Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector vs Struik Nature Call App
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector
This app works with a specialized hardware module to detect, record, and identify bats by their ultrasonic echolocation calls. It offers real-time listening, spectrogram visualization, and automatic species identification for outdoor enthusiasts, citizen scientists, and researchers.
- Listen to bat echolocation calls
- View real-time spectrograms
- Automatic bat species identification
- Record full spectrum .wav files
- Map bat recording locations
- Transfer recordings to computer
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Using the Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro plug-in module, this app allows you to listen to record and automatically identify bats by their ultrasonic echolocation calls. The module and this companion app reveal the silent and often times invisible world of bats, providing outdoor enthusiasts, citizen scientists, and researchers an affordable and informative way to interact with these important creatures. There are two models: Echo Meter Touch 2 (EMT 2) is intended for nature enthusiasts and batting hobbyists and Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro is designed for bat professionals and features a higher quality microphone, adjustable gain, and higher sample rate. The Echo Meter Touch Ultrasonic Module senses ultrasonic signals, digitizes the signal, and transmits the ultrasonic data to the app on your iOS device. LISTEN TO BAT’S ECHOLOCATIONS EMT2 translates bat echolocations into frequencies that are audible to humans using two technologies. Wildlife Acoustics’ patented Real Time Expansion (RTE) allows you to listen to bats in real time with unparalleled fidelity. RTE maintains the timing and tonality of the original echolocations. Heterodyne (HET) listening via manual and automatic tuning is also available, for those accustomed to that way of hearing bats. VIEW THE ECHOLOCATIONS ON A SPECTROGRAM A real-time spectrogram shows the frequencies and timing of the echolocations. Scroll back in time and zoom in on previous "bat passes." SEE MOST LIKELY BAT SPECIES IN REAL-TIME*** The Auto ID feature analyzes the echolocation calls and suggests the two most likely bat species matches in real time. This is the same technology used in our professional Kaleidoscope Pro Bat Auto Identification software. Currently, the app can identify 26 species in North America, 25 in Europe and 57 in the neotropics. For more information on Kaleidoscope and a full list of species, visit our website. RECORD .WAV FILES Activate triggered recording mode to automatically save bat passes to full spectrum .wav files for analysis on a computer or to view on your iDevice. Or use manual record mode to control start and stop of recording. View the recording spectrogram and add voice or text notes. Listen to the recording using RTE, HET, or traditional Time Expansion Playback (playback at fractional speed to make the ultrasound audible). SEE YOUR PATH AND RECORDING LOCATIONS View in satellite or road map view. View identified species codes directly on the map. Go to the recording's spectrogram from the map view. Transfer to your computer to view in Google Earth. Your iDevice must have GPS capability or you must use a Bluetooth GPS receiver for this functionality. *Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.* TRANSFER RECORDINGS TO YOUR COMPUTER The EMT 2 can transfer the .wav recordings to your computer over a Wi-Fi network or using a USB cable. SHARE RECORDINGS VIA EMAIL OR MMS MESSAGING And import and open files that have been shared with you. ***Because bats vary their echolocation calls in response to a wide variety of needs, no automated identification can achieve 100% accuracy in species identification. Auto-ID, though largely accurate, should not be relied on as a basis for scientific research. Auto-ID is intended for use in analyzing recordings of single bats in free flight in low clutter environments. Auto-ID will not work well on recordings of roost emergence, multiple or captive bats, bats in high clutter environments, or bat social calls. Auto-ID does not include every possible bat for each of the covered regions. Echo Meter is a registered trademark of Wildlife Acoustics, Inc.
Struik Nature Call App
This app allows you to scan barcodes in specific bird identification books to instantly play over 1000 bird calls. Simply launch the app, scan the barcode with your device's camera, and press play to hear the corresponding bird's call.
- Scan book barcodes
- Play over 1000 bird calls
- Identify bird species
- Free to download
- Works with specific bird books
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Scan barcodes in the Sasol Birds of Southern Africa and Southern African LBJs made simple books to play over 1000 bird calls. Download the app for free, and simply scan the barcodes in the book to listen to the bird calls. How it works: • Launch the app on your device and hover your camera over the barcode in the book. • The barcode will scan and bring up the calls associated with that species. • Press play to listen! TIP: Use a bookmark or sheet of paper to cover surrounding barcodes, so that you can scan the exact one that you want. THE CALL SUPPLIERS Struik Nature would like to acknowledge Bernabe Lopez Lanus, Dawie de Swardt, Derek Solomon, Dominic Rollinson, Fabrice Lebouard, Frank Lambert, Horst Bacher, Lynette Rudman, Mike Nelson, Niall Perrins, Oscar Campbell, Otto Whitehead, PDA Solutions, Peter Boesman, Peter Ryan, Santiago Imberti, Simply Birding, Stein Ø. Nilsen and Tony Archer for supplying calls for this app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Struik Nature Call App at 5.0 against Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector's 4.5. Struik Nature Call App also leads on iOS requirement (11.4 vs 16.0). Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector's advantage is ratings volume (140 vs 2) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Struik Nature Call App holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector has 140 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector ships an update every 2 months, Struik Nature Call App every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector | Struik Nature Call App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (140 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 59.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 140 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 11.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 127 MB | 668 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Wildlife Acoustics | mydigitalearth.com |
Customer experience
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector
Struik Nature Call App
Bugs and requests
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector
Reported bugs
12 issues- App does not function without purchase
- No longer compatible with Apple phones
- App is nonfunctional after update
- App won't open after update
- Touchscreen is slow
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- GPS tracks are unreliable
- Latest upgrade has black text on black background
- App no longer works on devices
- App is discontinued for iOS
- App is not compatible with iOS
- Echo meter touch and iOS 9.3.1 not working
- Bug with new update on iPad
Requested features
11 requests- Translate to Spanish
- Translate to German
- Improve identification with multiple bats
- Add Chilean bats
- Add Florida bats
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- Improve sonogram resolution
- Allow selection of all recordings of same type
- Load recordings direct to Google Drive
- Fix Bluetooth issue with headphones
- Display species sonograms
- Provide free full license for Kaleidoscope
Struik Nature Call App
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector
No in-app purchases
Struik Nature Call App
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector free?
Is Struik Nature Call App free?
Which has better reviews, Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector or Struik Nature Call App?
Do Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector or Struik Nature Call App have ads?
Which is updated more often, Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector or Struik Nature Call App?
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