Emergency Radio for iPhone and iPod Touch Review

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Currently number 2 on the list of the iTunes App Store’s top paid applications, Emergency Radio allows you easily follow the action of over 900 police, fire, EMS and other emergency frequencies.  Whether you want to keep tabs on what’s going on in your own backyard or listen in to the happenings on the other side of the country Emergency Radio streams a a variety of emergency services feeds right to your iPhone.  Time to put that old Radio Shack scanner on Ebay.

Emergency Radio boasts having over 900 emergency services streams for you to choose from.  And it does.  Searching for content is quite simple though.  You can view a list of all the available streams in alphabetical order or if you know the name of the stream you’re looking for you can simply type it in the search box.

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Or if you want to search for streams in your area the application will use the iPhone’s location to determine what streams are nearest to you.  You can configure the search parameters based on how far away you want the application to search.

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The application then shows you the available streams in order of closest to you to furthest away.

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Once you select a stream to play the load time is quite fast.  While the stream is playing Emergency Radio shows you a list of common radio codes to help you follow the chatter.  To help conserve batter life Emergency radio continues to play while the phone is in sleep mode just like the iPod.

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Found a stream you like and want to be able to easily access it in future?  Emergency Radio allows you to keep a list of your favorite streams just like bookmarks in Safari.

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As a firefighter I was eager to try out this application and thrilled to see my own company’s dispatch had a stream available.  Sure enough the stream plays exactly what’s sent and played on my fire department issued company radio.  I don’t plan on listening to my own company’s feed on my down time, my wife wouldn’t allow it!  But it’s nice to know I can access it anywhere I am just to check in.

Edgerift software, the developer of Emergency Radio is constantly updating their application with new streams.  If you can not find the stream you’re looking for they have a stream request form which you can fill out to request the missing stream be added.  You may view a list of available streams on their web site before you purchase the application.

Emergency Radio is available now in the iTunes App Store for a sale price of .99 cents.

Emergency Radio requires iPhone/iPod Touch software version 2.2.1

M.S.R.P. – .99 cents

What I like – Search available streams by locations, 900+ streams available, can store favorites.

What I don’t like – Not a thing,

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10 Comments on "Emergency Radio for iPhone and iPod Touch Review"

  1. Read my review of Emergency Radio on @geardiarysite http://bit.ly/336Dy

  2. I was so looking at this not even two days ago. I am using Wunderradio but they don’t have nearly the level of selectability.

  3. Larry Greenberg | May 8, 2009 at 12:31 pm |

    Funny Wayne, I was using FStream. It’s now been replaced.

  4. App Review: Emergency Radio for iPhone and iPod Touch | Gear Diary http://bit.ly/VceZU

  5. drewmiller | May 12, 2009 at 9:41 am |

    Cool iPhone app lets you listen in on over 900 police, fire and EMS scanners: (bonus: cheap)

  6. EdmontonFireRadio | May 13, 2009 at 4:00 pm |

    Good review, however after trying this application I still prefer ooTunes Radio. With ooTunes ($3.99 in the App Store) I have all of the same scanner streams, plus I have the ability to listen to streams from LiveATC.net, Shoutcast, Icecast and more all from a single application. Plus the customer service is far superior with ooTunes Radio. If a stream is not listed in their directory it is usually added within 24 hours. I have sent in several requests to the creators of Emergency Radio and have yet to receive a reply after 3 weeks.

  7. Diego Barros ? | May 14, 2009 at 11:45 pm |

    Emergency Radio iPhone app. Best app ever! http://bit.ly/10L1ck

  8. @emergencyradio is now on Twitter. Be sure to follow them. Read my review on @geardiary site if you missed it too. http://bit.ly/336Dy

  9. @jcb10 Two for you, Johnny: 1. http://is.gd/IcMa 2. http://is.gd/IcO0 Enjoy!

  10. Now I can listen to the police scanner ALL DAY on my iPhone

Comments are closed.