# 5-0 Radio Police Scanner — user reviews > 137 indexed App Store user reviews of 5 by Smartest Apps LLC, rated 4.60/5 from 424,878 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/5-0-radio-police-scanner/id356336433/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/5-0-radio-police-scanner/id356336433.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 332,974 · 4★ 50,449 · 3★ 19,084 · 2★ 7,069 · 1★ 15,260 ## What do users think of 5? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 🚀 Great app and underrated - 👍 Awesome app, works well - 👍 Convenient to use - 👍 Helpful for staying informed **Cons** - 🔇 Too many ads, ads interfere with usage - 🐛 App not working, channels missing - 💰 Subscription too expensive - 🐛 Ads won't close, app freezes **Commonly reported bugs** - Channels not working, app freezing - Ads disrupting audio playback - Inconsistent pricing across versions **Most requested features** - Separate channels for different emergency services - Reduce ad frequency and duration - Add more local channels - Improve background listening experience ## Newest reviews (17 of 137) ### 4/5 — Perfect app and underrated! *2024-08-26* This app is great, does not let you down except for the ads, but other than that this app is absolutely amazing and fantastic! ### 4/5 — So many ads! *2024-08-12* I love the scanner app because I can choose the local stations and it’s very convenient. I especially like that you can tell which department is using the radios. I really can’t stand the ads! I know the point is to convince you to purchase the app but at the same time having advertisements that play on top of the scanner makes no sense and I don’t know about other people, but I often listen to the scanner while I’m driving. the downfall is that when the start and the go over, you can’t make it stop unless you start touching your phone which causes a safety issue. Just my personal opinion, but if they had the ads at least had at least muted them at least it wouldn’t eat or fear with the purpose of the app ### 3/5 — Is okay *2024-07-21* It’s a good app. I’ve tried quite a few and come back to this one all the time BUT there are waaaaay too many ads. I turn it on when I hear sirens and by the time I work through all of the ads and connect to the local station the info about what is happening is done. I’d consider paying to avoid the apps but not $50 a year. ### 4/5 — Works good *2024-06-26* I like it, you can hear legit conversations, TONS of ads but the station plays in the background so idc much, only concern is if they can hear you or if your mic is being tampered with but I believe it doesn’t ### 3/5 — App doesn’t seem to work for me anymore *2024-05-13* I enjoyed it before as I could turn it on when emergency vehicles were going by but now when I do that this past few months, it just freezes and I hear nothing ### 2/5 — Not free anymore *2024-04-09* This app was good but with to many advertisements now they want a monthly subscription . No thanks . Deleted ### 2/5 — Ads are out of control *2024-02-12* I completely understand that there are going to be ads in any free version of an app, but this scanner has the longest ads, that interfere with the use of the app in the first place. I often open this app because there’s sirens nearby, and I want to see what is going on, but the fact that the ads pop up almost immediately, after opening the app, and then run anywhere from one to three minutes, by the time the ad finally closes, whatever radio chatter was going on you have now missed. I know the ads are necessary for the free version, but definitely think that you should be able to have the app open for a couple of minutes prior to your first ad popping up, and they should be quick 10 to 15 second ads, not 60+ seconds long. ### 3/5 — Love it but disappointment in issue *2023-12-14* Have used this app for years and absolutely appreciated what you did for the app being quite an active developer. I also enjoyed your Reddit comments as they were often informative and your pic would give me some familiarity. Anyhow - Somehow downloaded a Pro version I didn’t even know existed and thought you had just began charging for this app which was fair enough and clicked along for some trial or something but then was debited $50 something when had only about $60 to my name. Have tried to report an issue to Apple to have it refunded but it wasn’t accepted… I’m usually quite vigilant about charges and in app charges so I’m pretty disappointed in however this happened plz make it less easy to happen for others in future. Thanks mate. ### 4/5 — Had this app for years *2023-11-28* When this app first come out years ago it was fantastic. I listened to it all the time but, as with anything over the years, it has become less! By less I mean there is no police on it anymore and a lot of the other channels have gone to. I refuse to pay for it, so I have to watch ads which doesn’t bother me unless it drops out the link I’m listening to, which happens to often. I would of given this app a 5 star but with all the changes it’s not worth a 5. ### 3/5 — 👎 *2023-10-09* Too many ads and they actually cut out and turn off transmission also your fees are MUCH too expensive for time used etc way over the top ### 2/5 — Ads won’t close *2023-09-12* I have had this app for years and always liked it. I haven’t used it in a while until today. It didn’t save my favorites from before so I went to browse to add then again. I could add one or two and then an ad would pop up which is expected in the free edition. But as I was going back and forth adding favorites, each ad would run a little longer every time I went back to browse. They were running for up to 5 minutes before allowing me to close them. Then the next time I went to browse some Super Cleaner ad popped up and it would not close at all. I waited for more than 10 minutes. I closed 5 0 Radio and opened it a minute later and the same ad was still there and there was no way to go back to 5 0 Radio. At hey point I came here to write this review. It’s obvious the developer is trying to force users to buy the paid version by these tactics. I tried the app on my other phone and it the ads started getting longer and longer. I’m going to file a complaint with Apple and see if that helps. I’ve never seen ads in any other app that made u wait more than 30 seconds before allowing you to go back to the app. ### 2/5 — I Like The Idea Of This App *2022-10-12, version 50.9* I wish I could leave a better review. As it is , I may at some point either upgrade to the paid version, or find another app. The ads on the free version are horrible. Absolutely oppressive. It’s like being back in 1998 when pop ups were everywhere. It’s really hard most of the time to figure out how to close them before being taken to some full page mess. It would be one thing if they showed up before you start listening. But these are constant. And so, I very rarely find myself using this product. It’s a shame because it seems otherwise well put together. Unfortunately, the way it is, I can’t even think of leaving a higher rating. I added a star only because it’s free. ### 3/5 — Scanner app *2022-08-21* Great app for scanning overseas however was disappointed that they got rid of most the New Zealand channels so would recommend bringing them back that would be amazing aside from that ok app. ### 4/5 — Love the App, but have a suggestion... *2022-08-10, version 50.9* Other fellow firefighters and myself use this app on the job all the time to listen in on our surrounding areas to see if we could be heading their direction if the need more units. What I am suggesting, is separating frequencies so we don't have to listen to 6 different fire and police frequencies on the same app channel. It makes it hard to concentrate on what a fire channel is saying when police channels start to talk and cut off when fire is saying. Another item that I would wish the developers could change is the amount of ads (playing at full volume). If I’m listening to a fire, an ad jumps on louder than the radio traffic that is heard. Awesome app tho and easy to use. ### 4/5 — Seems to be the better app for this sort of thing *2022-05-22, version 50.4* Ads aren’t as invasive as the one I was using prior. It seems to work great overall. The ONLY issue I ran in to was the scanner goes inactive, I think, is when switching between networks… WiFi to cellular, or cellular to WiFi. The app must lost a brief connection and causes the stream to cease. It would be really cool for the connection switch to live between network switching through “buffer magic”. I will continue to use it on vacations and times when it’s interesting to listen to areas I visit through work and leisure. If I notice the network switching is flawless I will 5-star. ### 3/5 — Please make this Apple Car Play compatible like some others!!! *2022-04-17, version 50.1* I’ve been using Scanner Radio (orange icon with grey radio) because that app shows up for Apple Car Play, but this app has so many more feeds! And what I’m trying to listen to isn’t always a feed option on Scanner Radio. Usually I will quickly pull up the app on Apple Car Play when I see a lot of emergency vehicles fly down the road, but I can’t with this app because there’s no Car Play compatibility! I don’t want to have to reach for my phone and pull up an app and scroll through while I’m driving. It’s a deal breaker for me. A sad one. :( P L E A S E MAKE THIS APPLE CAR PLAY COMPATIBLE! And I will gladly immediately buy pro. ### 3/5 — Timing *2022-03-19, version 50.1* Been using this app for a few months give or take. I work for my local Sheriff’s Office, and decided I would get this as it would be an alternative to a handheld portable scanner since they can cost upwards of $500. Only recently did I notice that the radio traffic is not in real time. It’s a recording of past transmissions. (My colleagues and I tested this hypothesis.) We would sit in different stations of the facility and listen to the facility radio, and the 5-0 Scanner app. The transmissions in the app are days or even weeks after they’ve been made over local traffic. While I understand the concerns of listening to radio traffic in real time, the app developers could at least put a small warning that the transmissions are not from the same day, let alone in sync. Overall, I’ll rate this app 3 stars as it is handy to give to the new recruits to test their knowledge on the 10-codes. [We’ll sit there and listen to the local traffic through the 5-0 scanner app as we don’t have the time to try and quiz newbies on the traffic with the facility radios. When something relating to us comes across, we have to act.] ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Used to be great… *2024-10-14* I live in a pretty rural area, so there isn’t a ton to listen to, so I generally only pick this up when I hear sirens in my area. Because of that it is not worth a subscription to me. And with this last update, the inundation of lengthy, annoying advertisements in order to push your new subscription service is completely obnoxious. I will just delete the program. I don’t need to know that badly. I don’t mind paying for an app or a service if it’s worth it, but I’m not giving you three bucks a month to listen to two channels once in a blue moon. I don’t need to talk to the other 86 listeners in my area thanks. Update : so I forgot to delete, heard a bunch of sirens, picked up the app. Nothing on the radio channel, and it took me 2 minutes of advertising to figure that out and that there isn’t another channel in my area to hear it. I don’t mind an ad or two, but it’s horrible unless you have one channel you can log into and just stay on that. If you switch, swap, or close the app, be prepared to start over, and watch King Robert die again while some influencer I’ve never heard of tells us how awesome that stupid game is 500 times. Nope. ### 1/5 — Lost all but fire for scanner. Very disappointed *2024-09-17* Used to be able to listen here in Ontario Canada but your app must have been zapped it doesn’t work at all anymore. ### 1/5 — Useless app *2024-09-10* Wanted a 3 day trial but charged immediately. We decided to give it a try anyways. Our station worked for approximately 8 days and now silence. Says last scan was from 12 hours ago when clearly we hear sirens and know we are missing calls. Very disappointed especially when we didn’t get a free trial. ### 1/5 — 50 bucks later *2024-06-11* 50 to find out my area does not work. No thanks. ### 1/5 — Crappy *2024-03-15* App isn’t working. ### 1/5 — ACC *2022-12-28* ACC Approved,Gov ### 1/5 — USED to be the best police scanner app… *2022-06-07, version 50.4* …but the ads have gotten ridiculous. They are not only irrelevant (usually advertising stupid games), but they are LOUD and they actually blare over the scanner so you cannot hear what is being reported. Just tonight after hearing sirens nearby, I turned on the app to see if I could hear what was going on and could only hear three words before an obnoxious ad came blaring on over what I was trying to listen to and I couldn’t hear a word. They are impossible to “x” out of, so you are stuck listening to the whole thing and by the time you are able to close it, you missed the information that you wanted to hear in the first place. The ads make this app pointless to try to use; therefore, I am deleting it. Bums me out because I have used this app for years. 😐 ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work like it used to *2021-11-09, version 49.0* This app has gone to crap. It used to work fine. You’d open the app and choose the scanner you want and watch a quick ad and then move onto the scanner you’ve chosen. It would play the radio traffic you’ve chosen. Now you do all the same, but you have to watch multiple ads and if you are lucky the scanner will work. It usually doesn’t. You usually have to fiddle with it and you are forced to watch a couple ads, then fiddle with it more, then watch more ads, then fiddle with it more, then watch more ads. Then after a few times of doing that, if you are lucky, the scanner works. But by then, you’ve been screwing around so long, you’ve missed the info that was broadcast that you were tuning in to hear. So it’s pointless. Way to screw up a good app. This app is almost useless now. I’d recommend people find a better app. I hope I find a better one. ### 1/5 — Waaaay too much adverts :( *2021-09-25* Great app. Super spamming for no pay. I get you have to advertise, but wow, thats a lot! ### 1/5 — Not the best app *2021-08-29* Adds pop up ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Awesome app *2024-04-20* This app works totally exact as expected Local events happening at every level Enjoyable listening 😃👌 ### 5/5 — Great app, works for my curiosities. *2024-03-29* When I hear the fire whistle go off in my town, I can turn on the app and usually catch what the call is about. Unfortunately my county selection no longer works so I have to use the one for Central PA which gives me a lot of areas I don’t want but I can usually hear my local report through it. Once I saw several fire trucks, from many companies, (in a different county) head to a huge plume of smoke we saw in the sky, which ended up being a barn fire. I could hear all communications among the fireman. Was very interesting. Just wish I could only get my county, which wouldn’t be an app problem. ### 5/5 — GREAT APP *2024-02-24* I am and have always been NOSY🫣😲 there are so many channels to listen to! My only critique is the ads and the price However i know ads are needed to fund the game and its content creators and I don’t mind that unless I’m getting an ad every two seconds then it kind of makes it hard to enjoy the app and as far as the money goes I don’t feel like it’s really that far off of how much it should cost I think if there was a lifetime option where I could pay 50 to 100 bucks and just listen for life I’ve seen that option on other apps before but altogether great job to the content creators and thank you for making this app. I’m currently sick right now and I’ve been in bed for three months so listening in to the radio and the fire department really helps especially because my father is a detective I really mean it. ### 5/5 — Everyone should have this *2023-04-30* I am so thankful for this app. It has helped me to become more aware of the calls our local police and other emergency services take. A lot more happens than the news reports and there is a lot of good work those folks do. I live in a smaller city and our police were called to 3 different situations at practically the same time: one was domestic abuse, another a peeping Tom and another reported suicidal person. The team worked together and took them all seriously and being the first responders. This was all at 3 am. And this was in the midst of many riots in other cities and many people telling the news that police are not doing there job. Seriously? Those people need this app and to listen to it throughout the wee hours of the morning to appreciate these folks. ### 5/5 — And it’s for free! *2022-05-16, version 50.4* I downloaded this app with skepticism because I was always under the impression that you had to have a police scanner. I remember my father and I listening to the scanner when I was a young boy hearing the fire department and other public agencies. There is really nothing bad about the app and the scanner functions. Upon load up there’s a brief 5 second..if that ad, and also sometimes throughout the usage of the app, but you can still hear what’s going on and you can usually fast forward through the ads. All in all this is an excellent app for listening in on what’s going on in one’s community. ### 5/5 — Everyone please read *2022-04-14, version 50.1* Many of the emergency broadband channels are converting to encrypted frequencies meaning you need equipment that provides a special key integrated on the device to listen. so you may not be able to listen to your local emergency channel because it’s Encrypted. Somebody actually showed me an actual channel for emergency services through an older device, there was nothing but static when a transmission was broadcast. I would still give this app a five star because whatever channels are not encrypted are still great to listen to. ### 5/5 — Better than other apps! *2022-02-03, version 50.1* I have had this free version of this app for more than 10 years I usually listen during weather events (snow, ice, tornados) in Oklahoma. I recently downloaded a competitor app only to find out it’s the identical stream that comes from the same source, so don’t waste your money!! You have ads, of course, on this free app but just close them it doesn’t interrupt your stream. Also I haven’t found another app that lets you stream and check email and operate other apps while continuing to listen. It’s a great app, enjoy ! ### 5/5 — Superb for aviation enthusiasts too! *2022-02-01* I really enjoy listening to airband radio here in the UK ,but listening to it from around the world is incredible,my favourites are Anchorage,Alaska,and Orlando,it just never stops. Truly great app with very good sound quality with a wide range of comms to listen to whatever your interests are. Highly recommended! ### 5/5 — Been disappointed.....still *2022-01-02, version 50.1* There’s no sense in complaining it never really improves a great deal. Various problems sometimes it sounds like you’re in a tunnel sometimes it sounds like a bubble machine sometimes you can barely understand anybody. Maybe you should try listening to it from our end from an iPad or a phone. It is not a pleasant experience. Comment: January 2, 2022, I understand about the transition from analog to digital. But it’s worth us having this program available when most of the time we’re here mostly static or unclear transmissions. Very disappointing over these last several years. Most of us are not in a position to afford a digital scanner. ### 5/5 — The best scanner app I have found. *2021-10-22, version 49.0* I have used this scanner app for years now. A few times I tried out other apps that did not come close to this one. I check out what is happening locally most of the time. I hear sirens in the town I live in, turn on the scanner app and quickly I am able to hear what is happening. It also has a list of what the codes stand for that I really appreciate. To be honest sometimes I listen to the scanner and I hear of car accidents and emergencies and get my mind wondering if it involves someone I know. I feel I need to contact my kids to make sure they are safe. They are adults. When that happens it is time to stop listening because I am getting a little too overboard. I also enjoy listening to the scanner in large cities. It is quite entertaining to me. There are only a few adds that really are not a bother. Years of using this app has not cost anything. It is one of the best apps I have on my phone. My only complaint is the channel for the county I live in at times has a lot of talking from a different county in my state and is a bit confusing and sometimes annoying. But I don’t know if that has anything to do with this app. It probably does not but I am not knowledgeable about how it works. I thank the administrators of this app for the free service I use quite frequently. Great job! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*