A MOBILE APP TO ENTER, ORGANISE AND RETRIEVE COUNT DATA ON INDIAN BIODIVERSITY
You can download the app for Android phones from this website, here.
It will be made available on Google Play store and the iOS version on Apple App Store in due course of time.
Also read about and download the associated iButterfly Explorer mobile app.
The iBiodiversity Count mobile app helps to take your enjoyment of watching butterflies, moths, odonates (dragonflies and damselflies), reptiles, and other Indian animals, in the field to the next level. The app has advanced features to record field data on species occurrence and populations, making it a truly comprehensive citizen science platform.
The app is not only useful for noting down your observations for personal use and research projects, but it also facilitates participation in several major citizen science projects such as Biodiversity Atlas – India (BioAtlasIndia) and Indian Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (iBMS). This mobile app is driven by an integrated professional-amateur scientific community that aggregates big data on Indian biodiversity with the goal of studying large-scale and long-term ecological trends, especially those related to species occurrence and distribution, and those related to biological impacts of climate change and of changes in land-use patterns. The platform is also used extensively for educational and outreach activities, so it promotes the enjoyment, research and conservation of Indian biodiversity.
It is a home-grown citizen science platform, custom-made for Indian biodiversity, hosted in leading national research institutions and NGOs, and supported by a consortium of non-profit agencies and/or non-profit engagements.
Prominent Features:
- Online as well as offline functionality, facilitating use in urban greeneries and remote field locations alike.
- Useful for everyone, from nature lovers and naturalists to citizen scientists and professional field scientists.
- Allows users to track sightings and organise and back up observations, field notes, and population and count data, on a secure, stable and retrievable platform.
- Includes standardised formats to enter data as 30-minute counts, daily checklists and regional (location) checklists, with geo-tagged field data.
- It is completely free. It has no inbuilt ads, and your data and personal information will not be sold or shared with any other platform, individuals, company or agency for a for-profit or non-profit purposes.
- You control the use of your data by the larger community by choosing an appropriate copyright license. You can choose to either:
(a) keep the data generated using this mobile app as completely copyrighted for personal use; that is, not share the data with others;
(b) make the data available to others immediately for use under a creative commons license, or
(c) make the data available to others under a creative commons license in a phased manner, for example under a 3-year or 5-year embargo, if you want to publish your results before you make the data available to others. The last option is suitable for those who are working towards their Masters or PhD theses, or working on a funded project with specific restrictions on data sharing.
Read the associated full statements on copyright, data privacy and data sharing at the linked pages.
The app was produced as a collaborative effort between the Indian Foundation for Butterflies Trust, Nature's Ark and NextWealth Entrepreneurs Pvt. Ltd., first released in December 2025.