iplant - Plant Identification Reviews

by Mrs Tommie

I don’t know what’s going on with iplant but the times I’ve used it over the past month, the results have been a joke, literally. I pulled up a 8 inch tall plant with roots and leaves and took a photo against a black background hoping to get a ballpark idea of it’s ID. iplant said it was a twig. I tried several times. I even changed the image a bit. Still a twig. Today I used a photo of what I’m fairly sure is a sumac sapling. It was a flower according to this app. The image clearly shows stems with compound leaves. I’ve used iplant successfully in the past but not recently.

by Carolinelynchminor

I downloaded the this app app to assist in identifying unknown plants and identifying the names of plants I couldn’t remember. I’ve had iplant about two months and both times I’ve used it, it’s been a bust!

Most recently, I photographed a neighbor’s plant. I knew what it should be, but couldn’t remember the name. I wanted a quick reference without having to search Google. The answer was a Titi Monkey! There definitely was no monkey in the bush! (My photo had excellent resolution and was by no means blurry!) So, I did my Google search for “fruits with many seeds”. Pomegranate was the plant / fruit I was searching for! Really, a Titi Monkey???!!!! Accuracy should / needs to be better! I’ll give it just one more try! Three strikes and you’re out!

by Illoel

I had studied horticulture for four years. I majored in greenhouse management and landscape design. I know my plants. I used this to help with the identification of plants given to me and for those I’d find on hiking trails here in Pennsylvania. It’s absolute trash. Was given what I thought to be a type of orchid by a friend, used this to help with identification since the leaves were dry and browning and it had no blooms. Told me it was a “common houseplant”. Um...what? Turned out to be Nepenthes alata or a type of pitcher plant. After multiple attempts using this with my own plants that I already know the names of it was just as worse. This is just completely unreliable.

by HmstrH485

Trying to tell me a small herb with purple flowers is blue spruce, though it looks totally different. iplant is just spam! Constant ads that trick you into thinking its part of iplant so you click it and they can take your data. Then iplant keeps trying to force you to allow access to the camera (when I only want to upload previously taken photos), and there is no way to exit out of the camera once it opens other than to close out of the spammy app entirely and start over again. Useless, spammy garbage.

by StephMcCaf

I really was looking forward to using iplant since there are a number of plants I’d like to identify in my yard and the adjacent woods. Unfortunately, while using iplant first in a different location (Dutchess County, NY), I learned quickly that it was misidentifying both plants and trees. Some results gave me plants found only in Australia and Southern Asia and the southern U.S. not extending north to New York.

To confirm my discovery, I took a picture of a sugar maple (actually marked as a sugar maple at my location) and iplant said it was an oak. That’s when I knew iplant is not at all accurate or reliable.

by Cheerypacer

I wanted to identify a couple of plants that I regularly see in my jogging track. I downloaded iplant for the same. However, before I used it for the purpose, I wanted to test it. So, just to check how accurate this was I tried it on the basil plant. To my utter surprise, iplant told me it is Arabic jasmine!!! I wanted to give it another chance. Same plant, the best guess iplant could make was “house plant” really???
My kids are eager to test it more on the plants in our backyard to see what names the SMART app is going to come up with for the ones even they can name perfectly 😃

by HannahEM613

I took a picture of my potted succulent. It noticed the table in the background and explained to me what the use of a table was... no joke. So I put a placemat behind the plant to eliminate background distractions and it registered as the pot and explained to me the use of potted plants... I tried again, this time I cut the plant pot out of the photo and just took the placemat behind the plant. It registered the quilted design of the placemat and explained what a quilt was. I’m not even joking. FINALLY I held a notebook behind the plant so it would only have a single colored background. It FINALLY registered that it was a plant but tried to tell me it was an orchid flower?

by Fujchfft

I appreciate the simplicity of iplant , and that to me the ads aren’t too thick, thank you.
Personally, I’d been dying to know what kind of plant was on our hands. Although it did seem to know birch trees, and identified, -um, Korean meat, it was a misclassification as my plant was clearly green, and in no way a tree. I think that iplant probably does have a good database, but maybe there’s a better way that things have to be displayed that would be good to know about. I just took a pic of the plant in good lighting, but who knows.
The first time, it didn’t identify it- just called my plant ‘Agriculture’- one time, it even identified it as a ‘houseplant’- and it could definitely be, but what’s the type....

by MsterryinMontana

Was really happy to find a name for an unidentified tree in my front yard but since
I hadn't heard of the name it came up with
I searched Google and found my tree has MANY differences from the one iplant came up with 1. Mines a tree, not a compact shrub 2. The flowers are white, not gold - clearly shown in my photo 3. I live in Zone 4 and the shrub named grows in Zones 8 to 11 4. It's not found in the US, it's from Australia. iplant needs some serious tweaks, but I'll try it on a few plants that I already know to see if it does better on more common plants.

by KDReetz0831

I am at a park in Charlotte & being new to the area I couldn’t identify some of the beautiful vegetation. iplant got my first pic wrong, but it’s probably because I didn’t take a good pic. When I tried again it worked and it nailed a type of evergreen I have never seen before! I now know what to plant!!

by Bridgetsmydog2009

I'm so glad to have downloaded iplant. I bought a home with different plants/flowers and I sometimes don't know what species it is. I love that fact that I don’t look stupid asking my friends and family so now I use iplant and I am ready to answer them when they ask. Thank you!!

by DanCaban

Point and shoot, and within minutes, iplant sends you a quick summary of what that plant is PLUS a Wikipedia link so that you can learn more.

There’s no fee, only an innocuous ad that runs as quickly as iplant itself. Other apps charge, so don’t bother with them.

by Dahtruthaboutitfacts

I happened to stumble upon this pretty flowered plant. With it’s 4 pedals looking like a propeller on a speed boat to beauty. At first I had an idea of what it was, as I proceeded going all the way down to the root but not sure I could identify the root. So therefore I started my Quest of pinpointing what it is. I stumbled across iplant. It hesitated for a second as if it was me searching through its database to find out and lo and behold there it identified exactly what it was. I like iplant. Let us start a journey and document it. Thank you for your creative app to identify plants. Let’s see what I can find out in the future.

by OldHat59

I’ve only tried it on one plant so far, but seems to be a lot better than a Plantsnap. They not only give you the common name (unlike PlantSnap) they also give you the family name. With just a tap it will quickly tell you the pest that may be a problem. And of course anything else you might want to know about it.

by Cirdelk Viehweg

I have been searching for a way to identify plants I come across without having to pay or have a subscription. I do not do it often, but even once a month is tough if you need to pay for a year. This free app is great! I can enjoy the required ads while I really enjoy iplant .

by OleoMN

We used iplant on a nature hike with our 9 & 10 yr old kids to identify flower types, trees, and potential poison ivy (was not). They loved it.

Worked easily and was intuitive. Like that it keeps a history of the plant types with photos. Also like that you can upload photos later when not wanting to take the time in the field

by Asalihaha

This website is so great. I have a new old house with many plants I cannot identify. I just point and shoot and upload and get the name and corresponding details in less than a minute. Very exciting and better than book or web search with no name or picture. Am recommending it highly to others. Thanks !

by Iamrebeccasue

I love, love, love iplant! I’ve been wondering for 12 years what kind of bush I have in my backyard. I came across iplant earlier this year, found the same bush somewhere else, snapped a picture and identified it within one minute. So user-friendly and easy to use! You can use pictures out of your photo library or take a pic on the spot.

by Plantdummy

Bought home in late fall that had many plants finished blooming. In spring, some started budding/blooming but we’re not sure what they were or how to care for them. The this app app is very useful and user friendly in helping us determine what we have in our new surroundings and how to care for them. Would recommend to anyone that doesn’t have a green thumb - and to some who think they do.

by Plant Buff

Was looking for a help to identify my flowers. Am an avid gardener but can never remember what I planted. I also have a friend who gives me all kinds of flowers and I just stick them in the ground. With this all I do is snap a picture and iplant lets me select what I want to identify. Perfect. Just what I was looking for. Took a while to wade thru the costly apps but finally got here. I recommend this to any and everyone whose interested in plant identification.

by CourageousGem

After a Dr. appointment this AM I wandered past a bed of wonderfully bright, cheerful florals. Being that we are moving into a new house soon I’ve been searching high and low for real life inspiration for our front and backyard landscape/garden... this one flower caught my eye and without hesitation quickly snapped a photo. I showed it to my husband who then replied “wouldn’t it be great if there was an encyclopedia-like app? but for flowers, plants, shrubbery, trees, etc. I quickly asked Siri to search for an app similar to this and to my surprise this is what appeared! iplant has been a blessing throughout my summer thus far. It makes my gardening work and floral drawing painting projects so much easier. Great Idea and such a steal! I mean literally- ITS FREE! what do you have to lose? Storage? Worst case scenario, you hate it (which I don’t see possible) and you just delete. But I don’t recommend deleting because if you are a Nature/Flower/Lanscaping lover like myself, you will be using iplant at one point or another. Happy Flower Finding =)