Smart Identifier: Plant+Insect reviews
What users love and hate, from real reviews
A photo-based identifier for insects, spiders and plants aimed at gardeners and worried parents: the recognition is solid, but it's almost entirely buried behind an aggressive subscription and a free trial that charges you instantly.
What users love
When it works, the ID is accurate and fast
Its core strength: on a clear photo it beats rivals like Seek and iNaturalist, offers several candidates to compare, and works even on tiny insects.
Probably the best insect ID app ive found so far. Way better than Seek or iNaturalist, in my opinion. IDs, for the most part, are dead on.
Actually useful. I tested three apps and this was the only one to get it right and have good pictures of it to verify.
does really well at identifying. even if the picture is poor because its a tiny bug.
The free tier is surprisingly generous
Those who get past the pushy subscription window praise the generous free tier: dismiss the popup with the X and use it without limits, with plenty of info and barely any ads — which actually convinces people to pay later.
Great app! Always bug-curious, this helps me identify everything that crosses my path - including spiders.
This app is tight as hell, does what it says and you dont have to pay. Rock on Picture Insect!!!!
Making the unpaid version still good and usable is very commendable. I'll eventually pay for the premium just due to this.
Peace of mind for parents and a cure for spider fear
Its emotional payoff: parents quickly check whether a bug near their kid is dangerous, children love the insect "pokedex," and arachnophobes stop being scared once they can name what they see.
I have a child who loves bugs, and this app gives me so much peace of mind, knowing whether something is harmful or not.
I can finally tell spiders and reduce my fear!
Seriously my favorite app of all time. I will never let my bug pokedex expire
The AI assistant delights — when it's not in the way
The built-in AI bot answers any question about the identified insect using context — habits, range, danger — and many call it the best part of the app.
Absolutely fantastic service. I'm not one to say this normally, but the AI assistant is so good!
it identifies insects, and you don't have to pay for the premium. Very informative!
Very Informative and I really like the bot. You can ask anything and it knows the answer. Great app!
What users hate
The "free 7-day trial" charges you on day one
By far the biggest complaint: people tap the trial and get charged immediately — sometimes within 12 hours — for a $30-50 yearly plan, despite a promise to warn them a week ahead.
Automatically Charged for 1 year subscription! Don't believe the 7 day free trial. I was charged the first day of usage without any notice. Beware!
The free trial is a scam. They claim a 7 day free trial, but charge your card immediately rather than at the end of the 7 days
7 day free trial charged me after 12 hours
You can't even open the app without a card
The subscription paywall hits in the first second: to start the "free" trial you must enter payment details, and many uninstall before identifying a single bug.
I'm not even able to use this app without giving them my credit card information.
did not get to Evan use the app as you are stuck behind a MANDATORY pay wall right off the bat. No good, No fun.
First thing after installing the app is a massive popup demanding that I give credit card info. One star, uninstall, report.
Advertised as free, actually subscription-only
The store says "free with in-app purchases," but in practice the app is useless without paying — users demand it either be listed as paid or pulled from the store.
Why in the world does this app lie about being free. A free trial IS NOT the same thing, get this junk off the play store 😑
advertised as free, but subscription needed. not free!
It's labeled as "in-app purchases," but you're immediately prompted for payment info. No way to use without giving your card.
Charged after cancelling, and without consent
People cancel during the trial or never subscribe at all, yet still get charged with no notice and no refund; some threaten lawsuits and reports to regulators.
I CANCELED THIS AND IT STILL CHARGED ME A YEAR SUBSCRIPTION.
I never accepted the subscription and was charged a yearly fee. I never received a notification until it was already charged.
Charged me for an unwanted subscription even though I've declined it multiple times.
Cancelling is nearly impossible
The subscription doesn't show up in Google Play, the cancel link can't be found, the button throws a "try again later" error — people resort to internet instructions, and email cancellations go unanswered.
When I downloaded it under the 7-day trial, it said I could cancel it on Google Play, but I cannot find a link to the function.
I tried to cancel it but I kept getting an error message or try again later. It said it would be $1.50 if I didnt cancel , so I just gave up. After 7 days I was charged $29.99.
I've been trying to cancel my subscription, but to no avail. There is NO WHERE on playstore to cancel this app. I'm going to report you to Google.
The one thing you need — is it dangerous — is paywalled
Whether a bug is harmful to humans, pets or plants used to be free and is now locked behind the subscription — exactly the info you urgently need when a spider just bit you.
there's a potentially deadly spider in my bedroom I still don't know what species it is 😁
I think it's absolutely unfair that you now have to pay to see if something is harmful to humans, plants, and animals. it used to be free.
got bit by a spider useless unless I pay
Fear-mongers about "danger" to push premium
It tags harmless insects as "harmful to humans and animals" while hiding the truth behind the paywall — and contradicts itself ("dangerous" then "non-toxic, doesn't bite"), so users stop trusting it.
it tries to scaremonger you into paying for premium by tagging harmless insects as harmful to animals and/or humans only because they can bite you if they feel threatened but the bite is not dangerous at all
Can identify insects, labels many as harmful to humans then says non toxic, doesn't bite. So I don't trust it.
a lot of things are labeled as being "harmful to humans" which are laughably incorrect. Today I identified an Arabesque orb-weaver. It's 1/3 the size of a bean. this app is telling me this is harmful to humans?
Dangerously wrong on the species that matter — spiders
Exactly where a mistake could cost your health, it misfires: calls a venomous spider "harmless," a ladybug a cockroach, and treats every millipede as one species.
it got every one of them wrong and even said one with significant venom was relatively harmless. don't waste your money.
I put it up to a ladybug , and it said it was a cockroach.
terrible at species level identification, thinks all millipedes are the same species (despite there being something like 16 orders of the thing).
The camera blurs photos and is forever "out of focus"
The built-in camera blurs the shot itself, won't let you focus or zoom manually, and demands dozens of retries — by which point the bug has crawled away.
This is making my picture blurry and my camera aint even blurry THE APP IS MAKING IT
the camera is junk there's no way to focus it so where it's clear enough to have to take a picture over and over
kept being told it wasnt in focus when i took the pictures and it takes ages to load so by the time it is in focus the bug has already moved
Patchy catalog: missing species, no range or distribution info
The database has holes — whole genera missing, no per-country or per-region distribution — so it suggests species that don't live where you are, and you often can't even save the correct match.
AWESOME, but lacks crucial identifying information: Distribution range & distinguishing features between species/variants. I have to search elsewhere for this info to confirm the right match.
It suggests insects that don't exist in Europe, no way to tell it that's where my pictures were taken. Google Lens works better.
the right one isn't in the catalog so it won't let me save the right one.
Switching phones wipes everything and locks you out
Move to a new phone and the app doesn't recognize your account: saved bug photos vanish, you can't log in even with a paid yearly subscription, and support stays silent.
I liked the app, got the annual subscription. I got a new phone and now I can't log in, and it wont recognize my email to try to change password.
all my bug photos are gone when I changed phones and logged in
If you change phones good luck. It does not recognize the change, and the help is out of date.