Ever found yourself captivated by a certain flower’s beauty or intrigued by an unusual tree on your way to work, but couldn’t quite put a name to it? Whether you’re a nature enthusiast, a curious learner, or an educator keen to foster an appreciation for the natural world among your students, you’ll find delight in the ability to easily identify these wonders of nature.
That’s where the magic of technology comes in – with the help of plant identification apps, you can now discover the names of plants, flowers, and trees with just a simple photograph.
I’ve curated a selection of some of the most user-friendly and accurate plant identifier apps that you and your students can utilize. With a simple installation on your mobile device, these apps transform your camera into a potent tool for botanical discovery. All you need to do is capture an image of the plant or flower that has piqued your interest, and let the app’s intelligent algorithm do the rest.
But these apps are not just about identification – they’re comprehensive botanical companions. Along with identifying plants from pictures, they serve as handy gardening guides, offering useful tips and advice to help you nurture your own plants and flowers. From sunlight requirements to watering schedules, these apps can provide insights to both novice and experienced gardeners alike.
Among the apps featured, PlantNet stands out for being entirely free to use. However, the other plant identifier apps do offer in-app purchases and provide a range of subscription options, both monthly and yearly, to suit your needs. The world of plants is more fascinating than ever before, and with these apps at your fingertips, you’re well-equipped to explore and understand it.
Best Plant Identifier Apps
Here are some of the best plant identifier apps to try out:
1. PictureThis
PictureThis is a great plant identification app for both Android and iPhone/iPad. PictureThis makes use of an AI-powered plant identification system that makes it easy for users to identify plants, flowers, and trees. Simply grab a photo of the plant you want to identify and PictureThis does the rest.
Besides identifying plants by pictures, PictureThis also offers plant guides to help users learn about how to care and grow healthy plants. The app also includes tools to help users record notes about their plans, set reminders and keep track of the growth of their plants.
Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+
2. PlantSnap
PlantSnap is another popular plant identification app that is available for Android and iPhone/iPad. Using PlantSnap you will be able to identify your plant among over 600.000 genres of plants, trees, flowers, mushrooms, and more. PlantSnap also offers tips and detailed instructions on how to care for your plants and leaves.
Additionally, PantSnap provides access a large community of plants lovers from over 200 countries. You can connect, share your discoveries, learn about what others share, get help with gardening tips, and more.
Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+
3. iPlant
iPlant is a plant identifier app that helps you easily recognize plants and flowers. Simply capture a photo of the plant you are interested in and iPlant uses its artificial technology to identify the plant.
You can also import your saved plant pictures and use them in the app to learn more about them. Other interesting features provided by this plant identifier app include automatic saving of identification records, search history records, share identified plants with others on social media, and many more.
Compatibility: iPhone/iPad / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+
4. PlantNet
PlantNet lets you identify plants by picture. As is the case with other plant identifier apps previously mentioned, PlantNet lets you identify plants by simply photographing them using your mobile device.
PlantNet which works on Android and iPhone/iPad “is also a great citizen science project: all the plants you photograph are collected and analysed by scientists around the world to better understand the evolution of plant biodiversity and to better preserve it.”
Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+
4. LeafSnap
LeafSnap helps you recognize plants and flowers you come across by photographing them. The app can identify a wide variety of plants, trees, and flowers. LeafSnap also offers numerous helpful features to enhance your gardening knowledge and help you take good care of your plants.
Other interesting features provided by LeafSnap include a daily plant journal to document information about your plants, create collections of your favourite plants, keep track of plants in your collections, set reminders for plant cares, and many more.
Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+
5. Google Lens
Google Lens is another good option to use to identify plants and objects in the environment around you by photographing them. However, given that the app is generic in its scope, I don’t think it can be as accurate as the plant identifier apps mentioned above.
Also, Google Lens does not include gardening tips and rich botanical data that plant identifier apps provide. Nevertheless, Google Lens is a powerful app that is worth trying.
Compatibility: Android 6.0 and up / Price: Free / Age: Everyone
