The 4 Best Free Police Scanner Apps (2024)

FAQs

Can I listen to my local police scanner on my phone? ›

Download a police scanner app for your mobile device.

There are many different police scanner apps available to casual listeners, all of which will provide access to channels in your immediate vicinity and beyond. While some police scanner apps are sold for a small price (usually $3-5), many of the best ones are free.

Thanks to our fans for making 5-0 Radio the #1 most downloaded police scanner app on the market. This app is one of top 100 most downloaded iOS apps since 2009.

Many large cities in the US and UK have encrypted all police radio conversations, making it impossible to listen to local police scanners. If you live in one of these areas, you should know that other emergency radio channels, like fire and EMS, are usually not encrypted, so you may listen in on local issues.

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Short answer: apps and streams won't get you nearly as far as a scanner. Depending on your area, there may not be anything related to your local emergency response agencies available to monitor on an app or stream. With streams and apps, you are listening to a feed of a scanner, just someone else's.

Can scanners be modified to listen to it? By federal law monitoring private phone conversations is prohibited. No scanners made in the last 10 years have been capable of monitoring cell phones or are capable of being modified to do so.

All scanners need to be programmed or you will not be able to hear your local police department—or anything else. Programming is to scanners what gas is to cars. You're not going to get too far without the fuel it needs to operate.

If you'll want to take it around town, to the mall or sporting event or air show, then buy a portable. If it will almost exclusively be used on your desk or night table at home, then the base/desktop is the right choice. For mobile use if the radio will be fixed in the car then we recommend a base/mobile scanner.

Scanner Pro is the best scanning app for your iPhone and iPad. Scan agreements, receipts, IDs, books, and more using your device and turn them into high-quality PDFs, so you can safely store and share them anywhere. Experience the simplicity of on-the-go document scanning.

Reasons for municipalities switching to digital systems is because of clearer sound and a greater range of reception. Analog scanners provide voice from Analog signals.

What frequency do most police use? ›

Ka Band represents the most recent and widely used frequency range in police radar technology, operating between 33.4 to 36.0 GHz. This band is favored by law enforcement for its shorter wavelengths, which allow for more accurate speed measurement and reduced visibility to radar detectors.

It is legal to own and operate police scanners in the United States. This is because airwaves in America are public property. Therefore, information being sent over these public airwaves does not benefit from privacy, an idea that was established within this context by the 1934 Communications Act.

Short answer: apps and streams won't get you nearly as far as a scanner. Depending on your area, there may not be anything related to your local emergency response agencies available to monitor on an app or stream. With streams and apps, you are listening to a feed of a scanner, just someone else's.

Encrypted signals cannot be picked up on any scanner. Some scanner formats can pick up more than one format (See chart below). Digital scanners can pick up all formats (phase 2, phase 1, trunked & analog), trunked scanners can pick up (trunked & analog), analog scanners can only pick up analog.