Birdathon vs Morse Decoded
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Birdathon
This app helps birdwatchers create and organize detailed checklists of their observations. It automatically records time and location, allowing for easy editing and customization. Users can visualize their sightings on maps, add field notes, and export data for sharing or further analysis.
- Observation-centric checklists
- Automatic time and location recording
- Customizable maps with boundary overlays
- Field notes for additional observations
- Multiple checklist sorting options
- Data export to CSV and other formats
- Create checklist templates
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Birdathon is an observation-centric tool for creating birding checklists. It helps you organize your checklists and share them with others. Use Birdathon in the field to quickly record whether and where a bird is seen or heard and the number observed. The time and location of each observation is automatically recorded. You can adjust the location, time entries and the count of birds observed at any time to ensure your records are accurate. You can add breeding codes to your observations. Checklist maps display the locations of your observations. You can overlay county boundaries for every US state. You can add a range circle such as a 5MR (5-mile Radius) to your maps. You can import and overlay custom kml/kmz files onto your maps. An Overview feature lets you see your combined observations for any time period, and displays a map showing any boundaries you have selected, so you can utilize the map feature even when you are not actively checklisting. You can export Overview data into a csv text file or create a new checklist template from the Overview. Your checklists can be viewed in taxonomic order, alphabetically, by rarity or as a timeline of species. You can enrich your checklist with field notes and add observations such as mammals, butterflies, wildflowers, etc., to make it a more complete record of your experience. You can organize your checklists into categories such as Day List, Year List, County List, Life List, etc., and assign color themes to your lists. Bird species may be added and deleted from your lists at any time. You can create new checklist templates from your previous lists or import templates created by others. You can change which template is being used. You can import text files into Birdathon, making them into templates or new checklists. Different export options for your checklists allow you to import into eBird or another copy of Birdathon. The bird species source data and other resources used in this app come from the following sources: AviList, a unified global checklist of birds, is the core data set used for Birdathon. https://www.avilist.org. Some data has been integrated from the following sources: The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world (https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/), the American Ornithological Society's (AOS) Checklist of North and Middle American Birds (https://checklist.americanornithology.org), and the American Birding Association's (ABA) checklist of North American Birds (https://www.aba.org/listing-taxonomy/) Alpha codes come from The Institute for Bird Populations’ Standardized 4- and 6-letter Bird Species Codes. https://www.birdpop.org/pages/birdSpeciesCodes.php. County boundary data is from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) TIGER/Line 2019 Shapefiles found on the United States Census Bureau's website at https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.2019.html. Boundaries should be used as general guidelines and not be considered precise. Note especially where county boundaries follow creeks, rivers, ridge lines and other natural features, and so are of much finer resolution than can be shown on Birdathon’s maps. California breeding bird atlas blocks come from the California Bird Atlas, https://www.californiabirdatlas.org. California Bird Atlas logo and breeding code descriptions used with permission.
Morse Decoded
Learn and practice Morse code with interactive stories and dedicated training modes for tapping, listening, and reading. Features adjustable difficulty, a text-to-Morse translator, and progress tracking with badges.
- Stories Mode for realistic transmissions
- Tapping, Listening, and Reading practice modes
- Adjustable WPM and Farnsworth timing
- Text-to-Morse translator
- Quick reference dictionary
- Progress tracking with badges and stats
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Explore the communication style of the 19th and 20th centuries with a modern tool built for learning. • Stories Mode: Read and tap through practical stories. Get a sense of what it was like to send and receive realistic transmissions. • Practice Suite: Dedicated modes for Tapping (sending), Listening (receiving), and Reading (visual). • Adjustable Difficulty: Full control over WPM and Farnsworth timing so you can learn at your own pace. • Utilities: Includes a text-to-Morse translator and a quick reference dictionary. • Progress Tracking: Earn badges and see your stats improve over time.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Birdathon at none against Morse Decoded's shown. Birdathon also leads on update cadence (every 4 months vs every 27 months) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Morse Decoded's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and in-app purchases 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. Birdathon sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Morse Decoded sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Morse Decoded holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 6 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Birdathon ships an update every 4 months, Morse Decoded every 27 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Birdathon | Morse Decoded |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (15 ratings) | 5.0 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 27 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.1 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 192 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Barry Langdon-Lassagne | Henry Abrahamsen |
Customer experience
Birdathon
Morse Decoded
In-app purchases
Birdathon
- Good Tip$0.99
- Great Tip$1.99
- Amazing Tip$2.99
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- Incredible Tip$4.99
Morse Decoded
- Premium$0.99






