Shazam for birds, but it actually works offline

What it does

whoBIRD is an Android app that listens to ambient bird calls and names the species in real time. It packages the BirdNET machine-learning model to recognize more than 6,000 species entirely on your device, so the audio never leaves your phone. The app also keeps a running log of detections that you can back up, share, or delete later.

The interesting bit

The developers added a weighted meta model that averages location-and-time predictions across the whole year, which helps catch migratory birds even when they show up earlier or later than expected. That is the kind of boring detail that makes the difference between “probably a robin” and actually trusting the result.

Key highlights

• Runs fully offline after the initial model download; no cloud audio processing.
• Covers over 6,000 bird species worldwide using the BirdNET TFLite library.
• Optional high-pass filter and adjustable probability threshold to cut background noise and false positives.
• Can save .wav clips of each detection to the Music directory (Android 12+).
• Distributed on F-Droid under GPLv3.

Caveats

• The authors state the app will stop working on certified Android devices once Google mandates developer identity disclosure in 2026/2027, because they refuse to comply.
• At first start the app downloads model files, so the initial setup is not entirely offline.

Verdict

Birders and hikers who want offline identification should grab it; developers looking for a server API or iOS support should look elsewhere.