Forest Watcher vs STE WildTracks
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Forest Watcher
Access global forest change data and alerts offline. Identify areas for investigation, collect field evidence with customizable forms, and make informed conservation decisions. Share data and manage teams for effective forest monitoring.
- Offline forest change data access
- Designate areas of interest
- Collect field data with forms
- Overlay contextual layers
- Route tracking for investigations
- Share alerts and data
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Forest Watcher is a mobile application designed to bring the dynamic online forest monitoring and alert systems of Global Forest Watch (GFW) offline and into the field. Forest Watcher allows users to easily access GFW’s forest change data on any mobile device, navigate to areas of detected change, and collect information about what they find, regardless of connectivity. This app provides an affordable and easy-to-use solution to quickly identify areas for patrols or field investigations, collect evidence about forest changes from the field, use the data that’s collected to make evidence-based management and conservation decisions, and investigate remote sensing products in the field. Features: * Designate areas of interest to monitor, up to 20,000 sq km * Store various satellite-based forest change data, such as near-real-time deforestation alerts on your mobile device * Overlay contextual layers, such as Protected Areas and Timber Concessions, or upload other custom datasets * Investigate alerts in the field and collect information (including GPS points and photos) through built-in and customizable forms * Review, analyze, and download data collected with the app * Route tracking to investigate a deforestation alert * Share alerts, areas, routes, reports, contextual layers and basemap tiles or all app content at once. * Manage a team and more through the supplementary desktop application at forestwatcher.globalforestwatch.org If you have any issues downloading or using the app, please reference our “how-to” materials. If the issues persist, please contact us at forestwatcher@wri.org. Any other questions or feedback, please contact us at forestwatcher@wri.org. Full terms and conditions can be found at http://www.globalforestwatch.org/terms.
STE WildTracks
This research tool visualizes wildlife movement patterns over 16 days, offering insights into daily and nightly activity. It's designed for conservation groups partnering with wildlife organizations.
- Movement visualization
- 16-day data history
- Day and night activity tracking
- Conservation research tool
- Invite-only access
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The STE Tracking App is an invite-only research tool for groups working in partnership with Save The Elephants for the conservation and security of African wildlife. Cutting-edge data visualisation to highlight types of movements during the day and night over the preceding 16 days.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Forest Watcher at 80% against STE WildTracks's 0%. Forest Watcher also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.3) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 12 months). STE WildTracks's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.0). On price, ratings volume, ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Forest Watcher holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 8 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of Forest Watcher's written reviews are positive against 0% of STE WildTracks's.
Forest Watcher ships an update every 3 months, STE WildTracks every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Forest Watcher | STE WildTracks |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (8 ratings) — better | 3.3 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8 | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 12 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | World Resources Institute | Save the Elephants |
Customer experience
Forest Watcher
STE WildTracks
In-app purchases
Forest Watcher
No in-app purchases
STE WildTracks
No in-app purchases
