Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Calling all iPhones! Emergency scanner apps on the loose!
Sometimes it's uncanny how many similar iPhone apps appear at about the same time. Over the past week or so, we've heard about a number of new apps that "tune you into" streaming police, fire, and emergency medical service radio services. Apps like this can be useful to volunteer firefighters, off-duty policemen, news crews, scanner enthusiasts, and the occasional ambulance-chasing lawyer. The first out of the box is Police Scanner 1.1 (US$2.99, click opens iTunes) from Juicy Development. This app now features over 1,100 streams from 7 different countries and a streamlined interface for getting to your favorite local emergency radio, The developers will add any compatible stream to their app within hours of being notified of that stream, so if there are no local radios listed now, there may be soon.
Next in the queue is Emergency Radio 1.1 (US$0.99, click opens iTunes) from Edge Rift. It's available in a free "Lite" version if you want to try it out on a handful of major cities, or you can spend a buck to get over 900 feeds from all over the US. I personally thought the code lists (see photo) are a nice touch.
If you prefer a little music with your police calls, Wunder Radio 1.6 (US$6.99, click opens iTunes) not only captures the same emergency radio streams from ScanAmerica.us as the other two apps, but is also the best (IMHO) iPhone app out there for listening to local radio stations. It also gives you NOAA weather information for US locations, not to mention railroad crew and dispatch calls.
Regardless of which scanner app you select, it's sure to give you hours of fun, and it's definitely worth listening in on why the cops visited your neighbor's house at 3 A.M.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dosh said 4:07PM on 5-13-2009
Isn't this a bad thing if the bad guys have iPhones?
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Steven Sande said 4:09PM on 5-13-2009
When iPhones are outlawed, only outlaws will have iPhones...
TUAWSteve
stray said 4:23PM on 5-13-2009
Good point! Speaking of points, if you have any knives in your house, please turn them in to the police right away. Those things can be used for crimes if they fall into the wrong hands.
(01) said 10:07AM on 5-16-2009
This isn't any harder to get than a regular police scanner.
pooptheworld.com said 6:45PM on 5-21-2009
I think anyone can get their hands on a scanner
Tim ~ http://www.pooptheworld.com
mark said 4:29PM on 5-13-2009
10 codes are different for every police department so if they have one master list it'll be useless unless you know what agency they are for. That's why FEMA is trying to standardize these.
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Dorv said 7:23PM on 5-13-2009
It looks like, from the screen shot, that the 10-Codes lists are listed by city, which is, obviously, key :)
o0bix0o said 4:37PM on 5-13-2009
Mann why didn't I think of this, I was working with these free streams when I first started out with iPhone 3.0 stuff. http://bit.ly/140Gx1
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mark said 4:45PM on 5-13-2009
You still can think of it. We have tons of fart apps, why not one more scanner app?
Philster said 5:56PM on 5-13-2009
Good point, mark. In fact... how about a combo Police Scanner / Fart app!
Your welcome.
hydrenaline said 6:43PM on 5-13-2009
If only they had my city!
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scruffy said 2:06AM on 5-14-2009
you can do this for free--download FStream for iPhone and enter the scanner feeds from scanamerica.us you're interested in.
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Maddy said 5:30AM on 5-14-2009
It's good Application but, Isn't this a bad thing if the bad guys have iPhones?
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martin said 12:27PM on 5-14-2009
i been doing this for a long time, with fstream (free iphone app) , then you can do a google search for a web stream of your cities police scanner and get the stream link and put it in fstream and your good too go with out a penny spend :) i had people at work thinking for a week that i work for the feds lol
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retiredsupt said 8:29PM on 5-17-2009
Watch out in New York. They are anal if you have a device capable of receiving public safety transmissions. On foot it is legal but in the car, it becomes a violation, whether its on or off, (sec 397 of the VTL Vehicle and traffic laws)
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