How To Turn Your Android Phone Into A Police Radio Scanner
Curious about police activity in your area, but don’t want to invest in a dedicated police scanner? Try using your Android phone instead.
With an Android app called Scanner Radio, you can turn your Android phone into a portable police scanner. Volunteers with scanners provide over 3,100 audio streams from police and fire departments, weather radios, and amateur radio operators.
You can let Scanner Radio search for scanners near your current location, or manually search for scanners based on area, genre, or source.
Once you find your favorite audio feeds, you can add them as favorites for quick access. You can also listen to archives of certain feeds, but that feature requires the Pro version .
That’s it. Just a little warning: listening in on police scanners can be addictive and scary, all at the same time.
How Can I Listen To A Radio Frequency Online
Use Websites Streaming Police Frequencies Broadcastify: This website is one of the most well-known free options for listening to fire, ambulance and police scanners. TuneIn: While this website is known more for broadcasting music, sports and news stations, it also hosts several police frequencies around the country.
The 20 Best Police Scanner Apps For Android
Whether you are a security officer or a general citizen, you should have a police scanner app on your smartphone. In all the highly developed countries, people use these kinds of tools for different safety purposes. Using such a supportive app, you can get updates on your local area. What is happening in your area, and if there is a fire, accident, or criminal attract, this kind of app will notify you instantly. Especially when you are the police or other security in charge, a police scanner app is like a must-have for you. It will always keep you connected to other police stations. Besides, it will help you find out the location of any incident instantly. However, if you dont have a compatible police scanner app for your Android device, you will be on the right track.
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States That Restrict Police Scanner Use While Driving
The image above highlights the U.S. states where there are restrictions surrounding the use of a scanner while driving.
Below is a link to each States statute.
While there is nuance appended to these laws, and some states such as Minnesota and Florida authorize use with a permit or a HAM radio license, they all have the same bottom line:
You cannot use a police scanner while operating a motor vehicle.
These laws were enacted to prevent users from listening to police communications with the intent to circumvent speed traps.
Most of these laws were intended for fuzz busters,” but they also apply to scanners.
Please note that police scanner apps are also covered by most of these statues. However, because scanner apps have fairly recently entered the public sphere, and there is pending litigation in several states, these laws will change as precedent case law is constituted.
Police Scanner Apps For Free
It doesnt cost a thing to listen live to police radio. Police scanners have moved online and they are easier to listen to than ever before. There are a lot of ways to access police scanners for your information and entertainment.
Some websites broadcast police communications and transmissions. You can listen live by going to these websites. Another way you can listen in is by downloading one of a number of police scanner apps to your smart phone. These apps also provide information on how to listen to the scanner and how to find the information or feed that youre looking for.
There are lots of reasons that people today listen to police scanners. This is an important way that journalists find out about crime and emergency events in their area, so that they can report on these events for the public. Concerned citizens can also follow crime and other sudden events that happen by listening to a police scanner. Its also an important way for citizens to hold law enforcement accountable for the public service they are hired to perform.
If youre wondering where to go to listen to police scanner, keep reading to learn about your options. Make sure you check the local laws in your area. Listening in to police activity is legal in most states, but you want to make sure that there arent local restrictions that could get you into trouble.
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How To Turn A Phone Into A Radio Scanner
To turn your smartphone into a radio scanner, you need an app and either a mobile data plan or access to a Wi-Fi signal.
Since your phone can’t receive over-the-air transmissions from sources like police radios, you’ll rely on radio buffs to receive and then stream transmissions.
Apps are available for each major mobile operating system , and they all work in the same basic manner. Instead of tuning a scanner to a local broadcast that interests you, you choose from streams available in apps that you download to your phone.
Among the many free and subscription-based scanner apps for iOS phones are Police Scanner +, 5-0 Radio Police Scanner, and Police Stream. If your phone is an Android device, check out the Police Scanner X, Scanner 911, and Broadcastify Police Scanner .
Depending on where you live, you may be able to tap into local streams or choose to listen in on streams from far distant places.
Fire And Police Radio
In our testing, we find this is one of the best police scanners recommended by EX cops. All the essential features are there, and they work as expected, like browsing nearby and popular police radio channels, add your favorites and get alerts from around the country. However, we are more interested in talking about other interesting features that are uncommon in similar apps. It has a dark mode, a sleep timer similar to FM Radio apps, and a 10- code page for different departments.
Surprisingly, the Police Scanner app has a built-in walkie-talkie that lets you leave short voice messages on the channel for other app users. Thats awesome!
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Retire Your Ham Radio And Listen To Thousands Of Police Fire And Rescue Feed
In recent months there are more protests than ever America has seen. Police scanner apps have become essential for smartphone owners to follow the events. Now you can listen to cops, police feeds, and more with these police scanner apps from the Google Play Store. Listening to police radio also helps to stay up to date with the crime new in your local.
Apps For Police Scanners Free
Developers have made listening in to a police scanner as easy as a phone app. There are a number of different apps that each offer a variety of features and function:
1. 5-0 Radio Police Scanner
This app is one of the most popular for police scanners. Get it here from the Apple App Store and listen on your iPad or iPhone. For Android users, you can .Theres no charge to use it. You just have to download it to a compatible device and join one of the more than 11 million people who use the app.
This free app is so popular because it brings you so many things from around the world. There are emergency feeds from many cities, states and even countries. There are also ham radio feeds to keep you entertained and listen to authentic, grassroots broadcasting. The app organizes the different feeds by location, so you can search by city, state or country to find what youre looking for. You can also use the app to share content with others.
To make your listening meaningful, the app gives you a a reference guide. You can use it to understand police codes and meanings. That way, you know whats happening and what the police are saying. This is a great place to start if youre wondering where to go to listen to police scanner.
2. Scanner Radio Pro
3. Emergency Radio
4. Police Scanner Apps Other
Tips on Police Codes
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How Can I Listen To The Police
Listening to police radio can be an exciting way to keep up with the efforts of law enforcement and other first responders and learn about emergency situations developing in your area. To tune in, youll need to either purchase a standalone scanner or download a police scanner app for your mobile device.
Police Scanner Police Activities Police News Today
Turn your device into a portable police scanner with Police Scanner Police Activities Police News Today. This app lets you get aware not only of police sirens but also the fire rescuers and radars. It will give you international feeds as well as all the breaking news too. You can stay active with thousands of viewers and be a witness to whatever happens. Besides, all the top channels here are free so that you can be regular visitors to those.
Important Features
- This app provides all the real police information from many countries as well as your local area.
- A supreme user-friendly display helps people to use this app spontaneously.
- Instead of television and other media, you can use this scanner app to have radio-based systems with quick updates.
- It will also notify you of breaking news updates, and notifications will be top on your mobile.
- This app also lets you visit all the official police video channels, public channels.
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The Best Police Scanner Apps For Ios And Android
You dont have to be a crime reporter or a private eye in an old noir film to use a police scanner, nor must you splurge on a stand-alone device just to get the inside scoop. The right smartphone app will allow you to eavesdrop with ease and stay informed about whatevers going down in your neighborhood, including arrests, emergencies, and current road conditions. Weve rounded up some of the best police scanner apps for both platforms.
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Citizen: Connect On The Most Powerful Safety App
Get yourself alert with one of the best police scanner apps for Android. Citizen is a compatible app that connects with the most powerful and safe service. It will be there to reach your help from your friends and nearby people in every emergency. This app is mostly acknowledged as a safety tool that ensures your security anywhere, anytime. To know more usage of this app, kindly have a look at the below information.
Important Features
- This supportive app provides you with a real-time safety alert that will notify you to turn aside the risky places.
- It offers Live Breaking Video so that you can get every update of any disaster condition.
- While the criminals attempt to commit a crime, reach your help to identify them before the police fail to catch them.
- As you will get a safety map along with the app, but if you want to keep the location private, just click on Ghost Mode.
- This app also works as a home security app and will let you find your friends and family members locations on the map.
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Are Frequency App Scanners Legal
- Shoreline Community College
Radio scanners serve a handful of niche audiences. You may have had people tell you about some of the crazy or interesting things they’ve heard on their scanner, and it sounds like it might be fun to have one in your car. However, you could upgrade your head unit or install a couple of premium speakers for the same price.
If the cost of buying a police scanner is a big stumbling block, you’ll be happy to hear you have a more affordable door into the world of radio scanners right in your pocket. It’s your smartphone. In between sending texts and checking Facebook, you can use your phone to listen in on a variety of radio scanner streams.
Scanner 911 Runner Up Best Overall
Features:
- Built-in equalizer with amplifier effects
- Includes a list of ten codes to understand the action nearby
- Searches for scanners in every city or county
- You can listen in the background while using other apps on the phone,
- Lock screen controls and headset buttons
When it comes to reliable performance, Scanner 911 comes out on the prime ranks. It launches quickly and smoothly to show you a menu offering feeds, recording capabilities, popular channels, and other features youd want from the best police scanners.
Out of many radio scanner apps on Playstore and Appstore, Scanner 911 ranks as the best police scanner app of 2020. Thats an obvious edge, and its mainly because of the value and user experience it provides.
So in case you were wondering which is the best police scanner app according to Playstore and Appstore, its Scanner 911.
Beyond the basics, this is well designed. It offers police codes within a given stream and shows the popularity of each radio feed within your county. Users can also customize their skin to increase readability or visual appeal. Plus, it comes with Material Design and equalizer.
However, our favorite feature is the Scanner 911s map integration. Once you open up a stream, your iPhone reveals a map that shows the feeds coverage area. In our tests, this feature is one thats easy to use.
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Are Radio Scanner Apps Legal
Legality is a sticky point because police scanners are legal in some places and illegal in others. It’s important to check the laws in your jurisdiction before installing one of these apps. You may be charged with a crime if you’re arrested and the police find a radio scanner app on your phone. A Google search can turn up your state’s laws regarding scanner apps.
If you’re brazen enough to use one of these apps in the commission of a crime, the consequences may be even more severe. For example, in Florida, intercepting police communications to assist in a crime or escape automatically escalates the severity of the crime.
As with many other things, the use of radio scanner apps is one of personal responsibility. If they’re illegal where you live, you can choose to use one anyway. There’s no way to track your usage, so you’ll be fine as long as you don’t get caught. However, if you are caught, and they are illegal, you’ll find out quickly that ignorance of the law isn’t an acceptable defense.
On the other hand, if scanner apps are legal where you live, you might have found yourself a new hobby.
The 5 Best Police Scanner Apps For Android
With these free police scanner apps you can use your Android phone to listen in on the police and other emergency services.
Police scanner apps let you listen in to public radio feeds on your phone for police, fire, and other emergency departments. You can stay up to date with any crimes or emergencies going on in your area. Or you can listen to live radio feeds from other cities or even other countries just for fun.
Here’s our list of the best free police scanner apps for Android.
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States That Restrict Police Scanner Use In The Furtherance Of A Crime
The image above highlights the States where there are restrictions surrounding the use of a scanner in the furtherance of a crime.
Below is a link to each States statute.
While there are nuances in each state, these laws all have the same bottom line:
If you utilize a police scanner in aid of a crime, you can be charged with an additional crime.
Penalties for this crime vary wildly from state to state. For example:
- Vermont: Up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine.
- Rhode Island: Up to 5 years and a $5,000 fine.
While these laws are well-intentioned, they contain obvious oddities. An individual robbing a bank most likely will not be hindered by additional penalties. As in the case of many laws, penalties are elaborately layered.
Note: we are not licensed attorneys and we recommend that you consult an attorney if you have any questions about the specifics of these statutes. This article was written only to give surface-level background on the legality of police scanners.
Police Detector Radar Blitz Camera & Alert
You can now alert your speed on the road with this Police Detector, Radar, Blitz Camera & Alert app. Youll get notifications about police and radar obstruction. Besides, you can check the mark locations of police cameras as well as their locations too.
This app has an appealing, designed theme with no interference. Moreover, a simple interface will make it easy and flexible to use. Besides, its a commercial-free app that wont kill your time. Lets take a look at the features given below.
Important Features
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Do Police Scanner Apps Actually Work
There are many police scanner apps available for your phone. They do not turn your cellphone into a radio. They do access internet streams uploaded by owners of home police scanners. So yes, you can listen to real live police radio chatter on your phone while in your car.
It may surprise you to know that its perfectly legal to listen to police radio channels. Most of the time, police departments, fire department, and ambulance crews use public radio channels to communicate. In all 50 states, you can install a police scanner in your home and listen in. But there are some states that outlaw listening from your car.
Early in the internet age, many home police scanner owners began to stream audio from their radios. Anyone interested could listen to these from their own computers, just like they would listen to a home scanner.
Now, several software developers have released police scanner apps for your iPhone and Android. With these apps, you can select a police scanner stream and listen in. These streams are not limited by your location, so you could listen to any streamed police channel from Miami to Mendocino. But listening may not always be legal.