Comparison

SDG&E Weather 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

SDG&E Weather

Get hyper-local weather forecasts for San Diego. View current conditions, hourly predictions, and extended outlooks. Stay informed about weather alerts and trends specific to your area.

Highlights
  • Hyper-local San Diego forecasts
  • Current weather conditions
  • Hourly predictions
  • Extended outlooks
  • Weather alerts
Features
Read full description

San Diego Weather

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

SDG&E Weather4 screens
Wildfire Aware®4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SDG&E Weather at none against Wildfire Aware®'s 4. SDG&E Weather also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.5). Wildfire Aware®'s advantage is review sentiment (98% vs 75%) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 4 months). On price, ratings volume, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Wildfire Aware® sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. SDG&E Weather asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SDG&E Weather holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 19 and 24 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of SDG&E Weather's written reviews are positive against 98% of Wildfire Aware®'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SDG&E Weather ships an update every 4 months, Wildfire Aware® every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on September 18, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SDG&E Weather versus Wildfire Aware®: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSDG&E WeatherWildfire Aware®
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (19 ratings) — better4.5 (24 ratings)
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews97.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1924 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.113.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size69 MB56 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSan Diego Gas & ElectricThe Analytical Moose LLC

Customer experience

SDG&E Weather

All ratings19 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

Wildfire Aware®

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

Bugs and requests

SDG&E Weather

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

None

SDG&E Weather

No in-app purchases

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 SDG&E Weather free?
SDG&E Weather is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Wildfire Aware® free?
Wildfire Aware® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SDG&E Weather or Wildfire Aware®?
SDG&E Weather is rated higher. SDG&E Weather averages 4.7 out of 5 from 19 ratings, while Wildfire Aware® averages 4.5 from 24 ratings.
Do SDG&E Weather or Wildfire Aware® have ads?
Neither SDG&E Weather nor Wildfire Aware® shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SDG&E Weather or Wildfire Aware®?
SDG&E Weather ships an update every 4 months, and Wildfire Aware® every 6 weeks. Most recently, SDG&E Weather was updated on September 18, 2026 and Wildfire Aware® on September 18, 2026.

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