Comparison

Birdathon vs nSide|Lockdown

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

nSide|Lockdown

This app provides critical emergency response functionality for schools using the nSide Platform. It enables immediate lockdown procedures and alerts relevant authorities and school officials during emergencies.

Highlights
  • Initiate lockdown procedures
  • Notify law enforcement
  • Alert school officials
  • Emergency assistance requests
  • Integrates with nSide Platform
Features
Read full description

Provides school lockdown and emergency response functionality for nSide Platform schools. On initiating a Lockdown or other request for assistance, the nSide Platform is notified of the event, which triggers a lockdown status and notification to law enforcement if necessary, school officials, and/or others.

Screenshots

Birdathon4 screens
nSide|Lockdown3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Birdathon at 4.7 against nSide|Lockdown's 4.2. Birdathon also leads on ratings volume (15 vs 5). nSide|Lockdown's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). On price, ads, monetization model and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Birdathon sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. nSide|Lockdown asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Birdathon holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 5 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Birdathon ships an update every 4 months, nSide|Lockdown every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and August 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Birdathon versus nSide|Lockdown: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBirdathonnSide|Lockdown
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (15 ratings) — better4.2 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings15 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size192 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBarry Langdon-LassagnenSide, Inc

Customer experience

Birdathon

All ratings15 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

nSide|Lockdown

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Birdathon

One-time4
  • Good Tip$0.99
  • Great Tip$1.99
  • Amazing Tip$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Incredible Tip$4.99
None

nSide|Lockdown

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Birdathon free?
Birdathon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is nSide|Lockdown free?
nSide|Lockdown is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Birdathon or nSide|Lockdown?
Birdathon is rated higher. Birdathon averages 4.7 out of 5 from 15 ratings, while nSide|Lockdown averages 4.2 from 5 ratings.
Do Birdathon or nSide|Lockdown have ads?
Neither Birdathon nor nSide|Lockdown shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Birdathon or nSide|Lockdown?
Birdathon ships an update every 4 months, and nSide|Lockdown every 2 months. Most recently, Birdathon was updated on September 19, 2026 and nSide|Lockdown on August 11, 2026.

Other comparisons