Why are the iNaturalist apps so different on Android and iOS/iPadOS devices?

Modified on Wed, 4 Dec at 3:42 PM

iNaturalist currently has separate native mobile apps for Android and iOS/iPadOS, and they are not equivalent in design or functionality, with the Android app having more features and functionality than the iOS/iPadOS app, such as more Explore filters and the ability to add annotations and Data Quality Assessment votes to observations. This difference is due to the fact that iNaturalist has had a dedicated Android developer, whereas developer time for the iOS/iPadOS app has been split with development of iNaturalist's Computer Vision functionality.


iNaturalist is currently focusing mobile development effort on iNat Next, a cross-platform app that will ultimately work the same on both iOS and Android. As of 2024, iNat Next is available in the iOS App Store and we hope to publish it in the Google Play Store in 2025. We don't plan on releasing any major new features to the current native apps, but will make bug fixes and minor changes to them.

Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select at least one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article