Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab
- 82 of 100 · reviews
- 4.9of 5 · store
- 108,575ratings on the App Store
- 498reviews read
An editorial reading of the saved reviews
From the Cornell Lab, and its core job is identifying birds by sound on a walk, which genuinely pulls people into birdwatching and gets them outside more. But recent updates slipped: sound ID now misses even loud birds, the switch from auto to manual saving annoys people, and the mandatory email registration and buggy login ruin the moment when a bird is about to fly off.
Screenshots
What people use it for
Nature lovers and beginning birdwatchers who want to recognize birds by their song on a walk without paying
What reviews praise
Identifying birds by sound, drawing people into birdwatching, ease of use, being free, history of identified birds
What reviews complain about
Degraded sound ID after updates, manual saving instead of auto, mandatory email registration, login glitches and occasional crashes
What users experience
2 excerpts from the breakdown. These are individual cases, not a verdict on all users.
The app can no longer consistently pick up or identify birds that are calling loudly nearby, even with minimal background noise. Very hit or miss. By contrast, last summer it was able to identify two barred owls deep in the woods.
By the time you get all of the mandatory "name this location" BS and finally hit save the other birds you want to identify will already have left.
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