Phonas vs BirdFolio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Phonas
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Phonas turns your NAS into a beautiful photo gallery. Connect via SMB protocol and browse your photos right on your iPhone or iPad — no server-side software required. Works with Everything Works with any device that supports SMB: Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, Windows, macOS, and more. No extra server software to install. If it supports SMB, it works with Phonas. INSTANT LOADING Extracts embedded thumbnails directly from media files with high-concurrency reads. Loads your photo wall instantly — no waiting for server-side thumbnail generation. NATIVE QUALITY Reads original files without transcoding or compression. Displays every photo in full quality, preserving HDR effects and color details. LOCAL CACHE Caches metadata and thumbnails locally. Browse previously viewed content even when offline. SMART RECOGNITION On-device recognition for faces, pets, scenes, and text. Smart search makes finding your photos effortless. FAST BACKUP Quickly upload your local photo library to a designated NAS directory. Back up 1,000 photos in just 1 minute over a gigabit LAN. SUPPORTED FORMATS JPEG, HEIC/HIF, PNG, RAW (ARW, CR2, DNG, NEF, ORF, PEF, RW2), MP4, MOV PRICING Basic features are free forever. Unlock advanced features with a one-time purchase — no subscription.
BirdFolio
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BirdFolio is built for birders and bird photographers: turn your photos into a personal, searchable bird album with stats. **What you can do** • Import bird photos from your library and read capture time and location metadata when available (GPS depends on the photo), with **on-device (offline) species recognition** • Add new shots from the camera and enrich records with place, date, and notes • Link multiple species to one photo with taxonomy details for easy recall later • View sightings on a map and browse your collection in an album layout • See species, photo, and place summaries and time-based stats • Optional import compression to save space; optional iCloud in Settings to sync across devices signed in with the **same Apple ID** **Permissions** Photo library and camera are used to pick or take bird photos. Location (while using the app) helps surface nearby places—you can change this in Settings. **Free vs. unlocked** Free vs. full feature limits are as stated in the app and on this page. In-app purchases are processed by the App Store; use **Restore Purchases** if needed. Questions or feedback? Contact us via the in-app or support email. Happy birding!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Phonas at every 2 weeks against BirdFolio's every 6 weeks. 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
Both are free to download. Phonas sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and BirdFolio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Phonas ships an update every 2 weeks, BirdFolio every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Phonas | BirdFolio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 155 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 红卫 邓 | 家敏 潘 |
In-app purchases
Phonas
- Unlock Full Features$6.99
BirdFolio
- Unlimited Import$5.99









