CFSScan vs Alert SA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CFSScan
Access real-time emergency services pager messages with push notifications for custom rules. View detailed incident information, search historical data, and find nearby water points. The app also provides live traffic updates and route planning.
- Real-time push notifications
- Custom rule alerts
- Historical incident search
- Detailed incident information
- Map point referencing
- Live pager feed
- Water point and stand pipe locator
- Real-time traffic and route planning
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The CFSScan Official mobile application gives you real time access to the SA GRN Emergency services pager messages. Receive real-time push notifications for your custom rules and perform historical search. Access detailed incident information including map point referencing and agency tasking. Instance access to the Live Pager feed. The feed stays awake while you change pages keeping you up to date. Find all previous incidents with our advanced key word searching algorithms. Manage your account and push notifications directly from the application. Locate your nearest water point and standpipe while on route. Gather Realtime traffic details and plot the best route to the incident.
Alert SA
Receive timely alerts and warnings for various hazards like fires, heatwaves, severe weather, and floods. Customize notifications for up to 10 specific areas and stay informed about fire danger ratings and total fire bans. This official government app ensures you have critical public safety information.
- Multi-hazard alerts
- Customizable watch zones
- Fire danger ratings
- Total fire ban information
- Cross-border notifications
- Accessibility features
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The Alert SA App is the official mobile application of the South Australian Government, designed to provide timely and relevant information on a range of hazards. Stay informed and prepared with alerts and warnings for: · Fires · Heatwaves · Severe weather · Floods · Hazardous materials Additionally, receive important Fire Danger Rating and Total Fire Ban information via the app. With the Alert SA App, you can create up to 10 watch zones to receive notifications about hazards occurring in areas of interest to you. The app uses your mobile device’s GPS location and requires an internet connection to receive data. Key Features: Multi-Hazard Alerts: Receive notifications for various hazards, including fire, flood, severe weather, hazardous materials, and heatwaves. Customizable Watch Zones: Set up to 10 watch zones to get alerts for specific areas. Accessibility: Fully supports large text and voiceover features to ensure you receive information in a way that suits your needs. Cross-Border Notifications: Get fire warnings within 100km of the border of neighbouring states and territories. Modern User Interface: Enjoy a new, intuitive design with a dedicated onboarding screen and improved user experience. Please note that during emergencies and extreme weather events, such as bushfires, floods, or severe storms, telecommunications services may be unreliable. As a result, you may not receive timely information while using the app. The South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission (SAFECOM), the South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS), the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS), and the South Australian State Emergency Service (SES) recommend that you do not rely on any one single source of information during an emergency. Download the Alert SA App today and stay informed about public information and warnings in South Australia. If there’s anything you think we can improve, we’d love to hear from you at AlertSA@eso.sa.gov.au
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Alert SA at none against CFSScan's shown. Alert SA also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and review sentiment (53% vs 31%). CFSScan's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, rating, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for CFSScan against 4.9 for Alert SA. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Alert SA has 15 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 31% of CFSScan's written reviews are positive against 53% of Alert SA's.
CFSScan ships an update every 2 weeks, Alert SA every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CFSScan | Alert SA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.9 (15 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 30.8% of reviews | 53.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 15 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nico VanHaaster | Government of South Australia – South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission |
Customer experience
CFSScan
Alert SA
Bugs and requests
CFSScan
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Alert SA
Reported bugs
10 issues- App freezes on welcome screen after update (version 3.3.0+)
- Fire hazard rating button causes app crash
- Notifications not received despite enabled settings and watch zones configured
- Push notifications fail after iPhone OS updates
- App stuck in portrait mode on iPad in landscape orientation
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- Notifications arrive days late or not at all
- Incidents outside watch zones still trigger alerts
- No push notification buttons visible on some iPhone models
- App becomes unresponsive during high-incident periods
- Inconsistent notification delivery across devices
Requested features
16 requests- Customizable notification sounds with multiple options
- Ability to filter alert types (fires only vs. all incidents)
- Watch zones smaller than 5km for suburban areas
- Wind direction and speed information for fire events
- Dynamic watch zones that adjust based on fire danger levels
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- Landscape mode support for iPad/tablets
- Route-based alert zones instead of radius-only
- Evacuation point locations with facility details (pet-friendly, horse-friendly)
- Different zone sizes for different hazard types
- North indicator on map
- Road closure information integrated into app
- Burned area visualization (black zones for completed fires)
- Toggle to hide completed incidents
- Ability to sort incidents by most recent first
- Optional heatwave and non-critical alerts
- Street address in tree-down notifications
In-app purchases
CFSScan
No in-app purchases
Alert SA
No in-app purchases
