# Bird Journal vs Hill Bagging

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hill Bagging at none against Bird Journal's 1. Hill Bagging also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 76%). Bird Journal's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (16 vs 2). On price, rating, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Bird Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Hill Bagging asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.0 for Bird Journal against 3.0 for Hill Bagging. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bird Journal has 16 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Bird Journal's written reviews are positive against 100% of Hill Bagging's.

Bird Journal ships an update weekly, Hill Bagging every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Bird Journal | Hill Bagging |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [3.0 (16 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bird-journal/id456599754/reviews) | [3.0 (2 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hill-bagging/id6759787201/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **16** | 2 |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Every 4 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | **Free** |
| Size | 95 MB | 25 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | **15.6** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Bluebird Technology Limited](https://appshunter.io/developer/456599757) | [Hill Bagging Community Interest Company](https://appshunter.io/developer/1880632606) |

## What reviewers say

### Bird Journal

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bird-journal/id456599754)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| One Year Premium Subscription | $34.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Efficient field recording
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 💡 Supports multiple taxonomy lists
- 💡 Cross-platform synchronization

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 App crashes with large countries
- 🐛 Lacks many website features
- 🐛 Slow taxonomic updates
- 🐛 Not free (subscription cost)
- 🐛 Cannot filter species by name/family

**Reported bugs**

- 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

**Requested features**

- 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


### Hill Bagging

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hill-bagging/id6759787201)

Track your hill climbing progress with this app, featuring offline logging and interactive maps. Access a vast community-shared database of ascents and over 70 UK hill lists. Designed for quick on-the-hill use, it simplifies planning and recording your climbs.

**Highlights:** Offline hill logging, Interactive maps with multiple layers, Progress tracking for 70+ UK hill lists, Community-shared routes and waypoints, Quick tick ascent recording, Hills Near Me feature

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Bird Journal free?

Bird Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Hill Bagging free?

Hill Bagging is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Bird Journal or Hill Bagging?

Bird Journal and Hill Bagging are both rated 3.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 16 and 2 ratings respectively.

### Do Bird Journal or Hill Bagging have ads?

Neither Bird Journal nor Hill Bagging shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Bird Journal or Hill Bagging?

Bird Journal ships an update weekly, and Hill Bagging every 4 months. Most recently, Bird Journal was updated on October 16, 2026 and Hill Bagging on October 17, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*