Mosquito Alert vs GLOBE Observer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mosquito Alert
Contribute to global mosquito research by reporting observations, breeding sites, and bites. Help scientists understand mosquito ecology and disease transmission. Validate photos from other users and learn to identify species.
- Report mosquito observations
- Identify breeding sites
- Record mosquito bites
- Validate participant photos
- Learn mosquito identification
- View public observation map
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Join the world's largest mosquito surveillance network. Contribute to the study and monitoring of invasive mosquitoes and mosquitoes of epidemiological interest with the Mosquito Alert app. With it you will be able to report mosquito observations, mosquito breeding sites, and keep a record of mosquito bites. By sharing your observations, you will be providing information that scientists can use in their research to better understand the ecology of mosquitoes, disease transmission, and provide data to improve their management. Mosquito Alert is a citizen science project coordinated by several public research centers, CEAB-CSIC, UPF and CREAF, whose objective is to study, monitor and fight against the spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes. What can you do with the app? -Notify the presence of mosquitoes: -Identify their breeding places in your area -Notify when you receive a bite -Validate the photos of other participants A community of more than 50 international expert entomologists will validate the photos you send to the platform, thus being able to learn to identify the mosquito species of health interest. All observations are made public on the Mosquito Alert map website, where they can be viewed and downloaded, as well as exploring the models developed from the contributions of the participants. Your contributions are very useful for science! The Mosquito Alert app is available in more than 17 European languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, Albanian, German, Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, Turkish . ---------------------------------------------- For more information, visit http://www.mosquitoalert.com/en/ or follow us on social networks: Twitter @Mosquito_Alert ----------------------------------------------
GLOBE Observer
Contribute to real scientific research by making environmental observations. Document clouds, mosquito habitats, land cover, and trees using your mobile device. Your data supports scientists worldwide, including NASA and NOAA.
- Make environmental observations
- Document clouds
- Map mosquito habitats
- Record land cover
- Measure tree height
- Contribute to scientific research
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The GLOBE Observer app enables you to make observations of your environment. GLOBE Observer is the app of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program. The GLOBE Program is an international science and education program that provides students and people of all ages worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process, and contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth system and global environment. By using the GLOBE Observer app, you contribute scientific data to your community, students and scientists worldwide, including researchers at NASA, NOAA, and other science research institutions. GLOBE Observer allows all users to contribute observations of clouds, mosquito habitats, land cover, and trees. Trained and certified users can also use the app to submit additional environmental measurements from all GLOBE protocols. GLOBE Clouds allows observers to make regular observations of Earth’s cloud cover and compare them to satellite observations. With GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper, users locate mosquito habitats, observe and identify mosquito larvae, and reduce the potential threat of mosquito borne disease. GLOBE Land Cover is designed to allow users to document what is on the land (trees, grass, buildings, etc.). GLOBE Trees asks users to estimate a tree’s height by taking pictures of trees with their device and answering a few questions. Additional capabilities may be added. Visit us at https://www.globe.gov and https://observer.globe.gov.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Mosquito Alert at 3.7 against GLOBE Observer's 3.1. GLOBE Observer's advantage is review sentiment (34% vs 0%) and ratings volume (86 vs 7). 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.
Mosquito Alert holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GLOBE Observer has 86 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 0% of Mosquito Alert's written reviews are positive against 34% of GLOBE Observer'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 October 3, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mosquito Alert | GLOBE Observer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (7 ratings) — better | 3.1 (86 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 33.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 86 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Palmer | NASA |
Customer experience
Mosquito Alert
GLOBE Observer
Bugs and requests
Mosquito Alert
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
GLOBE Observer
Reported bugs
39 issues- Checking for updates loop
- 504 error on account creation
- Fails after step 5 in account creation
- Robot verification loop
- App crashes on opening
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- Observations not submitting (error exclamation mark)
- Interminable in-app required update
- Errors in data entry, observations not sending/deleting
- Invalid password errors
- Cloud observation chart images disappear
- No reply from support
- App doesn't open on iPhone
- Won't update
- Logged out, wrong password, account locked
- Data lost after system crash
- Cloud ID chart not loading properly
- Observations keep loading forever
- iPhone stuck on installing updates
- App crashes and never fully loads
- Can't get photos to upload
- User interface poorly designed
- No observations shown when there are
- No way to export data
- App is forever 'installing updates'
- Camera portion of data collection quit working
- No way to submit a report from 'Pictures'
- Compass won't calibrate
- Photo feature locks screen
- No button to take photo
- App crashes if location is not set
- Updates take too long
- Photo submission portal hopeless
- Native camera app has no prompts to submit photos
- 'Done' button does nothing
- 401 unknown error when sending reports
- App goes bonkers when attaching photo
- Screen flickers rapidly when attaching photo
- Cannot get out of camera within app
- Whirring wheel for update in progress for hours
Requested features
8 requests- Improve UI/UX design
- Add dark mode
- Better translation
- Notifications for satellite flyovers
- Integrate with WorldView or Google Earth
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- More explanation/examples for cloud types
- Export data in spreadsheet/GPS format
- Allow users to contribute design improvements
In-app purchases
Mosquito Alert
No in-app purchases
GLOBE Observer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Mosquito Alert free?
Is GLOBE Observer free?
Which has better reviews, Mosquito Alert or GLOBE Observer?
Do Mosquito Alert or GLOBE Observer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mosquito Alert or GLOBE Observer?
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