Earth Swarm and iNaturalist
iNaturalist is the big worldwide community for recording nature. Earth Swarm is a newer, smaller app built around your patch and how it changes. Plenty of people will use both.
What is different
Your patch, season by season
Earth Swarm's map shows each season and each year, rings the places with finds this year and none the year before, and gives the first record of a species in a place to the person who made it.
Checked before it is published
On iNaturalist an observation is posted first and identified by the community afterwards. On Earth Swarm a find reaches the public map only once it is confirmed, and every published find says how.
Positions on a grid
Earth Swarm never publishes an exact point or a name. Finds appear on a grid at least 6 hours after they were made, and sensitive species on a much coarser grid without photos.
Jobs near you
The app offers jobs every day: a nature spot few people have recorded, a quick one where you are, a daily walk and a weekly challenge.
When iNaturalist is the better fit
iNaturalist has years of observations from all over the world, a large community to help with hard identifications, and apps for Android as well as iPhone. Earth Swarm is iPhone only for now, in a public test, and its map is still small. If you want the widest audience for a hard identification, or you are not on an iPhone, iNaturalist is the place.
Questions
How is an Earth Swarm find confirmed?
A species model alone is never enough unless it is all but certain and the photo is sharp. Most finds are confirmed by the phone's model and the surveyor agreeing on a species recorded nearby at this time of year, by a reviewer, by people with a good record in Help identify, or by an expert. Every published find says which. How a find is confirmed.
Can I use both?
Yes. Nothing in Earth Swarm asks you to stop recording anywhere else.
What does Earth Swarm cost?
Nothing. It is free, and iPhone only for now, through Apple's TestFlight. Join the test.