BlitzortungLive vs Lightning Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BlitzortungLive
Monitor lightning strikes in near real-time on a map. Receive push alerts for detected strikes in a customizable area. Supports multiple languages and displays historical strike data.
- Live lightning strike display
- Historical strike visualization
- Customizable push alerts
- Multi-language support
- Real-time map view
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See thunderstorms the moment they happen. BlitzortungLive shows lightning strikes from the worldwide Blitzortung.org community network on the map in near real time – now together with precipitation radar, thunderstorm forecasts and wind, so you can see at a glance where a storm is, how strong it is and where it is heading. LIVE LIGHTNING • New strikes appear within seconds and fade from yellow to red as they age • Lightning map with the strikes of the last hours (lightningmaps.org) • Strike counter for the visible area • Optional sound for new strikes WEATHER RADAR & FORECAST • Precipitation radar for Germany and neighbouring regions, updated every 5 minutes • Animated timeline: the last two hours plus a 2-hour nowcast • Forecast images are clearly marked – you always know whether you see measured or predicted data • Satellite cloud images and animated wind THUNDERSTORMS • Current and forecast thunderstorm areas across Europe • Thunderstorm tracks in Germany with direction, speed and warning level • Lightning density map • Instability (Lifted Index) shows where thunderstorms can develop LOOK BACK • Scroll back through the last two hours of radar – each image shows the lightning the app received at that time while it was open THUNDERSTORM ALERT • Push notification when lightning is detected near you • Choose the alert area on the map or use your location, radius from 1 to 300 km (0.6 to 186 mi) MADE FOR TODAY'S IPHONE AND IPAD • Completely redesigned for iOS 17 and later • Smooth map with GPU rendering – zoom and pan without waiting • Dark Mode, Dynamic Type, VoiceOver and Reduce Motion support • 12 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil) and Russian FREE – NO ADS, NO TRACKING BlitzortungLive is free and contains no advertising and no tracking. ABOUT BLITZORTUNG.ORG BlitzortungLive is an additional service of the Blitzortung.org project, a community network of volunteers operating lightning detection stations all over the world. Coverage and accuracy depend on the stations in each region. For general questions about Blitzortung.org or to join the network with your own station, please visit www.blitzortung.org and read the documentation and FAQ first. DATA SOURCES Weather data: Deutscher Wetterdienst (CC BY 4.0), satellite data EUMETSAT. Instability: NOAA GFS (model data). Lightning: Blitzortung.org. BlitzortungLive is not an official warning service. In case of danger, follow the warnings of your national weather service.
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/
Screenshots
Verdict
BlitzortungLive and Lightning Tracker both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 75% of BlitzortungLive's written reviews are positive against 8% of Lightning Tracker's. BlitzortungLive also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 6) and ratings volume (665 vs 172). 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. Lightning Tracker sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. BlitzortungLive asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for BlitzortungLive against 4.4 for Lightning Tracker. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 665 and 172 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of BlitzortungLive's written reviews are positive against 8% of Lightning Tracker's.
BlitzortungLive ships an update every 6 months, Lightning Tracker every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BlitzortungLive | Lightning Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (665 ratings) — better | 4.4 (172 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.3% of reviews — better | 8.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 665 — better | 172 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Marco Bauer | Going Merry LLC |
Customer experience
BlitzortungLive
Lightning Tracker
Bugs and requests
BlitzortungLive
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes on startup
- Delayed or missing strike notifications
- Inaccurate location of strikes
- Issues with map updates
Requested features
5 requests- Customizable alert radius
- Historical lightning data
- Weather radar integration
- Ability to report missing strikes
- Option to remove ads
Lightning Tracker
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
BlitzortungLive
No 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
Questions
Is BlitzortungLive free?
Is Lightning Tracker free?
Which has better reviews, BlitzortungLive or Lightning Tracker?
Do BlitzortungLive or Lightning Tracker have ads?
Which is updated more often, BlitzortungLive or Lightning Tracker?
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