Lightning Radar vs Lightning Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
Lightning Tracker
Track lightning strikes in real-time with live maps and receive push notifications before storms arrive. View precipitation radar, storm intensity hotspots, and NOAA's severe weather outlook. Rewind up to 24 hours of storm activity.
- Live lightning strike map
- Push notifications for lightning alerts
- 2-hour precipitation radar playback
- Storm intensity hotspots
- NOAA severe storm outlook
- 24-hour storm rewind
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See every lightning strike as it happens — and get a push before the storm is overhead. Lightning Tracker turns NOAA's GOES weather satellite into your personal storm warning system. Strikes appear on the map within seconds of hitting the ground, updated every 20 seconds, so you can watch storm cells form, move, and fade in real time. LIVE STRIKE MAP • Every strike plotted live from NOAA's GOES lightning sensor • Color-coded by age — instantly see where the storm is right now, not 15 minutes ago • Nearest-strike card shows exactly how far away lightning is and which direction it's moving ALERTS THAT FIND YOU • Set your alert radius and get a push notification the moment lightning strikes inside it • Watch multiple places at once — home, the cabin, the ballpark, grandma's house • Alerts work even when the app is closed KNOW WHAT'S COMING • Radar: 2-hour precipitation playback, frame by frame — see the rain that rides with the storm • Hotspots: live storm zones ranked by intensity and distance from you • Forecast: NOAA's official severe-storm outlook for today, tomorrow, and day 3 REWIND THE STORM • Scrub back through 24 hours of lightning, hour by hour • See exactly where last night's storm tracked — and whether it hit your street BUILT FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED TO KNOW Golfers, boaters, hikers, coaches, event organizers, storm watchers, and anyone who's ever stood on an open field wondering if that rumble was close. If lightning is within your radius, you'll know before you hear the thunder. LIGHTNING TRACKER PRO Go further with Pro: extend your alert radius up to 186 miles, unlock radar playback and the 24-hour storm rewind, and watch unlimited saved locations. Free users get the live strike map and alerts up to 31 miles — forever. Download now and never get caught in the open again. Privacy Policy: https://lightningmap.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Lightning Radar at none against Lightning Tracker's 2. Lightning Tracker's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Lightning Radar asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Lightning Radar against 5.0 for Lightning Tracker. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 6 respectively.
Lightning Radar ships an update monthly, Lightning Tracker fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lightning Radar | Lightning Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (12 ratings) | 5.0 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.1 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Koode | Kurt Higa |
Customer experience
Lightning Radar
Lightning Tracker
In-app purchases
Lightning Radar
No in-app purchases
Lightning Tracker
- Lightning Tracker Pro Weekly$2.997 Days
- Lightning Tracker Pro Annual3 Days trial$19.991 Year
Questions
Is Lightning Radar free?
Is Lightning Tracker free?
Which has better reviews, Lightning Radar or Lightning Tracker?
Do Lightning Radar or Lightning Tracker have ads?
Which is updated more often, Lightning Radar or Lightning Tracker?
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