Comparison

Lightning Tracker & Radar Map vs Lightning Radar

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

Head to head
About

Lightning Tracker & Radar Map

This app provides real-time lightning strike data and storm tracking on a map. It helps users understand approaching storms, set alerts for saved locations, and follow safety guidelines.

Highlights
  • Live lightning strike map
  • Storm zone tracking
  • Radar overlay (Premium)
  • Push alerts for saved places
  • 30-30 safety timer
  • Forecast context (Premium)
Features
Read full description

Lightning Tracker & Radar Map helps you understand storm activity before it reaches you. See live lightning, storm zones, alerts, saved places and forecast context in one focused weather safety app. Powered by NOAA GOES GLM and EUMETSAT MTG-I1 LI satellite data, Lightning Tracker shows recent lightning flashes on a fast map, clusters active strikes into storm zones, and helps you judge whether a storm is building, approaching or moving away. Coverage includes the Americas, Atlantic, Europe and Africa; features depend on supported coverage and data availability. USE IT BEFORE YOU GO OUT Check storms before golf, boating, hiking, school sports, outdoor work, road trips, camping, events and family time outside. Open the map, check the nearest activity, review the storm zone and decide whether to wait, move or seek shelter. LIVE LIGHTNING MAP Fresh strikes appear on the map with age and distance context. Zoom from a regional view down to the places that matter and keep watching as cells develop. STORM ZONES AND TRACKS Lightning clusters are grouped into storm zones so the map is easier to read. Track movement, intensity and projected paths instead of trying to interpret scattered strikes one by one. HISTORY AND FORECAST Premium unlocks 24-hour lightning history, a lightning heatmap and storm forecast context from NOAA SPC where available. ALERTS FOR SAVED PLACES Set an alert radius around the places you care about. Free users can monitor one saved place with basic storm data; Premium adds push alerts, wider radius, more saved places, advanced storm data and an ad-free experience. 30-30 SAFETY TIMER Use the built-in timer to follow the 30-minute lightning safety rule after nearby activity. It gives you a simple outdoor-safety checkpoint when the sky is changing fast. Lightning Tracker is built for one practical question: how close is the storm, where is it moving and is it time to get inside? Terms: https://lightningtracker.app/terms Privacy: https://lightningtracker.app/privacy

About

Lightning Radar

Track lightning strikes globally in real time with live alerts and detailed storm information. View strike locations, distances, and directions on an interactive map, and receive notifications as storms approach.

Highlights
  • Real-time lightning strike map
  • Customizable lightning alerts
  • Lock screen and Dynamic Island storm updates
  • Nearby radar and strike distance
  • Live chart of nearby storm activity
  • Search and save locations
  • Private by design, no tracking or ads
Features
Read full description

Lightning Radar shows you where lightning is striking, around you and around the world, in real time. LIGHTNING ALERTS Now you can be warned before a storm reaches you. Turn on Lightning Alerts and get a notification when strikes land within your chosen radius, around where you are and around any saved places you choose to watch. The alerts step up as a storm closes in, and they are tuned not to over-notify: once it is right on top of you, they stop repeating. Tap an alert to jump straight to that strike on the map. Alerts stay off until you switch them on, and you can turn them off any time. Turn on Background location and they can follow you as you move, still sending only the same coarse grid cell, so you stay covered on the road as well as at home. ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN While a storm is nearby, a Storm Live Activity keeps the nearest-strike distance on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show the live count of strikes near you at a glance. NEARBY RADAR See the closest strike to you at a glance: how far away it is, which direction it's in, and how long ago it hit. An animated radar dial sweeps through the strikes within your chosen range and turns to your compass heading, so "up" is the way you're facing. Set the range anywhere from 5 km out to 5,000 km. NEARBY ACTIVITY A live chart shows strikes per minute near you over the last several minutes, so you can tell whether a storm is building or moving off. Tap any strike to jump straight to it on the map. LIVE WORLD MAP Every strike detected by the Blitzortung.org volunteer network appears within seconds. From each one a ring spreads outward at the speed of sound, the way thunder travels, so you can watch a storm move and sense how far off it is. MADE TO EXPLORE • Search any place and jump to it • Save the spots you care about for one-tap access • Switch between a light or dark map • Distances in kilometres or miles • A live readout shows how far behind real time the feed is running IN YOUR LANGUAGE Lightning Radar is translated into 35 languages, from the map and the radar to alerts, widgets and the Storm Live Activity. It follows the language your phone is set to, or you can give the app a language of its own in Settings. Distances, dates and times follow whichever you pick. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account, no sign-up, no tracking, no ads, no third-party analytics. The map and radar run entirely on your device: your precise location is used only to place the radar around you and never leaves your phone. Lightning Alerts are the one exception, and only if you turn them on. To work out which strikes are near you, the app sends an anonymous notification token, your alert radius, and a coarse location: a grid cell roughly a fifth of your radius across, never your exact position. That goes to our own server (on our own hardware in the EU), is used only to find nearby lightning and deliver the alert through Apple, and is tied to no identity. Turn alerts off and it is deleted. ABOUT THE DATA Strike data comes from Blitzortung.org, a community network of volunteer-run detectors, and is free for personal, non-commercial use. Coverage isn't perfect and strikes can be missed or delayed, so please don't rely on Lightning Radar for anything safety-critical.

Screenshots

Lightning Tracker & Radar Map4 screens
Lightning Radar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Lightning Radar at 100% against Lightning Tracker & Radar Map's 50%. Lightning Radar also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and rating (4.9 vs 4.6). Lightning Tracker & Radar Map's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs monthly) and chart position (#116 vs unranked). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Lightning Tracker & Radar Map sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per 7 days. Lightning Radar asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lightning Radar holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lightning Tracker & Radar Map has 116 ratings behind it against 19, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Lightning Tracker & Radar Map's written reviews are positive against 100% of Lightning Radar's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lightning Tracker & Radar Map ships an update every 2 days, Lightning Radar monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Lightning Tracker & Radar Map versus Lightning Radar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLightning Tracker & Radar MapLightning Radar
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (116 ratings)4.9 (19 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings116 — better19
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank#116 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size81 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNikolai IakubovskiiKoode

Customer experience

Lightning Tracker & Radar Map

All ratings116 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Lightning Radar

All ratings19 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Lightning Tracker & Radar Map

Subscriptions5
  • Lightning Tracker Premium$5.997 Days
  • Premium Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Lightning Tracker Premium$19.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Lightning Tracker Premium3 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Lightning Tracker Premium3 Days trial$44.991 Year
None

Lightning Radar

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lightning Tracker & Radar Map free?
Lightning Tracker & Radar Map is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Lightning Radar free?
Lightning Radar is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Lightning Tracker & Radar Map or Lightning Radar?
Lightning Radar is rated higher. Lightning Tracker & Radar Map averages 4.6 out of 5 from 116 ratings, while Lightning Radar averages 4.9 from 19 ratings.
Do Lightning Tracker & Radar Map or Lightning Radar have ads?
Neither Lightning Tracker & Radar Map nor Lightning Radar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lightning Tracker & Radar Map or Lightning Radar?
Lightning Tracker & Radar Map ships an update every 2 days, and Lightning Radar monthly. Most recently, Lightning Tracker & Radar Map was updated on October 25, 2026 and Lightning Radar on October 24, 2026.

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