LA Metro Transit Watch vs Overhead Long Beach
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LA Metro Transit Watch
Report suspicious activity or maintenance issues on public transit. Connect directly with security and maintenance staff, submit reports anonymously, and track their status. Enhance safety and cleanliness for all riders.
- Report incidents with a simple form
- Direct calls to Metro dispatch or 911
- Text messaging to Metro Security
- Track report status
- Anonymous reporting option
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Look out for your safety and the safety of others by using LA Metro’s Transit Watch App. With the LA Metro Transit Watch app, you can quickly and easily connect with Metro’s Security and Maintenance staff. See something suspicious or encounter a maintenance issue? Use the app to report it on the spot, and you can even choose to stay anonymous. For the best experience, we recommend turning on your location services – this helps the app quickly pinpoint where you are on the system, making it easier for us to assist you. Features: • Report an Incident: Submit reports by using a simple form in the app • Instant Calls: One easy click to speak to a Metro dispatch officer or call 911 • Text Metro Security: Convenient access to send text messages to Metro Security • Track Your Reports: Stay updated on the status of your submissions. Every report helps make Metro safer and cleaner. Download the LA Metro Transit Watch App today!
Overhead Long Beach
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Quieter skies, signed by you. Overhead is a free, neighborhood-built app for residents who live under the Long Beach Airport flight path. One tap captures an overhead plane, the time, your location, your altitude estimate, and the actual decibel level of the noise. Then — when you're ready — Overhead opens your own Mail app with a pre-filled report addressed to the right people. You review it. You hit Send. The complaint goes out from your account, in your name, as constituent correspondence. That last part matters. In January 2026, a court tossed out a neighborhood lawsuit demanding stricter enforcement of LGB's noise ordinance. The judge ruled the city only has to act on noise it can individually prove. One resident, one email, one signed concern is exactly that. Anything an app sent on your behalf would land as "just an app" and get filtered out — yours can't. WHO THIS IS FOR California Heights, Bixby Knolls, Los Cerritos, and the rest of the neighborhoods that hear flight schools doing touch-and-go loops over their backyards from 6:30 AM to 11:45 PM. If that's you, this app was built for you. WHAT YOU GET • Tap to capture: photo or up to 8 seconds of video • Live decibel meter measures the actual noise level on capture • ADS-B + registry lookup pulls the aircraft's tail number, type, and owner/operator when available • Time, location, altitude, and ordinance status are recorded automatically • One-tap dispatch: opens your Mail app with the report pre-addressed • Real map of every report you've sent, color-coded by ordinance status • Compile any month into a single PDF for AAC public comment • Works offline — reports queue locally and send when you're back online PRIVACY THAT'S ACTUALLY PRIVATE Overhead has no visible account, no ads, and no analytics SDKs. Your full reports, photos, videos, decibel readings, coordinates, and notes live on your phone unless you choose to send a report through Mail. The app also sends a tiny anonymous tally row to our Supabase backend so the public observatory can count neighborhood activity. No tracking, no advertising IDs, no third-party analytics. NOT AFFILIATED with the City of Long Beach, Long Beach Airport, the FAA, or any government body. Overhead is an independent civic-tech project built by neighbors who got tired of waiting.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Overhead Long Beach at every 2 days against LA Metro Transit Watch's every 6 weeks. LA Metro Transit Watch's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, ads, 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.
LA Metro Transit Watch ships an update every 6 weeks, Overhead Long Beach every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LA Metro Transit Watch | Overhead Long Beach |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (53 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 20.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 53 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority | Alexander Saldivar |
In-app purchases
LA Metro Transit Watch
No in-app purchases
Overhead Long Beach
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LA Metro Transit Watch free?
Is Overhead Long Beach free?
Do LA Metro Transit Watch or Overhead Long Beach have ads?
Which is updated more often, LA Metro Transit Watch or Overhead Long Beach?
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