New setting available for simplified observation flow

[carrieseltzer]

The latest release of iNaturalist Next (version 0.59.2) in the App Store has a new setting that aims to make the first experience of getting an identification on your own observation smoother and more intuitive. We’d love for you to try it out!

How to Enable it:

1. Open the Settings in the app
2. Tap the radio button next to “Default” in the iNaturalist Mode section.
3. Some settings on the page will disappear in this mode, but you can get them back any time by selecting “Advanced.”

Why we’ve added this setting

iNaturalist’s mission is to connect people to nature and advance science and conservation. Each month, up to 1.8 million people engage with nature through Seek and nearly 1 million use the existing iNaturalist mobile apps.

What we’ve learned:

• Seek is easy to use and engaging, but it doesn’t provide a smooth pathway to contributing to science
• iNaturalist is great for scientific contributions, but its complexity can be a barrier to new users.

Bridging the gap from identification to contributing to science

This new iNaturalist Next experience is designed to bridge that gap, guiding people on a journey from discovering nature to contributing to science.

A simpler identification flow

According to our surveys, the first thing most users want to do is identify something. That’s why in the new setting:

• After taking a photo, you’ll land on a new match screen that focuses on the identification
• The top suggestion is confident enough to reduce the chance of misidentifications needing correction from the community

Building a habit of observation

We want to encourage new users to keep engaging with nature. That’s why:

• Observations are shown in a more photo-centric way
• We’ve added clearer counts to help people track their growing collection

Establishing trust before asking people to join the community

Signing up for an account is often a barrier to participation. With this new approach:

• By the time new users are asked to sign up, they’ve already started a habit of observing nature.
• If they choose not to contribute, that’s fine too - their observations remain saved in the app.

Try it out for yourself!

If you prefer the classic iNaturalist experience, you can switch back to “Advanced mode” in the settings.

We’re excited to hear what you think - let us know your feedback once you’ve given it a try!

[thebeachcomber]

I’m probably missing something obvious, but I can’t see this new version? I’m on 0.57.0 at the moment, and have automatic updates on via TestFlight, but the app hasn’t updated to 0.59.2, and I can’t see any way to do a manual update

[carrieseltzer]

It might take more time to roll out in different parts of the world. Since you’re in Australia, keep checking in today for the App Store update to come through.

[carrieseltzer]

Version 0.59.4 was released a few hours ago, so please watch for and install that update. It fixes a buggy announcement display.

[janetfb]

Sorry I can’t find where to see the version # or settings that arent just for my account.

[carrieseltzer]

@janetfb are you using the iNaturalist Next app? It looks like you’re mainly using the iNaturalist Android app and iNat website.

[sullivanribbit]

I like the idea of a simplified UI to appeal to a broader audience than iNaturalist diehards like myself. But as with any major mode switch in any software, I do worry that every difference between “Default” and “Advanced” is likely to cause some problems, from “why does this work differently on my phone and my friend’s phone?” to “I want some of the ‘Default’ behaviors and some of the ‘Advanced’ behaviors”.

It also irrationally bugs me a little that the choice is between “Default” and “Advanced (Upload multiple photos and sounds)”. Some of the differences between the two modes are not related to uploading, so the parenthetical comment seems misleading. And shouldn’t “Default” also get a parenthetical comment hinting at why you might want to choose that (e.g. “(Simplified user experience)” or somesuch)?

Also, “Default” is a pretty nerdy term. Maybe “Standard” instead?

(I should add that I’m sure you’ve weighed the pros and cons of all of these issues carefully already.)

[eyekosaeder]

So I have tried the new default mode, and tried my best to imagine just having made an account. There is a lot I really like (more details below), and some features I like so much that I think should just be standard in any setting.
Overall I think it is very intuitive. And I think the option not to contribute is good to have (Though, am I correct in assuming that it means that no identifier will ever see their observation?)

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@carrieseltzer

• After taking a photo, you’ll land on a new match screen that focuses on the identification
• The top suggestion is confident enough to reduce the chance of misidentifications needing correction from the community

These features I love. I especially like the confidence in percent. Please, please, please bring that over to everywhere! :D

@carrieseltzer

• Observations are shown in a more photo-centric way

I like this too, overall. I think it’s good that the notes are displayed right under the observation, instead of being hidden away in the details page. However, it currently feels a bit cluttered. I think Details and More should maybe just be removed all together in the default view, or still kept as a separate page or maybe just a dropdown menu. Just a very minor complaint, though.

@carrieseltzer

• We’ve added clearer counts to help people track their growing collection

I like this a lot too! I think this should be in the advanced setting too. It doesn’t seem to take up too much space and it’s nice to have that information at a glance. :)

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There is only one thing I dislike about the default setting and that is that to make observations you have to open the camera. I think there should be an option to add from your library without opening the camera, like in the old app.

[sullivanribbit]

It definitely bugs me that there might be features in the “Default” setting that people using the “Advanced” setting can’t get. One design approach that deals with this is to have every difference between “Default” and fully-altered “Advanced” be controllable by a setting. So “Multiple photo uploads” vs “One photo at a time” would be a setting, and “Show confidence percentages” would be a setting, and “Show observer counts” would be a setting, etc. All of these settings would only appear if “Advanced” is selected.

Thinking about the differences between “Default” and “Advanced” this way also makes you really think about which of these should not be settings at all, but just the standard behavior in both modes.

[carrieseltzer]

Thanks for your feedback, @sullivanribbit and @eyekosaeder. We’re working on the language used in the settings as well as more consistency between the two modes where it makes sense. You should see improvements in the next version.

@eyekosaeder

There is only one thing I dislike about the default setting and that is that to make observations you have to open the camera. I think there should be an option to add from your library without opening the camera, like in the old app.

Can you clarify what you don’t like about opening the camera first?

[eyekosaeder]

I only have 2GB of data a month and a phone that’s small and a few years old. So to preserve both battery life and data I usually prefer just taking the photos and then uploading them once I’m home. (Usually 20 obs at least)
Having to open the camera first for each of them interrupts the flow a bit, IMO.
Also, with photographing animals, I usually take a bunch of safety shots from further away, or just get unusable pictures, which is another reason, why I don’t use the in-built camera directly.

Perhaps I’m very alone in this, but I’ve always done it this way, also as a new user.

[carrieseltzer]

@eyekosaeder

I usually prefer just taking the photos and then uploading them once I’m home. (Usually 20 obs at least)

Thanks, that helps. Have you tried sharing directly from the photo library into iNat Next? That’s something you can do with this that you can’t do with the classic iOS app.

[saturnring]

@carrieseltzer

Can you clarify what you don’t like about opening the camera first?

It always seemed to me that my photos did not look as sharp if I took them within the app, so I quit doing it that way and just began taking photos with my iPhone and then importing the photos into the app.

[tiwane]

I believe the AI camera does use a lower resolution - otherwise the app/device can’t process the frames quickly enough to provide ID suggestions.

[tiwane]

@eyekosaeder

Perhaps I’m very alone in this, but I’ve always done it this way, also as a new user.

I definitely prefer taking photos with my phone’s camera app in the field then importing them into iNat when I’m home. The batch importer in iNat Next makes doing much easier now.

I suspect, though, that most new users do want to open up the iNat app and get live ID suggestions. The times when I’ve introduced people to iNat at workshops and such, it can difficult for them to understand or get the appeal of making an observation by taking a photo then getting to the fairly complicated edit screen, then tapping on a button to get an ID, etc. Hopefully this will help more people get to that “aha!” moment.