Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector vs Pingree Park Field Guide
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.
Pingree Park Field Guide
Access offline reference materials for the CSU Mountain Campus, specifically developed for the NR220 course. This application provides essential information without requiring an internet connection.
- Offline access
- Reference materials
- CSU Mountain Campus
- NR220 course content
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Offline access to reference materials for the CSU Mountain Campus. Materials developed for the NR220 course.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector at 4.5 against Pingree Park Field Guide's 1.0. Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector also leads on ratings volume (139 vs 1). Pingree Park Field Guide's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 59%) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.0). On price, update cadence, 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.
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector has 139 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 59% of Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector's written reviews are positive against 100% of Pingree Park Field Guide's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector | Pingree Park Field Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (139 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 59.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 139 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 127 MB | 621 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Wildlife Acoustics | Colorado State University |
Customer experience
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector
Pingree Park Field Guide
In-app purchases
Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector
No in-app purchases
Pingree Park Field Guide
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector free?
Is Pingree Park Field Guide free?
Which has better reviews, Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector or Pingree Park Field Guide?
Do Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector or Pingree Park Field Guide have ads?
Which is updated more often, Echo Meter Touch Bat Detector or Pingree Park Field Guide?
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