BRNKL vs BC Wildfire Service
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BRNKL
Monitor your boat's security and critical systems remotely. Check onboard cameras and vital functions like battery banks and bilge pumps from anywhere. Gain peace of mind knowing your vessel is safe and secure.
- Remote boat security system
- Onboard camera monitoring
- Critical systems monitoring (battery, bilge, shore power)
- Peace of mind for vessel owners
- Accessible from anywhere
Read full descriptionHide full description
BRNKL is an award-winning ‘home security system for your boat’ built by people that know security. Whether you’re at the dock, at home, or half-way around the world you check on your vessel using the onboard camera while also monitoring critical systems such as battery banks, bilge pumps, shore power connections and more. BRNKL allows you to confidently leave your vessel knowing that it is safe and secure.
BC Wildfire Service
Access real-time wildfire information for British Columbia, including an interactive map with perimeters, burn prohibitions, and weather conditions. Receive customizable notifications for saved locations and report new fires directly through the app.
- Interactive wildfire map
- Burn prohibitions
- Smoke forecasts
- Evacuation information
- Customizable notifications
- In-app fire reporting
Read full descriptionHide full description
The BC Wildfire Service App provides up-to-date wildfire information on your mobile phone, helping you stay informed about wildfires and wildfire-related events and conditions across British Columbia. Features Include Interactive Wildfire Map - Wildfire perimeters when available - Burn prohibitions - Smoke forecasts - Weather conditions - Evacuation information when available - Road conditions, and more. Wildfire Dashboard - Updates from BC Wildfire Service - Incident statistics - Daily situation report during peak fire season Saved Locations and Saved Incident information - Evacuation orders and alerts - Burn prohibitions - New wildfires - Weather - Fire prohibitions - Customizable notifications Report a Fire - In-app incident reporting - Offline report of fire
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: BRNKL at 100% against BC Wildfire Service's 29%. BRNKL also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.0) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 3 months). BC Wildfire Service's advantage is ratings volume (7 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
BRNKL holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BC Wildfire Service has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of BRNKL's written reviews are positive against 29% of BC Wildfire Service's.
BRNKL ships an update every 5 weeks, BC Wildfire Service every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BRNKL | BC Wildfire Service |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 3.0 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 28.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 80 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Barnacle Systems Inc | Government of British Columbia |
Customer experience
BRNKL
BC Wildfire Service
Bugs and requests
BRNKL
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
BC Wildfire Service
Reported bugs
54 issues- Saved location alerts for old one
- Map dots all over, zoom broken
- Current location broken
- Map not available in satellite mode
- Layers do not load
Show 49 moreShow fewer
- White screen, nothing else
- Smoke forecast cannot be removed
- Dashboard switches between app and browser
- App glitches randomly
- Map makes terrain larger, print smaller
- Clicking 'more details' does nothing
- Cannot see fire size
- No notification of new wildfire
- Cannot click on fires for details
- Fires from last year still present
- Relays old and outdated information
- Still bugs to update app
- Saved location freezes, doesn't update
- Alerts for fires not close to radius
- App resets map when going back
- Cannot click on a fire for details
- Slow updating status of active fires
- Cannot set for region, unable to get updates
- Cannot save location or fires
- Map not updating properly
- Filter wildfire list by fire centre not working
- Side legend on map will not close
- Location pin too big
- Map zooms all the way out after viewing details
- Add location for notifications doesn't work
- Contact form doesn't work
- Whole thing is laggy and glitchy
- Map doesn't show up
- Cannot submit feedback
- New version has many issues
- App runs terribly on iOS
- No longer provides detail when clicking fires
- Only provides weather stations
- Nothing loads
- Map does not work
- Redirects to non-functional app
- Does not show all major roads
- App won't open properly
- Half of the screen goes blank
- Fires near me stalls and says error
- App hasn't updated information
- Endless waiting for info
- Could not sign up for notifications
- Tweets took minutes to appear, two years old
- Maps are awkward and mislabeled
- Missing information for updates
- Latest version doesn't respect in-app notification settings
- Spamming with news and alerts
- Still says there is a new version update
Requested features
10 requests- More detailed terrain features
- Version optimized for low network scenarios
- Add more photos to Media tab
- Return ability to select perimeter for notifications
- Bring back desktop version for community planning
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Name fires by area
- Reinstate browser version
- Add more dysfunction and corruption
- Add more fighters, helicopters, machines
- Make app optional, not in place of website
In-app purchases
BRNKL
No in-app purchases
BC Wildfire Service
No in-app purchases
