OCEARCH Shark Tracker™

I got this app a while back and I had forgotten about it but I came back to it the other day and I have some things I want to mention. I used to love checking on certain sharks and seing the comments people left so when I checked the app again and saw the comment section gone I was really surprised. As far as I can tell, the comment section was a well loved feature so I don’t understand why you would remove it and would love to have it back and I am sure other people would too. Another thing I noticed is the fact that though you can search for many different types of sea creatures, The only ones you can actually see are several sharks and one single turtle. I understand that you cannot track ever animal in the ocean and that with covid-19 it is probably much harder to track animals but I would love to see at least a bit more variety. Other than these this is quite a good app and its quite enjoyable so I would love to see my recommendations added to the app.

I have never in my life left a review on ANYTHING, but this was too important to me. I love this app. I love these sharks. I love getting excited about the sharks. And I loved getting to see so many others also get excited over the sharks. The day I updated the app to find the update removed the comments section was an incredibly upsetting day. Sure, I could still check on my beloved sharks, but I could no longer share my enthusiasm for them with others who were also enthusiastic about them. It became so lonely on the app. In a time where I have lost contact with many people, it was incredibly difficult to also lose the interaction with fellow shark enthused strangers. I come back to the App Store every now and then to check if there is an update, hoping it will bring the comments back. I get so excited every time I see “update” instead of “open”, only to be disappointed to find the app still has no comments section. I love a lot of the other changes that have been made, such as having the ability to favorite sharks (because, let’s be honest, we all have our favorites; mine are Fast Ball, Slinger, and Perla), but it just isn’t the same without the comments. In all honesty, the comments were one of the biggest motivators on the app to learn more about the sharks. It is much harder to get enthused in solitude. I love this app, and I thank you for making it, but I must implore you to consider bringing the comments section back, especially during a time when we all feel so lonely and overwhelmed by chaos.

I never leave reviews. But this app really helped me out during a dark time in my life this year. I checked on these sharks everyday but I knew a big contributor to that was from the comment section. The internet is powerful and this app / research organization was able to bring a community of strangers -young and old -together to a place where we could all share the same thoughts and enthusiasm for these beautiful creatures. It was so fun to read all the various comments people would leave. For example one comment would read something like “Mary is a runner, she a track staaaaar” to the next comment saying “wow, Mary is bigger than most of the sharks in her species ( insert smart quote about shark here)”. VARIETY WE LOVE IT. I’m not sure if this comment will change your mind at all. But I have never been so upset over an app update before. I really hope my first review of an app will pay off ! Thanks.