.

This is the original award-winning police scanner app, bringing you a comprehensive collection of live police, fire, EMS, railroad, air traffic, train, weather, coast guard, HAM radio, and much more all in one compact, easy-to-use, and enhanced-for-Retina display app.

Lets explore the features of this app in detail.

All Around The World

Emergency Radio (Police Scanner) consists of hundreds of frequencies including feeds from major cities in the U.S. and Ireland, United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, and Chile. Police, fire, emergency services, air traffic control, port operations, Public Safety, Sheriff's department, and many more radio frequencies are available.

A list of frequencies available can be viewed at emergencyradioapp.com and feeds are provided by third-party hosts. Of course, not all frequencies are online all day, or even every day, so it may seem like the frequencies are incorrect but it's important to remember the white noise doesn't represent the ineptitude of this app. The metadata for certain frequencies is also visible for easy identification.

As with most other apps in this category, Emergency Radio (Police Scanner) supports background play while you use other apps, with daily updates to frequencies, top 100 lists, favorites lists, and an in-built search engine to find what you're looking for.

 

Host Your Own Feed

This app also contains an advanced map view which facilitates your search for feeds close to your current location. This service can be switched on by enabling location services.

I also really liked how this app opened up the feed I was listening to the last time I quit this application, enabling me to pick up where I left off upon starting up.

Hosting your own feed is also possible if this is something that interests you. This can be done using a scanner, computer, and an internet connection. The legality of this app is questionable because the radio laws for scanner privacy are subject to the local and federal laws of the state or country. Use it wisely!

 

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Displays metadata for frequencies that provide it
• Enjoy daily database updates and view them in the Recently Added feeds list
• Feed listings show the full title, tags, popularity, online/offline status, and number of listeners
• Advanced map view that helps you find nearby feeds using your iPhone's GPS / triangulation
• Listen via built-in speaker, headphones, iHome, Livespeakr, or Bluetooth
• Built-in scanner codes make it easy to follow along with the action
• Keep a list of your favorite feeds for fast access
• Restores last-playing feed on startup

 

Cons

• Other apps of its kind offer recording capabilities which are not present in this one

 

Final Words

Emergency Radio (Police Scanner) is a cheap and is equally comprehensive iPhone and iPad scanner app as other scanner apps at a lower price. If you are in the market for one of these, this one comes highly recommended.