Scanner Radio

Scanner Radio is an app that let you listening to huge database of radio stations: police, amateur, weather...

First, as developers warns, take in account that the audio is provided by volunteers using real scanner radios. If your area is not available, see the menu in the app for information on how to get it added.

By tapping on "Near me" (GPS connected) it will scan and find those radio repeaters that are around you. But anyway, you can listen to in streaming radios from around the world. There's a browser to search by area, by genre, by source, custom scanners and configured alerts. This last notify you when lots of people are listening to a scanner, because that means that something is happening over there. You can mark as favorite those radio stations that you most like or check the Top 50 radio scanners out. There's also a chat room from scanner radio users, but downloading a plug-in is required.

Scanner Radio has been developed by Gordon Edwards. This is his only app (plus, the pro version and the plug-in), but it has been well received for Android users regarding amount of downloads and rating.

If you don't want to miss what's going on the radio waves, this is your app. Truly recommendable.

Listen to live audio from over 3,300 police and fire scanners, weather radios, and amateur radio repeaters from around the world (primarily in the United States and Australia though, with more being added daily).

Features:

* Add scanners you listen to the most to your Favorites list for quick access.
* View scanners that are located nearest you, sorted by distance, by clicking on "Near Me"
* View the top 50 scanners that have the most listeners (updated every 5 minutes).
* View list of scanners added most recently (new additions are being added all the time).
* Browse the directory of scanner feeds by location or by genre (public safety, weather, railroad, etc).
* Configure alerts to have the app notify you when lots of people are listening to a scanner (indicating that something big may be happening).
* Add Scanner Radio widgets and/or shortcuts to your phone's home screen for quick access.
* Add a "Scanner Radio Favorite" shortcut to your home screen to launch a scanner feed via an alarm clock app or automation app.
* Allows you to listen to archived audio (from the past 30 days) if you have a RadioReference.com Premium Subscription. Their premium subscription is $15 for 6 months, without it you will not be able to access their audio archives using the app.

This is the free version of the app, below are the benefits of purchasing the Pro version (for $2.99):

* The Pro version contains no ads.
* Allows you to specify what times of day you want to receive listener alerts.
* Allows you to setup listener alerts for scanners located near you.
* The play button at the top of the directory screens and on the widgets is functional.
* Acts as a Locale Plug-in, allows you to have Locale or Tasker launch the app and have one of your Favorites automatically begin playing based on one or more conditions or have the app stop playing. One use for this feature is to have a scanner feed begin playing when your phone connects to a specific Bluetooth device and then have it stop when the connection to that Bluetooth device is no longer present.

The audio is provided by volunteers using real scanner radios. If your area is not available, see the menu in the app for information on how to get it added.

Explanation of why various permissions are needed:

The "Modify global system settings" permission is needed in order for the app to be able to change the device's "Wi-Fi Sleep Policy" to "Never" (but only with your permission). When you run the app, it will check the setting and ask you if you would like for it to be changed to "Never" (if it's set to something else) so that the scanner audio won't be interrupted if the screen turns off while you're listening over Wi-Fi.

The "Phone Calls / Read Phone State" permission is needed by the app so that it can detect when you're placing a phone call (or when one is being received) so that it can automatically stop the streaming of the audio to prevent it from interfering with the call.

The "Fine (GPS) Location" and "Coarse Location" permissions are required so that the app can determine what scanners are located in your area when you click on "Near Me". When you click on "Near Me" the app first attempts to determine your location via the network, if that fails the app then tries to determine your location via GPS.

The "Automatically Start at Boot" permission is required so that a small portion of the app can be started when your phone boots if (and only if) you turn on the listener alert checking feature of the app (that feature is turned off by default).

If the audio repeats or the app stays connected for only a short time, try returning to a directory screen in the app, then select "Settings" from the menu, then "Player settings", and then try changing the "Streaming method" setting.

Follow "Scanner Radio" on Facebook or ScannerRadio on Twitter to be notified about service interruptions, new beta versions, etc.

Keywords: police scanner, radio scanner