# Spare the Air Bay Area > Official Bay Area air quality alerts, forecasts, pollution reduction tools, and podcasts. (iPhone/iPad app by The Bay Area Air Quality Management District.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spare-the-air-bay-area/id441186308 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [The Bay Area Air Quality Management District](https://appshunter.io/developer/441186311) - Category: Weather, Utilities - Price: Free - Rating: 2.50/5 from 25 App Store ratings · 41 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 13.0 · 63 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2011-06-08 - Data updated: 2026-08-12 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spare-the-air-bay-area/id441186308/reviews.md ## What is Spare the Air Bay Area? Spare the Air Bay Area is the official air quality app for the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southwestern Solano, and southern Sonoma counties. The app provides Alert Day notifications, county by county air quality forecasts, several tools to help you personally reduce air pollution, as well as air quality podcasts. Features •Air Alerts – Provides Alert notifications when the Bay Area is experiencing a Spare the Air Day. •Local Air Reports – Provides 5-day air quality forecasts for each of the nine Bay Area counties. •Report a Smoking Vehicle – Makes 1-800-EXHAUST smoking vehicle reports even easier by allowing users to simply text in the license plates of smoking vehicles. •Bike Route Planner – An active way to spare the air, this tool provides bike route directions and maps. •Air Quality Podcasts – Contains health and air quality podcasts from the Air District and partners such as Breathe California. The Spare the Air Program was established by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to educate people about air pollution and to encourage them to improve air quality by making clean air choices. Spare the Air Web Site > www.sparetheair.org Spare the Air Interactive Support > sparetheair@baaqmd.gov ## Key features - Air quality alerts - 5-day county forecasts - Report smoking vehicles - Bike route planner - Air quality podcasts ## Recent user reviews (10 of 41) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spare-the-air-bay-area/id441186308/reviews.md ### 5/5 — It is a good app *2026-06-29, version 2.6* The app does the job it is designed for. More than ever citizens here need to be on board with air quality monitoring and regulation. For the sake of children, the elderly, sick people, people who are sensitive to it. California is near the worst in the country in terms of average air quality, if you’re against steps being taken to remedy that then you are choosing to put vulnerable people in harms way for the sake of your own day to day convenience. ### 5/5 — App does just it’s supposed to do! *2021-12-25, version 2.3* You tap to launch it and it tells you whether or not it’s a spare the air day in the Bay Area. Not sure what the negative reviews about. ### 1/5 — Needs a serious update *2021-03-15, version 2.3* This app has been neglected for years and it really needs an update. It’s outdated a lot of it doesn’t fit the screen of a modern phone. ### 2/5 — Randy B *2020-10-08, version 2.3* Continues to be unable to fetch data from the server. This has been going on for weeks. Please fix the server. ### 1/5 — This is my tax dollars at work? *2019-10-28, version 2.2* I didn’t think is could possibly be as bad as some of the reviews were making it out to be. I was wrong! It even has a biking tab on the app! To test it, I ask for a route from San Jose to San Francisco. It did absolutely nothing except put my location several hundred miles off of the west coast of Africa out in the ocean. App lasted for about 45 seconds on my phone. Don’t waste your time. ### 2/5 — Useless *2019-10-25, version 2.2* No place to adjust setting or set up text alerts. Says it is not working. Needs updating! ### 2/5 — App conflicts with Spare the Air website info *2019-01-05, version 2.2* Love the idea of this app, but right now it’s telling me that there is no spare the air alert in effect when the spare the air.org site says there IS a winter alert in effect through Feb 28. I’ll just keep going to the site, as the app is obviously not reflecting the current situation. ### 5/5 — Ignore the ignorant *2018-11-19, version 2.0* App does what is expected, poor reviews seem nuts or grandpa is upset at being told not to burn wood in fireplace. ### 1/5 — Failure to log Yolo fire smoke, failure to alert *2018-07-01, version 1.9* Fails to convince. July 1 in SF we’ve had 12 hours of yellow sky, sunless overcast. This is how Pittsburgh PA looked in the 70s - dirty yellow. SFGATE reports “red flag” air pollution. The app still gives a green flag and “NO SPARE THE AIR ALERT”. ### 1/5 — Notifications *2017-01-31, version 1.6.5* Main reason for the app is to receive STA notifications which it doesn't provide ## Frequently asked questions about Spare the Air Bay Area ### What does the Spare the Air Bay Area app do? The app provides official air quality information for the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. It offers Alert Day notifications, county-specific air quality forecasts, tools to help users reduce their personal pollution, and air quality podcasts. ### What are the key features of the Spare the Air Bay Area app? Key features include Air Alerts for Spare the Air Days, Local Air Reports with 5-day forecasts for each county, a tool to Report a Smoking Vehicle by texting license plates, a Bike Route Planner for eco-friendly travel, and Air Quality Podcasts from the Air District and partners. ### Is the Spare the Air Bay Area app free to use? Yes, the app is free to download and use. There are no in-app purchases or advertisements mentioned in the provided description. ### What counties does the Spare the Air Bay Area app cover? The app covers the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southwestern Solano, and southern Sonoma counties. ### How can I report a smoking vehicle using the app? The app allows you to report smoking vehicles by texting the license plates of the vehicles directly. This feature makes it easier to submit reports to the 1-800-EXHAUST program. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 2.6 — 2025-03-05 1. UI Changes 2. Minor bug fixes ### 2.5 — 2022-12-28 1. UI Changes 2. Minor bug fixes ### 2.4 — 2022-08-02 1. UI Changes 2. Minor bug fixes ### 2.3 — 2020-03-12 Improved stability and minor design changes. ### 2.2 — 2018-11-21 Improved stability and minor design changes. ## Apps similar to Spare the Air Bay Area | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Maricopa County Clean Air](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/maricopa-county-clean-air/id556674024) | 3.3 (21) | Free | Weather | | [Love My Air Network](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/love-my-air-network/id1620484569) | 4.6 (7) | Free | Weather | | [Weather NorCal](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/weather-norcal/id6450515463) | 4.9 (26) | Free | Weather | | [AirNow - Real-time Air Quality](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/airnow-real-time-air-quality/id6449847370) | 4.5 (1,025) | Free | Weather | | [AirStat](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/airstat/id1661333337) | — | Free | Weather | | [Valley Air District](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/valley-air-district/id526195423) | 2.9 (67) | Free | Weather | --- *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 2026-08-12.*