# iNaturalist Updates for January 2025 **URL:** \ **Category:** News and Updates\ **Tags:** web, android-app, ios-classic-app, seek, monthly-update\ **Created:** [February 1, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194 "2025-02-01T21:28:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/1 "2025-02-01T21:28:33Z")
Here’s a list of iNat updates for January 2025. ### General - Two new Computer Vision models were released, [2.18](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/104015) and [2.19](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/105731)! - iNat [conducted a webinar](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/105349-phenology-in-focus-exploring-plant-cycles-with-inaturalist) about plant phenology and how to annotate plant observations on iNaturalist! - The iNat team continues to gather feedback for the iNaturalist Next app, which [has been soft-launched](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-next-app-soft-launch-for-iphones/55277) for iPhones. - Continued work on API v2 - curators can test it and provide feedback, [see this topic](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-v2-feedback/21215) - Many additional translations throughout the websites and apps - [you can help](https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000194744-can-i-help-translate-inaturalist-) ### Website - [Added functionality](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/filter-observations-by-time-of-day/55599/26) to search for observations by time of day. - Various small bug fixes and changes. ### Android [View all release notes](https://github.com/inaturalist/iNaturalistAndroid/releases) - Several bugfix releases, the latest of which is 1.36.5 (625) - The Android app’s replacement continues to be in pre-Alpha testing ### Legacy iOS & iPadOS - No new version release - Fixed a minor [server-side bug](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/cant-add-photos-to-existing-observations-on-iphone-ios-15-4-1-bad-request-400/58613) that affected photo editing in observations. ### Seek - No monthly challenges will be released for the foreseeable future. - Internal testing with an updated onboard model ### iNaturalist Next (currently iPhone only) - Version 0.54.1 released, with multiple bug fixes and updates - Please provide feedback if you’re using it! There’s an option in the app’s side menu to do so. ### [iNat Blog](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog) - January 3rd: [New Computer Vision Model (v2.18) with nearly 1,500 new species!](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/104015-new-computer-vision-model-v2-18-with-nearly-1-500-new-species) - January 8th: [Those are Some Spiky Caterpillars! - Observation of the Week, 1/8/25](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/104440-those-are-some-spiky-caterpillars-observation-of-the-week-1-8-25) - January 9th: [December 2024 News Highlights](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/104576-december-2024-news-highlights) - January 21st: [Spider Egg Sac, or Cotton Candy? - Observation of the Week, 1/21/25](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/105323-spider-egg-sac-or-cotton-candy-observation-of-the-week-1-21-25) - January 22nd: [Phenology in Focus: Exploring Plant Cycles with iNaturalist](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/105349-phenology-in-focus-exploring-plant-cycles-with-inaturalist) - January 28th: [Slime Mold Sporangia - Observation of the Week, 1/28/25](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/105655-slime-mold-sporangia-observation-of-the-week-1-28-25) - January 30th: [New Computer Vision Model (v2.19) with over 2,000 new species!](https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/105731-new-computer-vision-model-v2-19-with-over-2-000-new-species) For even more bug fixes and updates, check out [iNaturalist on github](https://github.com/inaturalist) and see [previous monthly updates](https://forum.inaturalist.org/tag/monthly-update). ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/2 "2025-02-02T14:57:15Z")
Anything going on with that experiment in which identifiers are shown the observations of new users? ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 7:02am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/3 "2025-02-03T07:02:52Z")
Yes please. I have taken that as a prompt to keep up with Newbies for the Western Cape and Africa. It is the (very) small window to catch people - please split, please delete, where, when, bird or beetle, come back … ---
**Author:** ![deniszabin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/deniszabin/32/44741_2.png) [@deniszabin](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/deniszabin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2025, 11:45am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/4 "2025-02-04T11:45:58Z")
I really wish the Android app received more attention. Since Android is the dominant mobile system in Brazil, it’s frustrating to recommend iNaturalist to people without a computer—where the experience is clearly best—knowing they will have to rely on a slow app with a poor layout. Many users might give up on the platform because of this. Is there a specific challenge in developing the app for Android, or is it more a matter of limited resources, prioritization, or a lack of trained professionals? ---
**Author:** ![bouteloua](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/bouteloua/32/1180_2.png) [@bouteloua](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/bouteloua)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/5 "2025-02-04T13:00:11Z")
There are limited resources for development yes but but mostly the first reason: > [@iNaturalist Next App Soft Launch for iPhones](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-next-app-soft-launch-for-iphones/55277/1): > > **Why is iNaturalist Next only available for iPhones? What about Android?** > > There are two main reasons we’re choosing to initially release iNaturalist Next for iPhones only: 1) it’s easier to fix basic bugs and work out issues when only dealing with one operating system. Once we feel the app is in a solid place for iOS, we can start branching out to Android devices and iPads. 2) Because the current iOS app lacks features that our current Android app has, we felt it would be better to bring some new features to the iOS platform. That said, I have not experienced the current Android app being slow? You may want to open a new topic to help troubleshoot the issue you are running into. ---
**Author:** ![seeker1000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/seeker1000/32/40504_2.png) [@seeker1000](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/seeker1000)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/6 "2025-02-28T23:36:16Z")
Hopefully new challenges for SEEK will occur, when this testing is over… ---
**Author:** ![staysustainable](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/staysustainable/32/28645_2.png) [@staysustainable](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/staysustainable)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/7 "2025-03-02T16:58:10Z")
Hopefully, yes. It would be cool if challenges could be offered for taxa that iNaturalist needs more identifications for. Aside from those challenges, it would be cool to see challenges for super local species (each user gets different target taxa based on who is around and which gaps exist in what we have individually observed or not). Also, challenges designed to test the new biodiversity available for ID through the new vision model could be helpful, internally for the app. More Seek Levels would also be kind of cool. I am up toward 1250, and feel I’ve only seen less than half of the species observed on iNaturalist within 5 miles of me. ---
**Author:** ![seeker1000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/seeker1000/32/40504_2.png) [@seeker1000](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/seeker1000)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 6:20am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/8 "2025-03-08T06:20:31Z")
Yes, even more levels would be so great!! - Even a friend of mine, who I brought to SEEK, he only observes what he finds in his garden was a bit sad as he recognised he already had reached the final level. And he is more a gardener than an observer … And also these people are important. He told me about species I never heard of. . And that they harm his plants/or not/are good for them etc. I think, the developers can’t do everything at once, but it would be so great to get more levels and new challenges from time to time… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:20am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-updates-for-january-2025/61194/9 "2025-05-07T06:20:36Z")
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