ObsIdentify vs Plant Alert
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ObsIdentify
Instantly identify plants, animals, and mushrooms from photos taken in Europe or the Dutch Caribbean. Track your discoveries, earn rewards, and contribute to scientific research by sharing your observations.
- One-click species recognition
- Collect wildlife observations
- Tips for finding new species
- Earn badges and join challenges
- Create and share observations with groups
- Contribute to biological research
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Recognize nature in one click! Take a photo in Europe or the Dutch Caribbean and find out which species it is. Collect all your wildlife observations in the app. You'll be rewarded with tips to find new species, earn badges, and be invited to join challenges. Create groups with colleagues, family or friends, to share your stunning nature observations. Your observations, and those of others, contribute to biological research and knowledge about nature. Every observation counts! ObsIdentify only recognizes wild animals, plants and mushrooms in Europe and the Dutch Caribbean. Please do not use the app for selfies, people, pets, house or garden plants. The image recognition in ObsIdentify is made possible by millions of observations from thousands of users of Waarneming.nl, Waarnemingen.be and Observation.org. ObsIdentify is a product of the Observation International Foundation, in collaboration with Naturalis Biodiversity Center (The Netherlands) and Natuurpunt (Belgium).
Plant Alert
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Sentinel Garden is a citizen science app developed as part of the OneSTOP project to help monitor introduced, non-native and potentially invasive plants. Use the app to photograph and identify plants, record where you found them, and contribute observations that can help researchers understand how plants are spreading through gardens and other managed green spaces. Identify plants Take or upload up to three photographs and use integrated Pl@ntNet identification to help determine the species you have found. You can also enter the plant name yourself if you already know it. Record where plants are growing Add the observation location using the location stored in your photograph, your device GPS, or by selecting the location on a map. Tell us what you are seeing For plants found in gardens and allotments, Sentinel Garden asks additional questions about how the plant is behaving — for example whether it is spreading, how it is being controlled, and whether it appears to be outcompeting other plants. You can also record observations from parks and public gardens without having to answer garden-specific questions. Works when connectivity is limited Surveys are saved on your device first and can be synchronised when an internet connection is available. Connect to iNaturalist You can optionally connect your own iNaturalist account. When connected, suitable observations can be contributed through your account. If you choose not to connect an account, observations can still be contributed through the project account. Your research data Sentinel Garden stores survey information for research purposes. Observation locations are stored accurately for research, while locations displayed on the public observation map are deliberately shown only approximately. Survey notes are retained within the research dataset and are not added to the public iNaturalist description. By contributing observations, you can help researchers build a better picture of where introduced plants occur, how they spread, and how they interact with gardens and the wider environment.
Screenshots
Verdict
ObsIdentify and Plant Alert are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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.
| Parameter | ObsIdentify | Plant Alert |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 58.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 45 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Observation International | Dave Hudson |
In-app purchases
ObsIdentify
No in-app purchases
Plant Alert
No in-app purchases









