I’ve had this app for a while, even convinced many others to download it for themselves. It used to be worth it. Slowly they’ve added more and more “subscription” features but at the beginning they didn’t affect the free and standard safety features of the app. It used to be a separate section, but now the “subscription” has taken over the whole thing. I still get notifications of reported incidents nearby but beyond that notification on my lock screen, I won’t ever find the report again. When I search my area for it, the only incidents that come up are from prior weeks or months and you need the subscription to even view them. I’m not even looking for the weeks old incidents anyhow, let alone want to pay for them. As a single female in a big city, this app used to help me and make me feel safe. Now it’s pointless and doesn’t help me at all. I can’t look up recent incidents in my area without having to pay for my own public safety, and it makes me less inclined to help out others in my area if something is happening nearby. If you want to have a subscription section, go for it, but don’t let it affect the whole interface of the app. Keep them separate. Make your money or lose your users and integrity? Which one holds more value to you?

I’ve used Citizen for probably five years now. But as they continue to push on ways to get paid, they have neglected core functionality. Specifically, there is a setting to dictate the radius of which you expect to be notified of activities/crime. Mine is set to 2.5 miles. As in, alert me to any activity 2.5 miles or closer. This simply does not work. I live in the greater Los Angeles area, and I get notifications from all over. Of course I feel awful about the barricaded suspect shooting at police, or the missing dogs, or the elderly person gone missing three days ago. But when it’s 20 or 25 miles away, where I can not help, nor am I impacted directly, these alerts do nothing other than stress me out. They put a pay wall around this notification setting. And seemingly while doing so, they broke its functionality. I try to slide it up or down, am told I need to get premium, and it resets back to 2.5 miles. If only it respected the 2.5 miles I would be all set, but instead I’m hearing about a crimes two hours away. I still use the app, but I turned off all notifications. I don’t need my Apple Watch going off every 10 minutes for incidents that simply are not relevant to my area or my family. I emailed their support and received no response. Unfortunate.

I’ve had this app for a few years now, and I really enjoyed it previously. Unfortunately, every single time I open this app now, I'm bombarded with subscription notices. If you are not paying for this app, you can't really get access to much of anything. Some alerts are free, but many alerts require a paid subscription to even see what the incident is. On the incidents which are free, if you listen or watch any of the videos some stop midway and tell you that you cannot finish the recording unless you upgrade your subscription. What's the point of having a "free app," if I then have to pay to find out what the incident is? I might as well not have the app! Other problems with the application is the false alerts and unmonitored comments. The comments most of the time are rude; which often range between blaming the homeless or victims in incidences. There's no monitoring comments... beside the "don't be rude" warning you get when opening the chat box. There's a number of alerts that come through that aren't verified. Verified alerts are part of the subscription, so you very likely will get false alerts. This app relies heavily on its users as it's sources, yet turns around and makes you pay for the content they aren't paying for themselves. For a free application that was meant to let citizens know of major incidents happening around them for their safety, it sure feels like they have prioritized their own pockets before the users.