iNaturalist Updates for September 2024

[tiwane]

Here’s a list of iNat updates for September 2024. Thanks for helping to track these, forum moderators!

General

• iNaturalist hired Kirk van Gorkom as our new Head of Engineering!
• iNaturalist is honored with the Heinz Award for the Environment!
• The iNaturalist Next app has been soft-launched for iPhones!
• Continued work on new mobile app - soft-launched for iPhones, still in closed beta for Android
• Continued work on API v2 - curators can test it and provide feedback, see this topic
• Many additional translations throughout the websites and apps - you can help

Website

Various improvements and bug fixes.

Android

View all release notes

• No new release, but a bug fix release is coming soon
• The Android app’s replacement continues to be in pre-Alpha testing

iOS & iPadOS

• Version 3.3.5 rolling out to users in the App Store. Minor bug fixes
• iNaturalist Next is soft-launched for iPhones

Seek

• Released August challenge
• No new version released

iNat Blog

• September 3rd: iNaturalist August News Highlights
• September 5th: Is that…really a snail? - Observation of the Week, 9/5/24
• September 10th: Assassin Bug Interrupts a Moth Date - Observation of the Week, 9/10/24
• September 17th: iNaturalist Honored with the Heinz Award for the Environment
• September 17th: Magical Encounter with Tree of the Sorcerors! - Observation of the Week, 9/17/24
• September 24th: Spiraling Cyanobacteria - Observation of the Week, 9/24/24
• September 30th: Welcoming Kirk van Gorkom as Our New Head of Engineering!

For even more bug fixes and updates, check out iNaturalist on github and see previous monthly updates.

[optilete]

@tiwane

Many additional translations throughout the websites and apps - you can help

Old help site.

[tiwane]

Thanks! Fixed.

[teellbee]

@tiwane

Continued work on new mobile app - soft-launched for iPhones, still in closed beta for Android

I’ve wondered a bit about this. I had thought the next mobil app was going to be a cross-platform app that did not have two iterations (e.g., one for iOS and one for android )

Did I misunderstand or did that not pan out?

[thebeachcomber]

@teellbee

I had thought the next mobil app was going to be a cross-platform app that did not have two iterations (e.g., one for iOS and one for android )

this is exactly what it will be, it’s just that it’s occurring in two stages: iPhone first, then Android

[tiwane]

This is answered in an FAQ on the soft launch post:

@tiwane

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.

[teellbee]

Yes, I think I must have misunderstood the dynamics of the single platform development from past discussions.

[spiphany]

FYI the inclusion of blog posts on the home page for people using iNat in a language other than English is still fairly erratic – the only recent ones that showed up for me were the ones for the Heinz Award and the new staff member (currently only the Heinz Award), but not the observations of the week or today’s announcement of the new feature of the geomodel.

[optilete]

@spiphany

FYI the inclusion of blog posts on the home page for people using iNat in a language other than English is still fairly erratic

Thank you. Switching to English at least shows an other post about sounds. I was not aware it was related to the choosen locale…