Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab vs SecondThought
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab
Instantly identify birds by sight or sound. This app uses advanced machine learning and a vast database of sightings, sounds, and photos to help you discover and learn about avian species worldwide. Track your sightings and explore birds in your region.
- Identify birds by photo or sound
- Explore birds by region
- Personalized Bird of the Day
- Customized bird lists
- Track personal sightings
- Expert ID tips and range maps
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What's that bird? Ask Merlin—the world’s leading app for birds. Just like magic, Merlin Bird ID will help you solve the mystery. Merlin helps you identify birds you see and hear. Merlin is unlike any other bird app—it's powered by eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos. Merlin offers four fun ways to identify birds. Answer a few simple questions, upload a photo, record a singing bird, or explore birds in a region. Whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird you can find, the answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology. WHY YOU’LL LOVE MERLIN • Expert ID tips, range maps, photos, and sounds help you learn about the birds you spot and build birding skills. • Discover a new bird species each day with your own personalized Bird of the Day • Get customized lists of birds you can find where you live or travel - anywhere in the world! • Keep track of your sightings—build your personal list of the birds you find MACHINE LEARNING MAGIC • Powered by Visipedia, Merlin Sound ID and Photo ID uses machine learning to identify birds in photos and sounds. Merlin learns to recognize bird species based on training sets of millions of photos and sounds collected by birders at eBird.org, archived in the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. • Merlin delivers the most accurate results thanks to experienced birders, who curate and annotate sightings, photos, and sounds, who are the true magic behind Merlin. AMAZING CONTENT • Merlin has bird photos, songs, and calls, and identification help for anywhere in the world, including Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, Korea, Japan, China, and more. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s mission is to interpret and conserve the Earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds and nature. We are able to offer Merlin for free thanks to the generosity of Cornell Lab members, supporters, and citizen-science contributors.
SecondThought
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An elegant, simple LLM chat app for iPhone and Apple Watch. Access LLMs on Apple Watch without iPhone using cellular. Use any OpenAI compatible endpoint.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is chart position: Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab at #33 against SecondThought's unranked. Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.2). SecondThought's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, 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.
| Parameter | Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab | SecondThought |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (114K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 74.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 114K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Best chart rank | #33 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 319 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cornell University | Janghyup Sohn |
Bugs and requests
Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab
Reported bugs
5 issues- Sound ID not working in some cases
- Inability to download bird packs due to storage issues
- Repeated email confirmation requests
- Incorrect bird identifications in certain locations
- Inability to edit or delete past sightings
Requested features
7 requests- Allow manual addition of birds to life list
- Improve search functionality to find specific birds
- Add more bird packs for underrepresented regions
- Improve sound ID accuracy and reliability
- Provide option to save recordings without location
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- Add more details and filters to bird information
- Improve user interface for better navigation
SecondThought
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab
No in-app purchases
SecondThought
No in-app purchases





