Comparison

Wildfire Info vs Wildfire Aware®

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Wildfire Info

Stay informed about global wildfire and prescribed burn activity. Access real-time data from various sources including satellite imagery, official incident reports, and news feeds. Includes hyper-local weather forecasts for the USA, Canada, and Australia.

Highlights
  • Global wildfire and prescribed burn maps
  • MODIS/VIIRS thermal hotspot data
  • Inciweb & CAL FIRE incident links
  • Hyper-local weather forecasts (USA, Canada, Australia)
  • Wildfire news aggregation
  • Satellite smoke plume animations
  • Map measurement tool
Features
Read full description

Disclaimer: This unofficial app does not represent any government agency and is not affiliated with any government agency. The sources of the data are the publicly accessible sources listed below. Browse current wildfire and prescribed burn activity throughout all of the world. Active Wildfire Perimeter data from NIFC WFIGS. Tagged by state, search by name, and filter by acres burned. WFIGS stands for the Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Services (WFIGS) Group. NIFC stands for the National Interagency Fire Center. NIFC WFIGS Source URLs: https://www.nifc.gov/ with data hosted at https://data-nifc.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/nifc::wfigs-current-interagency-fire-perimeters/about NASA MODIS and VIIRS satellite instruments data: Thermal hotspot maps by region show wildfire activity in the past 48 hours. See hotspot info including fire radiance power, brightness temperature, and confidence. NASA MODIS/VIIRS Source URL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/active_fire/ . MODIS stands for Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer. VIIRS stands for Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. InciWeb & CAL FIRE active fire maps: hot-link to the corresponding official incident webpage. Inciweb Source URL: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/ , CAL FIRE Source URL: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents CHP (California Highway Patrol): Incidents in the past 3 hours related to fires are filtered out separately, all traffic incidents are included viewable by last 1 or 3 hours.CHP Source URL: https://cad.chp.ca.gov/Traffic.aspx Lookup current hyper-local weather conditions, including temperature, wind and gust conditions, and local forecasts anywhere in the USA, Canada, or Australia using map quick lookup or, for USA, search: Detailed NWS Forecast, Hourly Forecast, Grid Data Forecast, and Summary Forecast. Data is from the NWS, NOAA, Government of Canada, and Government of Australia. NWS/NOAA Source URL: https://forecast.weather.gov/, Government of Canada Weather Source URL: https://weather.gc.ca/, Government of Australia Weather Source URL: http://www.bom.gov.au/ Wildfire Situation Reports section with mirrored PDFs from NIFC. NIFC Source URL: https://www.nifc.gov NESDIS GOES 16/17 Satellite Animations show wildfire smoke plumes, drought conditions, etc. from the satellite's perspective. NESDIS GOES Source URL: https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov. NESDIS stands for National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. A Recent Wildfire News section: find news from 1,700+ cited sources quickly on a map or in a table view tagged by state alphabetically. Set up your own custom state feed with the state toggles. Quickly lookup news source homepages near specific fires. Map Measurement Tool added to the Map Tools Side Menu. Measure distance and area. Premium users: View 250m resolution true color images from NASA GIBS (Global Imagery Browse Service). Images are available back to Jan. 1 2007. Worldwide coverage. Premium Users: Lookup a driving route to any fire or hotspot with Google or Apple Maps directions Universal Links. Save your preferred Directions Provider in the App Settings. There is a section for wildfire-related US government Twitter accounts viewable by map by approximate location or sorted into national and state sources in a table view. Twitter Source URLs: https://twitter.com User-Submitted Fire Map feature: map-based wildfire-related chatter. Photos are allowed. Posts and replies are anonymous; no account needed. Information is posted as soon as it becomes available from WFIGS, NIFC, NASA, InciWeb, CAL FIRE, CHP, NESDIS, NOAA, NWS, Government of Canada, and Government of Australia. This app is not affiliated with any government agency. Terms of Use: https://davidgrossapps.com/terms/tos-wildfire-info.html Privacy Policy: https://davidgrossapps.com/privacy-policy.html

About

Wildfire Aware®

This app offers an interactive map to monitor wildfires with real-time satellite detection and incident data. It provides environmental overlays and near-real-time notifications for areas you care about, including fire weather information.

Highlights
  • Interactive wildfire map
  • Satellite detection layers
  • Detailed incident information
  • Environmental overlays
  • Near-real-time notifications
  • Fire weather information
Features
Read full description

Wildfire Aware® provides an interactive map-centric experience free to the public. It serves as a central hub for authoritative information, consolidating multiple data streams into a single interface for easier monitoring. *Satellite Detection Layers: Real-time visualization of thermal hotspots from NASA VIIRS, MODIS, and NOAA HMS Fire Detections. *Detailed Incident Information: View updated perimeters from FIRIS (California only) and other state/federal agencies as they become available. *Environmental Overlays: Review National Weather Service (NWS) watches and warnings directly on the map alongside active fire data. As a Premium feature of Wildfire Aware®, we provide near-real-time notifications of wildfires in areas you care about. When a fire is dispatched by a NIFC participating agency anywhere in the United States, you are notified as quickly as possible. We provide wildfire alerts quickly and supplement them with the most current Fire Weather information, including Temperature, Wind Speed and Direction, and Relative Humidity at the time of the fire. As fires burn for days or months, Wildfire Aware not only provides you with notifications about perimeter updates but also provides authoritative supplemental agency data as well. Letting you know where the fire is. We source information from NIFC, IRWIN, InciWeb, CAL FIRE, US Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Department on Interior (DOI), and Texas A&M Forest Service, to name a few. Anyone who has lived through a fire knows that Fire Weather is just as important as fire information. Wildfire Aware provides you with National Weather Service (NWS) Alerts related to Wildfires as soon as they are issued. From Fire Weather Watches and Red Flag Warnings before a fire, to Flash Flood Warnings and Watches after a fire, we keep you wildfire aware at all stages of a wildfire. Wildfire alerting for Canada is now available for Canada! We provided as much of the equivalency information as possible for Canadian Wildfires as well. The reported active fire locations are updated daily as provided by fire management agencies (provinces, territories and Parks Canada). The wildfires data is managed through a national Data Integration Project (DIP) coordinated by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) and Natural Resources Canada with participation from all partner agencies. Environment and Climate Change Canada issues public weather alerts about weather-related hazards in order to notify those in affected areas so that they can take steps to protect themselves and their property from harm. Alerts are classified depending on the severity and timing of the subject event and include warnings, watches, advisories and statements. We do not provide detailed information from radio traffic like Watch Duty, but instead, we provide information from authoritative sources as soon as it is published. We also provide links, whenever possible, to the appropriate social media platforms for additional authoritative data. We strive to give the most reliable information to the public as quickly as possible. Our founder not only survived a deadly and destructive fire in 2020 but also spent 13 years with CAL FIRE as a dispatcher and GIS specialist. Wildfire Aware® provides authoritative and vetted information, which is essential during any wildfire. When misinformation runs rampant during and after a wildfire, we strive to give you the most authoritative information available. Important Wildfire Aware® is an information aggregation platform. All data—including fire locations, perimeters, and weather conditions—is sourced from third-party public agencies. This information is provided "as is" for situational awareness only. Wildfire Aware® does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of notifications and should not be relied upon as a primary life-safety tool. Users should always follow the instructions of local emergency management and law enforcement.

Screenshots

Wildfire Info4 screens
Wildfire Aware®4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Wildfire Aware® at 98% against Wildfire Info's 39%. Wildfire Aware® also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.4) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). Wildfire Info's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Wildfire Info sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per year and Wildfire Aware® sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Wildfire Aware® holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 31 and 24 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of Wildfire Info's written reviews are positive against 98% of Wildfire Aware®'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Wildfire Info ships an update fortnightly, Wildfire Aware® every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 7, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Wildfire Info versus Wildfire Aware®: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWildfire InfoWildfire Aware®
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.4 (31 ratings)4.5 (24 ratings) — better
Positive reviews38.9% of reviews97.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings31 — better24
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB56 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperDavid GrossThe Analytical Moose LLC

Customer experience

Wildfire Info

All ratings31 ratings
Positive54.8%
Neutral6.5%
Negative38.7%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive38.9%
Neutral8.3%
Negative52.8%

Wildfire Aware®

All ratings24 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews43 reviews
Positive97.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative2.3%

Bugs and requests

Wildfire Info

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Wildfire Aware®

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Extremely slow and constantly freezes
  • Crashes multiple times
  • Took forever to load during a wildfire

Requested features

1 request
  • Reintroduce wind streams overlay on the map

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Wildfire Info

Subscriptions1
  • Wildfire Info Premium$0.991 Year
4 purchases

Wildfire Aware®

Subscriptions4
  • Wildfire Aware Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Wildfire Aware$2.991 Month
  • Wildfire Aware Yearly$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Wildfire Aware$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Wildfire Info free?
Wildfire Info is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Wildfire Aware® free?
Wildfire Aware® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Wildfire Info or Wildfire Aware®?
Wildfire Aware® is rated higher. Wildfire Info averages 3.4 out of 5 from 31 ratings, while Wildfire Aware® averages 4.5 from 24 ratings.
Do Wildfire Info or Wildfire Aware® have ads?
Neither Wildfire Info nor Wildfire Aware® shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Wildfire Info or Wildfire Aware®?
Wildfire Info ships an update fortnightly, and Wildfire Aware® every 6 weeks. Most recently, Wildfire Info was updated on August 7, 2026 and Wildfire Aware® on September 18, 2026.

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