The right app can help you connect with nature, participate in citizen science projects, and learn which plants are dangerous or invasive.
Fourteen Wirecutter staff members and their families tested seven apps (all available for free) in both rural and urban areas across nine states using Android and Apple phones.
If you just want an app that quickly and accurately identifies plants, we recommend PlantNet Plant Identification. If you want an app that lets you share your findings with other naturalists (amateurs or professionals), we also recommend it.
our picks
If you want a way to instantly and accurately identify plants without having to navigate through confusing ads, this app is for you. However, it provides less background information than other apps we tested.
If you just need quick and accurate plant identification from an easy-to-use app, we recommend PlantNet Plant Identification (iOS, Android). In less than five seconds, the app was able to distinguish between downy yellow violets and redbuds, weeping forsythia and tall goldenrods, and maples and oaks.
Unlike many apps we've tried, PlantNet doesn't have ads or sneaky pop-ups that make you pay for extra features. While it doesn't offer as seamless a sharing experience as iNaturalist or as much plant background information as other apps we tested, PlantNet does offer quick and easy identification that testers found to be consistently accurate. Masu.
This is also great
This app allows you to not only identify plants, but also easily share and review your findings with other observers, including both amateur and professional naturalists. However, this is not as easy to use as the one we chose.
iNaturalist (iOS, Android) is the recommended app for teachers, community educators, and citizen scientists who want to identify plants they find so they can learn and share information about them. Professional researchers and other experienced users walk through the app and review publicly available IDs.
It's also easy to create and participate in “citizen science” projects from within the app. The final (usually published in scientific journal articles).
iNaturalist performed well in accuracy tests, but was not as accurate as PlantNet. It's also a little difficult to use.