Plant identification apps

We’ve all been stumped for the name of a plant at times, whether shopping at a garden centre, visiting a garden or on holiday. Plant-id apps promise to identify plants from a picture taken on your smartphone or tablet. 

There are hundreds on the App Store and Google Play, some using an artificial-intelligence database of plants, others relying on ‘experts’ or a community of users. Some are free; others require a monthly or annual subscription. Several of the apps on test also have a sharing aspect, rather like the social media photo-sharing platform, Instagram, for plants. 

The Which? Gardening magazine research team wanted to find out whether any of the most popular apps would prove to be a reliable garden companion.

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Best Buy plant identification apps

These apps were spot on with their identifications and easy to use

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This app has set itself up as the go-to app for all your gardening needs. And it delivers; alongside articles offering gardening advice and places to visit, it has an excellent plant identification facility that correctly named the genus of every plant we challenged it with and got 87% of the species names right, too. We really liked this free app and found it easy to use on the go – identification takes only a few seconds and the further information for each plant was wide ranging, useful and accurate. 

Price free

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Unlike some apps we tried, this one offers only one answer when identifying plants – which is great if it’s correct. The good news is that it correctly named the genus for 97% of the plants we asked it to identify and the species for 77%. Each identification is backed up with the common and botanical name, images, growing tips, poems and interesting facts, such as symbolism and national flower information. You can also add plants to your collection and set care reminders. We found the app quick and easy to use while out and about. 

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Privacy and security

Most people use apps every day on their phone, TV or other device. However, it might surprise you that there's currently no legally binding regulation for how apps should protect your privacy and security. Working with security experts, Red Maple, we put these plant-id apps through a barrage of tests to see whether they safeguard you and your data. This exposed a whole host of issues, including apps requesting your exact location when they don’t really need to, weak password policies that could leave your account open to being hacked, and a particularly serious issue with Iris, made by online garden centre Crocus, that could have exposed real users’ data. Crocus fixed this issue after we got in touch. None of the apps recommended here have issues that you need to worry about, so you can download them with confidence. However, follow the tips below to stay secure.

Using apps safely

• Passwords: All the apps we tested accepted weak passwords, such as ‘password’. Always set strong passwords (see how at Which.co.uk/passwords) so malicious hackers can’t easily access your account.
• Updates: Apps are like gardens - they must be maintained. Apps should ideally be updated every six months, ideally more frequently. Some apps we tested hadn’t had an update since 2018. 
• Permissions: Apps need access to aspects, such as your phone camera, to work, but sometimes they go too far. For example, an app doesn’t really need your exact (known as ‘fine’) location when an approximate, or ‘coarse’, location will do. Check what permissions an app wants before you download it and deny access in your phone settings if you like. 
• Photos: When taking photos of plants, try to avoid including people, houses or landmarks that could identify your location. This is especially relevant if you are planning on posting them to online forums. 

How we tested

We downloaded the apps to an iPhone and Android phone and used them during autumn 2021 to early summer 2022 to identify a range of plants from photos of bark, leaves, flowers and berries taken around our trial grounds. We used a range of species including trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, bulbs and wildflowers. All plants have a two-part botanical name made up of the genus and the species, for example, Rosa rugosa or Prunus serrula. We recorded whether the apps correctly identified the genus and species of each plant, and whether the correct plant name was first or elsewhere in a list of possible plants. We assessed each app for ease of use based on whether it was straightforward and intuitive to use and provided an on-the-go answer.