Animal Apps for Android: Identify, Hear and Learn
Start with Google Lens, which looks up an animal from a photo. Then iNaturalist, Seek and Merlin Bird ID, all free with no ads, plus apps for children.
Most people who search for an animal app want one of three things: to find out what animal they are looking at, to hear or identify animal sounds, or to teach a small child about animals. For the first two, the apps worth having come from universities and non-profit organisations. They cost nothing and show no ads.
We read Google’s help pages for what an Android phone does with no extra app, then the Google Play listing of every app below. The 2019 version of this article counted Kindle, Google Maps and YouTube as animal apps. This one keeps to apps that are about animals.
What your phone already does
Google Lens looks up an animal from the camera or from a photo. Google’s own example is finding out what kind of dog you saw in the park, and its help pages say a photo of a plant or animal brings up the species or breed.
- Open the Google app.
- In the search bar, tap the Google Lens icon.
- Point the camera at the animal and tap Search, or choose a photo you have already taken.
- Scroll through the results at the bottom. For a more specific answer, drag the corners of the box so that it fits closely round the animal.
Google Lens is also a free app of its own on Google Play. Google says some Lens features need an internet connection and are not available in every language or region.
What Lens returns is search results and similar images. Nobody reviews the answer, and that is the gap the apps below fill.
Animal apps compared
| App | Maker | Group | On Google Play | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iNaturalist | iNaturalist | Identification | Free, no ads | Suggests what you photographed, then its community confirms or corrects it. |
| Seek by iNaturalist | iNaturalist | Identification, children | Free, no ads | Names plants and animals through the camera. No account needed. |
| ObsIdentify | Observation International | Identification | Free, no ads | Photo identification of wild species in Europe and the Dutch Caribbean. |
| Merlin Bird ID | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Identification, sounds | Free, no ads | Identifies a bird from a photo, a recording or a few questions. |
| BirdNET | BirdNET-Team | Sounds | Free, no ads | Suggests the bird species in a sound recording. |
| Audubon Bird Guide | National Audubon Society | Identification | Free, no ads | Field guide to North American birds. |
| Animal Sounds: Learn & Play | M Kostin | Sounds, children | Free, in-app purchases | Real animal sounds with a quiz and puzzles. 12 animals are free. |
| Animal Sounds | Papumba | Sounds, children | Free, in-app purchases | Tap an animal to hear it. For ages one to five. |
| Kids Learn about Animals Lite | Intellijoy | Learning, children | Free, no ads | Questions and descriptions for ages 3 to 9. One of four zones is free. |
| The Animals: Animal Kids Games | Learny Land | Learning, children | Free, in-app purchases | Shows how animals’ bodies work. For ages 3 and up. |
| Animal Help Now | Animal Help Now | Wildlife help | Free, no ads | Finds the nearest help for injured wildlife. United States only. |
| Animal Tracker | Max Planck Society | Following wildlife | Free, no ads | Follows wild animals that carry GPS tags. |
Apps that identify animals
iNaturalist is the one to install if you want people to check the answer. You post a photo, the app suggests what it is, and other members confirm or correct it. Its listing says your records then become data that scientists use.
It is not limited to the animal itself. iNaturalist’s help site says an observation can be a sign of an animal, such as tracks, a nest or droppings.
Seek comes from the same organisation and needs no account. Point its camera at an insect, bird or plant and it tries to name it there and then. Its listing says it collects no user data by default and obscures your location, which is why it also suits children.
ObsIdentify does a similar job from a photo, but only for wild species in Europe and the Dutch Caribbean. Its listing asks you not to use it on pets.
Birds, by sight and by sound
Merlin Bird ID comes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and identifies a bird four ways: you answer a few questions, upload a photo, record its song, or browse the birds of a region. You choose a bird pack for where you are, and the listing names Africa, India and Europe among the regions covered. Cornell says it can give the app away because of its members and supporters.
BirdNET does one thing. You record a bird with the phone’s microphone and it suggests the likely species. It is a research project of the Cornell Lab and Chemnitz University of Technology, and its listing says it is trained on more than 3,000 of the most common species worldwide.
Audubon Bird Guide is a field guide to more than 800 North American species. You enter what you saw, such as colour, size and tail shape, and it narrows the list for your location and date. It only covers North America.
Merlin and BirdNET are the only sound identifiers in this article, and both are for birds. A Google Play search also brings up general animal sound identifiers from small developers. We kept to the apps with a research institution behind them.
Animal sounds for small children
Animal Sounds: Learn & Play has more than 60 animals with real recordings, a listening quiz and picture puzzles. Its listing says it is ad-free and works offline. The free version includes 12 animals, and a subscription unlocks the rest.
Animal Sounds from Papumba is simpler: tap an animal and hear it. The listing gives more than 80 animals in 15 languages and says there are no ads. Google Play shows in-app purchases, and the page has gone a few years without an update.
Learning apps for children
Kids Learn about Animals Lite from Intellijoy is for ages 3 to 9. It teaches through questions and short descriptions read aloud. The free app contains one of four zones. The paid version has all four, with more than 70 animals.
The Animals from Learny Land goes further into how animals work. Children feed the animals and look at their skeletons, digestion and senses, with no scores or time limits. The listing says there are no ads and no personal data is collected. Google Play shows in-app purchases.
For a child old enough to go looking outdoors, Seek costs nothing and turns identifying real plants and insects into badges to collect.
Helping and following wild animals
Animal Help Now is carried over from the old list, and it is still on Google Play. When you find an injured or orphaned wild animal, it points you to the nearest wildlife rehabilitator, rescue or hotline. It works in the United States only.
Animal Tracker, from the Max Planck Society, lets you follow wild animals that researchers have fitted with GPS tags, and send in your own sightings of them.
The old list also mentioned Walk for a Dog. It is still on the store as WoofTrax: your dog walks earn donations for an animal charity you choose. It shows ads, and the charities its listing describes are in the US.
Which one to pick
- What is this animal: Google Lens for a quick answer, iNaturalist when you want people to confirm it.
- What is this bird, or what is singing: Merlin Bird ID.
- A toddler who likes animal noises: Animal Sounds: Learn & Play, or Papumba’s Animal Sounds if you want more languages.
- A child of school age: Seek outdoors, The Animals indoors.
- An injured wild animal in the US: Animal Help Now.
What happened to the old list
Eight of the ten entries were general apps: Amazon Kindle, Google Maps, Imgur, Movies Anywhere, Reddit, Wikipedia, YouTube and social media. There are animal books, pictures and videos in all of them, which you knew already. The ninth was a group of pet donation apps, and the one we could match to a listing is WoofTrax, covered above. Animal Help Now is the entry that stays in the table.
If it is games you want, we keep a separate list of animal games for Android.
Quick answers
Is there a free app to identify animals?
Yes. Google Lens is free and may already be inside the Google app on your phone. iNaturalist and Seek are free on Google Play with no ads.
Is there an app that identifies animals by sound?
For birds, yes: Merlin Bird ID and BirdNET both work from a recording. We did not find one for other animals with a research institution behind it.
What is the best animal app for kids?
Seek, for a child who can go outside and point a camera at things. For toddlers, Animal Sounds: Learn & Play.
Can an app identify animal tracks or droppings?
iNaturalist accepts photos of tracks, nests and droppings as observations, so its members can help identify what left them.
Which app identifies birds?
Merlin Bird ID, which works from a photo, a sound recording or a short set of questions, and has bird packs for regions around the world.
