# Learn Bird Watching—Larkwire — user reviews > 107 indexed App Store user reviews of Learn Bird Watching by Larkwire, rated 4.80/5 from 1,276 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/learn-bird-watchinglarkwire/id544499991/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/learn-bird-watchinglarkwire/id544499991.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1,099 · 4★ 140 · 3★ 18 · 2★ 8 · 1★ 11 ## What do users think of Learn Bird Watching? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Helpful for learning bird songs - 🚀 Efficient learning process - 💡 Customizable playlists and settings - 🎮 Fun and engaging game-like format - 🌟 Comprehensive coverage of bird species - 👏 Excellent customer support **Cons** - 🔍 Difficulty finding specific birds in the app - 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes - 💰 Expensive subscription model - 📱 Not optimized for smaller screens **Commonly reported bugs** - Unable to download sample content - Repeating the same bird songs in succession - Inconsistent progress tracking **Most requested features** - Add bird song playback when selecting bird images - Implement voice recognition for answering questions - Include spectrograms for better visual learning - Expand coverage to birds in other regions ## Newest reviews (16 of 107) ### 4/5 — I like it a lot! *2026-03-29, version 5.10* It is amazing, but I think that there should be more/different birds depending on your general location. But it’s still pretty amazing regardless. ### 5/5 — The app that finally taught me bird song *2024-05-21, version 4.41* I’d always struggled to learn bird song and this app with it’s gamified learning finally did the trick and I enjoyed the learning. ### 5/5 — Makes learning & reviewing bird songs/calls fun! *2024-05-11, version 4.41* I purchased Larkwire many years ago and thoroughly enjoy it. Within each module (e.g., landbirds of different regions and water birds…), birds are presented into groups of four similar sounding songs at a time. You match the song/call to the correct bird, while the songs are randomly played on repeat for five cycles each. There can be variation in the clips played for each bird to keep you on your toes and learn vocal variation. There is a lot of opportunity for customization. Intuitive design. If you are returning to Larkwire after a long break, like me, be aware that app has been updated and improved. If you don’t have access to a module that you previously purchased, they will honor your purchase by providing a coupon code. The customer service is outstanding. ### 5/5 — !Larkwire for breakfast! *2024-04-20* All winter long during breakfast I practice listening to my local bird calls and by the Springtime I’m a master! It’s so satisfying, and so easy to drop in for a 15 minute learning session each morning. ### 5/5 — Back to its former glory! *2024-04-11, version 4.37* While I still view the original apps as superior, that’s because the screen was uncluttered. One may argue, you can now change through groups while playing more easily. This puts the group lists on the left 1/3 of the screen when in landscape mode (a settings feature), instead of that being taken up in full by the game in progress. But the functionality is back and I’m not sure if there was an update restoring functionality, or if it just was not functioning on my iPhone 11 (since I recently upgraded to a 15 and tried the app again). I quickly progressed to the intermediate level of the Eastern Region birds, passing the spot I was stuck at in the previous review. After reviewing the app again, I’d say you can actually learn the birds by sight using this version of the app too, just perhaps not as quickly. There’s simply no other app like it out there, which means the app wouldn’t have to be as great as it is to gain sales, but the app developer cares about his app. ****** (Older review - oct23) When this app was two apps for 2.99 each, it was actually worth the $45. Now, not so much. Its just not functioning (besides the fact that the design and usability was far better before). For one, it has four buttons to progress: ‘wrong’, ‘too’, ‘hard, ‘good’, and ‘too easy’. So, you have to look at the buttons, instead of the bird picture as its revealed in field view. So you used to be able to visually memorize the bird with repetition and without even trying. While youd think four buttons means better accuracy with the spaced repetition and thus better efficiency, the opposite is true. The original apps were more efficient and with only two buttons, you could not focus on the bird pictures and not the buttons. Secondly, you used to play a round in gallery which means youre choosing between four bird pictures and sounds. Then youd progress to field view for those same birds which means it would play a sound without a picture and after you hit ‘not sure’ or ‘know,’ it would reveal the bird. Then you could learn another set of gallery view. It doesnt do this anymore. It goes from gallery to gallery which means you dont learn as well because by the time you enter a field game, youve semi-learned twenty or more birds in gallery. (You dont learn as well in gallery because youre always choosing from an unchanging group of four at a time with pictures, instead of four, then 8, then 12, then 16, etc without a picture). Third, when learning at a level (beginner, intermediate, advanced, master), you progress through green, blue, and yellow progress circles, but in the ‘backyard bird’ category in the beginner level, you stall out at yellow 3/4 circle. I played twenty times with a near perfect score and never won. Thats twenty birds with a near perfect game twenty times. But in ‘landbird eastern/central america’, it wont allow me to play field view with the whole set of three bird groups (the first three groups in the beginner level for that category). It keeps showing me the american robin, house wren, and song sparrow. Over and over and over again. Thats out of 13 birds. Even if the app functioned, I’d be disappointed with usability and design compared to the two original, flawless apps. But it just doesnt function right now, and I tried emailing support just to get an optimistic, but dismissive response. ### 5/5 — Great Teaching Tool *2024-03-26, version 4.36* Very effective at cementing the birds in your brain. Using the extra practice feature helps. It is best not to do too much in one session or you can get frustrated. I like the Daily Bird. ### 5/5 — Best thing ever!!!!!!!! *2024-02-23, version 4.34* It has so many fun games to play. It grate for beginners like me at bird and it even good for little kid as well. ### 5/5 — Outstanding! *2024-02-03* Thank God a group of birders that are aware of the latest neuroscience developed this app! I have been using the app for less then a week and the results are incredible! After I read the book fluent forever about language acquisition, I had been wishing for the ability to apply it to bird language. I have no programming skills and was trying to us chat gpt to make something that would have been of far far inferior quality. The gross repetition of the gallery option helps you be able to differentiate and hear sounds that you have never heard before. The constant instant feed back of right or wrong next to similar sounding birds helps your brain differentiate the sounds. Then you use spaced repetition to help absorb the call deep into your memory. It works by playing you bird calls over spaced intervals right at about the time you would forget them. That time when you are about to forget, Neuroscientists have discoverd, is when your brain is most able to absorb the memory more deeply. I am so excited to walk outside in the spring and know who is singing! **Developer response:** Thanks so much for the awesome review! Your explanation of the two stages of learning (perceptual discrimination, followed by spaced repetition) completely nails it and really brought a smile to my face! ### 5/5 — Indispensable *2023-12-24, version 4.31* To my knowledge the absolute best resource for learning bird calls. The most powerful tool is the ability to make your own playlists of similar calls. The program will than quiz you by playing them in random order. ### 5/5 — Voice with each Click? *2023-12-01* I'd say I love this app -- though the price is a bit too high. Memorizing the bird song patterns is always hard to me. I'm wondering if we can add bird song in the Visual part of the courses -- I mean, like, when clicking an image in the field quiz, play the bird song. That would greatly help us memorize the songs while browsing though photos **Developer response:** Thanks for the kind words and the great suggestion! Please email me as I'd like to ask a followup question: phil@larkwire.com. ### 5/5 — A Hidden Gem to Learning Birdsong *2023-10-23* Best app i have come across for learning to audibly identify birds. As a field biologist this app has been a game changer and is often what i recommend for anyone working point count jobs. The variety of learning styles is an added bonus that makes the app more approachable for a diverse set of learners as well as varying it up when one method gets old. **Developer response:** Thanks so much for your thoughtful review ... it's always great to hear from professionals in the field! ### 4/5 — Great app, but could use more Latin *2023-08-09* This app has helped me to learn bird calls in the field quicker and allows me to practice anywhere. I particularly like the feature in which I can create my own playlists to study from. I only wish that the Latin name of the bird was revealed along with the common name to help me memorize scientific names. I highly recommend this app to anyone interested in learning bird calls. ### 5/5 — Honing my listening skills *2023-04-16* I’m finding my field skills so helped by practice on this app. ### 5/5 — Nice practice tool *2023-03-24, version 4.21* Great app for learning bird songs/calls. Field mode is good, wish it offered multiple bird songs/calls playing at one time to get a true field experience and be able to practice having many birds calling at once. ### 4/5 — Great app but has glitches *2022-05-19* Finally there’s an app to help me learn bird songs. I really like the way it groups the birds you are trying to learn and that it doesn’t try to make you learn too many at once. I appreciate also the descriptions of the sounds. But sometimes it’s playing but no sound comes out. I find if I shut down my phone entirely sometimes it comes back on properly. I hope this glitch gets fixed. **Developer response:** Thanks for the kind words, that's great to hear you're enjoying Larkwire! I'm sorry to hear about the audio glitches--the best way to get any bug fixed is to report it to me directly at support@larkwire.com. That allows you to send me details, which will help narrow down the source of the bug, and hopefully enable me to fix it! ### 5/5 — Great for learning bird songs! *2022-05-08* Whenever I was hiking in the woods last spring and summer, I could always hear birds singing, but I couldn’t identify them by their song and it was hard to spot them amidst the foliage. I got the Eastern Landbirds Pack and started by practicing with small groups of Warblers in the Gallery practice mode, and then would practice in the Field mode with more and more birds as I recognized the songs better. Learning bird calls is tricky and takes a while, but this app definitely makes the process much easier! I highly recommend it! **Developer response:** Thanks so much for the kind review! Gotta love those eastern warblers! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Updated Version Worse than Original *2020-07-19, version 3.1* The old version was decent, but the updated version barely works. I can’t click on certain things, and it keeps telling me “no recommendations” after playing one set of birds despite the fact that I have all the bird types selected. They also took away the feature where you can replace the birds in the gallery if you prefer different birds. ### 1/5 — Unable to download basic course *2020-07-13, version 3.1* Repeatedly states can’t connect to the App Store, even though connection is fine and other apps update and download fine. ### 1/5 — Can’t download sample content *2020-07-13, version 3.1* I’m trying to download the sample pack to explore the app. But it says not connected to the Internet on both my iPad and iPhone. This is the same problem other people of had. I’d like to try out this app right now I can do nothing. ### 2/5 — Subscription is not worth it *2025-05-31, version 4.52* Very good for learning bird songs. But there is no reason the packs should have a per year subscription fee rather than a one time purchase. ### 2/5 — Why the switch to subscription *2022-12-20* Really love this app and it has made a tremendous impact on my birding skills. Glad I purchased as many packs as I did as I find the new subscription price way too expensive. Won’t be buying any more packs. Would have had a 5 star rating before this switch Today I also had problems with the app crashing when I tried to use it. This has happened before and seemed to resolve itself so hoping it’s just a momentary glitch. ### 3/5 — Content hidden behind expensive in app purchases *2023-09-17, version 4.29* I really love the interface and how it trains you on bird calls and identification, but absolutely no way in earth is this worth the insane subscription price. I would have gladly paid a chunk of change to buy the modules I want but no way am I renting them. Hard pass. ### 3/5 — Subscription model *2023-01-31, version 4.19* I’ve been using this app to study for field work for quite a while as an alternative to the old thayer software, and buying content packs as needed. But all of a sudden it looks like the content is now only available as a subscription model rather than via one time purchases which is very disappointing. ### 3/5 — Full of bugs, not just birds *2021-04-17, version 3.8* Repeats same bird or pair of birds to exclusion of others in group (well over 50 times). Notes low percent correct identification even when I’ve correctly identified ALL. But at least I’ve not noticed any erroneous pairing of sounds with species! ### 3/5 — Latest upgrades are not all positive *2020-09-15, version 3.5* I was doing the beginners levels back in July 2020 and I really liked the app and felt I was learning the common birds and started learning Eastern songbirds which was much harder. I came back in September after a new version and I was required to redo the beginners levels but now there seems less variety and the games include the same birds songs several times in succession which is disappointing. It doesn’t all feel like an improvement and I’m learning really basic birds. I’m going to push through it and see where it goes but I’m struggling to understand the benefits of the upgrade. **Developer response:** Thanks a lot for the feedback. Larkwire is completely customizable, so you should never feel "forced" to redo anything. Please get in touch by emailing support@larkwire.com and I'll be happy to help you get Larkwire working the way you want it to work! ### 3/5 — Great to start, now just frustrating *2019-05-23* If you are interested in just learning bird songs as a whole this is an AMAZING app! I love quizzing myself, and have recommended this to others in the past. Lately though I’ve just been super frustrated with their customized lists. I’m trying to brush up for field season where I collect breeding bird data and yet when I make a customized list of species that I know I will encounter, it only ever seems to quiz me on the same 8-10 species. Never any warblers, rarely what I need to work on, and no amount of adjusting playlists or settings seems to fix this. Considering the whole draw was the ability to tailor my study sessions I’m afraid I’ve been pretty let down, and for that reason only 3 stars. **Developer response:** Hi, thanks for the kind words and so sorry to hear that Larkwire isn't working right for you. I'd be more than happy to get you up and running; please get in touch: support@larkwire.com so that we can figure out what's going on. The most common reason that playlists don't work as expected is that species which are classified as "advanced" won't appear at earlier levels even when listed in a playlist. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — I love this app! *2026-01-25, version 5.6* I have learned so much from this app. I’m not usually a game person, or an app person, but I get so much out of Larkwire! I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about birds, or even just find another alternative to doomscrolling! ### 5/5 — Please add overwintering water bird plumage! *2025-11-03, version 5.5* I love this app and use it all the time!! It helped me learn the birds really quickly when I moved to California from the UK. I wish it included overwintering water bird plumage (e.g. ducks and grebes would be especially useful!) Thank you! ### 5/5 — Highly recommend! *2025-11-01, version 5.5* Amazing. For all levels. Even advanced can improve their skills massively! 100% worth the highest subscription ### 5/5 — 6 stars!! *2025-09-12, version 5.4* So helpful in learning bird by sound and sight. There’s also a new topography course also. I use it almost daily, and it has increased by ability to identify birds exponentially. Even better on an iPad with bigger bird photos. I’d give it six stars if I could. ### 5/5 — Excellent *2025-06-23* I use this app almost everyday! Update: The new bird topography course is fantastic! I’ve been struggling trying to differentiate the different covert feathers. The ability to practice on photos of real birds is a game changer. It takes you from beginner to advanced at your own pace. I’ve had the app for almost two years, and I still love it. ### 5/5 — great app, great dev team *2025-05-17, version 4.51* i can’t figure out how to edit my previous review, but i submitted a bug report and it was fixed very quickly. thanks for the quick response! ### 5/5 — Excellent *2024-09-05, version 4.44* I use this app almost everyday! ### 5/5 — Yes Larkwire! *2024-08-28, version 4.44* The most accessible way to lean bird calls! ### 5/5 — Great app, worth the price, hope other regions will be added *2024-07-29, version 4.44* This app has helped me a lot, definitely worth paying for the extra packs. I hope one day birds from other countries and regions will be added. ### 5/5 — Great way to practice hearing birds *2024-05-24, version 4.41* Separates the birds by habitat: Urban, forest, field l, backyard. That’s very helpful narrowing down when you’ll hear the bird. Also listening to four distinct birds at one time is just the right amount to practice hearing their special songs and separating the birds from one another. --- *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 2026-08-27.*