Not everybody can afford an AQ Monitor or simply not everybody wants to spend money on a AQ Monitor. That’s fine because here are 17 Free/Paid apps for you to check the outdoor air quality in your area. Some of them can notify you when the Air Quality is poor and guide you on breathing cleaner air. Unfortunately some apps don’t support some regions, this is because some developers face difficulties to obtain data from local authorities. (The public air quality stations in my region suck!)
CALIOPE (Free) ♥♥♥
Caliope is an air quality forecast system for Spain, developed at Earth Sciences Department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS). The app supports all Spanish regions and the website version supports most European countries. Available data O3, NO2, SO2, PM10 and PM2.5. Maps and Pollutants. The website is available in English and Spanish.
EPA AIRNow (Free) ♥
The EPA AIRNow was designed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Although the agency has access to all the US AQ stations and a huge amount of data, the app is plain and with a very poor design. There is nothing special about this app. Even the icons are pixelated. They should be ashamed, the app looks like an internet page from 1999.
AirVisual (Free) ♥♥♥♥♥
AirVisual provides a free app for their device Node/Pro but it also works without it. You can have access on a huge amount of outdoor AQ Stations around the globe. With a history browsing for all the pollutants, maps, ranking and news. The data are from public stations but also from their devices around the globe.
Wunderground (ads) ♥♥♥♥
Wunderground is basically an advance weather forecast app but they also provide air pollution data if you are lucky enough, which means depending the weather station they use to get the data for your area. If the weather station in your area has air quality sensors then they will provide you with the data.
Plume (Free) ♥♥♥♥
Plume Labs has design this app to help people avoid air pollution. Their app offers an air pollution forecast. It is a simple but a complete app. You will see an Air Index at the home screen, weather conditions and the activities that they recommend you to do depending the air quality at that time. They use public AQ stations but they will also combine the data from their devices in the near future. It supports notifications.
CleanSpace (Free) ♥♥♥
CleanSpace focuses on Carbon Monoxide air pollution. On the home screen you can see the “current” air pollution from your device but if you don’t have a device you can also browser their air pollution map. They also provide some weather data from the local weather station. A bit limited on the pollutants.
Air Quality (Free) ♥♥♥♥
The app exist on the app store with 2 different icons but the same name, by the same developer and the same interface. It is a very nice app with plenty of data. The app has some nice animations and a clean design.
Airpocalypse (Free) ♥♥
This app is for the Chinese citizens because only supports Chinese cities. Super Clean design and some funny icons and quotes.
BreezoMeter (Free) ♥♥♥
BreezoMeter will help you get to the point of the air quality immediately. They support a map but the elephant will let you know if your outdoor air quality is safe and it will give you some advice. It will also tell you which is the dominant pollutant in your area.
Netatmo (Free) ♥♥
Netatmo is mainly a weather forecast app but it also provides some simple air quality data. Nothing fancy regarding the air data.
Air Bubbles (Free) ♥♥
The Air Bubbles app indicates the air quality with colour-coded bubbles. Not many info available.
Air Matters (ads) ♥♥♥♥♥
Air Matters provides air pollution data, weather data and allergy data. If you suffer from allergies from a specific tree or plant like mugwort or olive trees etc, it will provide you with all the useful data. History browsing is also available and maps. Very clean and good design.
Awair (Free) ♥♥
Awair has a small and basic tab with the outdoor air quality and weather conditions which allows you to compare them with the indoor air quality in case you have their device.
Air Checker (ads) ♥
Air Checker is very simple, you just type your city and it tells you the air quality plus the pollutants. I compared the data with others and they didn’t correlate at all. So I am not very sure about the accuracy.
Aerium (Paid) ♥♥♥
Aerium is a weather forecast app but if you upgrade the free app it will also give you air quality info.
Kaiterra (Free) ♥♥♥
Kaiterra is a free app for the Laser Egg 2 but it also provides outdoor air quality data. Simple design with an AQI and a histogram for the air pollutants.
Foobot (Free) ♥
Foobot has a basic tab with the outdoor air quality index for the outdoor location of the indoor device.
See The Air 
I notice you rate the apps, by how much info they give and design, but what about accuracy? Most of these apps (excluding the EPA one) doesn’t give you all the info about their sensors and methods. As a scientist in a related field, I have a problem just trusting them blindly.
Do you have any information regarding accuracy and methods?
Which would you recommend for that?
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Hello, None of them are accurate enough for scientific research. Many of them base thier data on models and not real-time data. Even when they have access on real-time sensors goverments can manipulate the sensor and the data easily so they aren’t reliable either. These apps are useful only for the avarage citizents who want to know if the air is good or bad and also it depends the area you live. PlumeLabs for example tells you the accuracy of the data for each location, if they use models or/and real data.
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This blog is informative. But If you are looking for Indian air quality app then I suggest one app that is Prkruti app. And this app helps to identify the pureness of the air.
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