Leave a Review iBird Pro Guide to Birds
Loved App for Years Until They Broke Their Word
I purchased this app in 2018 as pricey, but worth it, one time purchase app. As a beginner and as I gained more experience, I found this app very helpful, especially with the BAM, bird calls/songs, & photos features. However, a few months ago, suddenly I could no longer access any of the app features and just got a page with 2 options, to either start a free subscription trial (for an app I already paid for) or I could ‘Restore Purchases’ (which sends a msg to customer service with my purchase date in it). I have sent 3 messages trying to restore my purchases since Aug. 2023, and have yet to receive a response. I used to brag about how much I loved this app to ppl, but I’m not sure if I can afford the subscription and the way they went about this change does not make me want to continue to do business with them or recommend them to others. I’m going to look into other birding apps, iBird Pro would have to make this right (like grandfathering previous members in, giving us a version without new features, etc.) for me to come back and to recommend them again.Show lessSammyumd
Rip off! Run!
My original review is below. It still stands. And the supposed update on September 20, 2023 falsely claims to restore previous subscriptions/accounts. It does not. Whoever reads this, be forewarned, this app is a scam and not worth your time or money.
iBird, are you seriously going to take my money and not let me use the app anymore!? I had used this app for years. No problem. Liked it. All the sudden recently it has totally blocked me out and I can see absolutely nothing. It won't let me restore anything. All they want is for me, a long time user of several years, to choose between two new paid subscriptions. It is wrong to take away my previously paid for and agreed upon use of the app and make me repay under new conditions. Give me total use to the app like I used to have! I believe there is a word for a person who supposedly sells you a service and then won't provide the service after it has been paid for...Show lessKnightincafe
So Long Farewell Goodbye
We bought this app on May 12, 2012, and it has been our go to app in the field ever since. Both of us are certified master naturalists and have used this app extensively. Yesterday when we were birding at one of the local refuges, after volunteering there for 6 hours, we got a nasty little surprise when we turned on this app, it said it had no record of us buying it, and that we had to sign up for a subscription to use it. I tried to contact them via their email address because it said “previous owners click here” They apparently have their email shut off because it came back as unknown address. Therefore, we couldn’t even contact them with photo documentation that we did buy it ages before whatever greedy people have taken over that company that produces this app. Even their website isn’t working today. We would not recommend downloading it or giving them any money to subscribe to it. We are going to go back to using BirdsEye which ties into eBird and also into Cornell University’s Ornithology department, which is a extremely good source of birding information, which is what we were mostly using in addition to our Sibley books before we bought iBird eleven years ago.Show lessClimbergirl2002
Used to be OK - but calling it quits now
As longtime user, have seen various iterations. As of today, I am LOCKED OUT of a purchased app - it appears these folks changing their fee structure. I PURCHASED the app years ago, and now they want a monthly fee - egad.
Here is review of App for people considering purchase: Nice representative drawings and pretty intuitive to use. Two areas to FIX: 1) filtering by state has incorrect ranges for countless species. e.g. Greater Scaup does not appear when filtering for Oregon. uggh - this is just pure laziness on developer part not to do this. I have contacted them repeatedly in past and they suggested I purchase another App of theirs as a work-around. Uggh again. 2) Update the filter-by-family feature to allow selecting more than a single family at a time. e.g., It would be really nice to have sandpipers, ducks, and herons show up on a filter when out at the local marsh. I will never purchase a Mitch Waite app again due to pretty slimy business practice and lack of any product support.Show lessDogbutt1965
New update doesn’t allow access.
I’ve used this app for years and it had been great. But I updated the app just before starting fieldwork, and it boots up to a screen offering me a free trial or a button that says previous owner. When I click on previous owner, it says “no purchase found in the App Store” and gives an option for emailing the developer. This too goes nowhere and returns a message saying “email unable to send.”
I paid almost $30 several years ago, and is one of the most expensive apps I’ve purchased, only to be shut out. I’ve read through reviews, and it seems to be blaming this on “family plan” settings, which makes no sense as we have other purchases in our family plan associated with individual members. I’ve tried to go to their website and it goes to an empty “sorry, we’re doing some work on this site” message.
I’m super disappointed not just that they haven’t worked this out for paid app owners, but also that the customer support is totally lacking. Avoid purchasing. It can be taken from you at any time and there is no support, no recourse, and nowhere but here to voice your dissatisfaction.Show lessJohn_birder
Have loved this app but may delete it
I bought this app years ago! Paid $30 to get the full version for North American birds. I’ve never paid that much for any other app—not even close. The fee I paid was for life-time access to this app, so when the developer announced they were going to start charging a monthly fee in August and my app would no longer be available if I chose not to pay the monthly fee I was not happy! That is what we call a breach of contract.
This is why I cannot give iBird 5 stars. I have it 3 because they don’t track your data and that is huge. I appreciate that. But I will probably not continue to use the app due to the new monthly fee. They haven’t even told us what it will be!
If you are thinking of using iBird and don’t mind monthly fees I would suggest waiting till August (2023) to download it.Show lessMumsie 3
Bummer
I have used this app *daily* for almost ten years and it is hands down my favorite. Ten years ago it was THE app to have for birding and at $14 it wasn't cheap. I was a poor college student at the time and wanted this app so badly, my brothers and I would wait for it to go on sale in the App Store so we could purchase it (which even $3.99 for an app is a lot for a young person).
Now I am a professional guide and lead bird walks every week, and I still use this app in the field. For years I have recommended it to others. But someone asked me about it this past week, and while I told them what the app was and how wonderful it is, I also had to explain your ridiculous move to a paid subscription service and how I will no longer be using it come August.
So while I didn't pay as much as some folks here to originally purchase the app, my loyalty and constant praise of it to others should be enough. I refuse and honestly can't afford to start paying for something that I've used for free for ten years. If y'all needed money that badly, I'm sure folks would have donated to a fundraiser or something. You obviously have a slew of loyal followers. But unfortunately you all chose this route instead and will lose most of those. What a bummer.Show lesskslice22
Bye
Been a good paying customer, since 2009 according to the subscriptions page (not sure if thats right but its been a long long time). I used to keep my life list in here, i’ve seen a lot of changes thru the years.
Just redownloaded, and surprise, its now a subscription product.
A free year you say. Previous owners could be easily grandfathered. And I think they should be. Subscription are not good for me, and I think they are not good for customers. Yes people are heading that way, but i am avoiding them. Its a hard no.
The app has good pictures, has good content overall but is always very awkward to use. Once the search is figured out, it works good (or used to-i havent used it in a while). I only use it a couple times a year, if that. Each time i have to relearn the app because of all the changes (might be good, might be bad).
A loyal customer I was, a loyal customer no more. Still loyal, just not to ibird.Show lessdavidj979
Much Better Apps Than This Bait and Switch
I purchased this app for the full fee twice, the initial time and a few years ago when they said they did a complete rework. Now the developers are saying they are not making enough money so they are not going to honor what they sold me and want to charge monthly. The developers say the market is saturated with bird apps which is not true. What is true is both Audubon and Cornell Lab of Ornithology have excellent and easier to use free apps plus Cornell Lab of Ornithology has an excellent free online resource. A friend of mine who has no interest in bird watching and is not app savvy enjoys using Smart Bird ID, another free app, where she can just hold up her phone as a bird is singing and the app identifies it. Also, these three free apps are all under 250MB while this app is 1.8GB. I never found this app intuitive to use but maybe you love this app enough to start paying for it monthly. Me? I’m moving on.Show lessCairnblsd
Paid for the app. Now must subscribe to keep using?
I purchased this app years ago. Not cheap back then. Now I get notified that I can’t use it unless I sign up for a subscription? I’m surprised Apple is letting them do that. I fully understand the reasoning behind changing to subscription. But people purchased iBird Pro with the understanding it was a perpetual license. A better way would have been discontinuing support for this app (let natural attrition take its course) and come out with a new, fully supported subscription-only version (like how Adobe transitioned to CC). This way customers could keep using the app they paid for until it was no longer compatible with the iOS.Show lesscbadland
