Mobile Plant Identification Apps

I experimented with three different mobile apps for plant identification on Belle Isle in Richmond, VA: iNaturalist, LeafSnap, and Plant Identify. I did not use Seek by iNaturalist. 

I used pictures of seven different plants/trees: English Ivy, Tree of Heaven, Privet, Pawpaw, Wild Carrot, Saw Greenbrier, and Rubus. 

All three apps are free to use. However, Plant Identify only allows a certain number of free pictures to be uploaded. It is unclear how many free uploads a user is allowed, though. Users can either pay $1.50 for a week of unlimited uploads, $4 for 1 month, or $30 for 1 year; these are not subscriptions and can be cancelled at any time. There are also additional features that can be accessed with a payment. The app was recently upgraded with advanced artificial intelligence and allows free users more uploads than it previously did, but the free version was enough for this assignment. A great plus about Plant Identify is that the identification works extremely fast and all of my pictures were accurately identified on the first attempt. 

iNaturalist and LeafSnap also work well for accuracy, but LeafSnap comes with many, many ads. A neat feature in iNaturalist is that if one possibly misidentifies a plant, another user can make a recommended correction. Users can also comment on identifications. These features can be helpful for people who are not exactly experts but motivated citizens or hobbyists. One positive that LeafSnap has is that it's also easy to use for identification of tree bark, fruits, and flowers.

If I could only choose one app, though, this would be my order of preference: 

1) Plant Identify

2) iNaturalist

3) LeafSnap

I chose Plant Identify despite not having unlimited free uploads because the app is very quick and accurate, and the amount of free uploads seems sufficient for most users. If one wishes to pay, the prices are cheap and can be cancelled at any point.