It pays to know what you’re breathing day to day. Everything from smokestacks to dust storms to, increasingly, wildfires foul the air and threaten health. Air quality sensors exist, but reliable ones can be about the size of a suitcase and might set you back $2,000. That’s why Adrian Dybwad founded PurpleAir, a company that sells home sensors no bigger than a coffee mug for roughly $200.
Traditional sensors work by a range of methods, including measuring the electroconductivity or combustibility of air. PurpleAir’s model uses a laser to detect and count particles and then calculates what that means for the quality of the air. This helps people determine how healthy it is to go running or biking or simply to leave the house. Entire communities are benefitting too, thanks to the network of more than 35,000 personal units that upload data to the PurpleAir website. This has proven useful during this year’s wildfires. Southern California already benefited from Watch Duty, a nonprofit that posts real-time maps of wildfire locations, wind direction, and firefighting activities. As Southern California burned in early 2025, PurpleAir’s air quality maps and updates were incorporated into the platform. The company, says Dybwad, “is pleased to be able to offer our free, real-time map to assist the public when dealing with traumatic disasters created by wildfires.”