Seek by iNaturalist
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 3 nature identification apps by recommenders
Free, casual app for identifying plants and animals from photos, good for kids. Critics say it shows a nature-disturbance prompt at every start.
Free, casual app for identifying plants and animals from photos, good for kids. Critics say it shows a nature-disturbance prompt at every start.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 69%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good plant and insect identification
“I regularly use their seek app to identify plants and insects.”
Comment from 4 Apr 2026 in “iNaturalist” “Use seek to identify plants/animals”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “Do birds have accents? the regional differences in birdsong” “I have found great value in assistive tools Merlin and Seek/iNaturalist for bird and plant identification.”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't” - Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “iNaturalist”
Easy and approachable for casual users
“more approachable and has more 'fun' elements”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Wildex – we built Pokémon Go for real wildlife” “It works so well for our very simple needs”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Why I Left iNaturalist” “Seek is great for more casual users”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Why I Left iNaturalist” - Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Why I Left iNaturalist”
Useful for helping research data
“Seek offers essentially all the same value to researchers while also streamlining the experience for users.”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Why I Left iNaturalist” “it's streamlined for those of us who want to help researchers with data”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Why I Left iNaturalist” “Seek does this for accessing identification data”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Why I Left iNaturalist” Educational and fun for kids
“it's intended for kids and is a bit more educational.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: BirdDex – Pokémon Go, but with real life birds” “more approachable and has more 'fun' elements”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Wildex – we built Pokémon Go for real wildlife”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Nature-disturbance prompt at every start
“>Seek throws up a „please don‘t disturb nature“ modal at every single start that you need to click away.”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “iNaturalist” “Seek is annoying, because it throws up some kind of „please don‘t disturb nature“ dialog box”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Why I Left iNaturalist” “Seek throws up a „please don‘t disturb nature“ modal at every single start”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “iNaturalist” Weak plant and insect identification
“I've been pretty disappointed in the seeks applications ability to identify vegetation or insects.”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “iNaturalist” “Seek, on the other hand, is happy to make up identifications itself.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: Wildex – we built Pokémon Go for real wildlife” “it failed to identify all of them”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Why I Left iNaturalist”
Other nature identification apps people recommend
The two most recommended other nature identification apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merlin Bird ID | 43 | 5 | 90% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Seek by iNaturalistThis page | 20 | 9 | 69% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Wildex | 8 | 10 | 44% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
29 of the 32 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“iNaturalist/Seek only does photos doesnt it?”
“Use seek to identify plants/animals”
“I have found great value in assistive tools Merlin and Seek/iNaturalist for bird and plant identification.”
“Similar thing, but pictures and most life, not just birds.”
“Seek is pretty good, and I daresay just as good, if not better, in terms of job listings”
“I regularly use their seek app to identify plants and insects.”
“Seek feels like it's trying to be Pokémon.”
“I stopped using seek and just started using gemini”
“>Seek throws up a „please don‘t disturb nature“ modal at every single start that you need to click away.”
“I've been pretty disappointed in the seeks applications ability to identify vegetation or insects.”
“Seek throws up a „please don‘t disturb nature“ modal at every single start”
“I also love the Seek app that they provide”
“Pale and SEEK have been good though.”
“it's intended for kids and is a bit more educational.”
“Seek, on the other hand, is happy to make up identifications itself.”
“Better to use Inaturalist or Seek.”
“more approachable and has more 'fun' elements”
“it's streamlined for those of us who want to help researchers with data”
“it failed to identify all of them”
“Seek offers essentially all the same value to researchers while also streamlining the experience for users.”
“Seek is great for more casual users”
“It works so well for our very simple needs”
“Seek is annoying, because it throws up some kind of „please don‘t disturb nature“ dialog box”
“Seek does this for accessing identification data”
“But a couple years ago I tried Seek and it has been great!”
“It works fine for me on my pixel 10. It worked like garbage on my Samsung Galaxy devices.”
“Download Seek and go try it out.”
“Seek has been broken for the past 8 months”
“Just use the traditional job bulletins like SEEK, you will have much more success.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.