Lightning Tracker vs FireSignal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lightning Tracker
Monitor real-time lightning strikes on a map with detailed information like time and distance. Receive background notifications for nearby activity and customize your detection radius. View current weather conditions alongside lightning alerts.
- Real-time lightning strike map
- Strike details (time, distance)
- Background monitoring and notifications
- Customizable detection radius (1-50 miles)
- Current weather conditions view
- Lightning strike expiration (15 minutes)
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Track and monitor lightning strikes in realtime nearby to your location, with Lightning Tracker Live. Lightning strikes are presented on a map view, where you can tap on each marked lightning strike for more details, including: • Time of strike • Distance from your current location Lightning strikes will appear on the map view in realtime & will expire after 15 minutes, keeping you up to date with only the latest lightning activity all the time. The app will also work when in the background, periodically checking for any lightning strikes & notifying you if any do occur. As a default setting, the app will check/monitor at a radius of 25 miles within your location for lightning activity. This can be customized in the app settings from anywhere between 1 & 50 miles. Your chosen radius value will be saved for future use. Other features include an option to view your current weather conditions. We hope that you find this app useful. Please reach out to us via email support if you have any feedback or questions. Subscription: Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. If your subscription is subject to any promotional discount, the discount will expire upon the end of the current period and you'll be charged the standard rate upon renewal. Go to your iTunes Account under subscriptions to manage your membership and to turn auto-renew off. Your iTunes Account will be charged when the purchase is confirmed. Privacy Policy: https://goingmerry.xyz/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://goingmerry.xyz/terms-conditions/
FireSignal
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FireSignal shows wildfires in Europe, detected by weather satellites. MOST OF THE APP WORKS WITHOUT AN ACCOUNT The map is free and needs no sign-in. Open the app, tap "Map", and you see all current fire detections in Europe. Tap any fire for details. WHY SIGN-IN EXISTS An account is only needed to follow a place (a campsite, a home address) and to receive notifications about it. Everything else is open. HOW TO SIGN IN WITH THE DEMO ACCOUNT 1. Tap "Account" in the tab bar, then "Sign in". 2. Enter the e-mail address below and tap "Send me a code". 3. On the next screen ("Code from your email"), enter the 6-digit code below and tap "Sign in". Normally that code is e-mailed to the user. For this account the code is fixed, so no mailbox is needed and the code does not expire. You will still see the message that a code was sent; that is expected. ADVERTISING AND TRACKING The free version shows a single banner ad at the bottom of the Map, Places and Account tabs (Google AdMob). No interstitials or other full-screen ads. Plus subscribers see no ads. Before any ad is requested, Google's consent message (UMP) is shown; on iOS the App Tracking Transparency request follows right after it. Both appear about 6 seconds after you open the Map tab on a device that has not answered them before; they are deliberately not shown at launch, so that someone opening a wildfire app in a hurry is not stopped by a dialog. The advertising identifier is only used if the user allows tracking. Consent can be changed at any time under Settings, "Privacy settings for ads". LOCATION The app never asks for location on launch. It asks only when you tap "Use my current location" while adding a place, and it requests reduced (coarse) accuracy only. The location stays on the device and is not sent to our servers. NOTIFICATIONS An alert requires a real wildfire to be detected within the radius of a saved place, so it cannot be triggered on demand during review. Notification settings are under Account. If you would like us to send a test notification to a device during the review, e-mail us and we will do so within the hour. SUBSCRIPTION FireSignal Plus is an auto-renewable subscription, EUR 5.99 monthly or EUR 29.99 yearly. It adds immediate alerts, up to five places, a wind warning and tomorrow's fire danger. The map and one place remain free. The demo account deliberately does NOT have Plus, so that you can see the free tier and the paywall exactly as a new user does, and so that you can test the purchase itself. To review the paid features, open "Account" and tap the Plus card. A sandbox purchase is accepted and unlocks Plus immediately on this account; our server verifies the signed transaction against Apple's root certificate. If the sandbox purchase does not go through for any reason, e-mail us and we will enable Plus on the demo account within the hour so you can still review those screens. SAFETY The app states clearly, in the description and in the app itself, that satellite detection is not an alarm system and does not replace emergency services.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FireSignal at none against Lightning Tracker's 6. FireSignal also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Lightning Tracker sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. FireSignal asks for nothing beyond the download.
Lightning Tracker ships an update every 4 months, FireSignal every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lightning Tracker | FireSignal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (172 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 8.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 172 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 64 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Going Merry LLC | Rutger Harder |
In-app purchases
Lightning Tracker
- Premium Monthly$0.991 Month
- Premium Weekly$1.997 Days
- Premium Weekly$2.997 Days
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- Premium Yearly$6.991 Year
- Premium Yearly$9.991 Year
- Premium Yearly$19.991 Year
FireSignal
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Lightning Tracker free?
Is FireSignal free?
Do Lightning Tracker or FireSignal have ads?
Which is updated more often, Lightning Tracker or FireSignal?
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