Are there plans to develop iNat application for mobile phones? I mostly identify others’ observations, and while it is very convenient on the website (especially on the page dedicated for it), identifying on the phone is not as pleasant. What I miss most, is to move from one to another record without necessity to go back to results of search.
Funny thing, my acount on iNat was once banned because I was sending a comment from the app (it happened to have link to some publication or key) and it seemed not to send itself, so I tried again and again… and it turned out that it was added 3 or 4 times But it seems it was simply some bug.
There are at least three apps for mobile phones…
and someone developed an application dedicated for identifying observations… (klein)
For Android and iOS
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/am-looking-for-some-test-users-of-an-identification-app/430/26
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.jtklein.inattoolcat
HI @justyna_kierat, the iNaturalist apps are actively developed. If you’d like to vote for or contribute to the existing feature request discussion for improving the identify functions in the apps, head here: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/expanded-identify-functionality-in-app/395
Thanks @bouteloua , so I did poor search on the forum and this issue was discussed. I don’t have precise ideas what features would be useful (maybe besides this moving between records, but there are lots of useful features I can’t think at the moment) and I know nothing about apps making, so I’m rather poor helper. Anyway, if someone develops ID-frienly version, I’ll surely be dedicated user :)
No worries, there are thousands of topics here! I’d also love a more mobile friendly way to add IDs myself :)
While I love iNaturalist, and spend a huge amount of time talking people into trying it, I’ve stopped using the apps entirely. I haven’t found any situation where it is more convenient or useful to use the app than not. If I want to use my Android phone to take photos for an observation, it is one fast click per photo in my camera app (roughly half a second), or four very slow clicks per photo in the app (at least 15 seconds). I don’t find the app useful for IDing. I’m curious what current features keep people using the app once they’ve learned other ways? I suspect I’m missing something, because obviously the apps are popular.
Well, I was going to comment on being banned for a bug in the system, but with so many withdrawn posts, maybe that’s what they were about.
Many people don’t have a desktop or laptop computer, they use a tablet or mobile phone.
I use my mobile phone for almost everything I do on the internet - banking, email, social media, research, photography, and inatting. The only time I use a computer is for word processing, spreadsheets or writing programs. The only time I use iNaturalist on a computer is to create places.
That’s a good point. I would use the app if I didn’t have any computer except my phone. I still wouldn’t take the pictures in the app though.
I don’t know ho about the others’ posts, but I withdrew mine simply because I didn’t read carefully one of the previous posts, and asked for links to other apps while they wee provided (unfortunately, they seem to be no more active, I find no app under the link provided by @optilete but I wrote a message to author of application). So please do comment :) Anyway, in the end it was funny although I spent a while thinkig what could I have done wrong ;)
It’s this very cause - I do have a computer but not always have it at hand, and I have mobile almost always. And sometimes I have a bit time eg in the travel when I could do something useful.
An app with better support for IDing is also something I’ve thought about before. I think it would be nice if one could easily do IDing while relaxing on the couch. Also just earlier this week I was thinking “I wish the app showed the improving/supporting/disagreeing status of an ID”.
Forgive me for “self promoting”, but I believe it’s somewhat relevant to this discussion:
Just over a year ago I had some time available to me and decided that I’m not happy with the way the Android app handles projects (being extremely slow and lacking the features I wanted).
So I decided to write my own app called WildPlaces:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=za.co.mywild.wildplaces&hl=en_US&gl=US
(It’s available on Android’s Play Store but I’m not paying Apple $100+ per year just to put the app on their store.)
The main idea of my app is to view the observations from projects I’m interested in as a sort of basic “field guide”. For example I use my app if somebody asks me to help identify something (outside of iNat, in the real world) and I know I’ve added it under project X, then the app is an easy way for me to find it again. There is also a “share” icon that will open the observation in the official app for editing (if you have it installed), otherwise it opens the website.
The main reason I still use the official app is for creating observations of things I photographed earlier from my phone (I never create “real-time” observations, I always share photo at a later stage from my album app to the iNat app and create observations that way). I also like to check the “activity” on my account/observations using the iNat app. However I’ve been tempted for a while to one day make a custom app just for checking activity and updates on my observations, but unfortunately don’t think I’ll get to it anytime soon.
PS. I work on my app in my spare time and only add new things / fixes when I find the time (and especially the energy) to do so. Also there are still some open questions regarding the actual legality of it all (am I allowed to show photos from iNat on my own app?, can I use the iNat name or logo in my app, etc.).
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