BirdGuides vs FirstMove
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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: โข 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; โข Enhanced BirdMap โ view all sightings on an interactive full-screen map, either for the current day or any past date; โข Quickly filter sightings by rarity level on both list and map view; โข 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; โข A wider range of notification sound options are now available. Using the BirdGuides app, you can: โข View all sightings from today or any previous date in order to help you see great birds; โข Submit your sightings quickly and accurately from the field with our submissions form โ all sightings are proudly shared with BirdTrack; โข 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!
FirstMove
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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 โข Solve 1โ5 puzzles to dismiss your alarm โข Puzzles matched to your personal rating, which grows as you improve โข 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. โข A daily diagnosis of your weakest tactical patterns โข Coached training sessions built from the puzzles you miss โข Watch your accuracy climb, theme by theme, week by week TRACK YOUR GAME โข Personal rating with full history charts โข Wake streaks, solve times, and accuracy โข 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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. FirstMove sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. BirdGuides asks for nothing beyond the download.
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.
| Parameter | BirdGuides | FirstMove |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | 59.6% of reviews | โ |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 5 days โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No โ better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | โ |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad โ better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.1 โ better | 26.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Warners Group Publications PLC | TZVETOMIR 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
BirdGuides
No in-app purchases
FirstMove
- Premium Monthly14 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Premium Yearly$19.991 Year









