# Wildex

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Wildex and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Gamified app that shares fun animal facts and awards points for finding rare species, which people like for getting kids outside. Critics object to ads and data tracking.

## Why people recommend it

- Fun wildlife facts for kids (2 comments): "Wildex gives you cute fun facts and lets you build up points for rare species finds." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47040937)) "The app informed us that they can breathe through their bottoms!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47041320))
- Cool, novel take on wildlife (2 comments): "it's cool to see something taken to the next step" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47047554)) "cool idea for the app btw" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47041023))

## What people warn about

- Ads and tracking (3 comments): "Your 3rd party ad / tracking isn’t compatible with my desires." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47040914)) "unstoppable ads as first thing experience I see after collecting first plant completely killed the vibe for my daughter" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47044722)) "No go with all the tracking." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47041013))
- Trust and data privacy concerns (2 comments): "there's not a lot of confidence building, "I'm not going to harvest and sell your data" vibe here" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47041599)) "it gives location information to poachers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47046448))
- Disturbs wildlife and ecosystems (4 comments): "For some, it'll be an obsession which ends up endangering them, animals/plants, and others." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47045985)) "Hopefully it will not result in too many animals being harassed all day long." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47041655)) "an idea that disrupts ecosystems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47043896))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Merlin Bird ID](https://hackerapproved.com/p/merlin-bird-id.md): 43 recommend
- [Seek by iNaturalist](https://hackerapproved.com/p/seek.md): 20 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Wildex", https://hackerapproved.com/p/wildex/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).