iBird Ultimate Guide to Birds

My fave bird app—just upgraded to Ultimate after years of iBird pro and was so happy that I could now clear the selected bird with the x instead of backspacing my way out. Mixed glee when I found that playback wants to start with the top listed sound instead of the one I select and most annoying it defaults to cycle thru the calls/songs of the selected bird. The app will eventually train me to check the cycle switch before I use playback but the bit about it choosing the first item on the playback menu knocks a star off my review.

I bought the original iBird app over a decade ago and just re-upped in this new ultimate version. For me the app is like nest filled with eggs. Each one is a complementary source of info to help in identifying birds. You can look through and browse quality full color illustrations (with our without notations on marking), look at photos within the app, or birdipedia or Flickr (great for showing individual or season variations), get nicely parsed info (range maps, environmental status, behavior, etc), listen to multiple recording of different calls for each species and more. One of these info “eggs” may be just the one you need in a certain situation and the are all connected by a powerful search function that lets you set dozens of parameters using location, physical attributes, time of year, etc. And the best thing is that you can access all the core features without having cell or Wi-Fi access as the major eggs are all downloaded to your phone. So it’s great in the field or for just being at home and browsing visitors to your house or armchair recalling of neat species seen on vacation that you added to your favorites list. This is what mobile tech is for quality, searchable on the go information.

iBird has been my main birding app for many years, and over multiple editions of the app. Unfortunately, the latest update to Ultimate has added a button on the main screen promoting the in-app purchase of Photo Sleuth. While browsing birds, I will sometimes also see a second banner at the bottom of the page promoting the same in-app purchase. This bothers me greatly. I've paid a hefty sum for the app already, and should be able to use it without banners advertising paid features. The button and banner occupy precious screen real estate that in previous versions were showing more birds. The button & banner are in the way, and I wish I could disable them. I've even looked to find a way to revert to the previous version of the app, but to no avail. To the Developer: Please remove the annoying banners/buttons. This is an amazing app, and I have recommended it to so many birders over the years. Unfortunately, this update bothers me enough to tip me toward using one of your competitors' apps (Sibley) instead. Much as I love iBird, this is a step in the wrong direction. Please consider this suggestion.