ActiveAlert

I use this app on two different SAR teams ( in Oregon state and Washington state). This app has always been great, but I have a problem with the chat feature. Lately it seems as though the text size has shrunken to like a size 4 or 5 font… it’s very hard to read especially if you’re enroute and don’t want to miss updates from your team mates. The other thing is that if you switch to your map then switch back to access the chat, you have to go through the whole process of reopening the chat string instead of it staying open. To make things safer for us that use the app, please allow us to adjust the font size within the app (or make it bigger again) and keep the chat window open when we switch out off the app.

The app does part of what it should do... I would give it 5 stars if the mapping system actually worked. For example, when clicking on the google maps button the app uses what I’m assuming to be gps coordinates vs the actual address. Maybe times the gps coordinates are wrong. And because they are gps coordinates it is impossible to verify that you are going to the correct address because you’re comparing numbers vs the actual address text. The other issues when using gps coordinates is when you arriving at the location. If I’m driving and I want to confirm the house number via the google map app I can’t because it shows that you have arrived at the gps location vs saying you have arrived at t 123 Main St for example. Another issue is you can not copy text from the dispatch information and then paste that into google maps, the app doesn’t allow you to copy information from the app to put into other apps like google maps, Apple Maps, or any other app. This makes verifying the address extremely hard and annoying. If they mapping issues aren’t their fault they should allow people to be able to copy and paste the information so you can easily google the address and verify the information is correct.

Very useful it’s been great to use active 911 on my volunteer dept. cause our dept is very out dated due to funding issues and we do not have MDTs or CADs in our trucks so we rely heavily on this for finding our way to calls and I must say 95% it’s on the mark a few times it’s not but that’s not the app it’s google maps or Apple Maps that is messed up. Only suggestion I wish to see which is only a personal preference is ability to add in your created tone by your self. I made my depts Fire tone and have a file downloaded and would love to use it personally cause I’m used to hearing it from my radio for dispatch. I’m more accustomed to it and rather use it personally. But that’s not and wrong with the app just would like it as personal preference of mine app is amazing and also the family sms for my family to know when I have a call is nice.

I wanted to write this review to say that this app deserves a 5 star rating on the App Store, and here’s why. I decided to look through the most critical reviews of this app and the trend I noticed was that the developers replied to every single review and clearly explained why bugs were happening and how they were working on Fixing them constantly! I personally really appreciated this because they could have just as easily never updated this app or never listened to the reviews and fix thing or changed aspects of the app to work better for everyone. So to the hard working people keeping this app running I just wanted to say thank you so much and I truly appreciate your effort and hard work that keeps uncountable amounts of people safe every year!!

At work we have been using active 911 for 3-4 years now. Some minor mapping issues have been noted. I would love to see a routing system that notes over 56,000 pound rated vehicles. In addition maybe yellow areas on roads that have size issues. Example roads that that are smaller than 2 opposing 8-10 foot lanes tight streets, alleys, and private drives listed in yellow as a hazard. Last suggestion the address portion of dispatch page place a column under comments and place google street view of address provided. In some instances it may assist in locating incidents or coming up with tactical solutions even at time of dispatch. Just some ideas for the system. Overall it gets the info to you and gets you to where you need to go consistently .

I love Active911, it is wonderful for routing us to calls and having some idea of what the initial call notes state. Recently however I upgraded to iOS 13.2.3. Around that same time I updated Active911. Since updating, two different alerts (only one of which I selected) sound simultaneously for one of my agencies. Even after selecting silent as my alert choice, if the app is open a very loud audible alert sounds if that agency gets toned out. I can’t seem to find a way to shut off that extra alert sound - and it is very loud. Related to that, there seems to be no volume control for the alerts. For those of us who need to monitor an agency while not being obnoxiously loud for everyone near us a subtle sound choice or some way to control volume would be greatly appreciated.

It would be great to see an update that addresses how often the chat function crashes. This app is designed and updated for fire fighters, not police officers. We have used it now for around three years snd the chat crashes have been an issue the whole time. And no, I don’t call the help line each time to report it since I simply don’t have that much extra time. Also, it would be great to see an update that gives the ability to attach a suspect photo for the police officers who use this app. Ultimately, this app serves as a glorified pager for us. It seems like the chat function doesn’t crash as often, but there still has been no added functionality designed for police officers. The updates for this app are always fire specific.

As a volunteer firefighter in a small town the app itself has absolutely no down falls. It syncs perfectly with our current 911 center. Only issue that isn’t app related is our center is in desperate need of an update and pings most calls to near cell towers and the dispatcher has to manually activate the alert by entering the cad and completing it which is usually about 30 seconds to a minute slower than the pager tones. But that’s not the apps fault it’s just our systems. Great for when I’m at work and can’t wear my pager. Absolutely love the override silent feature. Can’t wait for when it and continuous repaging is available to be used together.

Our volunteer fire company uses this app to manage our responses as well as who’s available and who’s not. Love the interface, love the logging of calls for record keeping. My only complaint is, I wish there was a settings shortcut to be able to switch from available/location services on to unavailable/location services off with a single button push. Since we’re volunteers, our status is fluid and it would be nice to keep it current without having to scroll through settings and change them individually. Otherwise awesome.

I love the new theme update. I have been waiting for the “night” theme on the iPhone for a long time. I love the app. It is a must for public service. That being said, the app has become very slow to load and lags. Once the app is opened and the calls load, everything runs smoothly but it takes it a lot longer than it used to. This isn’t a good thing when we need to plot the call or utilize the map in a hurry. I hate the new app icon. I think the old one was perfect. I was a firefighter and am still a police officer and this app is utilized for both departments. The new icon only resembles a Maltese cross to me and I’m just not a fan. Other than that, still the best app for public service.

It’s great that we are able to use technology to quickly get responders to where help is needed, but there are a few things that you should be aware of. 1. When you have Do Not Disturbe turned on the app will not alert you to calls. It has a setting to override that, but it does not work. 2. If you belong to 2 departments you have the option to pick a different ringtone for each department, but it will always play the 1st departments ringtone, even for the 2nd department’s calls. 3. Clicking on the responding does not always work. Sometimes you’ll need to click the “Resp” button several times before it sticks. 4. You don’t have the ability to change your own name. 5. Getting directions to your call is not always accurate. 3rd party Maps need to be improved in some areas. Also clicking the “directions” button on the map will give you step-by-step text you’ll need to read, rather than actual GPS assisted navigational help. 6. Alerts do not display correctly on the Apple Watch if you belong to 2 departments.

The map routing buttons need to have a larger contact area, an annoyingly high percentage of the time when I tap the Google or Apple map routing button on the call screen while starting a response, it sends me to the map overview instead of the GPS routing like it's supposed to. Might need to remap those buttons to have their functionality a bit easier to tap. Other than that, absolutely love it. PS: it'd be swell if we could assign our own alert tones and not just the limited alert tones provided.

Very very thankful for this app, we cover the largest amount of roads in our county the majority of which are off the beaten path and out of cell service. Hit the location at the station and know your headed the right way. Knowing who is coming and from where is crucial so this app truly pays for itself 10x over. The only beef I have is I agree with other reviewers, really liked the old icon better, fit FD and PD well, having said that I'm sure a new one will come before to long anyway.

Active911 is a great app for our VFD. We are a small volunteer organization and use active911 for dispatching our EMS, Fire and service calls. With active911 we get paged out with location and details. Before showing up on scene we have enough information to orchestrate plans and assignments. We use the features of active911 to label places based on last/long. As an example, our active911 maps show locations for hydrants, frequent fliers and known hazard locations. We are pleased with this app. Great tool.

This app is by far a lifesaver, call details, location and who is able to respond! It gets the job done! Some stuff that would be cool to add would be a command screen, so when a call goes out it will show locations and ETA of all units en-route to the station as well as details of the call. That would be great to see when you roll in to the station. And integration in to Siri shortcuts. (When alerts are activated, turn on objects in my smart home like lights).

Been using the main app for years and have had almost zero issues with it. The Apple Watch app however, has been having issues syncing with the iPhone app. I have to essentially open the run on my iPhone first before being able to open it on my watch. I want to be able to just open the run on my watch without pulling my phone out. Otherwise the app is great, hoping this issue is fixed in future updates.

Me and several guys from my company all have the same issue; when you open the app after receiving an alarm, wether it be 5 seconds after the alarm came out or 2 hours, the alert noise goes off again. Kind of annoying. Never was an issue until I got a new phone. I attempted fiddling around in settings and even deleting and reinstalling the app. Anyway to fix this?

Don’t get me wrong I love this app especially since our county updated our CAD system. I’m very Leary to download the new update because I have over 700+ calls since the day I started using the app. I’m to the understanding that one you update you lose them can that be fixed please? I love being able to go back and look while having conversations as well as when I’m doing work for the department. Could you advise if this is fixable?

Works alright. Buttons for google maps or Apple Maps should be larger. Often I’m thrown into the wrong map and have to reattempt. The destination will sometimes be wrong and I have to double check with a physical map because the app has sends me in the wrong direction. The watch’s larger complication just shows two rows of “—————“ and “—————“ and i wish it could just be the address. Unable to login to forum discussion. I can sign in with Active911 but the forums sign in just refers me back to an already logged in account.

I don’t receive all of the calls that my unit is dispatched for and sometimes the calls are so slow to come to my phone that it’s pointless for me to open the app to look at them. I’ve also had issues where I’m alerted for a call but when I go into the app to see it they won’t load and it gives me a system error. If this was a free app I would overlook all of these flaws but seeing how I’ve paid money to use this service I would not recommend it.

Issue fixed it wasn’t the app it was me being dumb! App is work just the way I want and the developers reached out to assist. Original review:1st it does exactly what it should. It receives the calls you can map, see other personnel locations, as well as other useful information. My biggest issue is it only vibrates on iPhone. I have all the alerts settings set have re-downloaded the app etc. Apparently there is no fix! (That i have found)

This app works well. My FD isn’t even using it to the full potential, but I like that we have more room to expand. My only complaint (if you can call it that; it’s certainly not a deal breaker) is I would like to see more choices on the alert sounds available. If you have something in a firehouse bell that rings steady for four or five seconds, that would be ideal for me. Thanks.

Any chance y’all can add automatic to the 3D Touch? Regularly go from auto to on duty because of overtime. Keep up the good updates. What would take this app over the top would be an additional setting for themes to auto switch from light to dark on what times are set. Something like the option to set it to light from 07:00-20:00 and then switch to dark from 20:00-07:00. Keep up the good work.

Love the app! Works great and glad it exists over all!! I have read a review from last year about alert tones, I would like to maybe see a few more options and for sure for the tones to be louder like a normal phone ringtone/text tone. Maybe it is just my phone that makes them quiet idk! And I love the new update and the different color scheme options(night and blue) changing the look just added a pop to it! Fired Up!🤙🏾👍🏽

Everywhere I work uses this app. It works well most of the time with the exception of occasional map issues. The biggest complaint I have is not being able to reorganize my squad list. I’d like to be able to put my FT squads at the top and PT jobs after that so that the places I work and use most aren’t scattered randomly. Not a huge issue, more a matter of convenience.

It has got to point that it stays on same call from earlier. I can click on newest call but all info stays on an earlier call. Had this issue before and they said came out with an update. Only way to fix my issue is to turn my IPAD off then back on and then that only lasts for about 5 calls then back to same. I have deleted and reinstalled it several times

Great app overall .. works well. I wish there was a feature or update to where if you mark unavailable for a run, it doesn’t dispatch for a second or third time for that same run. Also, I wish the two-tone alert had a long version as well, such as the fast beep does. But that’s just a minor want. Other than that, great app!

The app works great. There are some errors in the mapping system that we occasionally come across. Also one thing that needs to be changed is that the sound/alert won’t work when iPhone is connected to an Apple Watch. It will only sound when Apple Watch notifications are turned off. Fix that so phone will sound AND push notification to watch and 5 star review.

App has worked great for me over the last 3 years and I use it almost everyday for my ems job but recently the app has been crashing and not allowing me to even open or start the app on my phone. I’ve tried restarting my phone and have had no luck. Any way I can fix this without having to reinstall and having to have my device re-registered with my job?

The calls do not appear on the watch as they should. Need to pull down notifications and then tap each message 2 or 3 time to get it to open. And then it does not always stay in the list on the watch. Sometimes they just goes away. They open on the watch when the message is opened on the phone but defeats having it on the watch.

Active 911 would be next level if you would add PTT to the app. It would be nice to be able to use the app to talk to the same agency’s that we are already receiving active 911 alerts on. Essentially turning the phone we are carrying into a radio. I believe there are already a few apps that do this but it would be nice to have a “all in one” app.

Love the app, been using it for a few years now. Lately, since the last update the app has been crashing whenever I open the map. Apple and Google maps will open form it ok but I prefer Active Alert maps. That however crashes 90% of the time. I’m using an iPhone 10 running iOS 15.2

I don’t understand the phone number part or the agency part. I live in a small city and I’m not a firefighter yet but I’m going to be soon. I go up to the station all the time and I know all the guys and I talk to them all the time. I just want to know when they have a call so I can go to the station. They enjoy when I go up to the station.

The app itself is great until you receive a ton of notifications and the call notes are then shortened. I can see that there's additional notes but no way of expanding them. This has become a very common occurance where necessary information is unable to be seen and is of the critical type. To the developers, I can send multiple examples if needed.

This a a great application it has so many additional possibilities to make it even better. I would like for the next update to have more Apple Watch support like the call details to accessible to read from watch in case your phone is dead or you happen to leave it at the station.

I really love this app it’s been extremely helpful. My only issue started I believe 2 updates ago when the app started to continuously re-alert every few seconds until I actually open the app and incident. Please make it stop. Update: turns out, I missed the setting! Thanks for getting back to me with the help!

This app is really great for our hospital to dispatch our ambulance and too see when 911 dispatches our service. Just recently the chat function has started only showing the first line of a chat. Please try to fix this. We use the chat feature quite regularly after an alert is sent. Thank you.

It would be great if this app had a few enhancements. For instance, I desperately need a read all message. Our dispatch sends us all county alerts and clearing them is not the best option. Just a read all on main message screen. I also would like the ability to auto open a 3rd party app such as Motorola Wave and go to the assigned channel.

My department utilizes it for both career and volunteer firefighters to see calls as they populate from dispatch CAD. Tracking responses is good. One feature I would like to see is the ability to filter incidents/calls, so that I could more easily search for certain previous calls.

Love this app! I only have one wishlist item. That would be to somehow work with the Apple CarPlay so that I could control response, navigation, etc from my car screen without having to pull over to open my phone and select items.

This App has done nothing but improve since it’s inception! Love it! One thing I would suggest would a quick filter button on the map. If I want to find certain map markers, it would be nice if I could filter for that map marker. Keep up the great work!

Great app and never had a problem with it, it’s been amazing to have some thing that I don’t have to worry about crashing or going down, my only thing is can you add more ring tones like Chicago fire tone or others like that

Any chance you can add a read all button. Not everybody is gonna open up the app when a call goes out. Other than that great app helps my department out a lot with the gps & fire hydrant locations& would love to see more notification sounds

Competition out there has additional functionality and feature set. Not much is changed per update. Nothing innovating and a wow. It works and as it should. But recent update keeps randomly crashing. Eve though it says it addresses the crashing issue. Lets go Active911. Lets be the leader you once were before.

An auto response. My department uses the app to see who is available. When off duty, if I’m available all day, I’d like to be able to have it set to auto respond with the available/responding/unavailable tab clicked. It would be a small change that I think would be useful for smaller departments.

I recently switched to iphone and while the app works it would be nice to have the pop up dialogue that androids get to mark you are responding on the Lock Screen. Would be a time saver then having to swipe the phone open to mark a response

By far one of the best tools in the industry. Would be incredible if it worked when hooked up to CarPlay to see alerts and all information. Many times I find myself missing the alert due my phone being connected to CarPlay

When the alerts actually come in, it’s great. Once a month or so, we have trouble for a day or so getting any alerts. When the response buttons work, they’re great. Once every week or so, I press a response button, the interface freezes for a moment with the button highlighted, and then resets as if I hadn’t pressed any button at all.

I am the assistant chief of my local volunteer fire department. I love the app. When I first downloaded it. It worked great fell absolutely in love with it. But the last few call that my station has got called out to, addresses in the map have been way off. Like miles in the wrong direction. I have updated the app and my Apple maps and it hasn’t fixed it. Will some one please help??!!

Never had an app developer actually listen to our department’s input and make changes to the app for us. Absolutely love this app. It is worth every penny & suits our needs perfectly. Developers are super responsive and legitimately want to improve it and listen to your feedback!