Comparison

Bird Journal vs WildOtter

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

Head to head
About

Bird Journal

Record, explore, and share your bird and wildlife observations. This app allows for detailed data entry, including photos and habitat information, with a vast global species library. Access your records across devices and contribute to conservation efforts.

Highlights
  • Record observations with custom data entry
  • Explore records with reports, graphs, and maps
  • Share records and contribute to conservation
  • Access data on any device
  • Secure cloud storage for data
  • Import existing records from other apps
Features
Read full description

Bird Journal is the best way to record, explore and share your bird & wildlife observations and experiences. It has thousands of users across the world, and now brings its full power to iPhone and iPad in one beautifully native app. Start keeping a record of your bird & wildlife observations now with a free account. RECORD ANYTHING Enter bird & wildlife observations, photos, habitat and more with customisable data entry. Bird Journal's growing library contains hundreds of checklists and taxonomies, with over 100,000 species and subspecies worldwide. EXPLORE YOUR RECORDS Enjoy looking back through your data with beautiful entry reports, species lists, graphs*, maps*, reports* & a redesigned photo gallery. Search instantly by date, species, location & more. POWERFUL TOOLS, NOW ON MOBILE Import and export your records, replace species across your data, and build your own custom checklists, taxonomies and synonym packs — all for the first time on your phone or tablet. SHARE YOUR RECORDS Export, print and share records, species lists and photos straight to friends and other apps. eBird and BirdTrack systems are fully supported, so you can conveniently contribute to conservation efforts. ACCESS ANYWHERE Access and enter your records on any supported device or computer. Data is stored on each device, meaning you always have access even when on the move, in the field or abroad. REMEMBER FOREVER Never lose your data. Everything added to Bird Journal is safely and securely stored in Bird Journal's cloud. If you lose your device or your computer malfunctions, simply sign back in to your account to carry on from where you left off. BRING YOUR DATA Get started quickly by importing existing records from any other system or app. eBird, BirdTrack & Wildlife Recorder records can be imported directly. * Requires an upgrade to a Bird Journal Premium account.

About

WildOtter

This app provides reliable water safety information for recreational users, including routes, points of interest, and river levels. Content is user-generated and team-moderated to ensure accuracy. It aims to remove the worry associated with outdated information.

Highlights
  • User-generated content
  • Team-moderated information
  • Latest routes
  • Wild swimming spots
  • Points of interest
  • River level information
Features
Read full description

The app for all recreational water users to help you get out on or in the water safely using quality and reliable content that is added by users and moderated by our team who will go out to marked locations and reported hazards creating a reliable information source all for the low price of £10 per year! Your subscription includes access to all our latest routes, point information such as wild swimming spots, points of interest and river level information for our river users. We are passionate about both paddling and wild swimming and are creating this resource to allow you to find all of the information you need in one place and to help remove the worry that out of date unreliable information can bring.

Screenshots

Bird Journal4 screens
WildOtter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Bird Journal at free with in-app purchases against WildOtter's subscription. Bird Journal also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 4 weeks) and review sentiment (76% vs 60%). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Bird Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and WildOtter sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $14.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bird Journal ships an update weekly, WildOtter every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Bird Journal versus WildOtter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBird JournalWildOtter
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (16 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings16 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBluebird Technology LimitedShoothill Ltd.

Customer experience

Bird Journal

All ratings16 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral6.3%
Negative43.8%
Written reviews51 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral3.9%
Negative19.6%

WildOtter

Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

Bugs and requests

Bird Journal

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • App crashes when going for Brazil or USA
  • App not matching birds for UK
  • Cannot add recent sightings of Boobys etc.
  • App no longer runs reliably on iOS
  • App is buggy and unclear
Show 4 more
  • Cannot sign in
  • Data lost on phone replacement
  • Sync issues between mobile and desktop
  • Orientation issues on iPad

Requested features

52 requests
  • Add Avilist taxonomy support
  • Update to current species naming conventions
  • Filter species by name or family
  • Species pages to list sightings
  • Way to jump to early dates in entries
Show 47 more
  • Manually enter coordinates for new locations
  • Auto-populate location and weather
  • Attach photos in the app
  • Share information with groups of friends
  • Add mammals to the update version
  • Add checklists for other wildlife (dragonflies, butterflies)
  • Add missing counties to lists
  • Add a pull-down box for sites when adding sightings
  • Geotag and move sightings after seeing them
  • World list and other wildlife lists
  • Life List section
  • Custom species entry
  • Location filtering for own locations
  • Improved species list customization
  • Improved list management on mobile
  • More intuitive export function
  • More detailed statistics on mobile
  • County species lists enhancements
  • Add dragonflies, butterflies checklists
  • Add mammals to the app
  • Add world list and other wildlife lists
  • Add Life List section
  • Add custom species entry
  • Add location filtering for own locations
  • Improve species list customization
  • Improve list management on mobile
  • Improve export function
  • Add more detailed statistics on mobile
  • Enhance county species lists
  • Add photo attachments to the app
  • Add ability to share trips with other users
  • Add ability to share entries with another user
  • Add ability to share a trip
  • Add mammals to the update version
  • Add checklists for other wildlife (dragonflies, butterflies)
  • Add missing counties to lists
  • Add a pull-down box for sites when adding sightings
  • Geotag and move sightings after seeing them
  • World list and other wildlife lists
  • Life List section
  • Custom species entry
  • Location filtering for own locations
  • Improved species list customization
  • Improved list management on mobile
  • Improved export function
  • Add more detailed statistics on mobile
  • Enhance county species lists

WildOtter

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Bird Journal

One-time1
  • One Year Premium Subscription$34.99
1 purchases

WildOtter

Subscriptions1
  • WildOtter Full Subscription$14.991 Year

Questions

Is Bird Journal free?
Bird Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is WildOtter free?
WildOtter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Bird Journal or WildOtter have ads?
Neither Bird Journal nor WildOtter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bird Journal or WildOtter?
Bird Journal ships an update weekly, and WildOtter every 4 weeks. Most recently, Bird Journal was updated on October 16, 2026 and WildOtter on October 19, 2026.

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