Seek by iNaturalist is a free smartphone app designed to help people of all ages identify plants, animals, fungi, and other living things around them. It combines image recognition technology with a huge database of observations from the iNaturalist community to give you instant guesses about what you’re looking at.
Unlike the full iNaturalist app, Seek is more private and kid-safe: you don't need to make an account to use it, and by default it doesn’t upload your data. However, if you want, you can link it to your iNaturalist account and share your observations.
How Does Seek Work?
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Point and Scan
You open the Seek camera in the app, point it at a living thing — say a flower, insect, or mushroom — and the app will try to identify it using its computer vision model. (inaturalist.org) -
On‑Device Identification
One of the key features is that much of the identification happens right on your device, without sending your exact location or image to servers (unless you choose to sync with iNaturalist). (iNaturalist Help) -
Earn Badges & Join Challenges
As you identify more species, you earn badges (for example, for spotting different types of birds, plants, fungi, etc.). (inaturalist.org) There are also monthly observation challenges to keep things exciting. -
Species Info
When Seek identifies something, it shows you useful information like the scientific name, common name, how many observations of that species exist, and where people have observed it. (commonsense.org) -
Privacy Design
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No mandatory registration — you can use Seek without creating an account. (inaturalist.org)
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Location data is used but obscured to protect your privacy. (inaturalist.org)
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If you do sign in and choose to submit, your observations go to iNaturalist. Otherwise, your data stays local. (iNaturalist Help)
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Why Use Seek? (Pros)
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Great for Learning & Exploration: It’s perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about nature — kids, families, casual naturalists. (commonsense.org)
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Instant Identification: The live camera feedback makes exploring intuitive and fun. (inaturalist.org)
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Fun and Motivating: The badge system and monthly challenges encourage users to explore more. (inaturalist.org)
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Privacy-Focused: Because it works without needing to upload everything, it's safer for privacy-conscious users or children. (iNaturalist Help)
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Free: There’s no cost to use Seek, which makes it very accessible. (Grand Screen)
Limitations and Common Criticisms
While Seek is very useful, it’s not perfect. Here are some of the common challenges users face:
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Identification Accuracy: Sometimes Seek only gives a very broad guess (like a plant class or genus) rather than an exact species. (iNaturalist Community Forum) According to feedback, its computer vision model is older than what iNaturalist’s main app uses. (iNaturalist Help)
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Offline Limitations: In remote areas, users say the app does not preload enough data, making it harder to identify species without a signal. (iNaturalist Community Forum)
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No Confidence Score: Some users think the app should show more clearly how “sure” it is about its identifications. (iNaturalist Community Forum)
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Upload Constraints: Observations made in Seek can’t always be retroactively uploaded to iNaturalist, making it less useful for serious citizen scientists. (iNaturalist Community Forum)
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User Interface Bugs: Several reviews mention bugs, app freezing, or difficulty taking stable photos. (Chrome Stats)
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Limited Correction Options: Unlike iNaturalist, you can’t easily correct an ID inside Seek if it’s wrong. (Reddit)
Use Cases: Who Is Seek Good For?
Here are some real-world scenarios where Seek shines:
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Families & Kids: Teachers and parents love it for nature walks and outdoor education. Kids can snap photos, learn species, and earn badges without needing to sign up. (commonsense.org)
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Hobby Naturalists: If you enjoy exploring but don't want to dive into detailed scientific data or upload everything publicly, Seek is an accessible entry point.
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New Explorers: For beginners who may not know any plant or animal names, Seek offers a gentle way to start identifying species in their area.
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Privacy-Conscious Users: Because the app doesn’t require uploading or sharing, it’s good for those who want to learn without broadcasting their location or observations.
Expert and Community Feedback
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Common Sense Media, a review platform, praises Seek for its educational value and ease of use, especially for children. (Common Sense Media) But they also note that species recognition isn’t always perfect. (commonsense.org)
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On the iNaturalist community forum, users request features like preloading species data for offline use and better clarity in identification confidence. (iNaturalist Community Forum)
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From Reddit, some users mention that Seek “is spotty” and may not recognize less common plants, or struggle to focus. (Reddit) Others say that using Seek is fun but that they “graduated” to the full iNaturalist app because of better accuracy and richer features. (Reddit)
Seek vs iNaturalist: What’s the Difference?
It’s important to understand how Seek differs from the main iNaturalist app:
| Feature | Seek by iNaturalist | iNaturalist App / Website |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Private, instant identification, fun + educational | Community science, data collection, collaborative IDs (iNaturalist Help) |
| Account | Not required (optional) (iNaturalist Help) | Required to share data and participate broadly |
| Identification | Uses on-device computer vision for real-time ID (iNaturalist Help) | Uses computer vision + community input |
| Data Sharing | Defaults to local storage, anonymous | Observations are public (if posted) and used in research |
| Data Model | Older version of vision model | Newer, more updated model via iNaturalist site/app (iNaturalist Help) |
Tips for Using Seek Effectively
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Try to take clear photos: good lighting and focus help the app identify species better.
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Use it outdoors: Scan plants or animals in their natural setting for better results.
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Be patient with IDs: Sometimes Seek won’t nail the exact species, but even a genus or family-level guess is valuable.
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Link your iNaturalist account later if you want to save certain observations and contribute to scientific data.
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Use the badge system and challenges to keep exploring: it makes nature walks more like a game.
Why Seek Is Valuable
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Encourages Outdoor Exploration: By gamifying nature with badges and challenges, the app motivates people to go outside, observe, and learn.
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Accessible to All Ages: Since it's safe for kids and doesn't force registration, it lowers the barrier to entry.
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Teaches Biodiversity: Users learn not only common names, but scientific names and classification (plant, insect, bird, etc.).
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Privacy Respectful: For users who care about data, Seek offers a “learn without sharing everything” model.
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Bridges to Citizen Science: For users who later want to contribute to biodiversity data, linking to iNaturalist is possible.
Conclusion
Seek by iNaturalist is a powerful, easy-to-use app that brings the world of nature into your pocket. It’s especially useful for beginners, families, and young naturalists who want to identify plants and animals without worrying about data privacy or needing to build a community profile. While it has some limitations in accuracy and offline use, its strengths lie in its simplicity, gamification, and privacy design.
For anyone curious about the natural world — whether in your backyard, on a hike, or while traveling — Seek makes exploring and learning fun. If you later want to share your findings and contribute to conservation science, you can always switch to or link with the full iNaturalist platform.