Patterns vs Back40
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Patterns
Log and analyze trail camera sightings by focusing on animal behavior and patterns rather than just images. Automatically integrates weather data to help understand wildlife movement. Create profiles for specific animals and generate reports on hunt areas and cameras.
- Log trail cam sightings with location, date, time, and direction
- Automatic weather data integration
- Create profiles for specific animals
- Generate reports on hunt areas and cameras
- Track doe:buck ratios
- Save important sighting images
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Patterns is a trail cam log that helps you store and track all of your trail cam sightings. Once you've got a collection of sightings tracked, you can use those to report on behavior and pattern specific animals. Most trail cam apps and software require you to upload all of your cam images; some will even scan them and try to identify what's on the cam, so you don't have to. One problem is, they don't work with video, and video can offer a lot more detail about what's in front of your cam. They're also expensive because they often charge by the number of images you have tracked. Another problem is you end up with thousands of images that you don't care about. Patterns is different. We don't focus on the image or the video – we focus on what it tells you. When you track something in patterns, you're tracking which cam it was on, the date and time, what it was, and the direction it was moving. We'll automatically pull weather using nearby weather stations, sunrise and sunset times, and moon phase. You can still save images of sightings, but it's not really important – there's no reason to keep thousands of trail cam images, just the good ones. Hunt Areas: When you add a cam, you choose which hunt area the cam is on. This could be a club, private, or public land (depending on your state regulations). You can add as many hunt areas and cams as you want. Weather: Patterns will pull weather data local to the cam and the date and time of the sighting. This weather info can help you pattern your hunt areas and generally helps you understand how game interact with weather patterns. Profiles: Once you've identified a specific animal you want to track, you can give it a name and connect it to new and past sightings. Then, when you view that profile, you can see a timeline of that animal's sightings and pattern its behavior. Reports: Profiles are great, but you can also report on specific hunt areas to see doe:buck ratios or report on individual cams to see when bucks are moving. Reports offer a lot of flexibility. We're just getting started. The more you pattern, the more ideas you'll have for using the collected info you've logged in your patterns cam journal. Patterns has been a game-changer for us – it has made it simple and easy to get more value from the trail cams we set up for scouting and hunting. It's also been exciting to log other game and begin to understand how wildlife move and interact in the areas we hunt and roam. We hope you find it as useful as we have!
Back40
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- Back40 works with all trail cameras, either through email (SMTP enabled cameras like Reolink) or by uploading photos from an SD card. - Back40 uses AI to find and tag animals so that you can stop looking at empty photos. - Opt in to push notifications to get an instant alert whenever there is activity on your camera or someone uploads photos. - Weather & astronomical data is collected for each photo to help you find patterns in the animals behaviour. - Accurate weather and wind forecasts for all of your hunting lands. - Share cameras, data and insights with your hunting buddies. Get started for free today by downloading the app and signing up! Terms of use: https://back40.app/terms-and-conditions
Screenshots
Verdict
Patterns and Back40 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. Patterns sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Back40 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Patterns | Back40 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | — | Every 10 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 37 South, LLC | Pixby Media AB |
In-app purchases
Patterns
- Pro Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Pro Yearly7 Days trial$18.991 Year
Back40
- Subscription$2.991 Month
- Subscription1 Month trial$2.991 Month









