3 Top Plant-Identifying Apps To Help You Become A Master Gardener

Knowing exactly how much water and sunlight a specific plant needs to thrive can be tricky — particularly when trying to grow plants that are known for being picky about their growing conditions. Fortunately, there are plenty of plant-identifying apps on the market that can help you instantly identify a specific plant and look up its recommended care requirements.

Plant-identifying apps are not just handy for avid gardeners — in fact, they can be just as useful for casual enjoyers of nature who simply want to know the name of a unique flower or plant they happen upon.

Plant identification apps can also help with solutions for an unhealthy plant, whether your finicky house plant starts looking a little less green or your favorite perennial bush in the garden isn't doing as well as it has in past years. The Educational App Store also adds that plant-identifying apps are a great tool for introducing children to nature while helping them understand the world around them through plants. Though there are many useful plant identification apps available for download, these three are among the best according to the experts.

iNaturalist consistently ranks among the best plant-identification apps and is commonly relied upon by nature experts and organizations due to its accuracy. While many other apps utilize AI technology, iNaturalist relies entirely on the expert knowledge of scientists to help identify wildlife in the app's database — making it a popular choice among academics and wildlife agencies. In fact, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources regularly uses the app to gather data from the public about various wildlife throughout the state while also using it to field questions from the public about wildlife identification.

According to National Geographic, iNaturalist serves as a community of naturalists and scientists who work together to help identify wildlife in photos that users submit. From there, other researchers and conservationists can use that biodiversity data in their respective scientific fields. Because the information is given by scientists, it can be considered research-grade — meaning that every photo you submit benefits the scientific community as a whole, as scientists are helping not only you in your identification endeavors but each other in their fields of research.

The app was developed as a joint initiative between the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society explains the app's website, which is why Houseplant Authority says the app being developed and run by experts is why iNaturalist is the most extensive plant identification app that doesn't require a fee to download or a subscription service to enjoy the full benefits.