Comparison

Firesource vs Active Wildfire Tracker Map

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

Head to head
About

Firesource

Track live wildfires with real-time data on a map and in a feed. Access detailed fire perimeters, news updates, and air quality measurements. Users can also report nearby fires with photos and location data.

Highlights
  • Live fire map and feed
  • Real-time fire perimeters
  • Air quality measurements (AQI)
  • User-reported fire alerts
  • Satellite fire detections
  • News updates and reports
Features
Read full description

Firesource’s features: ◦ Live fire feed - both on map and in scrollable menu ◦ Local and national fire incidents - news updates and reports ◦ Fire perimeters - access all realtime fire perimeters at once with information about fire growth and progress, including acreage, containment, personnel, fire cause, and fire behavior ◦ Report a fire - instantly inform other users of a nearby fire by pressing the + button, taking a picture of the fire, and submitting ◦ Air quality - see the effects of recent fires by viewing realtime air quality measurements across the country ◦ Satellite fire detections can indicate new fires and how current fires are spreading National Fires (InciWeb, Cal Fire, IRWIN): InciWeb is an interagency incident management system run by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. InciWeb collects wildfire incident data from several agencies across the United States and provides all of this data together in several feeds. Firesource presents wildfire incidents reported by InciWeb in real time, providing the fire’s location and detailed status. Learn more about InciWeb at their website: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/. Learn more about Cal Fire, which also provides incident information, at their website: https://www.fire.ca.gov. Learn more about IRWIN, the data hub of fire reports, at https://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/WFIT/applications/IRWIN/. National Fires (Perimeters): Perimeter data is provided by the Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Services (WFIGS) Group and hosted in the National Interagency Fire Center ArcGIS Online Organization (The NIFC Org). Firesource displays fire perimeters and descriptions of their progress in the ‘National Fires’ tab of the menu, with this information updated on a regular basis. Learn more about the NIFC at their website: https://www.nifc.gov User-Reported Fires: Allowing app users to report a fire and immediately inform other users is an essential aspect of Firesource. To report a fire, press the yellow + button in the top right corner of the map, select the type of fire (vehicle fire, forest fire, terrain fire, structure fire), take a photo of the fire, and press submit. To ensure the validity of fire reports, the user must take a photo of the fire and cannot access Camera Roll to select a picture. Please note that submitting a fire report automatically creates the report at the user’s location, to further ensure that the fire is local and valid. When viewing user-reported fires in the feed, other users can ‘rate’ the fire report by confirming that it is active, contained, or a spam reporting. Air Quality: Air quality measurements from across the United States are collected from AirNow.gov, which provides national air quality data using the Air Quality Index (AQI). This data is color-coded to provide information about health concerns due to PM2.5 pollutants. Satellite-Detected Fires: Thermal hotspot detections are displayed and collected from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which is an instrument on the Terra and Aqua satellites. Information provided from MODIS about each detection includes brightness (brightness temperature in Kelvin of a fire pixel) and confidence (quality of fire pixel). These fire detections are extremely useful, as they can indicate new fires and fire spread. Learn more about MODIS at their website: https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov Firesource is not affiliated with any government agencies. Firesource is only available for iPhone and iPad in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Privacy Policy: https://firesourceapp.weebly.com/privacy-policy.html Learn more and contact us at https://firesourceapp.weebly.com/

About

Active Wildfire Tracker Map

This app provides an interactive map of current active wildfires across the US. Data is updated hourly and includes GPS functionality for location tracking.

Highlights
  • Interactive wildfire map
  • Current US wildfire tracking
  • Hourly data updates
  • GPS capabilities
Features
Read full description

Active Wildfire Tracker Map is an interactive mapping application that tracks the current active wildfires in the US. The data is updated hourly and offer GPS capabilities.

Screenshots

Firesource4 screens
Active Wildfire Tracker Map2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Firesource at 4.7 against Active Wildfire Tracker Map's 2.3. Firesource also leads on review sentiment (39% vs 0%) and ads (none vs shown). Active Wildfire Tracker Map's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Firesource holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Firesource has 2.5K ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of Firesource's written reviews are positive against 0% of Active Wildfire Tracker Map's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Firesource ships an update every 2 months, Active Wildfire Tracker Map fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Firesource versus Active Wildfire Tracker Map: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFiresourceActive Wildfire Tracker Map
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2.5K ratings) — better2.3 (13 ratings)
Positive reviews38.6% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2.5K — better13
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHemal doshicorey hoggard

Customer experience

Firesource

All ratings2,536 ratings
Positive92.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews44 reviews
Positive38.6%
Neutral13.6%
Negative47.7%

Active Wildfire Tracker Map

All ratings13 ratings
Positive23.1%
Neutral7.7%
Negative69.2%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative80.0%

Bugs and requests

Firesource

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Fires not showing up on the map
  • Air quality data not updating
  • App keeps logging users out

Requested features

3 requests
  • Horizontal view for iPad
  • Notifications for nearby fires
  • More detailed fire information (size, direction, containment)

Active Wildfire Tracker Map

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Firesource

No in-app purchases

None

Active Wildfire Tracker Map

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Firesource free?
Firesource is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Active Wildfire Tracker Map free?
Active Wildfire Tracker Map is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Firesource or Active Wildfire Tracker Map?
Firesource is rated higher. Firesource averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2.5K ratings, while Active Wildfire Tracker Map averages 2.3 from 13 ratings.
Do Firesource or Active Wildfire Tracker Map have ads?
Active Wildfire Tracker Map shows ads; Firesource does not.
Which is updated more often, Firesource or Active Wildfire Tracker Map?
Firesource ships an update every 2 months, and Active Wildfire Tracker Map fortnightly. Most recently, Firesource was updated on September 29, 2026 and Active Wildfire Tracker Map on September 21, 2026.

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