iBird Pro Guide to Birds 앱 리뷰

I spent $39.99 for full iBird Pro several years ago. They made changes and required contact by email to reinstall previous subscriptions. Tried twice. Never heard from them. So don’t be surprised if you have to pay again at some point to continue using what you thought was access for life. There are other good birding apps that don’t rip you off.

Awaiting restored account

I use this app on my iPad. I’d like to know how to save notes. I entered notes several times yesterday and there’s no save option, at least nothing that I could see. Help.

I reached out to the developer multiple times weeks ago to restore a previous purchase but have not heard back. Lost money I spent on this app and would therefore not recommend.

NEGATIVE 5 ⭐️ Shame on me once, fell for the “lifetime” bait and swap when the developer “updated” the app. Apple allowing developers to do this is egregious. Plenty of other bird apps that accomplish the same thing. And books, remember them? You can use a beautiful field guide and distance yourself from this kind of digital smoke and mirrors.

As someone who has been feeding and watching birds most of my life, I can confidently say this is the most useful app I've found.It's perfect identifying birds, whether by sight or by sound. Thank you for creating such an excellent app!

Fraudulent charge with “free trial” - don’t download

I’ve had this app for 12 years and now it says my purchase wasn’t found. I’ve tried emailing support like it says but I get no answers and no replies. Please help! Edited to add… it’s now deleted. It was fun while it lasted. Feeling screwed over but so be it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I can’t believe Apple lets companies get away with stealing. And I can’t understand why anyone would use this app. I paid $30 for this app years ago. Now they updated the app and want me to pay again. When I click RESTORE PURCHASES it returns Unable To Send Email. Imagine buying a bird book at a book store, and then 10 years later the publisher breaks into your house and steals the book, then demands $12 a year for you to read the book you already bought. It’s because of this type of evil that I no longer buy any mobile apps.

So like many others I bought a lifetime subscription many years ago and got screwed when they turned that off, canceled my lifetime status, and made monthly subscription only option. After emailing them they said that was the only model that could make it work anymore. That was about a year ago. Now it seems like they have a lifetime purchase possible again. Buyers beware for that option. So now my question for the developer is why can’t they give us original lifetime buyers the new lifetime status? Or at least count the money we paid for the original lifetime plan towards a new lifetime plan. Hopefully the developer will respond to this review but I seriously doubt it.

This app works perfectly for me -educational, user- friendly, and reliable. Thank you!

What a crooked developer. You took back all my previous purchases. You thief! Note: I regularly update my review/rating for this application.

Класс

After paying for the app they changed their app to where you have to pay for it every year. So I have gone to the Audubon society app. It’s just as good and free. It’s one thing to pay for the app once, not worth it if you have to pay for it every year.

Thank you for creating such a useful app! It’s been incredibly helpful for identifying birds.

I’ve been using iBird since the beginning, and it keeps getting better with each update. I really appreciate the ongoing improvements and the added features, especially in the search function. Great work 👍🏻

I am really enjoying iBird Pro. The feature to compare similar birds is incredibly useful when I’m unsure about an ID. The seasonal distribution maps are very useful. Highly recommend!

I have a few birding apps on my phone, but this is the one I use most often for my birding adventures. iBird Pro is ideal for beginners and casual birders. Highly recommend it!

So glad I found iBird Pro. The search feature is so helpful—it’s so much easier than searching through my guidebooks. Love it!

If you're even considering getting into birding, don't hesitate-get this app!

This is an excellent app for bird watching—packed with useful information and very easy to navigate!

This app has been useful for me as a nature tour leader. Highly recommended!

Приложение супер очень нравится

Sound sound play back used to be so much better. Horrible now! Only two buttons. Plays thru the whole list even if you just want to listen one sound no matter what. Support is non existent. Submitted two times and no one ever responded. 2/6/25- Mitch Waite group responded to my review… tried reinstalling twice… still no good. This has nothing to do with sounds being downloaded. Mitch Waite group says support response in 24 hours.. I submitted my first email 1/31/25 and heard from them only once. I responded back to Zen and haven’t heard from them since. 2/10/25- really Mitch Waite Group? Same hardware? Maybe you should check with your zen support. Heard from them last night… she said she’s sees the same thing happening on a IPhone 8. She’s waiting to hear back from YOU the developer.

As a beginner birder, I’ve found this app helpful sorting out the many similar species, the photographs along with the art makes identifying birds so much easier!

I got this app for my birthday, and it’s been so much fun. It has so many features, Now I can easily identify the birds at my feeders. I highly recommend this app to all bird enthusiasts.

Paid a good amount for this as a purchase, then they decided to go subscription. The right thing to do would have been to grandfather us into a free lifetime purchase tier, as that’s what we paid for. Nope. They offer us a single year. So much for treating loyal customers fairly.

This app is simple to use and packed with lots of birding information.

UPDATE: Correction. I guess it was $30, I bought it when it first came out. Regardless, what you did was wrong. We understand the App Store terms. It doesn’t make it a smart move for your business to take advantage of it! There were better options for you to come out of this looking fair. But you chose the greed route. I’ve been enjoying Merlin after deleting your app. ——————— I gave you FIFTY dollars. More than I ever paid for any app by far. If you regret giving people the option to purchase your app, then that business decision is ON YOU. You dont pay for your mistakes by retroactively taking away a product that people ALREADY PAID FOR. I have never seen anything like this in the history of e-commerce. Do not offer me a free year… and then expect you to pay up even another cent more for something that we already had a deal about. How dare you people? This should be criminal. The honorable thing to do to would have been to grandfather in the fixed price purchasers and charge NEW customers a subscription… or end update support and add new features to a parallel app that’s only available to subscribers. Both options have been used by your peers in similar situations to you. You took it too far. Shame on you.

The widget just tried to tell me the 4 letter code for Western Reef-Herron was “WEHE” when it’s most definitely “WERH” and it makes me wonder what else may be inaccurate? I got the widget specifically to learn new 4 letter codes…

UPDATED 1/10/25: I left the original review below for context. Long story short, the developer reached out to me and resolved the issue. It’s a great app, and I received a very thorough response in regards to my concerns, which was appreciated. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Emailed three times and no response. Why not? What’s your excuse? You just randomly decide not to reply? Seriously? Why would I want to recommend this app if you can’t reply to a simple email? Epic fail.

Love this app and have used it for years. When I had an issue with a crash after an update, I left a review and the developer fixed the issue within days! Super responsive.

I havent opened this app for a while. When i just did, a pop up advertising free/subscription cant be deleted.

I downloaded this app years ago and it was my go-to app for birding. I had purchased a LIFETIME subscription, and all worked very well for a number of years. That is, until a few years ago. I was informed that a lifetime subscription was no longer valid and all of us that had previously purchased one would have to transition to an ongoing recurring payment as that was now industry standard. We were offered 6 months free as prior ‘ lifetime’ subscribers, to then transition to a recurring fee platform. I received no satisfaction with customer support, so I have offloaded the app. This is sad, as the app is very good. I will miss it, but I won’t miss the recurring fee for something that I already purchased with the understanding that it was a one time lifetime fee. BUYERS BEWARE.

Wow! Thanks for the super fast update! It works now! Thank you! ——- After latest update…App kept crashing on open. I deleted the app and redownloaded it. Went to change the view to icons and then it started crashing again. Using iPhone SE with iOS18.2

After I purchased the app, they switched to an annual subscription model. Total money grab.

I paid good money for this app and then they switched to a subscription model. Instead of adding premium services to grow into, they just hosed the people who paid for the app. Merlin is just as good and free. I’ve moved on

If you don’t buy a subscription you don’t get any basic use.

This app stands out for its regular updates and excellent content. However, it would be even better if there was an option to search for birds based on the user’s location-perhaps by using a zip code search. It would be fantastic to see this added.

UPDATE: So now you’re offering a paid app again and I can purchase it AGAIN for a lifetime? I already purchased it! Can’t this purchase now be honored since you aren’t just doing subscriptions???? Seriously! First off….my review was apparently deleted! I was one of the people who BOUGHT this app for over $25 many years ago! I can’t believe this company is allowed to STEAL back an app that so many of us already bought! It makes no sense at all. How is this okay??? How can you take back something I paid for and now start charging me monthly fees to use it?!

I’m more of a casual bird watcher, but this app has been an enormous help in identifying birds. Whether I’m on vacation or just relaxing in my backyard, I use it often. Years ago, I used to be able to call some owls myself, but now I use this app’s recordings to do it for me. It works great — try it at night in your neighbourhood or a wooded area! Just don’t overdue it, birds are very territorial.

This app was great when I paid $20 for it ages ago. Now they won’t grandfather old purchasers in and so you’re forced into subscription model. Garbage business.

I’ve been an avid user and promoter of iBird for over 10 years but now the app no longer recognizes or sees my lifetime subscription. I’ve called and emailed with no response or help. I’m hugely disappointed. I will NOT purchase this again and will certainly share this with others.

I do find it a little tricky to search for birds by their markings and color, but that’s likely because I’m not a seasoned birder. Still, the app is so user-friendly overall, and it helps a lot with bird identification through photos and sounds.

Update to my previous review: After quite a while, iBird sent a response attempting to justify their taking my 2021 purchase away and forcing a subscription (or a repurchase) on us and offering a free year of their new service. Basically, the response they sent is untruth after untruth. There is no functional way to activate a "Previous Owner" option for a year, so they are not even offering this. As I've been requesting this restoration for months now, their team is clearly not "committed to assisting" me as they said. Nor are they actually "providing continuous service" to users, but exactly the opposite with this new policy. Fine if you decide to move to a subscription service for new users, but to not allow purchased access for those of us who "bought" the service less that three years before is basically a scam. Why should any buyer even trust that you won't do the same thing for an 'improved subscription' or something like that in three years and make everyone repurchase their lifetime subscription? So you not, you don't have my "understanding and continued support." I purchased this app in 2021 and it was sold as lifetime access. This year they abruptly rescinded that and refused to restore the download. They now are asking for $59.99 for the same thing I purchased three years ago, why should anyone believe that they won’t do the same thing in three years, effectively charging $20 (or more) per year for use?

Purchased a few years ago and they have refused to honor that purchase. Switched me to a license without my permission and no longer have access. Other apps charge for new additions but let you keep the original if you don’t want to get the new one. This one doesn’t. Moving to Peterson

I’ve had this app for years, ever since I got my first iPhone. Honestly, one of the main reasons I wanted a smartphone was so I could use this app. I Love being able to compare birds and listen to their songs —it’s a fantastic resource for any birder.

I deleted the app when they went to a subscription “service” (I purchased the app a few years ago). I once loved this app and it was my go to for using in the field for work and personal use. I reinstalled the app after finding out you could have your previous purchase reinstated. I’ve sent multiple emails and haven’t received a response and my purchase has not been reinstated. If I could give 0 stars I would.

Original review update: I looked through my Apple account and couldn’t find a payment that matched the current lifetime subscription amount. I did find a different amount payment. I don’t know if I made a mistake thinking I payed for a lifetime subscription but I love the app so much I decided to purchase the lifetime subscription to be sure. It is working flawlessly and I’m very pleased. I bought a lifetime subscription in 2012. Every time I need to use it it doesn’t detect my subscription. Customer support never answers my emails. It’s an amazing app when I can use it but useless because I can’t.