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Merlin Bird ID
By Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Visit Merlin Bird ID
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
A free bird identification app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. A child can hold up a phone to hear which birds are singing (Sound ID), snap or upload a bird photo (Photo ID), or answer three simple questions about a bird they saw. Sound and Photo ID work offline once a region's bird pack is downloaded. Each find can be saved to a life list, and range maps, songs and photos come from eBird and the Lab's media library. Sound ID covers 2,066 species.
Our take: A standout family birding tool when a parent runs the phone; children under 13 should not have it on their own under Cornell's terms.
| Ages it suits | about 7 and up with a parent |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | 13+. Cornell Lab's terms cover the Merlin app and say that if you are under 13, do not use or access the services. The privacy statement adds that the services are designed for adults and not directed to children. The App Store still rates it 4+. (terms) |
| Price | Free. Free, with no in-app purchases listed on the App Store (Oct 2026). Run by a nonprofit funded by members and donors. |
| Works on | iPhone and iPad, Android |
| Account | No account needed |
| Ads | None |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | Trained recognition models listen to live audio or look at a photo and suggest likely bird species, running on the phone even without a signal. |
What's good
- Free, no ads, works offline
- Sound ID makes backyard listening a game
- Three-question mode teaches what to look for
- Deep, expert-checked bird content
Watch for
- Terms say under-13s should not use it, despite the 4+ store rating
- Microphone and location permissions
- Sound ID can miss or invent species; check before trusting
- Optional account shares sightings with eBird
Data and privacy
Collects device data automatically and, if you sign in with a Cornell Lab account, the birds you save with date, time and location, which then fall under eBird's rules. Cornell says it does not rent or sell personal data, but its websites use advertising and targeting cookies; the policy says nothing about training AI on user data. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
A peer-reviewed field study (Goodman et al., Ornithological Applications) found trained human listeners detected birds far more often than Sound ID, which also logged some false species and gave different lists on two phones at the same spot. The authors call it a useful aid, not a replacement.
In the Big Index
- On the list Top 20 AI sites for learning for kids (2026)
- On the list 13 AI science and nature apps for curious kids
- On the list 17 free AI tools a family can try this weekend
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Where these facts come from
- https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
- https://www.merlinbirds.org/
- https://www.merlinbirds.org/sound-id/
- https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/terms-of-use/
- https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/privacy
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/merlin-bird-id-by-cornell-lab/id773457673
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.labs.merlinbirdid.app
- https://schoodicinstitute.org/whats-that-bird-humans-outperform-merlin-sound-id/
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.