# Tea Bag Index \| SPOTTERON — Our soil in Citizen Science

> Our soil in Citizen Science (iPhone/iPad app by SPOTTERON Gmbh.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tea-bag-index-spotteron/id1465181150 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [SPOTTERON Gmbh](https://appshunter.io/developer/1378099707)
- Category: Education, Social Networking
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 12.0 · 62 MB
- Languages: English, German
- Released: 2019-05-25
- Data updated: 2026-01-30
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tea-bag-index-spotteron/id1465181150/reviews.md

## What is Tea Bag Index | SPOTTERON?

The educational App Tea Bag Index (TBI) collects data on soil observations and on soil decomposition dynamics in particular. The decomposition of organic matter in the soil is part of the global carbon cycle that provide information on the biological activity of the soil and is therefore important for climate change. Changes in the carbon content of soil can both intensify and mitigate climate change. 

The citizen scientists may choose from 3 activities: 1) basic soil observations by recording soil colour, soil life and land use, 2) soil observations by studying soil texture by feel of doing the Spade test, 3) TBI. The TBI records the decomposition rates of buried tea bags (green tea and rooibos) within 3 months using a standardised method. The method can easily be performed by citizen scientists, such as students. The collected data is transmitted to the database of the Global Tea Bag Index Network (www.teatime4science.org). 

Schools can easily include the TBI App in their curriculum. Teaching materials (soil observation with all senses, spade test, soil texture by feel, TBI) in the App increase the students´ knowledge of soil and the global carbon cycling. 
Tea Bag Index App will further contribute to a strong connection between science and society by connecting each one of the activity categories to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Tea Bag Index app runs on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform.


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 4.2.0 — 2025-09-11

* Bugfixes and improvements

### 3.5.0 — 2023-12-01

* Bug fixes and improvements

### 3.0.1 — 2021-11-18

* Mention other users in comments by writing @Username. The person mentioned receives a notification in the news feed.
* Make text stand out by writing ** something ** in bold or * something * in italics.
* New Data Visualization Interface: heat map view & dot map view of the data.
* New button for easier spot updates.
* Detection of existing metadata (time and place) in photos when uploading them from your photo album for use in the spot.
* Bug fixes and improvements.

### 2.9.2 — 2020-12-03

* Extended info text "about the project"
* Minor bug fixes

### 2.9.1 — 2019-12-06

• Validated data: the administrators can now set your observation to "checked" and build a validated data set for scientific research directly in the app
• Event improvement: events like workshops or community meet-ups are longer visible on the map
• Bugfixes and minor improvements

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All apps by SPOTTERON Gmbh: https://appshunter.io/developer/1378099707

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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 2026-01-30.*