# Cicada Safari — An Exciting Scientific Safari

> Citizen science app for mapping periodical cicada emergences. (iPhone/iPad app by Mount St. Joseph University.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cicada-safari/id1446471492 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Mount St. Joseph University](https://appshunter.io/developer/1213097502)
- Category: Education
- Price: Free
- Rating: 4.50/5 from 18 App Store ratings · 77 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.6 · 20 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2019-04-19
- Data updated: 2026-07-05
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cicada-safari/id1446471492/reviews.md

## What is Cicada Safari?

People have been recording periodical cicada emergences for nearly four centuries. These maps have been critical in verifying the cicadas’ long life cycles and the relationships of the broods to each other. 

Help us map the 2021 emergence with Cicada Safari! Your submitted photos will be used to determine the range of Brood X across several states.

## Key features

- Document cicada emergences
- Submit photos for scientific data
- Map Brood X range
- Verify cicada life cycles
- Contribute to scientific research

## Recent user reviews (10 of 77)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cicada-safari/id1446471492/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Major privacy issue

*2025-06-07, version 1.8.4*

The app wants access to that raises major privacy concerns. Be careful.

### 3/5 — Wrong location

*2025-05-09, version 1.8.3*

I hope the developers see this, I submitted a photo and when it was approved it was in the wrong location. I was in the location I took the picture when I submitted it but I was somewhere else when they approved it and that’s where it’s showing up on the map. Hope this can be fixed!

### 3/5 — Please explain why photos are rejected

*2024-05-11, version 1.8.1*

This app has a lot of potential. However, it would be nice to know why photos are accepted, then days later rejected. No explanation. Resubmitted. As a professional entomologist, I know what a Magicicada looks like as adult or nymph. Please provide better communication with users if you reject a photo. If one is doing something wrong with the photo, there should be feedback so one can improve.

### 4/5 — Fantastic looking app.

*2024-05-04, version 1.8.1*

Excited to contribute to this scientific endeavor!!  Be warned, the app does crash an awful lot though.

### 5/5 — Awesome App! Love Cicadas!

*2024-05-03, version 1.8.1*

This app is interesting and has fun interactive tools! I can’t wait until my first Cicada citing so I can upload a picture to help track this unusual insect and it’s emergence where I live. Thank you to the creators behind this amazing app!😊

### 5/5 — Cicada safari review

*2024-04-22, version 1.8.1*

This app was pretty cool and also beneficial in learning about cicadas.

### 5/5 — Thanks MSJ, fun app!

*2024-04-22, version 1.8.1*

Will be watching for cicadas.

### 5/5 — Great App!

*2024-04-22, version 1.8.1*

Phenomenal app, loved the look and functionality of it. Excited to use it more!

### 5/5 — Helpful

*2024-04-22, version 1.8.1*

This app is awesome to find cicadas!

### 5/5 — Awesome

*2024-04-22, version 1.8.1*

This is a great app!

## Frequently asked questions about Cicada Safari

### What is Cicada Safari?

Cicada Safari is a citizen science application designed to help researchers map periodical cicada emergences. Users can contribute by submitting photos of cicadas, which aids in verifying their long life cycles and understanding brood relationships.

### How does Cicada Safari help scientists?

The photos submitted through Cicada Safari are crucial for determining the geographical range of specific cicada broods, such as Brood X. This data helps scientists verify the long life cycles of these insects and their relationships to one another.

### Is Cicada Safari free to use?

Yes, Cicada Safari is a free application. There are no costs associated with downloading or using the app, and it does not feature in-app purchases or advertisements.

### What kind of information can I submit?

You can submit photos of periodical cicadas. These images are used to document their presence and location, contributing valuable data for scientific analysis of cicada emergences and their distribution.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.8.4 — 2025-05-20

- Optimized location data retrieval

### 1.8.3 — 2025-03-28

We are attempting to get closer photos of cicadas, so we added in a sizing box to the camera page. This box is there to incentivize getting a photo of a cicada that fills in the box.

### 1.8.1 — 2024-04-15

- Fixed a problem when deleting a custom email/password account
- Fixed a problem where images/videos picked from the gallery would sometimes send up nothing to the server

- Updated old packages

### 1.8.0 — 2024-04-10

- Updated some login options
- Worked on gallery photo picking

### 1.7.7 — 2022-06-14

- Gave the option to manually delete user accounts

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## More apps by Mount St. Joseph University

- [Mount Roar!](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mount-roar/id1213097503)
- [Here2Engage](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/here2engage/id6443994287)
- [MomsThrive](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/momsthrive/id6443994306)

All apps by Mount St. Joseph University: https://appshunter.io/developer/1213097502

## Related topics

[cicada safari](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cicada-safari) · [cecad](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cecad) · [cidana](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cidana) · [cicadex](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cicadex) · [cicada dsp](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cicada-dsp)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-07-05.*
