How AirCare Works
What does AirCare do?
AirCare’s mission is to inform every citizen about the quality of air that they breathe, helping raise awareness and empower action!
What started as a local activist project in Macedonia in 2014, has grown to a worldwide community that empowers citizens to help not only spread awareness about air pollution, but also lobby for greener and cleaner policies!
Where do you get your data from?
AirCare is an aggregator of air quality data from many networks around the world, including government, volunteer, and satellite ones. We take all of this raw data and transform it into an AQI number via our intelligent algorithms. On the details page for every location, you can see the sources used for that location in order to calculate the AQI.
What does the Pollen/UV feature offer to users?
With our pollen/UV feature for US users, users can monitor 3 types of pollen, including grass, ragweed, and tree pollen, as well as real-time UV index.
How does AirCare ensure accuracy?
We don't rely on just one measurement to calculate an AQI. AirCare uses a range of available data from stations belonging to governments and institutions, volunteers, universities, as well as satellite data from the European Space Agency. We run all of that data through our intelligent algorithm to give you a final AQI that is as accurate as possible.
Why does the AQI on AirCare not match with the EPA/PurpleAir one?
2 reasons:
- AirCare uses more data sources than just one station. This way we ensure that even if a station is malfunctioning, we can have others to correct it.
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AQI on AirCare is calculated for measurements of the last hour, so it changes every hour. PurpleAir has multiple variations, the default one being a 15-minute AQI, while EPA calculates a 24-hour AQI. That is why you see variations in the AQI numbers.
We believe that a 1-hour AQI is the optimum because it lessens the chance of error peaks that may occur on small intervals (like 15 min), but also is much more relevant than longer intervals (like 24 hours).
Is there a difference between sensors?
Yes, not all sensors are created equally. Government ones are much more precise, but also rare and quite expensive. The volunteer ones are cheaper but not as precise for scientific use, they are great for knowing if there is low or high pollution in a certain area.
I want a measuring station in my area, can you add it?
Unfortunately, we at AirCare do not set up the measuring stations ourselves. We use open data from existing government and volunteer stations and display that in the app.
If you wish to have a sensor in your city/area, please read here as to how you can set up your own via the PurpleAir network.
Why doesn’t the AQI on AirCare and other websites match?
This is normal and expected. There are many variations of AQI across the world: EAQI, CAQI, US AQI, China AQI... so every app and website may use a different one to represent data.
AirCare uses the new European AQI (EAQI) model in Europe, and US AQI in the US, where for each pollutant, we take the one with the highest concentration and put it on a scale of 1 to 100 for the EU, and 1 to 500 for the US (where 100% is the maximum upper limit of that polluter).
If you wish to compare data between apps/sites, please compare the raw pollutant data like PM 10 or PM 2.5 instead.
AirCare PRO
How much does AirCare cost?
AirCare is free to use! If you want to support the developer team and have additional features in the app you can subscribe to AirCare PRO.
What features does the PRO version of AirCare include?
AirCare is run by a small team of European activists. We work around the clock to provide you with an amazing AirCare experience, but we still need to pay our bills. That is why we have added some quality of life improvements to the PRO version. With a subscription, you get:
- Supporting the small team behind AirCare
- An ad-free experience
- More theme customization (like a dark mode)
- Access to home screen widgets
- Access to push notifications
- An AirCare app for the Apple Watch
Who Uses AirCare Data
How can citizens use our Air Quality data?
Air pollution can affect everyone’s health, and the right data helps us reduce its effects. Different areas have different levels of air pollution at different times, and by monitoring the air quality you can ensure that you enjoy the cleanest air possible.
People who are more at risk from air pollution include: people with lung diseases, such as chronic bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and emphysema. Other groups at risk include infants and children, senior citizens, and people who exercise or work outdoors.
How can businesses use our Air Quality data?
Check out our solutions page to see more how businesses rely on AirCare’s data!
What’s AirCare’s data privacy policy?
We don't mess around when it comes to privacy. AirCare collects only generic user-less data via the Google Analytics service to make sure that the app is running well. Your personal information, like GPS location, never leaves your device. If we ever add features that need your personal information, you will be explicitly asked to provide consent.