Worried About Your Local Air Quality? Track It With These Apps

Between industrial pollution and climate events like wildfires, it’s hard to avoid particulates and unhealthy pollutants in the air. In a 2022 report(Opens in a new window), the World Health Organization (WHO) said 99% of the world’s population is breathing air that exceeds the recommended pollution guidelines. If you’re worried about local air quality, multiple apps collect data from monitoring stations, satellite imagery, and private air monitors that share their data publicly to serve up the Air Quality Index (AQI)(Opens in a new window) in your area. Here’s how to track air quality ahead of your next outing or while on the go.

What Is the Air Quality Index?

Before you choose an app, it’s important to understand what they monitor and how to read the levels. An Air Quality Index (AQI) is a scale used by governments around the world to communicate how healthy or unhealthy the air is to breathe. It measures five major pollutants known to cause health problems: 

AQI readings are displayed as a number from 0-500, and measure how many parts-per-million (PPM) of a given pollutant are airborne. So the lower the number, the healthier the air. Apps get data from either government-installed monitoring stations or third-party company monitors sold directly to consumers.

PurpleAir(Opens in a new window) is one such company that sells local air monitors. It then shares the data from those monitors with anyone who accesses its air quality map. Check out this explainer(Opens in a new window) from the US Government Accountability Office for more details on how air quality sensors work. 

IQAir

(Credit: IQAir)

IQAir(Opens in a new window) uses data from government regulatory air monitoring stations, its own air monitors, and satellite data. The company has partnered with institutions like the United Nations Environmental Program and US Green Building Council, and receives data from the US, India, Russia, and others, to provide a look into air health worldwide and publish periodic air quality reports(Opens in a new window).

That data is used to form an interactive map you can access from its website or iOS(Opens in a new window) and Android(Opens in a new window) IQAir AirVisual apps. The latter tracks six major air pollutants and displays them in an easy-to-read chart. You can drill down and track a specific pollutant for hourly, daily, or weekly AQI history. 

AirVisual uses color coding and icons to represent the current air quality. If it’s healthy, it will show a smiling face alongside the AQI number. If air quality dips into the poor range, it will show a face wearing a mask and warn against exposure. 

IQAir’s app connects to smart home devices, but the company also sells air purifiers and air-quality monitors. Plus, it shares the data from its monitors in the same way as PurpleAir.

BreezoMeter

(Credit: BreezoMeter)

BreezoMeter(Opens in a new window), a recent Google acquisition, collects information from governmental ground monitors and satellites, then runs it through machine learning models to produce live air-quality conditions for a given area. 

The Android(Opens in a new window) app also displays live wildfire data, including which areas have already burned, and factors variables like fire smoke into its AQI scores. There’s also a section with health recommendations based on the current air quality and a section called My Exposure that lets you track what pollutants you’ve been exposed to over a set period of time, like the last 30 days.

On iOS, BreezoMeter data appears to have been folded into Apple’s Weather app(Opens in a new window). Load up your location and tap Air Quality to check it out.

To track personal exposure to anything beyond PM 2.5, you need to pay for the premium version, but the main map(Opens in a new window) shows you what’s in the air regardless.

AirNow

(Credit: AirNow)

AirNow(Opens in a new window) is a coalition of US governmental and tribal agencies(Opens in a new window)—the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Park Service, and NASA—that monitors air quality in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Those agencies collect data from over 500 cities in conjunction with satellite imagery. 

AirNow allows users to search conditions in specific areas, then provides a color-coded AQI and displays the primary pollutants (and their concentrations) in the area. The website also shows a map of the current air quality in the area, a forecast for the next few days, and information on wildfires and US embassy readings from around the world.

AirNow is available on the web, as well as via iOS(Opens in a new window) and Android(Opens in a new window) apps.

Standalone Weather Apps

The Weather Channel, Apple Weather, and AccuWeather apps

For at-a-glance AQI info that doesn’t require another app download, the weather app you already have on your phone probably has a section with air quality data.

The AccuWeather app (Android(Opens in a new window), iOS(Opens in a new window)), for example, has a Current Air Quality section, which displays data from Plume Labs(Opens in a new window), a company AccuWeather acquired in 2022. The Yahoo Weather app (Android(Opens in a new window), iOS(Opens in a new window)) is powered by AccuWeather and also features an Air Quality section. The Weather Channel’s app (Android(Opens in a new window), iOS(Opens in a new window)) has the same, with data pulled from the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.

Google Maps or Apple Maps

Google Maps and Apple Maps
(Credit: Google/Apple)

Apple Maps and Google Maps also feature built-in air quality data. On Google Maps, the feature is tucked into the layers menu. Tap it and select Air Quality for an overview of AQI data in your area. Data is pulled from PurpleAir and AirNow, Google says.

On Apple Maps, the AQI and temperature show up in lower-right corner. For more, long-press that weather widget, which will bring up an at-a-glance weather pop-up. Tap it to be taken to the Apple Weather app for more info.

Remember: Don’t Rely on One Source

While a useful tool, air-quality apps are not infallible. Some take time to update in the case of natural disasters like a wildfire, and if there is a lack of weather reporting stations in a certain area, that can affect the accuracy of a reading. 

Even if there are stations, they may not be monitoring for specialized pollutants that are of particular concern to certain communities. In Houston, for example, high levels of industrial pollution make ethylene oxide(Opens in a new window) a concern, especially for people who live near refineries. Not every air-quality app monitors for this specific pollutant.

It’s also important to note that air quality data in lower-income neighborhoods is notoriously sparse, and often those neighborhoods are too often placed near refineries and other pollution hazards that greatly affect the health of those populations.

Your best bet is to pair data from an app that has a robust dataset with tools from local air-monitoring groups—like this one in Houston(Opens in a new window)—and pollution maps—like this one from ProPublica(Opens in a new window)—that specifically chart cancer-causing industrial pollution in your area.