Comparison

iBird Pro Guide to Birds vs Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector

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

Head to head
About

iBird Pro Guide to Birds

This app serves as a comprehensive field guide for identifying birds across North America, the UK, Palau, and Hawaii. It offers offline access, advanced search capabilities, and detailed species information including illustrations, photos, songs, and range maps.

Highlights
  • Offline bird database
  • Advanced parametric search
  • High-resolution illustrations
  • Thousands of bird photos
  • Birdsong and call recordings
  • Detailed range maps
  • Photo recognition via companion app
Features
Read full description

iBird Pro with Percevia™ is a self-contained, take-anywhere-no-Internet-required app that turns your iPhone into a field guide to birds of North America, the United Kingdom, and Hawaii. iBird is superior to other birding apps because of the following features: NO INTERNET REQUIRED: Unlike many birding apps today, iBird Pro has a built-in database so that you can use the app anywhere, even with no Internet access. Get ready for a thrilling avian adventure with iBird Pro, the ultimate birdwatching companion that transforms your iPhone into a dazzling field guide! Unleash the power of iBird Pro, the birding aficionado's dream come true, and explore the magnificent world of birds across North America, the United Kingdom, the enchanting island nation of Palau, and the tropical paradise of Hawaii. Experience the iBird advantage, packed with extraordinary features that make birding an exhilarating experience: Offline Access: Wander off the beaten path, and iBird Pro's built-in database will accompany you, empowering you to explore bird species, even in the most remote corners of the world, without needing an internet connection. Advanced Search: Unleash your inner Sherlock Holmes with Percevia™, our patented parametric search engine that helps you identify birds like a pro. Utilize 35 attributes such as GPS location, color, habitat, bill shape, and song type to quickly and accurately pinpoint the bird you've spotted. Stunning Illustrations: iBird Pro, the only app boasting high-resolution, hand-drawn illustrations for every species, captures the essence of birds in all their glory. Revel in detailed images of males, females, juveniles, birds in flight, and plumage variations, making identification a breeze. Vivid Photos: Immerse yourself in our ever-growing collection of over 4,000 mesmerizing photographs, capturing species in a myriad of settings and environments. iBird Pro uniquely fuses illustrations and photographs for a comprehensive birding experience. Songs and Calls: Sharpen your birding skills with over 4,000 birdsong and bird-call recordings, ideal for confirming IDs or when a bird remains elusive but vocal. Photo Recognition: Unveil the magic of iBird's innovative Photo Sleuth app, harnessing cutting-edge AI technology to identify bird species from any photograph, even those that are low-quality or unclear. Note: Photo Sleuth is a separate app called from iBird. Discover how Photo Sleuth works: bit.ly/ibirdphoto. Detailed Range Maps: Uncover the secrets of each species with iBird Pro's intricate range maps, showcasing year-round habitats, migration patterns, and more. Embark on a captivating journey through the world of birding with iBird Pro and experience unrivaled features that will skyrocket your birdwatching escapades to new heights! PREVIOUS USERS. If you previously purchased iBird Pro, the subscription app is free for one year. Tap the Previous Owner button to access the free subscription while in the iBird app’s “7-day trial” offer. iBird will check and unlock your previous ownership receipt for a free year. If iBird can’t find your receipt, it will present a screen so you can email us, and we’ll forward the offer code. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.ibird.com/privacy-policy/

About

Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector

This app works with a specialized hardware module to detect, record, and identify bats by their ultrasonic echolocation calls. It offers real-time listening, spectrogram visualization, and automatic species identification for outdoor enthusiasts, citizen scientists, and researchers.

Highlights
  • Listen to bat echolocation calls
  • View real-time spectrograms
  • Automatic bat species identification
  • Record full spectrum .wav files
  • Map bat recording locations
  • Transfer recordings to computer
Read full description

Using the Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro plug-in module, this app allows you to listen to record and automatically identify bats by their ultrasonic echolocation calls. The module and this companion app reveal the silent and often times invisible world of bats, providing outdoor enthusiasts, citizen scientists, and researchers an affordable and informative way to interact with these important creatures. There are two models: Echo Meter Touch 2 (EMT 2) is intended for nature enthusiasts and batting hobbyists and Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro is designed for bat professionals and features a higher quality microphone, adjustable gain, and higher sample rate. The Echo Meter Touch Ultrasonic Module senses ultrasonic signals, digitizes the signal, and transmits the ultrasonic data to the app on your iOS device. LISTEN TO BAT’S ECHOLOCATIONS EMT2 translates bat echolocations into frequencies that are audible to humans using two technologies. Wildlife Acoustics’ patented Real Time Expansion (RTE) allows you to listen to bats in real time with unparalleled fidelity. RTE maintains the timing and tonality of the original echolocations. Heterodyne (HET) listening via manual and automatic tuning is also available, for those accustomed to that way of hearing bats. VIEW THE ECHOLOCATIONS ON A SPECTROGRAM A real-time spectrogram shows the frequencies and timing of the echolocations. Scroll back in time and zoom in on previous "bat passes." SEE MOST LIKELY BAT SPECIES IN REAL-TIME*** The Auto ID feature analyzes the echolocation calls and suggests the two most likely bat species matches in real time. This is the same technology used in our professional Kaleidoscope Pro Bat Auto Identification software. Currently, the app can identify 26 species in North America, 25 in Europe and 57 in the neotropics. For more information on Kaleidoscope and a full list of species, visit our website. RECORD .WAV FILES Activate triggered recording mode to automatically save bat passes to full spectrum .wav files for analysis on a computer or to view on your iDevice. Or use manual record mode to control start and stop of recording. View the recording spectrogram and add voice or text notes. Listen to the recording using RTE, HET, or traditional Time Expansion Playback (playback at fractional speed to make the ultrasound audible). SEE YOUR PATH AND RECORDING LOCATIONS View in satellite or road map view. View identified species codes directly on the map. Go to the recording's spectrogram from the map view. Transfer to your computer to view in Google Earth. Your iDevice must have GPS capability or you must use a Bluetooth GPS receiver for this functionality. *Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.* TRANSFER RECORDINGS TO YOUR COMPUTER The EMT 2 can transfer the .wav recordings to your computer over a Wi-Fi network or using a USB cable. SHARE RECORDINGS VIA EMAIL OR MMS MESSAGING And import and open files that have been shared with you. ***Because bats vary their echolocation calls in response to a wide variety of needs, no automated identification can achieve 100% accuracy in species identification. Auto-ID, though largely accurate, should not be relied on as a basis for scientific research. Auto-ID is intended for use in analyzing recordings of single bats in free flight in low clutter environments. Auto-ID will not work well on recordings of roost emergence, multiple or captive bats, bats in high clutter environments, or bat social calls. Auto-ID does not include every possible bat for each of the covered regions. Echo Meter is a registered trademark of Wildlife Acoustics, Inc.

Screenshots

iBird Pro Guide to Birds4 screens
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector at none against iBird Pro Guide to Birds's 5. Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector also leads on rating (4.5 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (59% vs 48%). iBird Pro Guide to Birds's advantage is ratings volume (6.9K vs 139) and chart position (#120 vs unranked). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. iBird Pro Guide to Birds sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iBird Pro Guide to Birds has 6.9K ratings behind it against 139, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of iBird Pro Guide to Birds's written reviews are positive against 59% of Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
iBird Pro Guide to Birds versus Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriBird Pro Guide to BirdsEcho Meter Touch Bat Detector
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (6.9K ratings)4.5 (139 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.5% of reviews59.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.9K — better139
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#120 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.7 GB127 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMitch Waite GroupWildlife Acoustics

Customer experience

iBird Pro Guide to Birds

All ratings6,918 ratings
Positive81.6%
Neutral1.7%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews454 reviews
Positive48.5%
Neutral3.7%
Negative47.8%

Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector

All ratings139 ratings
Positive86.3%
Neutral3.6%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews61 reviews
Positive59.0%
Neutral6.6%
Negative34.4%

Bugs and requests

iBird Pro Guide to Birds

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Photo Sleuth feature not working as expected
  • Inconsistent or missing bird song recordings
  • Search function not always returning expected results

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to save and sync personal bird lists
  • More detailed nesting and migration information
  • Improved filtering by season and location
  • Integration with other birding apps and services
  • Expanded coverage of birds beyond North America

Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

iBird Pro Guide to Birds

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Subscription1 Year trial$0.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$9.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yearly Subscription1 Year trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Subscription$59.99
None

Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iBird Pro Guide to Birds free?
iBird Pro Guide to Birds is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector free?
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iBird Pro Guide to Birds or Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector?
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector is rated higher. iBird Pro Guide to Birds averages 4.3 out of 5 from 6.9K ratings, while Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector averages 4.5 from 139 ratings.
Do iBird Pro Guide to Birds or Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector have ads?
Neither iBird Pro Guide to Birds nor Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iBird Pro Guide to Birds or Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector?
iBird Pro Guide to Birds ships an update every 2 months, and Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector every 2 months. Most recently, iBird Pro Guide to Birds was updated on September 23, 2026 and Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector on September 22, 2026.

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