Bird Journal vs Roomba Home
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
Roomba Home
Control your robot vacuum with an intuitive app. Schedule cleanings, customize maps, and adjust settings for personalized routines. Get real-time insights and maintenance alerts to keep your home spotless.
- Schedule cleaning routines
- Customize home maps and zones
- Adjust vacuum and mop settings
- Real-time cleaning insights
- Voice control integration
- Robot maintenance dashboard
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The Roomba® Home App is compatible with Roomba® 100, 200, 400, 500, 700, 800, and Mini series robots sold after March 2025. For other models, please download the iRobot Home (Classic) app. Get ready to elevate your cleaning game with the intuitive Roomba® Home app! Easily start, stop, or schedule your robot, adjust cleaning settings, customize detailed maps of your home, and create personalized cleaning routines. Dirty rooms are noted based upon previous cleaning jobs to help you clean more effectively without having to think about it. See where and how your robot is cleaning in real-time, proactive product maintenance, and seamless smart home integrations. From setup to daily use, the Roomba® Home app offers intelligent recommendations and a user-friendly experience to keep your home spotless with minimal effort. - Easy, Seamless Setup: Easy-to-follow onboarding guides you from unboxing to your first cleaning run with helpful tips along the way. - Cleaning Routines: Effortlessly create cleaning routines with Routine Builder. Select which rooms to clean, adjust settings, and turn on advanced scrubbing to clean just the way you like. - Schedules: Easily adjust the days and times your robot cleans so it runs when it’s most convenient for you. - Cleaning Settings: Choose to vacuum, mop or both, and adjust settings like suction & mopping liquid levels, number of cleaning passes and turn on advanced scrubbing to clean each room just the way you like. - Maps: Save up to 5 maps, label rooms, add zones and furniture for more targeted cleaning control, and start cleaning specific areas with a click. - Real-Time Insights: See where and how your robot is cleaning and manage it along the way with real-time controls. - Voice Control: Hands full? No need to stop what you're doing. Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant-enabled* compatibility allows you to clean with a simple command. - Robot Maintenance & Health Dashboard: Keep your robot operating smoothly and in tip-top shape with a list of maintenance and troubleshooting suggestions, while the Health Dashboards monitors robot and accessories health. Note: Roomba® 100 series products require a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi® network. Not compatible with 5GHz Wi-Fi® networks. *Works with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant-enabled devices. Alexa and all related logos are trademarks of Amazon.com or its affiliates. Google and Google Home are trademarks of Google LLC. Siri is a registered trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Roomba Home at 4.7 against Bird Journal's 3.0. Roomba Home also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (35K vs 16). Bird Journal's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and review sentiment (76% vs 68%). On price, ads, monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Bird Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Roomba Home asks for nothing beyond the download.
Roomba Home holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Roomba Home has 35K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 76% of Bird Journal's written reviews are positive against 68% of Roomba Home's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Bird Journal ships an update weekly, Roomba Home every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bird Journal | Roomba Home |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (16 ratings) | 4.7 (35K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews — better | 68.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 16 | 35K — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #116 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 95 MB | 264 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bluebird Technology Limited | iRobot Corporation |
Customer experience
Bird Journal
Roomba Home
User reviews
Bird Journal
From 16 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Efficient field recording
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 💡 Supports multiple taxonomy lists
- 💡 Cross-platform synchronization
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes with large countries
- 🐛 Lacks many website features
- 🐛 Slow taxonomic updates
- 🐛 Not free (subscription cost)
- 🐛 Cannot filter species by name/family
Roomba Home
From 35K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Intuitive interface
- 📊 Smart mapping features
- 🔌 Voice assistant integration
- 🎨 Customizable cleaning routines
- 📈 Helpful cleaning history and maintenance alerts
Room to improve
- 🗑️ Difficult to unclog hair from main brush
- 🔍 Slight learning curve from old app
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 moreShow fewer
- 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 moreShow fewer
- 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
Roomba Home
Reported bugs
1 issue- App only works with products launched after March 2025
Requested features
2 requests- Improved user guidance
- Support page fixes
In-app purchases
Bird Journal
- One Year Premium Subscription$34.99
Roomba Home
No in-app purchases









