News & Magazines
Police Scanner: Crime Radar
Live police, fire and air traffic scanner feeds, with real-time dispatch transcription on the paid tier.
Get the app
Opens the official store page
- Developer
- Sepia Software LLC
- Score
- 4.6
- Downloads
- 10K+ ratings
- Age
- Rated 12+
- Version
- 2.0.25
- Price
- Free
Screenshots
About this app
Live emergency radio feeds on a phone, with the twist that the paid tier transcribes dispatch audio into text as it happens. It draws on Broadcastify's network of more than 7,000 feeds and suits news followers, true crime listeners and people keeping an ear on their neighborhood. A map marks fire and EMS feeds in red and police in blue, with a Near Me button that finds channels in your zip code. There are also aviation, railroad, marine and severe weather feeds. The last 12 hours of any feed can be replayed in 30-minute chunks. A noise gate cuts the static between transmissions and automatic leveling evens out quiet voices and loud sirens. Push alerts flag wildfires, hurricanes and other major incidents, feeds can be saved to a favorites list, and audio keeps playing in the background or with the screen locked. Live AI transcription is a Premium feature, offered with a free trial that rolls into a paid subscription.
Police Scanner: Crime Radar: the full guide
What the app is
Scanner hobbyists used to need a dedicated radio. This app replaces it with a phone, pulling live police, fire, EMS and aviation audio from Broadcastify's pool of over seven thousand feeds and adding something a radio never offered: a paid tier that turns dispatch chatter into readable text as it comes in.
The audience is broader than the name suggests. News followers, true crime fans and people who simply want to know why there are sirens on their street all fit, and the extra railroad, marine and weather feeds pull in a different crowd again.
How it works day to day
On a quiet day the app sits in the background with a favourite local police feed running, screen locked, the noise gate keeping static out between transmissions. When something is happening nearby, the map helps: fire and EMS channels show in red, police in blue, and Near Me pulls up whatever is active in your zip code. If you missed an incident, the replay feature lets you step back through the last 12 hours in half-hour blocks. Push alerts for wildfires and hurricanes arrive without any listening at all, and premium subscribers see a running transcript rather than straining to follow clipped radio voices.
Why people look for it
Curiosity about what is happening locally drives most searches, often right after hearing sirens or seeing a helicopter. A second group follows breaking news and wants the raw dispatch audio before reporters arrive. The transcription feature is what separates it from the many free scanner apps, because reading dispatch codes is far easier than deciphering them through a tinny radio channel.
Look and feel
The listing carries five screenshots. Given the category and the map-based browsing described, expect a map view with colour-coded pins doing much of the work, a feed list with favourites and a player with the replay timeline. The transcription screen presumably reads as scrolling text. Whether it leans dark or light, or how dense the controls are, isn't something the listing reveals.
