When you think of pollution, do you think of Dallas? When there’s a conversation about pollution it’s most likely about the smog in Beijing covering the sun or the horrible blackness in New Delhi. With help from Plume Lab’s new app ‘Plume’, now you know how pollution affects your city.

The first step in Plume is picking a main city which the app will default to upon opening. In the center, you will immediately notice a semicircle with the current Plume Index, along with the yearly average below it. Swipe to the left and you will see a cloud. The cloud and it’s corresponding background color tell the amount of pollution in the city. As the pollution increases and conditions deteriorate, the cloud goes from happy(blue) to straight-faced(olive) to sad(light brown) to mad(grey) to dead(black). You can swipe left or right revealing more information. To left you will be presented with the current Plume Index, along with the yearly average below it. To the right you will be given a more detailed view of the pollutants. The top number is the particle matter(Plume Index) in the air and below is the amount of nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide.

Below the semicircle is a graph denoting the amount of pollution over the course of the day. You can drag your finger along the graph to see the exact amount of pollution at each time along with the weather and the amount of ultraviolet light exposure. Below the graph itself are four circles with icons for outdoor sports, cycling, bring baby out, and eating outside. These icons change color(from green to red) to indicate if they recommend carrying out this activity.

In Plume’s latest update(1.3), the developers added the lower task bar which has two new sections from the original. In the middle is the mind icon which has access to Plume Lab’s blog, a live air pollution map of the globe, and other information about pollution. On the far right of the task bar is a camera icon which uses your current location to give you camera filters overlaying the current pollution conditions. This feature is great to increase awareness of air pollution among your friends and family.

The app’s top bar contains four icons along with the name of the current city your viewing. The far left globe icon shows you your “World Air Report” which shows you a list of the pervious cities you’ve viewed or added and a general overview by color of how those cities are currently doing. From here you can add a new city to view. Clicking the plus icon shows a list of cities organized by country which you can add. If the city you are looking for is not there you can submit a request for it as Plume Labs are adding new cities all the time! The share icon brings up the standard iOS share menu so you can share the city’s pollution with your friends. The calendar icon shows how the city has done over the past week and graphs the changes along with showing you the cloud semicircle giving you more information about the week. To return to the current day just tap back on the calendar icon. On the far right is a gear icon which takes you to the settings page. In settings you can change your sensitivity to pollution, pick your favorite activity, change the app’s notification settings and change your units and timekeeping style.

In the six months I’ve been using Plume I’ve drastically increased my knowledge about pollution, especially in Dallas, This knowledge has been great for me and I think if you give Plume a try you will enjoy the app as much as I do. You can download Plume for free on the iOS App Store and Google Play.