Comparison

Birds Complete Reference Guide vs HydroCrowd

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

Head to head
About

Birds Complete Reference Guide

Explore a comprehensive guide to over 11,400 bird species, featuring high-quality songs, calls, and detailed information. Organize your findings with personal lists and access external resources like Wikipedia for deeper insights. This app helps you manage and learn about birds both online and offline.

Highlights
  • 11,400+ bird species coverage
  • High-quality bird songs and calls
  • Offline access to bird data
  • Search by English or Scientific name
  • Personalized favorite and finding lists
  • Links to Wikipedia, Avibase, and Ebird
Features
Read full description

A complete birding reference app that includes over 11,400 species of birds grouped into 243 birding families. Access beautiful and distinct high quality songs and calls for individual birds in an easy to navigate way. All birds and lists can be accessed without an internet connection, however access to birding multimedia (sounds, images and videos) does require an online internet connection. You can search for a bird with the English name or Scientific name. A favorite list is also available allowing you to add any bird to your favorites. Personal birding lists can also be created helping you manage bird findings into your own separated lists. In-depth information for each bird can be found using links to Wikipedia, Avibase and Ebird found in each bird profile screen. If you feel there are any omissions that you would like to see added, or have any issues with that app please send us an Email.

About

HydroCrowd

Features
Read full description

HydroCrowd is a research project of the Justus Liebig University Giessen, which investigates the potential of participatory monitoring to increase the availability of hydro-climatic data for sustainable water management, especially in remote areas in the global south. The project will test different approaches to engage volunteers through the implementation and evaluation of a participatory hydro-climatic monitoring program in selected mountain regions in Ecuador, Honduras and Tanzania. Furthermore, it will demonstrate how the data collected by the volunteers can be used in hydrological modelling and, therefore, improve the prediction of climate change impact on water resources in data-scarce regions. The project outputs can be used to guide the development of future participatory monitoring programs and stimulate upscaling of the approach to other regions to address the lack of hydro-climatic data for evidence-based decision making and sustainable water management. Volunteers participate by reporting measurements from easy-to-use instruments at weather and water stations installed in the project areas in Ecuador, Honduras and Tanzania. These measurements include rainfall, air temperature and humidity, as well as the water level and turbidity of rivers and streams. To evaluate the quality of the data, the data will be compared with automated reference measurements at selected sites. These are then systematically examined and tested for their suitability for modeling. This app enables easy submission of data by the volunteers and provides instructions on how to collect data. Furthermore, users can view the data previously submitted by other volunteers. As the remote study areas have limited network access, it is recommended to download the map of your region and the locations of the stations before going to any of the HydroCrowd stations. In addition to reporting measurements from the HydroCrowd stations, volunteers also have the opportunity to create spots to record their own rainfall data, and to report weather events using ‘photo notes’. The HydroCrowd Citizen Science App is running on the SPOTTERON Platform.

Screenshots

Birds Complete Reference Guide4 screens
HydroCrowd4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HydroCrowd at none against Birds Complete Reference Guide's 1. HydroCrowd also leads on ads (none vs shown). Birds Complete Reference Guide's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Birds Complete Reference Guide sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. HydroCrowd asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Birds Complete Reference Guide ships an update every 5 weeks, HydroCrowd every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Birds Complete Reference Guide versus HydroCrowd: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBirds Complete Reference GuideHydroCrowd
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.012.0
Further details — not scored
Size171 MB61 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperFaisal AkhtarSPOTTERON Gmbh

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Birds Complete Reference Guide

One-time1
  • Remove Advertisements$0.99
None

HydroCrowd

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Birds Complete Reference Guide free?
Birds Complete Reference Guide is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HydroCrowd free?
HydroCrowd is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Birds Complete Reference Guide or HydroCrowd have ads?
Birds Complete Reference Guide shows ads; HydroCrowd does not.
Which is updated more often, Birds Complete Reference Guide or HydroCrowd?
Birds Complete Reference Guide ships an update every 5 weeks, and HydroCrowd every 3 months. Most recently, Birds Complete Reference Guide was updated on September 30, 2026 and HydroCrowd on September 10, 2026.

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