Comparison

Animal Tracker vs Whale and Dolphin Tracker

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Animal Tracker

Follow the real-time movements of wild animals globally, tracked via GPS tags. Contribute to scientific research by uploading your own observations and photos of tagged animals, helping scientists interpret movement data.

Highlights
  • Real-time animal movement tracking
  • Global migration route visualization
  • Upload personal observations and photos
  • Participate in scientific research projects
  • Data management via Movebank
Features
Read full description

With Animal Tracker, you can follow the movements of wild animals all over the world that are being tracked in near-real time! These movements are collected by tiny GPS tags carried by the animals and are stored at Movebank, a free online infrastructure used by hundreds of researchers to manage, share, analyze, and archive animal movement data. You can easily participate in our scientific research projects: Upload your real-life observations and photos of our tagged animals to Animal Tracker. Your observations are crucial for our scientists! We can determine the positions of the tagged animals but we are lacking behavioral observations - we can interpret our data much better with your additional observations. Therefore: become a scientist, become an Animal Tracker!

About

Whale and Dolphin Tracker

Record sightings of whales and dolphins worldwide. Contribute to global research by logging your observations with GPS data and photos. Help scientists understand marine wildlife distribution and environmental interactions.

Highlights
  • Log sightings in real-time
  • Built-in GPS logger
  • Upload photos with sightings
  • Access submitted data
  • View global sightings map
  • Contribute to citizen science
Read full description

Log sightings and identify species of commonly sighted whales and dolphins from any location around the world. Whale and Dolphin Tracker provides a platform where both professional scientists and members of the public can participate in research and conservation by contributing their marine wildlife sightings. By submitting your sightings you will add to a global database that will help researchers determine patterns of species distribution and how these species interact with their environment. Features: -Log sightings in real-time during your trip. -Use the built-in GPS logger to create a full GPS track of your trip. -Upload photos from your mobile device to submit with your sighting. -Maintain full access to your submitted data through your Whale and Dolphin Tracker account. -View global sightings submitted by all users on a live sightings map updated in real time. Contribute to research: -Crowdsourcing allows for a larger scope of data collection than what is possible for dedicated researchers to achieve. -Greater coverage in both time and space increases the likelihood of documenting rare and/or understudied marine wildlife. -Citizen science creates ocean stewards and leads to a greater awareness of marine wildlife. How to submit a sighting: - Use the app to record GPS location of any sightings of whales, dolphins, and other marine wildlife. - Help researchers account for survey effort by associating a track with each sighting. Simply start the GPS track when you depart land and stop the track upon your return. Complete GPS tracks enable calculations of sightings per distance and are valuable for research on distribution of marine animals. - Upload photos associated with your sightings directly from your mobile device. Photos will be used by researchers to confirm species identification and will be added to photo-identification databases, where applicable.

Screenshots

Animal Tracker4 screens
Whale and Dolphin Tracker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Animal Tracker at 3.4 against Whale and Dolphin Tracker's 2.5. Animal Tracker also leads on review sentiment (54% vs 17%). Whale and Dolphin Tracker's advantage is iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Animal Tracker holds the better App Store score, 3.4 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 28 and 22 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of Animal Tracker's written reviews are positive against 17% of Whale and Dolphin Tracker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Animal Tracker ships an update every 5 weeks, Whale and Dolphin Tracker monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Animal Tracker versus Whale and Dolphin Tracker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAnimal TrackerWhale and Dolphin Tracker
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.4 (28 ratings) — better2.5 (22 ratings)
Positive reviews53.7% of reviews — better16.7% of reviews
Number of ratings28 — better22
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size54 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMax-Planck-GesellschaftPacific Whale Foundation

Customer experience

Animal Tracker

All ratings28 ratings
Positive53.6%
Neutral14.3%
Negative32.1%
Written reviews41 reviews
Positive53.7%
Neutral9.8%
Negative36.6%

Whale and Dolphin Tracker

All ratings22 ratings
Positive36.4%
Neutral4.5%
Negative59.1%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive16.7%
Neutral11.1%
Negative72.2%

In-app purchases

None

Animal Tracker

No in-app purchases

None

Whale and Dolphin Tracker

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Animal Tracker free?
Animal Tracker is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Whale and Dolphin Tracker free?
Whale and Dolphin Tracker is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Animal Tracker or Whale and Dolphin Tracker?
Animal Tracker is rated higher. Animal Tracker averages 3.4 out of 5 from 28 ratings, while Whale and Dolphin Tracker averages 2.5 from 22 ratings.
Do Animal Tracker or Whale and Dolphin Tracker have ads?
Neither Animal Tracker nor Whale and Dolphin Tracker shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Animal Tracker or Whale and Dolphin Tracker?
Animal Tracker ships an update every 5 weeks, and Whale and Dolphin Tracker monthly. Most recently, Animal Tracker was updated on September 17, 2026 and Whale and Dolphin Tracker on September 9, 2026.

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