Firespot vs Wildfire Aware®
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Firespot
Access real-time wildfire information worldwide with satellite data and detailed agency reports for the US and Canada. Monitor fire perimeters, aircraft, wind, air quality, and warnings. Subscribers receive custom alerts for significant fire events.
- Real-time wildfire maps
- Satellite data and imagery
- Aircraft tracking
- Wind and air quality data
- Red flag warnings
- Customizable event alerts
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Firespot is the most complete source of real time wildfire information. Worldwide coverage via satellite data, plus super-detailed agency fire data for the US and Canada. - Perimeters and fire status - Aircraft tracking - Satellite images - Wind - Air quality - Red flag warnings - Satellite-detected fires - Satellite climatological data: vegetation, moisture, etc. Firespot subscribers can activate Alerts to receive notifications on important fire-related events. Set one or multiple areas to monitor, and Firespot will pop an alert on your phone when an important change happens. FREE TIER: Use the map, view all fires and red flag warnings. PAID TIER: Customized alerts, get notifications on your device, access all satellite images, see real-time firefighting aircraft tracking. Firespot is not meant as a replacement for local evacuation alerts and information. Privacy Policy: https://www.firespotapp.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.firespotapp.com/terms
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.
- Interactive wildfire map
- Satellite detection layers
- Detailed incident information
- Environmental overlays
- Near-real-time notifications
- Fire weather information
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Wildfire Aware® at 98% against Firespot's 44%. Wildfire Aware® also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). Firespot's advantage is ratings volume (5.5K vs 24) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). 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. Firespot sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $29.99 per year and Wildfire Aware® sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Firespot holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Firespot has 5.5K ratings behind it against 24, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 44% of Firespot'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.
Firespot ships an update every 2 weeks, Wildfire Aware® every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Firespot | Wildfire Aware® |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (5.5K ratings) — better | 4.5 (24 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 43.5% of reviews | 97.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5.5K — better | 24 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Rayner Software LLC | The Analytical Moose LLC |
Customer experience
Firespot
Wildfire Aware®
User reviews
Firespot
From 5.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Keeps track of weather and fire conditions
- 🚀 Provides helpful information
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Customizable alert areas
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inaccurate or outdated data
- 🐛 Crashes or doesn't open
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 👎 Unreliable alerts and notifications
Wildfire Aware®
From 24 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Quick notifications
- 👍 Easy to use
- ✅ Up-to-date and accurate information
- 🗺️ Shows close-by cameras
- 💡 Alert radius setting
Room to improve
- 🐛 App slept on
- 🐛 App seems to have removed a feature (wind streams)
- 🐛 Extremely slow and constantly freezes
- 🐛 Crashed multiple times during a wildfire
Bugs and requests
Firespot
Reported bugs
3 issues- Fires not showing up on the map
- Subscription issues (unable to cancel, charges not stopping)
- Accessibility problems (not working with VoiceOver)
Requested features
3 requests- More detailed fire information (size, direction, rate of spread)
- Improved map and visualization features
- Faster data updates
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
Firespot
- Firespot Yearly$29.991 Year
Wildfire Aware®
- Wildfire Aware Monthly$2.991 Month
- Wildfire Aware$2.991 Month
- Wildfire Aware Yearly$19.991 Year
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- Wildfire Aware$19.991 Year
Questions
Is Firespot free?
Is Wildfire Aware® free?
Which has better reviews, Firespot or Wildfire Aware®?
Do Firespot or Wildfire Aware® have ads?
Which is updated more often, Firespot or Wildfire Aware®?
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