EBird App Reviews

Bad app. Wow, I really wanted to use this app but what a mess it is. The basic process of setting up an account and login is impossible without being sent in circles. For example, the simple act of changing a password does not work. When I tried to change the password, hoping I could login, I clicked on the sent link seconds after receiving the email and it said I had waited for more than 24 hours and the password couldn’t be changed!? Huh?!

Love the app in conjunction with Merlin. Reading some of the reviews, I agree it seems odd what you can’t do with the app that you can do on line or with Merlin. But I do find it better in fact to keep my list running in one app and using another to detect bird song.

Checklist. I haven’t used this app much so far mainly because I really just want a running checklist of birds I have seen whenever or wherever. It seems this app has a checklist but it is per outing/location/day and I have to start a new list each new day when I go to add a species. Nothing wrong with that, just not what I’m looking for. If it has the kind of checklist I am looking for, I can’t figure it out.

Much to improve. This app is overall incredible. But some things don’t make any sense: why not let you search for a species within a particular radius from yourself etc. Biggest peeve is with the keyboard. When you want to manually enter a number of birds, so tap on the species and it opens into the full screen counter for that species, the keyboard that opens is alphabetical, not numerical, requiring yet another tap to get it entered. Also, it would be cool if the app would allow you to sort in the birds you already found to the top of the lists (it’s often the case that after seeing one group of Canada geese, I see another), but keep the yet unseen birds in the species or alphabetical lists below. This would offer faster access. When seeing a lot of birds at a time, one doesn’t want to have to scroll or input letter by letter to bring a species back up to add to. Underside shots of more birds would be really helpful, too. Also, ability to message with other birders by consent would also be cool cuz sometimes you don’t meet in the field but wish you could find out more. Many thanks! One more thing: you should make track location OFF as there default. Women and ppl of color are often afraid to post exactly where they regularly go or their homes, so also making it possible to offer the tracking details to you at Cornell but obscure them from the public by default would also be great.

EBird. I don’t see why people have such a problem with the app. I find it real useful for its purpose, to add birds to the eBird database. I’ve been using the app since it came out. It’s improved a lot. Doesn’t crash, or have problems that don’t allow you to submit sightings. People leaving bad reviews because location data is required don’t understand the point of the app. eBird is a scientific project that requires you to show your location so they can graph and track bird populations.

Love the new features!. Thank you Ebird for finally allowing our lists to be integrated regardless of the device used to enter the data. I have been asking for this enhancement for years and I’m so happy to see it finally come to fruition. Now I can see all my old lists that had been entered on the computer before the app even existed. Thank you for a wonderful product. And it’s great that the data helps scientists too. Win win! What’s not to love? Keep up the great work.

User friendly?. Just started using eBird as a recommendation, however not finding it logical in the way I enter my bird findings and locations. Can’t find common names and pics to help me pick the right bird. My location of the sighting could not be found even though it is a state reserve. I’ll keep trying and see how things work out. Wish me luck!

Previous locations. I use eBird a lot, and the mobile app has been great. However, the updated app seems over-designed. Pet peeve: I cannot select from previous locations when entering a list from the past, I have to zoom in on a map that starts with the whole of North America. Why not allow scrolling through the list of previous locations just as when you can when submitting a list in real time? Also, the tracking function is better when the default is OFF.

Bad update. Agree with the other reviewer below that the latest updates to this app have virtually eliminated the most useful features of eBird for me. Specifically the “Explore” section, which seems not to have the ability to check recent sightings in a particular area anymore. How could they possibly think it was a good idea to do that?! I’m very disappointed that one of my go-to, daily apps is no longer of much use to me.

Great idea, garbage execution. If I want to see observations at local birding hotspots, anytime I click one I have to wait for the app to decide when it wants me to be able to click details. Could be on the fifth try, could be on the fiftieth. No idea why this happens—very bad user experience. Not to mention I really have to install bird packs to record my sightings—and when I do that multiple times in a week, it gets real old watching the pack take two minutes to download when all I wanted to do was record my findings.

Getting more cumbersome and harder to use. e-Bird was a 5-star application for entering bird sightings. Recent versions just get more cumbersome and harder to use. When starting a bird list, it downloads a list for your location based on the users GPS. Now, when submitting it has to download the full bird list again. Why the need to download twice? Waste of time and data. When picking a location, it used to be easy: enter GPS location, pick a nearby hotspot or use location as given. Now it has to download a full color aerial photo and make you pick a location from that. Aside from the fact that I could not enter an incidental sighting because the map did not cooperate, why waste the time and data with it. The GPS tracking is poor. It is not possible to download the track taken for other purposes (like geo-locating photos) furthermore e-Bird uses much more battery than other GPS tracking applications I use. Finally, while a lot of development has gone into making a clumsier application, it still lacks the ability to upload photos from the field or upload GPS tracks. I still eBird, but will have to leave if development continues its downward trend.

Stop deleting my reviews. The app NO LONGER WORKS ON IOS 18. It is incompatible. For months this has been an issue and they refuse to update or modernize the app. It’s sad because this truly used to be a 5 star app. But with recent updates becoming less and less frequent and the overall functionality of the app being nonexistent, it’s safe to say this app is outdated and should either be removed from the App Store or updated immediately.

Eeek- Privacy Alert! Wants to use my home as my birding location. I cannot add a checklist using my mobile phone after I get home, because eBird insists on using my current location (my private address) as my birding location. This is unacceptable and there seems to be no alternative. I tried to locate the EXACT area I went birding, and add a location, but the checklist refuses to accept it and reverts to my home location. Wound up deleting my checklist. Sorry, hooded mergansers and early-season White faced ibis: we’ll have to pretend it never happened. Just our little secret :) This app used to be great. I took a break for a few years, and now the mobile app is basically unuseable, unless you like being tracked to your doorstep by total strangers! Nooo thanks.

Could be 5 stars - swiping app. This app is awesome. Recent changes are so helpful. One major change needs to be made to make it 5 stars! Almost everyone accidentally swipes an app away. In this app, even if you open it back up, it refuses to allow you to continue logging your track. Sure, you can continue to log birds but it stops tracking and time-keeping so then one must manually figure it out. What a waste of time, especially at the moment you swipe you realize it and try to get it back when you haven’t even taken another step forward! App should check your location and ask if you mean to continue. Can it really be that hard nowadays? Please, please, for the love of birding and counting, fix this situation! Thank you!!

Good mainly for data. Where eBird soars is in the database and region packs. I’m in Mexico so downloaded the Mexico pack. This, combined with the global contributions from others, makes the app worth it. However, the user experience of the app is quite poor. Having a smooth user experience clearly isn’t a priority. This probably hinders the quality/quantity of the data itself, as I’m sure it turns people away. For example, when you search a hotspot list (e.g. “hawk”), the search is cleared when you try to scroll down the filtered list, so you see the full list, rendering search useless except for the top 3-4 hits (depending on screen size). Also, you cannot actually see information about birds in the app. You can only see metadata for sightings (common name, time & location). For information about birds (photos, range map, etc.) you need another app; Merlin Bird ID is good for that, and links to eBird). Dear Cornell bird lab: please apply for a grant to up your UX game!

Great framework, but needs some improvements. I got this app when I got Merlin to help me identify and keep track of the birds I see. I love how easily you can switch between Merlin to eBird to log a bird that was identified, and how you can download specific area packs instead of all birds in the country. It’s great to have a checklist like this in my pocket when out in the field! However, I have one bug that I’ve had trouble with, and a suggestion. First off, I can’t use the explore tab to look at local hotspots. When I pick a location, the app crashes every time. That’s a bummer, especially when I wanted to scout a location to see what was in the area. As for my suggestion, it would be nice to have more options when making a checklist. For example, if there were counters for male, female, and juvenile, I feel like that might make for more precise and organized data. Perhaps an ambiguous or unknown option as well for species that look identical regardless of sex. After bug fixes and further improvements in the future, I feel like this would be an even more useful tool.

Checklists don't sync between devices. I'm signed into my ebird account but I can only see checklists submitted from this device. I should be able to see all checklists I've submitted from any device when I'm signed in. App needs a field guide so that when you click on a bird you can verify what it looks like (size and field markings), how it sounds, and it's migration map. Especially when using explore feature. Should be able to long press anywhere on the map to make that the center of the search area instead of going through the menus. Otherwise solid.

Incredible. Contribute to citizen science and in return manage your sightings and all of your lists from hotspot to world life in one simple, secure place. Discover new places to bird, see which birds others are seeing and where they’re seeing them and so much more. eBird is constantly improving, I’ve been a user since the beginning. And…it’s free!

Great app for Birdwatching. Useful app for finding new birds. Personally I have used it three times for this specific reason and found a new bird each time. All the other times I have done bird checklists, and the UI is easy to use once you get the hang of it. It can track your path during your time to make the data more meaningful. Also, the checklists made with the app get put to great use if you have an account because the data is entered in one of the world’s biggest public databases for bird sightings.

Works great for me. Use this app every time I bird, in USA and Europe. With it running in the background and Merlin Bird ID on and off in foreground I do great. I fully accept rare sightings need to be entered separately on the website. In a good birding location I will be adding birds quickly, and with a much longer list will select rare birds by mistake. I have politely been emailed for the few wrong rare birds I have recorded. I was almost honored to get an email from the moderator for one mistake as he is such a phenomenal birder. Subsequently had opportunity to bird with him, and we saw 67 species when I would have seen 35.

So frustrating. The Explore section is frustratingly unreliable. The intent is good. See what species have been spotted recently in an area you want to explore? Why, yes! Almost never works, then has the gall to suggest the problem is with the user’s internet connection. How hard can it be to pull results from a database? Perhaps the ornithology department should request the help of the computer science department. You’re Cornell for goodness sake! Please fix this.

Don’t update if you’re in iOS!! July 10, 23. Your summary history, once available on the app, is now gone & takes a cumbersome search on their website. They keep tweaking the app and each update is worse than the previous. I wish I could revert back to BirdLog! It just getting worse, won’t be updating ever again unless it’s to revert to the tools taken away from us.

Fantastic. I have used this app since it was new. It is great. I hope that it will not leave me & my Iphone 6 in the dust like happened with Daily Bird which was also a favorite of mine.

It could have been so much better!. I’ve used this app for a few years now and I’ve encountered several issues with it. If you are lucky enough to spot a bird that they don’t believe should be in your area and you report it, you’ll likely get an email explaining why you couldn’t possibly have seen such a bird and then they ask you for pictures so they can properly identify the bird. Obviously it doesn’t matter how long we’ve been birding or how many bird books we have, if eBird says that bird shouldn’t be here, well it’s just not possible. There are times when you can’t even record a sighting of a bird in your area because eBird won’t even list the bird as being in your area. This is so frustrating and a huge injustice to all of us who would like to help contribute to where birds are actually being sighted.

Bird pack and other UI is awful. Bird pack downloads are ridiculously slow - it takes several minutes to DL a single 2-4MB file; it should be a few seconds. There is no button for “update all my packs”. There is no composite US country pack. There is no auto-update option for bird packs. The bird counting interface is counterintuitive and really needs context sensitive assistance. Search interface sometimes stops working properly, requiring app restart. The bird reference info has way too few photos of birds in flight as seen from below. Most of these issues have existed for a couple of years or more, so it’s not clear whether Cornell realizes they are problems, or whether they lack the right devs to address them.

Last Update Ruined the Functionality. I love the app but now since it was updated lost all the images and search function no longer working like when I try to view a bird that I captured it keeps taking me to the settings for bird packs which I had already installed and I don't know what changed or how to get it back to the way it was before it updated :(

Why 2 Apps? Can’t Sign In.. Downloaded both eBird and Merlin to try spotting/tracking birds for the first time during Spring migration. I’m still unsure of the difference between the two apps and why you need both of them. It’s a moot point, though, because it’s impossible to sign in to either or them! I created a CornellLab account as requested and I went to me email to click the verification link, which took me back to the sign in page on my desktop computer. I try to sign in and nothing happens. I go back to the app and try to sign in there and I get an error message that I don’t have an account or that I need to verify my account. Which is impossible to do. I’ve tried in three different browsers with no success. This, this app and the Merlin app are impossible to use.

Great—when it works. This app is really great when it works properly. Many little issues: —often saying it cant connect to internet when I have stromg cell signal and/or wifi connection(rendering my birding day data and personal records useless) —difficulty with tagging checklists to known hotspots (inexplicably not recognizing well known hotspots even w precise gps data available —problems w app recognizing installed bird packs —often freezes / stuck in some kind of processing loop —WAY, WAY, WAY too many error messages (not recognizing location, unsubmitted/submitted checklist, not recognizing installed pack)

User-friendly & Very Handy in the field. I faithfully use this app to create 99% of my birdwatching lists. I use Voice Record app when there’s a bird I hear but don’t recognize. And I keep Merlin Bird ID app as a “field guide” on my phone. Where this app shines is the Explore tab! This feature keeps improving and becoming more helpful! I mostly use the Explore tab to search for hotspots in the vicinity I wish to visit. It’s become a very handy feature in the field! I’m looking forward to seeing what other features they add to the Explore tab! The app does not offer the full features and experience that the eBird website offers (I do not think it could or even should), but it is nonetheless a valuable tool to use in my birding hobby!

Photo submissions necessary. At the heart of it, the app is fine. It does, however, miss the critical feature of allowing photos to be attached on the mobile app. You can add photos on the website, but sometimes transferring these photos over is a pain. This is really the only thing I believe is missing.

Common names?. I must be doing something wrong but I can’t find any way to switch the list to show and search by common names of birds. It’s a total deal breaker that I have to use the scientific names of what we’re seeing. The whole point of the app should be to make it easy but I have to Google every bird I see, find their scientific name and copy/paste it into the app. Total fail. What am I doing wrong or who is this serving best? I don’t get it.

Not really user friendly. Most times I’m standing in my house viewing birds from the window. I dislike having to “start checklist” and have it running like I’m actually walking around seeking various birds to log. There should be an option to just log one at a time at that very moment without having a duration. This app is just too complicated and doesn’t have the capability to search by characteristic in the Merlin app. I only really use that to search by sound. I typically end up using my Audubon app bc theirs is all in one to search by characteristics and easily log when you see one.

Please Remove Geolocation Requirement. I have been a user of the eBird website and decided to try the app. However, I do not like how you need to turn on geolocation and give the app access to your position in order to submit a list. Please allow users to use a saved personal location without requiring them to turn on their device's geolocation services first. This would help protect users' privacy. From now on I will stick to the website for submitting lists and only use the app for reference or for viewing my already submitted lists. Also, I cannot see the checklists that I submitted online in the app. I have signed into the same EBird account, but my checklists are not visible.

New version crashes. Whenever I start a new checklist, the app crashes. It always used to work. I’ve tried restarting my phone, the app, reinstalling the app, and similar. Still seeing crashes. Updated: I deleted all ebird data on my phone, then reinstalled, now I can use ebird again. Not a great experience, but it is back to being usable.

eBird. Ebird has truly revolutionized the world of birding! It has been a game changer! Not only does it benefit science, but it benefits the birder. It does this by keeping track of our life lists and regional lists. Ebird data is powerful! Ebird allows birders to see their closest birding hotspots and discover what birds have been reported in their area. Thanks so much to the eBird team!

Great App, But Could Be Better. I enjoy using the app to help identify where species have been seen but what would make it so much better would be being able to search a specific species to see where it was seen last. Also, one thing that annoyed me is every single time i open the app i get an error "Error Loading Explore". I then have to force close the app and reopen it to get it to work.

Great app, but room for improvement. I love the app and being able to contribute to citizen science. The major improvement I wish they offered was bring able to add photos to your species list while in the app instead of doing it after you submit the record then you are required to login, edit, and add media from the website.

I hate this app more every day. And it has completely ruined Merlin somehow. I think I will just get a paper journal. It would make life easier. I used to be able to save just a single species I saw while out and about on Merlin. Now it forces me to eBird and forces me to start a timed count. I saw a bird on my way to work. I am not starting a freaking timed count. Now Merlin no longer allows me to save birds just to Merlin but now forces me to Go to eBird, which takes forever and doesn’t work half the time. Birding used to be stress free.

Great idea, coding is horrible and therefore education. The app repeatedly will not load information, claims that internet connection is not strong enough even thought internet tests indicate internet is functioning as normal, only one location’s data will load and then no others. I am using a fully updated Gen 2 SE, it is frustrating to see such a great idea die because of poor app design/execution

Overall an amazing app just a little issue with location. This app is amazing. I have learned how to identify countless birds. It is also very inclusive with the option to download “bird packs” for a multi you countries so you can identify birds from home to halfway across the world. The birding app itself is also amazing. When you start a checklist it keeps time and keep track of birds is easy with the # and then bird name system. The app also automatically provides your start location when closing which is extremely helpful That being said I have a complaint 1. Entering a location in the app is difficult if you haven’t already been there and you are entering it away from where the birding took place However, overall it is a wonderful app and tool. I love writing comments and the feeling of satisfaction when I can record an uncommon or even rare species!

Couldn’t survive without it. It’s free and there is nothing else like it and nothing that can do what it does. I’m loath to criticize when… There is nothing else like it and nothing that can do with it does :-). Did I mention that it’s free?

Please add ability to export track. I love this app and use it for work and personal birding. A huge improvement to the entire platform would be the ability to export your track into a kml or shapefile. That would be a very useful feature.

Very helpful app, needs some work. The idea behind the app is good but it has a few flaws. Recently it’s started just shutting down with no warning if I’m trying to search sightings away from my actual location, like when I’m anticipating traveling. And it’s very difficult to search for just sightings of a specific species.

Have learned a lot. This app has helped me become a better birder especially by allowing me to know what species are common in an area verses what’s rare prompting me to review common species first when observing a potential rarity. Great for finding areas to see certain species and allowing me to keep track of all my bird sightings. I am online exploring the EBird website almost every day it is the coolest thing ever.

Love this app. I am a long time user and I feel that this app works well in most ways. I do have a few suggestions for improvements. 1) can we have the ability to change the font size please? I don’t use glasses while birding but I need reading glasses to use my phone. The font size selection on my phone doesn’t change the size of the font in the app. 2) can the area where you select how many birds have the option of either starting with the alphabet or the number keyboard. I would like a choice. I like selecting the bird then adding the number. I have a iPhone 11 Pro incase you need that info. Thanks!

A pic is worth a thousand words!. I would give this app 5 stars if it had the ability to add media and access photos while using the app. I don’t like that I have to go to the website to add my photos and then they aren’t visible when accessing my checklist from the app.

Error loading species. You'd better get used to seeing that. I'm pretty sure that I actually am connected to the internet. It's an amazing app that greatly enhances birding, no doubt. But it shouldn't take a dozen tries to load what birds have been seen at a local spot.

Excellent for everyone who loves birds and learning,. This excellent tool has helped me enjoy birding on a new level. The information available on this app helps me learn new things and enjoy watching birds more than I ever thought possible, this is a wonderful community and fun for all ages,

Too much untapped potential. Wish they had more features, including website and app. eBird has so much potential. Why can’t we have a target species in vicinity option like that other app which eye (pun intended) shall not name??

Another “down” date. This is why I’ve stopped donating $ to them. They use it to make things worse. They just changed things (again)—Why?!? They always take a good thing and try to mess it up. Have they brought back the daily trip report? No!! Used to be able to do that on the mobile app—no longer. Not sure why this latest change—besides making things confusing, I haven’t been able to detect a change in functionality.

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Great birding app. The ebird app allows much more practicality than just listing, now there is a search and explore function similar to the online site. The ability to quickly search back on previous lists and check totals for specific areas also adds some benefits, especially for keen listers like myself.

Able to sign in now!. Something must have been updated as I can now sign in to the app, as I have never been able to do so before!

Almost perfect. Great birding app - the amount of detail you can add is excellent, and the distance tracking is a great feature. You just need to add the capability to add photos and sound recordings in the app, and then it would be a 5 star app!

Harsh Scrutiny. Did you know that your sightings if they are rare or unusual are scrutinised by random volunteers. I was put back in my box after receiving a personal email about a simple but unusual bird sighting, no idea of the qualifications of this individual but they let me know I was wrong despite not actually being with me….??!! I bring 50 years of birding experience that ebird can jam where the sun don’t shine, I’ll go back to using the bird data app.

No longer works.. This app was great but it no longer works since I got my new iPhone XR. I just get repeated errors that eBird servers are down. It appears to be no longer supported.

A fantastic resource. As others have said, BirdLog massively changed - for the better - my birding data capture and the eBird app takes things to the next level of excellence, and ease of use. A fantastic free resource for birders, highly recommended.

Don’t update!. The recent overhaul of the app has reduced, rather than improved, useability of this app. As a daily user, I was quite excited by the prospect of having a shortcut to new checklists. However, I am now forced to deselect tracking and confirm my decision to do so before I can start any list. (I don’t use tracking because I am in the field all day and can’t afford the battery drain). The review page is crowded and hard to read compared to the old version. When a duration is 3 digits long, only the first digit is visible, followed by 3 periods!? So you actually can’t see how long the duration is if you use the auto calculator. The “create new checklist” button has also disappeared from the checklists page. I am also not sure why we now need to go into the map in order to rename an offline location. Advice to ebird would be to please fix the above issues, and in future, maybe change things in baby steps - such a radical overhaul is pretty disruptive to regular users who use ebird as a survey tool. The old version of the app was, for the most part, well-designed and easy to use.

Great app for your life list. I use eBird nearly every week to track my observations. I love that there's a map that shows other peoples' sightings and hotspots. Looking forward to future updates and to be able to sync my checklists across all devices.

Brilliant!. Fantastic free app that means you can enter bird sightings from anywhere in the world with or without an Internet connection - free, great interface, simply brilliant!!

e-bird. Great app, easy to use. Can you put in a true "travelling" component though for road travel say around 50k by car and not just 5k walking. Thank you.

Great for holidays. Easy to use especially useful when on extended holidays to track daily sightings.

Excellent app!. Very handy app. I submit 3-7 checklists a day, and the app is just the thing I need. 6 star rating for this app!

Buggy sign in. Had to repeat the process 6 times

Brilliant way to record data. This app is a brilliant way to record data on birds that is shared all over the world. It can be used online or offline with previously unheard of accuracy in time and location. The flags checking for rarity and back up by volunteer reviewers is fantastic and so important to keep the integrity of the data. I used to Atlas for Australian birds, but when I read that eBird passed data on to the Australian Atlas I started using eBird instead. The only issues is that spelling and names are for Australian species is not the same as we use in Australia, and the recent update has greatly slowed down the loading of checklist so much that it really is a pain when out in the field with slow download speeds. Perhaps a choice to use a previous checklist at this stage would be possible as is available in offline mode. Otherwise keep up the great work eBird!

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No response for help. I have not been able to get a help response since April. I cannot log in any more. There may now be a Canada portal but this does not show up as a login option

Lots of potentials, but needs finition. -Can't add photos -Can't add breading code like on their website I would really like too see a "my ebird" section that we could see ours stats. Other than that everything is perfect and Im a big fan of it!

Frozen. I can’t even open the app. Every time I open eBird it tries to update and freezes. I have removed and deleted the app multiple times, then downloaded it again and the same thing just keeps happening. So disappointed. I was really hoping to love this app.

Why no pictures or sounds?. I feel like this app should be merged with Merlin. It would be much more interesting if you could tap a bird name and open a profile with photos and recordings. At least link it to the Merlin profiles. Seems very stifled as it is.

Great app. Love this app, use it almost every day for documentary local avian species!

Depuis la nouvelle version, ne démarre plus. Lors du démarrage, il tente de faire la mise à jour de l'application puis de la base de données puis avant de terminer, il cesse de fonctionner. L'app est donc devenue inutilisable. J'ai un iPod touch.

Excellent. I love this app. So easy to use! Now I look for birds to track instead of Pokemon.

Simple checklist for Merlin Bird ID?. Looking for a simple way to track detected birds through the Merlin Bird ID. This app isn’t useful unless you track/checklist birds in-field.

Easy to track your sightings AND help researchers. Simple to use, helps build discipline while you observe birds at the feeder, and creates a reference list.

Great, with some caveats. Of course this app does what it says - nothing all that groundbreaking there. Two particular issues: 1. It is a battery hog. Even when I lock my phone and put it away, it seems to be draining my battery. Not sure if it's using my GPS while in use or what but it's very annoying. 2. I have no idea why, but the default keyboard is the alternate one on iPhone (number and symbols) when you click in the field to type common name/species codes. Again, very annoying.

Excellent, but one recommendation. Excellent, but a feature to add media right from the app would be amazing.

Counterintuitive. Stupidly hard to use. Common species for my area won’t show up when I try to add them- no workaround, no obvious reason, can’t add them to the list. No support available. They use some free forum and don’t let you contact the developer to report a bug. Plus the design is just boring and ugly. Too bad this is the app of choice for nerdy birders, because surely someone could create something better. Update six months in: two of us are still having to look up the basics to do anything (eg, edit date/ time on a checklist; force rare bird alerts to show even the stated 7 days, let alone more.)

This app is amazing!!!. I’ve been using the bird id for a couple years, and that in itself is very cool. Answer 5 questions and 95% of the time, the list of candidates will include your bird. But today I tried Sound ID, and this is incredible!!! Must be experienced! Turn it on and see the app picking out birds from all the noises around!!! Thank you Cornell!

Disappointing. Created account and user name twice, won’t let me sign in neither!! I tried to reset password but I have not received an email from either accounts…

Easy, but needs some fixes. Easy to enter sightings and see local hotspots. The PC version is easier to use, and to see what others have observed near here. Please fix so that the iPad app integrates the same Locations as I have on my PC. The app sometimes refuses to accept entries it considers rare e.g. our hummingbird was here earlier than most years. The app kept asking for confirmation, with no way to do so.

What a mess. This app is just so hard to enjoy. How can it be so painful to just list birds.

Très bien. Très bien

L’application ne fonctionne pas. 23 mars 2018. Je viens de m’abonner et télécharger l’application et elle ne fonctionne pas

Add photos from app!. Please please please can we add photos from the app? Lack of this feature is making me not post my photos which is unfortunate. Please!

Overwhelming at first, but one of the best apps for bird enthusiasts.. Every birder should be using eBird, it is the perfect app for keeping track of one’s life list, and gives birding a new purpose.

Glitch since latest update. Database of birds does not show up since update 1.6.0 ... can’t enter any counts. Also noticed I lost all my checklists too.

Good for Recording What You See. This is a good smartphone app. But it is not problem-free, as became clear to me on a recent trip. First, its locating and mapping ability is entirely dependent on contact to a live telephone network. Connecting to wifi only doesn’t do it. Second, it is not integrated with the eBird website: checklists and locations entered on the app do go to the main Cornell data base. However, checklists and locations entered first on the eBird website do not get reflected in the app’s locations or checklists. This is funny, because one’s species total does get changed as the total changes in the website data base. I will continue to use it because it is a useful tool some of the time.

Please fix!. Since switching to iPhone XR, eBird gives me an error whenever I try and submit my checklists. It won’t download the location lists and therefore I cannot submit my checklists. This app is so great when it works!

Great app. This is an awesome app especially when used in conjunction with the eBird website and Merlin bird ID (fully compatible). Load up the eBird website and you can upload your photos and sound recordings to the checklist you just made on your phone. If you find a new bird on a checklist, the next time you open Merlin Bird ID, it will have been added to your life list. The site is a bit more intuitive when it comes to modifying your checklists and viewing media. Hopefully at some point we get the last few capabilities of the eBird website put onto the app.

Great but possible to improve. I like this, its great. I'd like to see a feature where a birding day could be tracked by GPS. Also a voice-activated feature so if you're driving along during a birding day and you spot 80 geese in a field, you'ld press a button that would leave a marker on the map of your birding route...and by voice the app would ask : SPECIES? ... then it would ask: QUANTITY? ... That would make the data bank much more accurate. In the field...you activate a "route" when you start birding...as soon as you see something; you say: E-Bird ...and a marker is dropped and the app ask what sp and how many...*sigh* ...call me a dreamer but I am sure its easily possible.

Can’t use it.. It wouldn’t install the BC pack. It would get to 3/4 on the wheel and then the app would close. I tried on my iPhone a few times before giving up.

No Syncrony. I have at least five apps from eBird/Merlin, some of which I have paid for. Unfortunately, it seems that each app is independent from each other and the same app on two devices do not sync with each other. I use IOS as these apps are created for, so don't tell me that I have to go to a laptop to make any changes. Why do you continue to make apps that can't connect with each other. I have bird lists everywhere. I've decided to use my eBird World app, as my main list app, but how do I bring my other lists from your other apps, together?

All my personal locations and checklists GONE!. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, another update for this free software that has gone badly awry. All checklists and personal locations are GONE with the latest update. Absolutely terrible. Make sure you have uploaded all your checklists before updating...

Great app with lots of potential!. A fast and easy way to add reports. I would give it a higher rating if it had more functionality. I would like to see the possibility to enter species not available, add photos and comments to specific entries. Besides that is the obvious idea to include all the Internet site functionality into an app. Above all thanks for the great app. It works great!

Great Tracking App. This is a great app to track your birding lists.

Not showing all birds in packs anymore. The last few days I’m not seeing any of the birds in my installed packs that I usually see. I do have the region set accordingly. I’ve even uninstalled the app and reinstalled it. Please advise what to do. Thanks.

Excellent. A most perfect way to enter data directly into eBird on the field. Regarding this new update, how much of an improvement enabling to change the date/time is cannot be overstated.

Great Idea for an App but…. …why do you pay someone to make an app for you when they don’t know what the hell they’re doing? I’m writing here because the feedback form within the app doesn’t work. Within that, the recapture doesn’t work and it just resets the fields so you write a long message and it gets deleted. That’s a duh and a half! Why on earth can’t we add a sighting from the Explore menu to the life list? This seems like a no brainer. Also, it would be nice if we could break the life list up into regions, say with all Asian birds together and North American birds together and so on. Not for everyone, but those who travel would appreciate it. Great start but it needs a lot of work. I’m more than happy to add a few more stars once that work is done.

Good app when it works!. Since I switched to iPhone X and iOS 13, it can’t connect to the database to populate species for a chisen location. I am stuck with using the web version, to my disapointment. I sent a support ticket but no reply. Pierre Richard

Terrific App. Love this app. An extremely quick & easy way to update my sightings, whether at home or on the go.

Very useful. Doesn't drain downloads, super easy to record species while on the go.

Cannot access account. This is a very confusing app. I have wasted a half an hour trying to set up an account but will not accept user name or password. Why so confusing???

easy transition. Very easy to make transition to the new app. Done in just a few minutes with no glitches. Good job IT team! Easy to navigate the new app. FAQs covered all the questions that popped up for me.

Not bad. A bit convoluted but useful. The setting for the birds' common name language doesn't seem to stick: I change it to French but it keeps reverting to English? 🤷‍♂️

Happy. Such a great app top notch and awesome quality! It wasent hard to make an account and it’s free! It has learning games and courses and it also has a field guide! My favourite part is hot spots and rare bird alerts! This is the perfect app for beginners and also advanced people! Please download this app and donate!!!!! Ps they have bird feeder cameras and it can be live!

Offline checklist problems. I often use an iPhone 6 without a SiM for birding on eBird. However, since the last update with bird packs, I find it takes a very long time to get a checklist to populate for the area I am in. Sorta sucks.

Very useful. Very helpful to keep track of sightings.

Time and location bugs. This app is getting too dependent on having a cell or wifi connection. It takes way too long to figure out a location when disconnected or on airplane mode. It needs to start a list much more easily in the field. With the latest update I can’t enter the time correctly. It keeps jumping back to the current time.

Unstable junk. Just went back to try it for first time in months, only to find when I tap into a location I want to “explore” the app instantly force closes! Try and lookup a species? Force closes! Try and input a checklist? Force closes! What a joke, web apps made by 1st year programming students are more stable than this!

Évaluation. Bonne application et simple a utiliser mais pourrait comprendre plus d’options lors de la mention des oiseaux.

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Needs some improvements. It would be great to be able to add and view media through the app!

Please remove precise geolocation requirement. eBird shouldn’t need precise location at all. Rough location is more than enough for its purpose and this is annoying and forces me to use the website.

Useless unless you allow location tracking. Please remove the requirement to enable geotracking in order to use this app. Literally nothing will work without turning on location services. If I’m doing backyard birding I don’t want my exact coordinates on the internet.

Great but could be better. Sometimes crashes, works fine at most time.

Explore rarely loads. Every time I try to use the explore tab it rarely loads, have to restart app numerous times before it finally decides to show me details from hotspots or wherever I’m birding. Buggy but otherwise brilliant app.

Currently Unusable. I’ve used this app for a long time and have always found it convenient and simple to use. But it is currently crashing immediately every time I try to open a list, rendering it completely useless.

Latest version crashing. Deleted and re-download the app and it is still not letting me login properly. The same issue happened with FeederWatch recently but at least re-downloading helped.

Not loving the design update. Overall the app is pretty good. The design update however has rendered much of the font unreadable. This was fine in the prior versions. I regret downloading the update. BTW before you suggest that I reduce the font size, please know not everyone can read mouse sized font.

Unusable due to crashes. I can no longer submit observations because the app crashes every single time I use it. App has always been unstable but it is now unusable. CBCs will be extremely difficult without this app so please fix this asap

Great overall but one thing. I love this app overall, it’s quite helpful. I just wish that you could see checklists submitted on the actual webpage itself say from your laptop would show up on your app. That would be so amazing.

So far less than impressed. The app froze on the select a pac page.

Won’t load…. Normally I’d be giving 5 stars but with the latest update it won’t load properly. It stays hung on loading new packs and even after a reboot doesn’t seem to open.

You don’t need my precise location. I already have a ton of app tracking me. You don’t need my precise location to do your tracking. Please remove this requirement or I’ll just stop using your app. I’m use the app for the sake of helping with your research. Not so you can collect my data and do who knows what with it.

Bird packs won’t download. I have tried multiple times to download my local pack for identification and it won’t download. I have waited hours and closed the app and everything.

Must Combine with Merlin Bird ID. Having to flip back and forth between the two apps to identify first then track the bird is silly. Please merge apps.

Really buggy. I have the latest iPhone and the latest IOS installed. This app constantly freezes and crashes. I manage to see the activity in a location about 1 in 5 times I try to access it. I live in a metro area and have great internet access. Cornell Lab is usually so good but I find ebird very frustrating.

Checklists missing. Since upgrade yesterday, no birds are listed to choose from

Duplicate Effort. Make one app.. Baffled why academics thought it was “smart” making two apps that require users to duplicate data entry and db storage use on their phones. The app teams needs to hire human-centered designers or product leaders that know how to make apps for humans. Make one app that does logging and ID. Stop wasting thousands of peoples’ time so we can enjoy birdwatching & citizen science instead of being on our phones.

Please fix this bug!!. Whenever I open eBird on my phone, it takes me right back to the Home Screen. I’ve tried shutting my phone down and even deleted the app, but to no avail. This is a wonderful app, please please fix the bug so I can record my checklists again!!

Trash. It won’t let you search for a specific bird in your area and the app is hard to use.

To busy professor prefers. Build your own app, “busy professor”. This one is perfect.

eBird app review. Great app that makes it very easy to sight birds!!! Love the update that helps you find the birds you want to see at a specific location. It’s helped me find a lot of birds!

Incredible app. If you call yourself a serious birder, you probably have this app already or you are a contrarian…

Explore stops working after updating to the latest. Once I updated the app, my target species list stops displaying any species at all. Please rollback the change.

Unable to login. Whenever I try to login, the send me a confirmation email. I confirmed it several times but it keeps saying the same. So after an hour of trying to help with bird reporting I quit. Good birding.

Great App, but can’t use... Is a good application, but can’t participate as all my reports are “in the future”. I live in Alabama, but my time zone is Eastern. There are two locations like this as the main employers in those areas are in Georgia. This is a simple fix, but until it is in place, the app isn’t viable.

Love it but. When I tap to search for species the keyboard switches to numbers and special characters when it should just stay on letters. It’s extraordinarily tedious to switch back and forth

What the last guy said. I didn’t even think about the concerns that he brought up. I would imagine that they could be implemented.

Can’t upload tracks to life list. App is insisting I have no internet connection. However 5G and WiFi connectivity confirmed independently.

Miserable integration with Merlin. The point of Merlin is to ID birds by sound. There is no number of birds to be assumed if you are just listening. Additionally, each recording may have several hits. But transferring this information to eBird is poor at best with every ID be logged separately. Deleted the program.

Can no longer update submitted checklists in app!. This is a new issue. Broken in current and previous version! Cannot get into ANY submitted checklists. Please fix this bug!

Misdirection. PLEASE fix the directions bug. When navigating to a hot spot from ebird to google maps it takes you to random locations. It is annnoying and unsafe.

Totally unusable now. Maybe it’s an update gone wrong, but the app doesn’t function any more. It will not recognize my location and I cannot update any of my bird packs. I’ve emailed Cornell about it and nobody responds. Ridiculous that this is one of the most used birding apps and a bunch of really smart people can’t get it to function.

Constant trespassers. All the good this app may do is not outweighed by the constant trespassers I receive by reporting birds. I should sue Cornell! Hardcore birders are the worst people and do not respect personal property. I can’t believe I donate to this cause, it just goes to support human invasion into conservation and protected wetlands.

Just doesn’t work well. I love the idea of the app, but it really doesn’t work well. It’s hard to search for birds. It makes me enter unnecessary information. The app keeps freezing when trying to find my location though other apps work fine finding my current location.

Meh. I have the Merlin app too (which I love). But this one isn’t very intuitive nor user friendly and why can’t they just be in one single app since they are related?

Zero Stars. Cornell Lab support is terrible. Four weeks after emailing a couple of questions, no one responded. Even called and an angry dude would not help or answer questions. Looks like maybe the app was hijacked by someone outside Cornell? My last review was somehow deleted.

Why do they post my exact location?. I can barely accept strangers at ebird associating my personal ID data with my exact location, but why publish the exact coordinates? Why can’t we just say we’re in this general location, like nearest town or geographical feature? Frustrating. Plus, all the other one-star reviews are apparently still in effect. Deleted.

Wish it was collaborative. This is a great app for bird tracking. However, I wish I could see what my friends and family have sited. It would be cool if a social feature were added to the app.

Great app! I only wish…. Please please PLEASE make the app more like the website! I want to be able to see my account and search up species like you can on the website.

Needs work. I downloaded this app for the annual backyard first day out, but deleted it out of frustration. And yes, I watched the how-to video before I even downloaded it. I have an iPhone 6

This app is unusable. I try to set up an account and tried three times now to set up new password and when I sign in it tells me to check my email to activate my account even though I already did that. I’m in a never ending loop of account activation

Login woes. I just got the app and set the account up on my iPad. But I cannot login with the same account on my iphone. What’s with that???

Glitchy. Selecting a different location from where you are actually located continues to be a huge PITA for the 8 year in a row. To the devs. Hire someone from overseas to do the job you can’t. Try using your stupid app once in a while.

App crashes. Not sure why, but the app keeps crashing. It crashes every time I tap to explore the details of a location. Very frustrating. I tried restarting my phone to no avail.

Can’t logon. I’ve been trying for two days to sort out login problems. I would like someone to call me to sort this out. First my reset password is accepted and then rejected. I’ve emailed Cornell about this and haven’t heard. I cannot use the app because of login problems.

Can’t even get past account set up.. Just keeps asking for log in and says there is a problem with connection or log in.

No Identification Assistance. This app lacks any form of ID assistance for birders. The interface is not user friendly. And if you report a rare bird, you will be harassed via email about how you’re wrong and don’t know what you’re doing.

EBird won't open/crashes. Been using eBird for years. Many many checklists saved in the app both reported and unreported. Well, today I updated to 14.2 (or whatever the lates iOS version is) and eBird now will not open at all. Restarted phone, reinstalled app, etc. Nothing works. It is completely inaccessible. I'm very worried my years of unreported data from many places in the world is gone forever. Please help!

Does not work on ipad. Great app for the iphone; easy to use. But it does not work on the ipad — it won’t allow me to enter my password.