Tower 5 vs FireSignal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tower 5
Understand wildfire risk with real-time data on active fires, smoke plumes, and weather warnings. Generate detailed risk profiles for any U.S. address, including historical data and future climate projections. Essential for homeowners, professionals, and anyone concerned about fire safety.
- Live wildfire perimeters
- Satellite hot-spot detections
- Fire weather warnings
- Smoke plume tracking
- 96-hour rainfall timeline
- Property wildfire risk profiles
- Historical fire data
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Tower 5 is the easiest way to understand wildfire risk in your neighborhood — and across the United States. Whether you own a home in a fire-prone area, work in insurance underwriting, or just want to know when smoke is coming, Tower 5 puts the same federal data fire managers rely on into one map you can actually read. LIVE WILDFIRE INTELLIGENCE - Active fire perimeters from the National Interagency Fire Center - Satellite hot-spot detections from NASA FIRMS, refreshed throughout the day - Fire weather warnings from the National Weather Service - Smoke plumes from NOAA's Hazard Mapping System - A 96-hour rainfall timeline (past 24h to next 72h) - Real-time air temperature and surface wind across the country WILDFIRE RISK CONTEXT - Historical fire perimeters going back over a century - U.S. Drought Monitor severity, refreshed weekly - Tap any location to see every signal stacked in one popup PROPERTY RISK PROFILE Search any U.S. address to generate a comprehensive wildfire-risk profile: - Wildfire Hazard Potential rating - Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) classification - Future climate-adjusted burn probability - Surface fuel model — what would carry a fire here - Historical fires within 16 miles - Closest fire stations, hospitals, evacuation shelters Profiles are saved to your account so you can compare properties or revisit them later. PREMIUM (OPTIONAL) Tower 5 Premium unlocks advanced map layers — Hazard Potential, Future Risk, Energy Release Component, Surface Fuel Models, Wind, Drought, Hospitals, Shelters, and Power Lines — plus unlimited saved property profiles and PDF/CSV export. 7-day free trial, then $9.99/month. Subscription is managed at tower5.org/upgrade. WHO IT'S FOR - Homeowners in fire-prone areas - Insurance underwriters and risk analysts - Real estate buyers researching a property - Land managers and emergency planners - Anyone who's ever wondered "how close is that fire?" DATA SOURCES National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), NASA FIRMS, NOAA, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, LANDFIRE, National Weather Service, U.S. Drought Monitor, USGS SILVIS Lab, Department of Energy / HSIP. Per-layer attribution is available inside the app. LIMITATIONS Tower 5 is informational only. The app does not replace Wireless Emergency Alerts, NWS broadcasts, or guidance from your local fire authority. Always cross-check critical decisions with official sources. PRIVACY Tower 5 collects only the minimum data needed to authenticate your account and run your risk profiles. We do not sell user data. No third-party advertising SDKs. Privacy policy: https://tower5.org/privacy Terms of service: https://tower5.org/terms
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 ads: Tower 5 at none against FireSignal's shown. FireSignal's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Tower 5 ships an update fortnightly, FireSignal every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tower 5 | FireSignal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Snoflo.org LLC | Rutger Harder |
In-app purchases
Tower 5
No in-app purchases
FireSignal
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Tower 5 free?
Is FireSignal free?
Do Tower 5 or FireSignal have ads?
Which is updated more often, Tower 5 or FireSignal?
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