SIBC vs BirdAlertPRO
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SIBC
Listen to live radio, view the latest news headlines from Twitter, and check the broadcast schedule. The app also features current A+B playlists and a contact form.
- Live radio streaming
- Latest Twitter news feed
- News schedule
- A+B playlists
- Contact form
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The SIBC application lets you listen to SIBC on the go on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. It also displays the latest Twitter feed with all the latest headlines and you can see the news schedule which lists all the news bulletins. SIBC's current A+B playlists feature on this app which include the latest songs played on SIBC. If you want to contact SIBC you can do so through the contact form.
BirdAlertPRO
This app provides daily bird and wildlife sightings across the UK and Ireland. It offers detailed directions, map pins, and breaking news on rare species. Users can set custom alerts for specific wildlife and view a daily updated photo gallery.
- NearMe bird sightings
- Detailed map pins for locations
- Submit wildlife news
- Rare species breaking news
- Customizable rare bird alerts
- Wildlife and bird photo gallery
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The must-have news service from RBA for every birder based in UK and Ireland, that guides you to hundreds of migrant bird sightings and other exciting wildlife every day, each with detailed directions, map pins and much more, provided by our unrivalled expert news team - since 1991. Whether you want fast accurate breaking news of rare or mega species, or wish to take advantage of tens of thousands of uncommon bird reports and other wildlife locally across the UK and Ireland, then BirdAlertPRO is the sightings guide for you. Get notified: Set up Rare Bird Alerts and other notifications tailored to your specific interest. Birds, butterflies, dragonflies, whales, dolphins, all are featured. The users’ photo gallery is updated daily. Packed full of new features to ensure you are the best informed… • NEW - NearMe: just one tap to see what birds are nearby your current location - based on your definition of the ‘nearby distance’ • NEW - Map Pins: pins on maps for each bird's location, down to a few metres, plus, when available, additional pins for • where to view the bird from • where to park • where the foot access to the site is via • NEW - Submit your news: is now much easier, more efficient and more accurate - by dropping pins on maps • NEW - Headlines: a completely new feature - for a quick overview of all the days’ bird action, with just one entry per species, ordered by rarity, and expandable for anything that grabs your interest • NEW - Saved Searches: save your frequently used searches for extra-quick access • NEW - Alert sounds: set unique sounds for different types of news alerts • NEW - Quick searches: easily find the news that most interests you, helped along by the RBA colour coding of each message to indicate rarity level • NEW - How far is that? a distance indicator on every news item shows how far away it is from your current position • NEW - Sunrise/sunset time shown for every site in the news - to help plan your day • NEW - Just one-tap to get Google directions directly from every news item, ensuring that you can get on your way as efficiently as possible • NEW - QuickSubmit: you can now ‘update’ any sighting with just three-taps • NEW - Thumbnail photos (optional) for each species on the news page • NEW - Alert me to this! Instantly create a notification filter directly from any news item to get updates on that specific bird • NEW - Alert filters with improved options such as a visible radius setting, which, combined with rarity level, or specific species or type of wildlife, enable you to be alerted immediately when any news of interest to you is transmitted • NEW - the ability to set-up alerts for rare butterflies, dragonflies, cetaceans and other wildlife in addition to birds • MyNews - a redesigned inbox for your personalised alerts
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: BirdAlertPRO at monthly against SIBC's every 3 months. SIBC's advantage is iOS requirement (5.1.1 vs 16.6). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
SIBC ships an update every 3 months, BirdAlertPRO monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SIBC | BirdAlertPRO |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 88.2% of reviews — better | 88.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 5.1.1 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 69 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company Limited | Rare Bird Alert |
Customer experience
SIBC
BirdAlertPRO
Bugs and requests
SIBC
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
BirdAlertPRO
Reported bugs
12 issues- Keeps telling to log in when already logged in
- Crashes almost every day
- App crashes when clicking on an alert
- Cannot log in without registering on the web page
- App down on iOS 9
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- Won't open in iOS 9
- Messages do not want to load due to server errors
- Odd unexplained crashes
- Location maps info through Google is not always exact
- App crashes frequently
- Can't swipe through photos of a specific species
- GPS directions not as accurate as it could be
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to select one county for alerts
- Sort news by county
- Better iPad compatibility
- Swipe through photos of a species
- More accurate GPS directions using grid refs
In-app purchases
SIBC
No in-app purchases
BirdAlertPRO
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is SIBC free?
Is BirdAlertPRO free?
Do SIBC or BirdAlertPRO have ads?
Which is updated more often, SIBC or BirdAlertPRO?
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