I recently switched over to iPhone and literally my only concern was the iNat app. I love the android app, whilst it isn’t stable when going through 100s of IDs I feel its ease of use trumps that of the website at times. Majorly disappointed to find the iOS app lacks basic functionality - and even explains why many users ‘ignore’ me. Can’t see messages or replies on other people’s observations. I know iNat has been hiring but has there been any statement on progress of the iOS app? It’s weird to me, to have an app which differs so greatly on each each platform.
I’ve thought the same! The observation upload function works beautifully, but (for those who don’t know) almost all features that make the website so great are absent in the iOS app. I often find myself toggling between the app and the website itself on my iPhone when I want to search my observations or others.
It has to be a huge undertaking developing an app that contains all these features we love about inaturalist.org, but I think it would be a worthwhile effort not only to help existing users get more out of the data that’s collected, but also to make iNaturalist more welcoming to new users. I’ve introduced a lot of people to iNaturalist, but have found if they don’t explore the website and only use the iPhone app, they lose interest quickly and never gain the full understanding of the power of the iNaturalist database.
I look forward to the day when I’m no longer jealous of my Android-iNatting friends!
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Well, I do not agree on the upload function which is very time consuming on iOs and has (too) many steps. I use the iOS app for uploading thousands of photos and then one would prefer a design like https://github.com/lyrk/Commons/issues
but share option from the “gallery” would be another (good?) option which, i heard, was available on Android.
But for other than uploading i can live with the current ios app
(when iOS app does not find a GPS coordinate in the photo i would like that the current location is uses, which is not the case now i thought, or if the uncertainty is very high a pop up arises. further no problems with iOs app)
Lots of people feel you on this. Myself included. I was really embarrassed when I discovered all the things on the site that weren’t on the iOS app because I was using the app/site weird because of all that I was missing. Unknowingly. Messages especially! I must’ve seemed like a huge jerk and I had no idea because I wasn’t seeing any of the messages I was receiving.
After knowing all that’s on the site, I think the iOS app is still very sufficient and I like it a lot. I know it could be much better but it’s not like it is horrific or anything. I can see issues arising though when people don’t know about all that’s on the site. There’s expectations for everybody and some cannot really be met, in my opinion, if you are solely using the iOS app.
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It’s time consuming compared to the website you think? I’ve actually only ever used the iOS app to upload observations, so in my naivete, it seems pretty good!
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Yes the iOS app is severely lacking primarily (to my understanding) because Apple is a pain to develop with. Last I heard the app is being revised for both platforms…
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I’m sure staff won’t answer you directly when, you can see updates in monthly posts, but iNat requires a much bigger development group than it has now even with new members.
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See this post: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/inaturalist-mobile-app-development-news/27157
Basically we’re rewriting a new app from the ground up that will be usable on both platforms and thus not spending much developer time on the current apps, other than to fix bugs. Even with the new developers we’ve added recently, it’s still a big job. It definitely won’t be ready before this year’s City Nature Challenge. Beyond that I can’t say. I’m sorry it’s taking so long, but that’s the reality of the situation.
It’s for a few reasons, but as far as I know it’s not due to Apple being a problem (Android is often more difficult to develop for, as it’s implemented differently across so many devices from tons of manufacturers).
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our iOS app came first and was written with old code. That code had to be changed out before we could add more features which took years. This wasn’t the case for our Android app.
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our iOS dev also leads computer vision development, whereas our Android developer only worked on Android.
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Also, here’s more info about the two developers working on the project:
https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/72245-welcome-angie-johannes
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If it is not propiate you can remove, but the work is done here, and you might help your self
Actual i did see a functional design some where someday https://github.com/inaturalist/iNaturalistReactNative
https://pagepro.co/blog/react-native-pros-and-cons/
(when iOS app does not find a GPS coordinate in the photo i would like that the current location is uses, which is not the case now i thought, or if the uncertainty is very high a pop up arises. further no problems with iOs app)
Siri is not good compared to Android
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Hah, that’s interesting. Usually I hear Apple is the worst to develop for, and so that’s why the iOS versions suffer in general with multi-platform functionality in apps.
Ok good news! Can’t wait for the new app. Thanks everyone for your input!
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