Comparison

BirdGuides vs FirstMove

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

Head to head
About

BirdGuides

Access comprehensive bird news and sightings with an interactive map and advanced search. Submit your own observations and receive personalized notifications for desired species. Discover local and rare birds with detailed information and navigation assistance.

Highlights
  • Interactive BirdMap with sightings
  • Filter sightings by rarity
  • Sophisticated search of sightings database
  • Submit bird sightings from the field
  • Personalized species notifications
  • Detailed sighting information and directions
Features
Read full description

Whether you're the keenest of twitchers, a local birdwatcher or someone with a passing interest in what birds are being seen near you, the newly updated BirdGuides app gives you all the information you need โ€“ and plenty more besides. Major new features include: โ€ข New and improved design โ€“ delivering sightings to you in sleek format, with reports now colour-coded by rarity and individual sighting details with added map view; โ€ข Enhanced BirdMap โ€“ view all sightings on an interactive full-screen map, either for the current day or any past date; โ€ข Quickly filter sightings by rarity level on both list and map view; โ€ข Sophisticated search function โ€“ you can now explore our entire sightings database, stretching back to November 2000, on a map as well as in list format; โ€ข A wider range of notification sound options are now available. Using the BirdGuides app, you can: โ€ข View all sightings from today or any previous date in order to help you see great birds; โ€ข Submit your sightings quickly and accurately from the field with our submissions form โ€“ all sightings are proudly shared with BirdTrack; โ€ข Update and create Filters within the app to get notified about the species you want to see. Each sighting can be expanded to give full location details and further information, such as time seen, number of birds, detailed directions and parking instructions. A single click will load the best route to the bird in your map provider. Birding has never been so easy!

About

FirstMove

Read full description

FirstMove is the alarm clock that makes sure you're actually awake. When the alarm rings, the only way to silence it is to solve real tactical chess puzzles - a fork, a pin, a discovered attack - drawn from thousands of positions and matched to your skill level. No snooze button. Just one good move before coffee. WAKE UP SHARP โ€ข Solve 1โ€“5 puzzles to dismiss your alarm โ€ข Puzzles matched to your personal rating, which grows as you improve โ€ข Cheat-proof: A backup alarm re-rings if you try to cheat by closing the app TRAIN WITH THE KNIGHT Your coach watches every solve and learns your game. It knows whether your forks are sharp and your pins are costing you - and it says so. โ€ข A daily diagnosis of your weakest tactical patterns โ€ข Coached training sessions built from the puzzles you miss โ€ข Watch your accuracy climb, theme by theme, week by week TRACK YOUR GAME โ€ข Personal rating with full history charts โ€ข Wake streaks, solve times, and accuracy โ€ข Performance breakdown across ten tactical themes PREMIUM Multi-puzzle alarms, progressive difficulty, puzzle themes, adaptive training sessions, and the full stats suite. Subscriptions renew automatically and can be managed in Settings. Made for people who want their first move of the day to be a good one. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

BirdGuides4 screens
FirstMove4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BirdGuides at none against FirstMove's 2. BirdGuides also leads on iOS requirement (17.1 vs 26.0). FirstMove's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. FirstMove sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. BirdGuides asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BirdGuides ships an update every 2 weeks, FirstMove every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 5 level
BirdGuides versus FirstMove: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBirdGuidesFirstMove
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews59.6% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.1 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size5 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWarners Group Publications PLCTZVETOMIR CHRISTOV CHRISTOV

Bugs and requests

BirdGuides

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notifications not working
  • Sightings not updating properly
  • Crashes and freezes after updates
  • Subscription issues after updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Improved map with precise locations
  • Ability to set alerts for specific counties
  • Better sorting and filtering options

FirstMove

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

BirdGuides

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

FirstMove

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly14 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly$19.991 Year

Questions

Is BirdGuides free?
BirdGuides is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is FirstMove free?
FirstMove is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do BirdGuides or FirstMove have ads?
Neither BirdGuides nor FirstMove shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BirdGuides or FirstMove?
BirdGuides ships an update every 2 weeks, and FirstMove every 5 days. Most recently, BirdGuides was updated on October 24, 2026 and FirstMove on October 25, 2026.

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