Are you having issues? Select the issue you are having below and provide feedback to Merlin Bird ID.
- Limited database
- Doesn't let you ID birds it doesn't believe are in your area
- Doesn't let you manually ID birds by name in the event the search doesn't bring up your bird
- Doesn't allow you save your bird history
- No bird history/tracking function
Camera screen is black when I want to take a picture of a bird and I am not able to do so,
5 day grace period over. Please confirm email. I confirmed the first day and have tried again but I’ve yet to receive an email.
I too have a OnePlus 7T phone. Just like John Bowman posted above, I get the message "Merlin couldn't determine your location".
The first time I used sound i.d. on Merlin on my Android phone it worked great and heard lots of birds. The second time and ever since it can't seem to hear any birds even if they are close and pretty loud. The se is true for my spouse except I don't think his ever worked. Thanks. This is very frustrating!
App hangs. Only solution seems to be to delete it and reinstall
Merlin freezes when I try to see certain lists of recordings. It seems this happens when the recordings are long- like 18 minutes. I have tried deleting the old files, but when I go to view a long file, this happens. Only once have I received a message that the app is not responding and do I want to close it. Usually I have to shut down the phone. But since I decided to delete old recordings, I keep running into this problem as I try to look at the file to delete it. I only started using this within a week after installing it. This did not start happening until a few days ago. Merlin has detected about 80 birds singing in my yard in a week. I love it!
iphone: bird pack will not install, stalls at 2-3% -- over and over. have rebooted phone, turned wifi and data on and off, pausing both in "off" for at least 30 seconds, etc.
Overall, Merlin is working great. But a few times when it tried to save a recording, something got screwed up in the app and it failed to save properly. (OK, things like that happen.) I tried then to delete these failed recordings, but if I try to open them to "delete", I get an error message saying "There was an error loading the recording". (I knew that, which is why I just wanted to delete it.) The only thing Merline will let me do at that point is say "OK" and leave the faulty recoding in place. Thus, now, I can't delete the faulty recordings. It isn't a big deal -- I just ignore them -- but I don't want to be occasionally accumulating faulty recordings in "My Sound Recordings". Is there any way to delete them?
Same as many others here... recently the Sound ID stopped identifying any birds. Uninstalled, restarted phone, and re-installed app, no change. It happened about the same time (mid-May) as others have noted here. Guessing a bug in an update?
Can’t seem to sync Merlin app with microphone in Settings. Merlin doesn’t show up on App Clips seeking access to the microphone. iOS 15.5, 5/30/22
Earlier the sund ID worked perfectly. Now I keep getting the message that there are no matches and that Merlin could not determine location or download birds for my area. I have data set for entire US!
Every time I try to save a bird, I get tue message "submission failed. Check internet connection. My internet is fine. Only Merlin is failing
5 day trial over and will not send me the confirmation email needed to continue using the app
Sound ID used to work perfectly... stopped working recently. Looks like mic level is too low and not picking up much unless it is very close to the mic. Even then it does not identify a single bird.
With the Sound ID: It is "listening for birds," and it is "hearing a bird," but no matches appear on the screen. My sound recordings worked great in the past. The last time the app worked properly was May 12.
My Merlin bird app stopped working last week. I tried uninstalling it several times and reinstalling, but to no avail. The app won't record any sounds and sometimes gives me an error that there is a bug in the app.
I just installed Merlin on my Android phone. It starts ok and then simply stops, ie, the sonagram stops moving. The stop button has no effect at that point. If I try 'clear all' I get a 'Merlin isn't responding' box request, but even then, it doesn't close. I usually need to reboot my phone to close Merlin and get it going again--with the same problem recurring . When it worked, it confused a Bobwhite with a Robin and then with a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
On the Merlin App, the Sound ID portion on my Android Phone appears to work but doesn’t identify any of the bird species around me by sound. It picks up talking according to the graph but barely any birds, In the past it would pick up birds I couldn't hear, but could then find. It’s always worked great until a week ago. Re-downloaded 2 times and still barely works. It I.D. one bird around me a Great Crested Fly Catcher, I can I.D. 5 more species around me. The BirdNET sound I.D. App still works though. Two other birders we see often also have the same problem.
Same as others are have said, sound ID never identifies any birds, even when they're loud and nearby. The sonogram never gets above the background noise in the bottom 20% of the display.
Keeps identifying tufted titmouse as an eastern towhee, and sometimes as a crow!!!
After the initial 5 days it says your 5 day period is us please confirm your email I’ve tries and tries but receive no message in my inbox or junk mail to confirm it. Tried deleting app and reinstalling but it’s saying the same. Very frustrated as it’s a brilliant app to help me.
Sound ID not working. Will record my voice (barely), but no birds id'd in last week or so. Tried it with All about birds recordings and could id the Canada Goose (wow), nothing else. Have really enjoyed this app when it works. Was suspecting my old Moto e, but from other comments everyone is having this problem. My grown kids are using this too so will ask them if it works with their better phones. Haven't tried an external mike (will one work with the Moto e?) Any fixes in the works??? Thanks
Hi, when i use the sound part of the app it locks up. There are no clear directions anywhere about how to use the red button , the x, or any other basics. I am on a trail and suddenly i find that after the apps been on for ie 45 secs it has stopped. Or, more than 2 min has gone by, and i try to exit anf start the id over, pressing the red buutton, it locks up. Or it, after pushing a variety of options or just one, a circle starts spinning in the center of the screen, and may continue for minutes or never stop. So i try tapping a general phone icon to switch apps, but everything is locked. Samsung phone 3 yrs old. Functions beautifully in all other situations. Can you help. We love ebird and cornell. We will stay with you even if we cant use sound app.
The audio stopped working recently and I have tried deleting the app twice and reinstalling it, I have tried working with a different email address and installing the current Upgrade on my iPhone. Nothing seems to work and it’s clear from the discussion groups that this app is developing a common flaw. Can you fix it?
Merlin won't download
The first week Merlin sound ID worked great. I walked out my door and it identified 10 birds in a couple of minutes. Then it stopped hearing birds well enough to identify them. I was very close to a very loud singing bird and it did not detect it.
Merlin app is stuck in a loop while I am trying to save my bird. Could not fill the contact form because the submit. Button was also greyed out
I use the sound ID program, but it keeps crashing on my android phone. Ir will work greatr for 20-30 seconds up to a minute or even sometimes a bit longer, then crashes: sonogram no longer scrolls by and it often won't close. I have tried re-installing. My wife's Merlin works great on her i-Phone. Any suggestions?
Sound recorder not working-- just like others have reported, the sonogram just records background noise.
I installed Merlin on a OnePlus 7T Android 11 and I got location not found, on a second attempt it did not provide this message and the App worked very well however later on it went back to not finding the location, in spite of location being switched on. As I had a second older phone which had Andoid 10 and I installed Merlin on this phone and it worked perfectly. As it appeared that there might be an issue with Android 11 I discovered that Apps have to be modified to obtain location data following some changes made by Google in Android 11. It would therefore appear to me that Merlin is currently not completely compatible with Android 11. Any comments? Mike
Complete guide to troubleshoot Merlin Bird ID app on iOS and Android devices. Solve all Merlin Bird ID app problems, errors, connection issues, installation problems and crashes.
Table of Contents:
Some issues cannot be easily resolved through online tutorials or self help. So we made it easy to get in contact with the support team at Cornell University, developers of Merlin Bird ID.
Whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird you can find, the answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology. • Expert ID tips, range maps, photos, and sounds help you learn about the birds you spot and build birding skills. • Merlin was created by bird experts for everyone. • Merlin is global—look up any bird at any location. • Keep track of your sightings—linked to eBird, a global database of more than 1 billion bird observations! • Powered by Visipedia, Merlin Sound ID and Photo ID uses deep learning to identify birds in photos and sounds. Merlin learns to recognize bird species based on training sets of millions of photos and sounds collected by birders at eBird. org, archived in the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. • Merlin delivers the most accurate results thanks to experienced birders, who curate and annotate sightings, photos, and sounds, who are the true magic behind Merlin. • Choose bird packs that contain photos, songs, and calls, and identification help for anywhere in the world, including Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, Korea, Japan, China, and more. • It’s available in your language. Merlin is unlike any other bird app—it's powered by eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos. Merlin Bird ID helps you identify birds you see and hear. Just like magic, Merlin Bird ID will help you solve the mystery. Answer a few simple questions, upload a photo, record a singing bird, or explore birds in a region. Merlin offers four fun ways to identify birds. Merlin is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Hebrew, German, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Our nonprofit mission to improve the understanding and protection of birds and nature is made possible by the generosity of Cornell Lab members, supporters, and citizen-science contributors. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s goal is to help you and millions of others to learn about birds. What's that bird? Ask Merlin—the world’s leading app for birds.