A free ID app that works on any device is PlantNet, and it's CNN's top pick, saying it's a “collaborative citizen science project dedicated to worldwide plant biodiversity monitoring… PlantNet claims its database contains over 45 floras and 46,050 plant species.”
For images with a high PlantNet “classification score”, identification accuracy to family and genus were both >85% while species level identification reached ca 70% accuracy. Where a single plant was the focus of the image, rather than being part of a more complex image, identification accuracy was greatly improved.
Overall a kickass app. And it's free!
PlantNet is our number one pick for a totally free plant identification app. PlantNet describes itself as a ``citizen science project on biodiversity''. It counts on its users to create a botanical database and the user is the last word on whether or not the plant listed is a match.
PlantNet combines open source technology with crowdsourced knowledge to help you become an amateur botanist.
That said, it's important to use PlantSnap Plant Identification according to instructions to get most accurate results, and it's important to note that this app is not foolproof. The percentage accuracy (often in the 30- to 40-percent range) on some plant identifications at the time of review isn't entirely reassuring.
Identifying your plant with Google Lens
Now it's time for the fun part — identifying a plant with Google Lens. To use Google Lens from the Google app, open the app and find Google Lens as a camera icon in the search bar. Tap the icon, point your camera at your plant of choice, and capture an image.
Although it doesn't offer as seamless a sharing experience as iNaturalist or as much plant background information as some of the other apps we tested, PlantNet provides quick, easy identifications that our testers found to be consistently accurate.
Sixty percent of the time, PlantNet returned the correct species ID as the first result. Twelve percent of the time, the correct species was identified as the second result. Thirteen percent of the time, the correct species was the third hit or lower, and 15% of the time the correct species was not identified at all.
Pl@ntNet is a citizen science platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate the identification and inventory of plant species.
Personal plant doctor in your pocket
No more with Blossom! Simply snap a photo of the issue to get a diagnosis. Blossom will give you detailed info on the disease, what caused it, how to treat it, and how to prevent it.
What is Google Lens? Google Lens is a set of vision-based computing capabilities that can understand what you're looking at and use that information to copy or translate text, identify plants and animals, explore locales or menus, discover products, find visually similar images, and take other useful actions.
Honestly for the 3 whole plants and 5 whole minutes I used it, it was one of the better plant identifiers out there! But you can only add/identify 3 plants and can't diagnose anything with our paying $7 a week or $40 for the year. That's too steep for me to try when I can't even basically TRY the free version.
Instantly Identify Plants with an App: How to Use PlantSnap
Download PlantSnap the app store of your choice. The app is now free on Google Play, but costs $3.99 on iTunes. Watch the short tutorial on the app. This details how best to frame photos so that the artificial intelligence can accurately identify the plants.
The Rutgers study found that while species-level identification by leaf pictures was not always the most accurate (83.9% to 40.9% accurate), across all the apps observed, genus-level identification by leaves was pretty good, reporting accuracies from 97.3% to 71.8%.
Yes, Google Lens can identify plants, both indoor and outdoor. With the help of its advanced image recognition technology, you can identify house plants by picture online for free using Google Lens. Point your phone's camera at any plant, and Google Lens will analyze the image for you.
Unfortunately, the iPhone plant identifier feature works only with select devices. You can use it to identify images in the Photos, Messages, Mail or Notes apps, though you'll need to use an iPhone running iOS 15 or later (which debuted in September 2021).
Instead of wasting time trawling through websites or asking your gardener friends, why not simply take a snap and have an app do the work for you? Leafsnap can currently recognize 90% of all known plant and tree species, covering most of the species you will encounter in every country on Earth.
Whether you're a seasoned gardener or a new plant parent, PictureThis is your essential tool for plant identification and care. Renowned as the best plant identification app, PictureThis can identify over 400,000 plant species with unparalleled accuracy.
Q: What kind of tree can you carry in your hand? A: A palm!