# Action Scanner - Police, Fire, EMS and Amateur Radio — user reviews > 50 indexed App Store user reviews of Action Scanner by Geoffrey Rainville, rated 3.97/5 from 34 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/action-scanner-police-fire-ems-and-amateur-radio/id334170959/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/action-scanner-police-fire-ems-and-amateur-radio/id334170959.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 21 · 4★ 5 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 2 · 1★ 6 ## Newest reviews (11 of 50) ### 4/5 — General *2020-11-09, version 2.40.3* Love the scanner- looks real also- but it would be nice if I could lock onto a channel during an Emergency crisis- by the time it scans back I have missed conversations, thanks keep updating- great job, thanxs ### 4/5 — Not the same, but still good. *2014-12-28, version 2.40.2* It used to run non stop without interruption. Now, it runs fine in the background, but when I GO BACK to the App, it shuts down. I have to check to make sure it's up and running a lot more than before. Aside from that, this is a great App and I will continue to use it. ### 4/5 — Best Police Scanner App *2013-12-29, version 2.30* I'm a long time, over 35 years, of being an avid scanner fanatic & this is the closest to a real scanner as you can currently get on a smart phone app. I've tried nearly every other app & none are this good. It lets you have four banks of four channels to scan. You can set one bank for your favorite county or type of radio to monitor. So instead of only hearing one channel at a time you can monitor four at a time. You can switch to another bank of channels also. This is useful if you are in various locations. This will run in the background which is nice. It has several nice features. Now the bad. Not nearly enough coverage of agencies. However, this the case with any scanner app. Give it a try & I think you will like it. ### 4/5 — Fantastic App *2013-01-06, version 2.13* I've been waiting for multi freq scan in an app for a long time. Quick to connect to the channels. Few suggestions for future updates. Screen support for IPhone 5 and selecting which freq to scan within your chosen bank. Other than that great app. ### 3/5 — Very disappointing. *2012-07-26, version 2.13* At one time this was the best scanner app in my opinion. But not much has changed over the past few years. It's time for the dev to play catch up and get his hard work back in line with other apps of the same type. Searching for channels by county is cumbersome. A universal version supporting the iPad would be great. ### 4/5 — Good Scanner *2012-06-13, version 2.1.2* Scanner App is great. BUT, Can't run other apps while scanner is running. If I want to go to twitter or text a friend, the police scanner will shut down. It will run in the background, as long as you're not trying to run another app on iPhone 4. Programers please fix. ### 5/5 — My GO-TO Monitoring App *2012-05-16, version 2.1.1* Latest version fixes bugs that plagued the recently update for the past week. It's now back in service. I have five monitoring apps on my iPhone and iPad but this is the best public safety monitor I've found so far for iOS. I'm in public safety and need rapid flexibility to monitor multiple systems that not even Motorola portables can achieve. Action Scanner's flexible scanning capabilities make this is my go to monitor. All monitoring apps look the same until you experience this one. ### 5/5 — Awesome!! *2012-03-03, version 1.3* The scanning multiple channels function is brilliant. Makes this app the top in features. Sound bar color indicator is also a great feature. The squelch mode makes this 5 stars!! If you can add the ability to set a priority to a channel, and a sleep timer, ill give this 6 stars. Well done on your innovation over everyone else. ### 5/5 — The Best Scanner App! *2011-09-22, version 1.3* This is a very good app. I love being able to monitor multiple sites. This is truly a scanner, not just a monitor like many of the others. The customer service is very responsive. I have had no trouble with this app at all. I have several scanner apps and this is the best! I think some of the bad reviews are from competitors! ### 3/5 — What happened?? *2011-05-24, version 1.3* While this is still my favorite because of the multi-scan feature, it has suddenly stopped keeping connected to my selections so I have to either change banks and go back so it re-seeks the feeds or close the app and go back in. Is any one else seeing this? ### 5/5 — The winner among scanner apps! *2010-07-03, version 0* I've been a scanner buff for many years (over 20). I own several base and handheld scanners and I have most of the scanner apps. Check my reviews of their apps. This app is the hands down THE best scanner app available. It actually SCANS your set banks. NO other app does this. Thanks for a great app! Update: Love the new update! Especially like the custom names for each bank. That is very useful! Thanks! Update: Just keeps getting better. I love being able to add my own feeds. I'm looking forward to future updates! :) Finally, yes... This IS the best scanner app in the app store. It is the ONLY one that scans multiple feeds just like a real scanner. That alone sets it apart from all the rest. * Would love to see this app updated for the new OS so it could run in the background. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Disappointed *2021-04-14, version 2.40.3* If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, this app does not work. SAVE YOUR MONEY for another app. ### 1/5 — Need support and update *2020-08-10, version 2.40.3* No new updates in 3 year It’s slow buggy refreshes They need to fix this ### 1/5 — I’m disappointed *2018-09-02, version 2.40.3* Paid for the app and have iOS 11 and it closes out all the time is not stable ### 1/5 — Nope - waste of money. *2018-02-04, version 2.40.3* Doesn't have coverage in a lot of places. Covers Chicago and that's it. Las Vegas has 0 coverage, however on other platforms or apps there is .... wasted mulla. ### 1/5 — Neglected by the developer. *2015-10-28, version 2.40.2* Do not buy! This was once a great app and is now useless. Nearly all the features do not work. It quits all the time, makes the iOS unstable. It says it's scanning but it really is not. It has not been updated in years and it shows. Look to another scanning up as this is not worth the money even though it scans multiple feeds because it doesn't work anymore! ### 1/5 — Update Disaster *2012-05-04, version 2.1* This scanner App was by far one of the better Apps for scanning online feeds, only downfall was its inability to run in the background, annoying but tolerable. Now with the 2.0 update this app is completely useless. If you shut your screen down to save battery, the App shuts off too, unlike the last version. Now they want you to run the app, no multitasking and keep the screen up during your listening, burning up your battery. Do Not Waste your money. ***Update*** ver 2.1 tried to use new version but was even worse. Promised background running but does not work. Now any feed in first slot will not connect. Luckily I rolled back the ver. ### 1/5 — Terrible - Awful - DO NOT BUY *2012-04-12, version 2.0* There are no instructions on how to program the channels. In fact, there are no instructions AT ALL. The 'support' link on this page sends you to the teenysoftware website, which is entirely void of any and all user instructions. What an absolute joke. This app is a great idea, but was released in a non-operative (non-intuitive) state. Needs lots of re-development & re-design before it will even begin to be functional. DO NOT BUY THIS APP! ### 2/5 — Doesn't work half the time *2019-06-01, version 2.40.3* I would like it better if it worked on a daily bases! Does not work half the time when I open the app. Bummer!!! Please fix it ASAP !!!! ### 2/5 — Check coverage in your geography before you buy this *2012-03-31, version 1.3* I was disappointed. Great scanner interface BUT little or no useful coverage in . . . .. .get this . . . the San Francisco Bay Area! Come on guys, this is a major metro center and there's virtuallyl NO coverage of local municipalities. To be fair, whether or not a given city is covered is a function of what the local municipals choose to do but, it also emphasizes the way this application gets its "feed". Check first - before you buy. Played with this for several weeks - I'm deleting it today. ### 2/5 — Praise? Hang on just a minute here *2010-04-05, version 0* I am not sure just what makes this really stand out. The thing is being able to scan multiple systems works fine if they are quiet systems. The minute you put in say three busy systems you end up missing more than you monitor unless you "hold" on a system. The fact is that you can't hold on a channel. That is the single biggest thing that seperates an from a real scanner. So the reality is this app adds nothing real. What would make a difference is being able to see the tags which are part of many scanner feeds. Atl east with tags you can see what you are listining to. This can give you a much better perspective on what you are monitoring. I have Most of the scanning apps they prettyuch all use the same database except this one which is using a much smaller database. Why? The number of stations which this app provides is small by comparson. Before I add stars to my review I will need to see some real improvement. If scanning multiple systems which are quiet then this could be your app. For me it just doesn't do it. I monitor systems like the LAPD & LACSO, LA CITY FIRE, LA County Fire. All busy all the time. Make this app work on these feeds so I don't miss so much action and I will re evaluate Action Scanner. YMF ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Best scanner app in the store *2021-04-28, version 2.40.3* I have tried many different scanner apps available in the App Store, and this one is the best by far. For one main reason, it lets you monitor multiple channels simultaneously.I live in a big city and the police department uses several different channels. I just enter in the different channels in the app skin them all at the same time. It’s cycles through and when it hits one that is broadcasting it stops there until the broadcast up then continue cycling. So I can sit back relax and never miss a thing thanks to this app. ### 5/5 — Best scanner out there.! *2020-02-21, version 2.40.3* The only scanner that scans the LARGE amount of frequencies. I wish You had some modern updates... BEST OF ITS KIND. RAM ### 5/5 — Finally an app that’s like a real scanner *2019-01-05, version 2.40.3* I haven been looking for years for this type of app. All of the other ones I have tried are single channel ### 5/5 — For a cell phone, it’s great! 5 ⭐️ *2017-12-11, version 2.40.3* I’ll tell you what isn’t: It isn’t my Uniden Bearcat BC245XLT, and it definitely isn’t my Bearcat 780XLT! But for a phone app, it works great and it has an awesome built in database for anything that really matters. Four banks with four channels each. This scanner app is configured better than any of the others I’ve tried, and I’ve tried them all. Get it. Use it. Love it. ### 5/5 — Great scanner app *2017-07-08, version 2.40.3* Really love this app. I've downloaded several in the past but, wasn't able to set the specifically to the area I wanted. Only glitch I have is when opening the app on occasion it won't open so I have to go back to the home page and open it a second time. ### 5/5 — First TRUE scanner I've seen on iOS *2016-10-06, version 2.40.3* There are many apps that let you listen to different radio frequencies, but this is the first I've seen that lets you LISTEN TO UP TO FOUR FREQUENCIES AT A TIME. It loops through them and stops when chatter is found, and moves on when it stops, LIKE A REAL SCANNER! You can even set the volume and SQUELCH (wow) for each frequency! You even get four banks of channels (up to four freqs each). There interface is logical and the app is easy to use. I understand the four channel limit: you're streaming four channels at once which could be a bandwidth hog. Would like more banks though... I'm hesitant to give it five stars, since the UI can be a little glitchy and the app dies easily, but it does what it promises well and offers features I've not seen anywhere else. I think the app just needs some tweaks here and there to get it dialed in. Please keep developing! ### 5/5 — Needs more reviews! *2016-09-20, version 2.40.3* This is my favorite police & fire scanner! The Police+ (paid) scanner is my now my 2nd favorite. Not sure why there's aren't more postive comments in 2016! Maybe because it's an older app? Not sur. Reasons why I like this scanner is because my favorite radio channels are listed & scanned on same page simultaneously, has a global map, and a Ten-Code listing for convienence. ### 5/5 — Fantastic Scanner App but there is a better one *2013-08-08, version 2.15* Yes I was just telling a nation wide group, Crisis Alert, about S. R. Deluxe and this app when I discovered this app has been updated to a new one that adds more channels. S. R. Deluxe will continue to be my favorite app for discovery of hot channels any where in the world when news breaks but this one or the Pro version will allow more details to be found by bringing other related channels in a region to the table. Look for the Pro Version of this app. $3 And to think I have thousands of dollars in radios and this type app allows me to have just about all that and more on the Apple iPad. Ki4je FANTASTIC! ### 5/5 — Action Scanner *2012-08-12, version 2.13* One of the best scanner apps on the market!! This is the ONLY scanner app that lets you program multiple channels into the app which makes it the only TRUE SCANNER on the market. Also the tech support is outstanding. I emailed a question w/a minor issue and they got back w/a solution immediately. This is a 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 app! 👍👍👍👍👍 ### 5/5 — Unique and useful *2012-05-26, version 2.1.2* This unique and useful live scanner radio app has a number of features that go above and beyond what most other scanner apps can provide. The multiple feed scanning works great, and back ground scanning performs well. The quick select favorite groups are also very useful. --- *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.*