8 best police scanner apps (2024)

Police scanner apps allow you to listen to radio feeds, whether you're a hobbyist interested in police communications or want to learn about local police and crime in your neighborhood. Zeroing in on a suitable police scanner app can be a challenge. To narrow that list, here are our picks for the best police scanner apps. These applications are free to download on various devices, including our favorite Android tablets and smartphones.

Police scanners and scanner apps are legal in most of the United States. Still, make sure ordinances or local laws don't prohibit using them and find out if they require a permit.

Walkie-talkies vs. scanners

Walkie-talkies are portable two-way radios that law enforcement agencies and first responders commonly use for direct, on-the-move communication. Scanners are specialized devices with RF receiver chips designed to receive these radio broadcasts. This allows users to monitor these professional communications. While analog police scanners are bulky devices, their digital counterparts offer a convenient and easy-to-use interface.

1 Scanner Radio – Police Scanner

Audio from 7,000+ scanners

Scanner Radio is one of the best police scanner apps on Android and iOS. The app covers live audio feeds from more than 7,000 fire department and police scanners, weather radio stations, ham radio repeaters, marine radios, and air traffic. You can check local scanners near you, view the top 50 scanners with the most listeners, and check newly added scanners and favorite frequently used ones.

Scanner Radio arranges its radio channels in categories such as public safety, aviation, marine, weather, and railroad. Scanner Radio supports real-time updates and push notifications when a police scanner has more than 2,000 listeners, major alerts for one of your favorite stations, and more. You can also use Scanner Radio widgets and shortcuts for easy access from the home screen.

2 Police Scanner – Live Scanner

Largest source of scanner streams

Police Scanner has one of the largest databases of scanner radio communication streams. You can listen to thousands of fire, police department, and radio scanner feeds worldwide. Police Scanner also has a better-looking UI than other apps on the list.

You can find a station's location in your state, check listener counts for each station, view feeds near your location, and create a custom favorites list. The developer frequently updates the app to add new EMS stations.

3 Police Scanner

EMS feeds from the web

Police Scanner is another capable Android app. It combines the best police and emergency scanner radio feeds from the web. It includes more than 7,000 police radio scanners, fire scanners, and radio repeaters. You'll see the maximum number of stations and channels from the United States, Canada, and Australia.

The app shows the top 25 police scanner radio stations, and you can create a list of favorite stations for easy access. In addition to police activity, you can check for air traffic, rail, marine, and weather. You stay informed about police activity and get weather updates, so you're always in the know in case of an emergency.

4 Police Scanner - Scanner Radio

Filter the scanners by location

It's one of our favorite police scanner apps on the list. You can filter the radio scanners by location and find a fire alarm, railroad radio, aircraft, emergency, news, and live police dispatches quickly. The app carries thousands of scanner radio feeds from all over the world.

Like Scanner Radio, you can receive real-time notifications for ongoing activities, breaking news, traffic, and other emergency events in your area. You can also check the popularity feed of each station and mark it as a favorite for quick access. Police Scanner supports a sleep time to stop the station at a specific time.

5 Police Scanner X

Featuring a custom streaming player

Although Police Scanner X has an outdated user interface design, it gets the job done. The app includes a custom streaming player for a better experience. You can filter the most popular radio stations from the sidebar and check active listeners for each station. After pressing the play button, Police Scanner X streams it from the top mini-player.

6 Police Scanner 5.0

Save your favorite stations

Police Scanner 5.0 covers more than 7,000 radio station feeds from emergency services and weather departments. You can read 200+ top police stations and breaking news in your area, save your favorite stations, and record stations for later playback. You can use a shutdown timer, access the notification center's media player, and check daily updates in the app.

It offers a clean user experience without pop-up ads. Police Scanner 2.0 also supports a dark theme to browse your favorite police radio stations at night.

7 Police Scanner Radio

Receive alerts for scanners

Police Scanner Radio offers a smooth app experience with a modern UI. It supports 10 countries and lets you browse stations based on popularity. In the US, you can filter stations based on states. You can check current listeners, press the play button to start streaming, or favorite it to access later. Police Scanner Radio lists the top 50 scanners under the Popular tab.

8 Scanner 911

The free app with plenty of features

Scanner 911 is a free police scanner app developed by XYWARE. It offers live audio from thousands of police, fire, EMS, and aviation frequencies across the US. You can search for stations by city or zip code. You can also turn on location services to see scanners closest to you.

The app allows you to play a station in the background while you use other apps and control playback and volume with the screen locked. You can also adjust the sound with equalizer and booster effects. Plus, there's a sleep timer to stop playback after you fall asleep.

Scanner 911 doesn't include a paid version. All the features are free, but you'll deal with ads. The app hasn't been updated since June 2021, so you may encounter some bugs. We didn't notice any issues while testing the app.

Stay updated on the latest happenings in your area

Whether you use police scanner apps to stay up to date on local crime or you're an amateur radio enthusiast who uses them for entertainment, nothing's more annoying than when the app crashes during an interesting live feed. Our handy guide details how to stop apps from crashing. If you no longer need an app, uninstall it from your Android phone or tablet.