SA Fires vs Canberra Times
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SA Fires
Access up-to-date fire information from South Australia's Country Fire Service. View incidents by recency, severity, or proximity, and see their locations on a map.
- Real-time fire information
- Sort by latest, severity, or proximity
- Map fire locations
- Country Fire Service data
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SA Fires provides the current fire information from South Australia's Country Fire Service's web site. The information can be listed in latest information first, most severe status first or the closest fires first. The fires can also be mapped out on a google map to give some indication on their locations. Disclaimer: P4G make no representations, either express or implied, as to the accuracy, currency, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose of the information and accepts no liability for any use of the information or any responsibility for any reliance placed on that information. The user acknowledges that the incident information cannot be guaranteed error free and that use of the incident information is at the user's sole risk and that incident information may be subject to change without notice.
Canberra Times
Access breaking news, in-depth analysis, and commentary from Canberra's trusted voice. Stay informed with 24/7 updates, save articles for later, and receive alerts for important stories. Premium subscribers can enjoy a digital replica of the daily paper and interactive puzzles.
- Breaking news updates 24/7
- Browse articles by topic
- Save articles for later
- Breaking news alerts
- Digital replica of daily newspaper
- Interactive daily puzzles
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The Canberra Times app brings together the best of your daily newspaper and its website to take your news reading experience to another level. Keep up to date with the best journalism on offer in the ACT through Canberra's trusted voice. Whether it's the breaking news you need to know from Canberra or around the nation, the latest sport results, in-depth analysis that explains the decisions that affect your life, or incisive commentary, you'll be the first to know using The Canberra Times app. The app is free to download, but you need to be a Canberra Times subscriber to read articles. Basic subscribers get access to all articles. Premium subscribers also get access to Today's Paper, a digital replica of the paper, and our interactive puzzles. Features include: - Access breaking news updates 24 hours a day - Browse the latest articles in the topics that interest you most - Save articles to read later - Alerts for breaking news and big stories - Read a digital replica of the day's newspaper (premium subscribers) - Play our daily interactive puzzles (premium subscribers) Please note: This app features Nielsen's proprietary measurement software which will allow you to contribute to market research or audience ratings services. Please see http://www.nielsen.com/digitalprivacy for more information.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Canberra Times at Free against SA Fires's $0.99. Canberra Times also leads on ratings volume (10 vs 3). SA Fires's advantage is review sentiment (76% vs 38%) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). On update cadence 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
Canberra Times is free to download; SA Fires costs $0.99 up front. Canberra Times sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. SA Fires asks for nothing beyond the download.
SA Fires holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 10 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of SA Fires's written reviews are positive against 38% of Canberra Times's.
SA Fires ships an update every 5 months, Canberra Times every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SA Fires | Canberra Times |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.6 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews — better | 37.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 10 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #76 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 34 MB | 59 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | P4G Pty Ltd | Rural Press Pty Ltd |
Customer experience
SA Fires
Canberra Times
User reviews
SA Fires
From 3 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✅ Accurate and up-to-date information
- 👍 Easy to use and understand
- 🚀 Fast alerts for fires
- 💡 Consolidates multiple information sources
- ❤️ Provides peace of mind
Room to improve
- 🐛 App not working/updating
- 🐛 Glitchy and doesn't set alerts properly
- 🐛 Watch zone issues (deletion, radius)
- 🐛 UI needs redesigning
- 🐛 Doubled notifications
Canberra Times
From 10 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great voice for the people
- 👍 Excellent news articles
- 👍 Easy to use app
- 👍 Good format, quality commentary
- 👍 Works well, loads quickly
Room to improve
- 광고 Ads obscure screen, reduce reading pane
- 📰 One-sided, biased reporting
- 🐛 Spontaneous app closures
- 🐛 Blank pages after returning from articles
- 🐛 Disappearing index lines
Bugs and requests
SA Fires
Reported bugs
21 issues- App no longer works on iPad
- Font size in red for current fire too large, covers appliance numbers
- Doesn't work on my iPad
- Hasn't been updated for 12 months
- Server unable to be updated for watch zones
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- Not displaying the map or updating info
- Won't even open
- Watch zone does not work (no radius, no alerts)
- Cannot delete unwanted watch zones
- Watch zone function does not work (deletes entries)
- Cannot search for a location by entering an address
- Doubled notifications
- Notification badge hardly ever updates
- Hasn't refreshed since 5/5/19
- Not refreshing
- No longer updates incidents
- Won't load at all
- Wrong state shown
- Little response
- Will not go past the loading screen
- Just hangs
Requested features
7 requests- More information on fires (size, units)
- Include local wind/fire direction
- Shorten fields to not cover appliance numbers
- Different icons for different incidents (e.g., tree down)
- Ability to delete old location alerts
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- Restrict notifications to fires only, not RTAs
- Ability to search for locations by address
Canberra Times
Reported bugs
27 issues- Constant typographical errors
- App kicks out around sports section
- Spontaneously closes when scrolling or changing pages
- Often shows a blank page when returning from an article
- First lines under headlines disappear and return
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- Codeword given letters can be deleted and timer does not stop
- Cannot access tiny crossword
- Advertisement on every reading page cannot be removed
- Frequently have to enter password multiple times
- Navigation between pages is clunky
- App subscription issues, not working on all devices
- App takes you back to previous story when clicking a link
- Main screen keeps timing out trying to download older episodes
- Painfully slow to load, takes multiple tries
- Have to zoom in on every page
- App doesn't work after upgrade
- Expand page leads back to list of pages
- Slower than ever, incomplete loading
- Articles would scroll from when first accessed, rather than after ads loaded
- Breaking news notifications open to different stories or not at all
- Constantly have to log in
- Won't open magazine sections
- Advertising severely slows the app
- Links within articles don't open in the app
- Half the paper seems to be missing in this app
- Letters randomly mixed with opinion pieces
- Search function not easily findable or non-existent
Requested features
10 requests- Dark mode option
- Improve search function
- Include daily cartoon
- Allow jumping between hyperlinks without logout
- Fix links opening in external browser
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- Add filter function to search
- Setting to control old issue download
- Improve app interface for individual stories
- Revert to previous app formats
- Make comments on articles available in app
In-app purchases
SA Fires
No in-app purchases
Canberra Times
- Basic Monthly$14.991 Month
- Premium Monthly$24.991 Month
- Basic Annual$129.991 Year
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- Premium Annual$179.991 Year
