FirstWatch vs WAVE PTX
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FirstWatch
Provides real-time public safety and health performance data for emergency services and public health teams. Monitor key metrics, receive automated alerts, and gain situational awareness through interactive dashboards and mapping features.
- Real-time dashboards
- Situational awareness
- Response time monitoring
- Automated alerting
- Regional data aggregation
- Event mapping
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Near real-time public safety and public health performance, operational and clinical compliance data at your finger-tips via your iPad, that’s FirstWatch! 911, EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement and Public Health teams across the USA & Canada count on FirstWatch every day, as we monitor CAD, ProQA, ePCR, RMS and Hospital data in real-time, automatically. The ability to understand and correct a problem in real-time saves time, money and keeps your team informed. This App is intended for use by authorized FirstWatch clients. If you are not an authorized user, you will not be able to access the system. Real-Time Dashboards for: Situational Awareness Response Times & KPIs Clinical and Operational Performance Automated Alerting Regional Data Aggregation & Sharing Bioterrorism Pandemic/Public Health Surveillance Key Features: Gauge Drilldown – Drill into each individual gauge for a more in-depth trigger summary, including a link to view the full trigger via the FirstWatch system in your web browser. Trigger Listing – Self-select to view the status of your performance based or trend based triggers. Alert History – View a complete alert summary including the time each alert was sent. Event Listing – Dynamically sized event listing for each individual trigger. Mapping – Event locations plotted out using Apple maps. Performance based triggers use red and green pins to represent events occurring within or outside of the set standard. Quick-Access Function Keys – Quickly launch your FirstWatch Workspace, trigger (such as your hospital transport status dashboard) or any URL on your Safari browser. Upon downloading this application, all triggers you are currently subscribed to will automatically load into the App and be made available for you to set up in your mobile dashboard however you like. Your mobile carrier’s data rates may apply.
WAVE PTX
This app enables secure, reliable push-to-talk communication across various networks and devices. It extends existing two-way radio services to broadband users, enhancing team productivity with instant messaging and multimedia sharing.
- Secure broadband PTT communication
- Carrier-independent network use
- Emergency calling
- Real-time streaming video
- Voice and text messaging
- User location tracking
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Take Push-To-Talk Further: Based on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Mission Critical Push-To-Talk (MCPTT) standards, WAVE PTT provides fast, secure, reliable broadband PTT communication across any network, any device. Expand existing land mobile radio (LMR) service to include broadband users on the devices and networks they already have. Extend two-way radio push-to-talk communication to phones, tablets and PCs and increase team productivity with instant communication anywhere you have a network or Wi-Fi connection. • Carrier-independent, use any 3G/4G LTE, public Wi-Fi, or private data network connection • Emergency calling and other critical communications features • Real time streaming video • Voice messaging, pre-recorded or record-and-send • Group and private 1-1 PTT calls • Group and private 1-1 text messaging • Persistent threaded history of messages, texts, multimedia • Interoperability to LMR networks • Multimedia - share images, videos, or files • Locate and track users on a map WAVE PTT is not available for use by individual consumers. Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Screenshots
Verdict
FirstWatch and WAVE PTX both sit at 3.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 50% of FirstWatch's written reviews are positive against 36% of WAVE PTX's. WAVE PTX's advantage is ratings volume (38 vs 3) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.7 for FirstWatch against 3.7 for WAVE PTX. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: WAVE PTX has 38 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of FirstWatch's written reviews are positive against 36% of WAVE PTX's.
FirstWatch ships an update every 3 months, WAVE PTX every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FirstWatch | WAVE PTX |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (3 ratings) | 3.7 (38 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 35.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 38 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 77 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | FirstWatch Solutions, Inc. | Motorola Solutions, Inc |
Customer experience
FirstWatch
WAVE PTX
In-app purchases
FirstWatch
No in-app purchases
WAVE PTX
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is FirstWatch free?
Is WAVE PTX free?
Which has better reviews, FirstWatch or WAVE PTX?
Do FirstWatch or WAVE PTX have ads?
Which is updated more often, FirstWatch or WAVE PTX?
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