Reef Guide vs DiveDex
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Reef Guide
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You want to know how hot the animals that can be seen while scuba diving or snorkeling? Find the answer through fingertip on images! In Reef Guide you will found the names to more then a thousand fishes, turtles, sea slugs, corals and mutch other species, which living on coral reef. Short amateur movies show all animals in theier natural environment, as they can each watch. Features: - more than a thousand items with names in English, German and Latin - App-language setting English or German - photo index as of contents - select by family name (for example: show all sea turtles, anamonefishes, ā¦) - choose a popular region worldwide - photos and movies in screen size (rotation) - intelligent full-text search, same in popular or Latin name - Darkmode - iPhone Duo uses the inner display like an iPad - no online connection required - no In-App purchases / no subscription - no promotion - universal-app, works for all devices with iOS/iPadOS 27.1 or newer: iPhone, iPhone Duo, iPad and Mac silicon (iPad Version) with macOS 27.1 or newer
DiveDex
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**Name what you see underwater ā instantly, and completely offline.** DiveDex turns your phone into a live marine-life field guide. Point your camera at a fish, coral, nudibranch or crab and it identifies the species in real time, right on the device. No signal, no account, no uploads ā perfect for the boat, the reef, or a remote freshwater lake where there's no bar of reception. Built by a diver, for divers. **IDENTIFY ANYTHING AQUATIC** ⢠Real-time identification from your live camera ā just center the creature in the frame. ⢠Powered by the open BioCLIP model running 100% on-device. ⢠Thousands of species across the tree of life: reef and pelagic fish, freshwater fish, corals, nudibranchs, crustaceans, cephalopods, echinoderms and more. ⢠Confidence you can trust ā DiveDex captures the clearest, most-confident moment so the ID you save is the one you actually saw. **WORKS 100% OFFLINE** ⢠Everything runs on your phone. Your photos and your location never leave the device. ⢠The species model and reef catalogue download once on first launch; after that you're fully offline. ⢠Add more with free downloadable packs ā sharks & rays, nudibranchs, corals, freshwater and more ā only what you want. **LOG EVERY DIVE** ⢠Auto-record a dive and see every species you spotted, organised by dive. ⢠An offline gallery of your captures you can browse and revisit any time. **BEAUTIFUL, SHAREABLE ID CARDS** ⢠Every shot becomes a polished 4:5 card ā species name, place, and date ā ready to post. ⢠Photos are geotagged with your surface location and stamped with a reverse-geocoded place. **CONTRIBUTE TO CITIZEN SCIENCE** ⢠Save a clean, geotagged original ready to submit to iNaturalist. ⢠Cross-check any ID against iNaturalist records near your dive site ā a quick sanity check on whether a species is really found where you are. ⢠Your confirmed sightings help build open marine-biodiversity data. **PRIVATE BY DESIGN** ⢠No account. No ads. No tracking. No analytics. ⢠Identification happens entirely on-device; nothing about your dives is uploaded unless you choose to share a photo. DiveDex is a naturalist's tool for curiosity and record-keeping ā not a substitute for professional judgement, and never a dive-safety or navigation instrument.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: DiveDex at Free against Reef Guide's $2.99. DiveDex also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 6 months) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 27.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
DiveDex is free to download; Reef Guide costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Reef Guide ships an update every 6 months, DiveDex every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Reef Guide | DiveDex |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free ā better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 4 weeks ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad ā better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 27.0 | 16.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 1.8 GB | 89 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Harald Feiste | donarun DAS |
In-app purchases
Reef Guide
No in-app purchases
DiveDex
No in-app purchases








