EyeOnWater vs LeafByte
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
EyeOnWater
Contribute to scientific research by measuring and reporting the color of nearby bodies of water. Your data helps scientists track water quality and life within it over time, building on a long-standing scientific observation method.
- Measure water color
- Contribute to scientific research
- Track water quality
- Observe algae presence
- Utilize Forel-Ule scale
- View data on website
Read full descriptionHide full description
The EyeOnWater concept consists of an App and a website. The app allows you as user to make a contribution to science and supply information about the water colour of fresh- as well as saline waters (lakes, rivers, coastal waters, seas and oceans) near your location or elsewhere. The measurement is sent to the central server, validated and stored, after which it is visible via the EyeOnWater website: www.eyeonwater.org What is it you measure? Water colour is an indication for life (e.g. algae) in the water. Scientists have been measuring this in marine waters via the Forel-Ule scale for more than 200 years. Your measurements will contribute to this long term observation and continue the timeseries. The EyeOnWater concept has been developed by NIOZ (scientific background), Veerder (Design), and MARIS (Technical development), with assistance from other partners in the EU funded project Citclops: www.citclops.eu Join us!
LeafByte
This application allows users to quickly and accurately measure leaf area and herbivory by taking photos. It supports various leaf types and conditions, and saves data to spreadsheets. Features include freehand drawing for reconstruction and automatic skew correction.
- Measure leaf area and herbivory
- Save data to spreadsheets
- Analyze leaves of any size
- Reconstruct missing leaf margins
- Measure dark or light plant material
- Read barcodes
- Correct photo skew
Read full descriptionHide full description
LeafByte measures leaf area and herbivory quickly and accurately. Take a picture of a leaf and a scale to measure total leaf area and leaf area consumed. - Saves your data in a convenient spreadsheet on your phone or in Google Drive - Analyzes leaves of almost any size or shape - Uses freehand drawing to reconstruct missing leaf margins - Can measure dark plant material (such as leaves) on a white background or light plant material (such as petals) on a dark background - Reads and records all major barcodes - Automatically corrects skew in photos taken at an angle
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: LeafByte at 4.8 against EyeOnWater's 2.5. LeafByte also leads on ratings volume (13 vs 2) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 14.0). EyeOnWater's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
LeafByte holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LeafByte has 13 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
EyeOnWater ships an update every 2 months, LeafByte every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on June 25, 2026 and September 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | EyeOnWater | LeafByte |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (2 ratings) | 4.8 (13 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 13 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Maris B.V. | Abigail Getman-Pickering |
Customer experience
EyeOnWater
LeafByte
In-app purchases
EyeOnWater
No in-app purchases
LeafByte
No in-app purchases
