Using Sound ID to identify a bird
Sound ID is a feature that listens for bird songs and calls around you and tells you what it hears, in real time.
To use Sound ID:
From the Home Screen, tap "Sound ID"
The first time you use it, you'll choose between Simple and Detailed view — you can change this anytime (see "Simple vs. Detailed Sound ID and how to switch modes")
Tap the microphone button to start a listening session
As the app hears birds, they'll appear on your screen. Each result shows how many times that species has been heard during your session
Tap on any species to see more detail and share feedback on the accuracy of the results.
Tap the stop button when you're done — this opens your session summary, where you can review the date, time, location, and weather for your session, and add any identified birds to your sightings list
Tap "Delete" from the session summary if you'd rather not save the session
Sound ID results are ranked by how well the sound matches our model, how consistently we hear it, and how likely that bird is in your area right now. The longer you listen, the more confident Sound ID can become about a result. If a bird's result looks uncertain, it may become more certain the longer you keep listening.
Sharing feedback on Sound ID beta
Sound ID is currently in beta, and your feedback helps us improve it. There are two ways to share what you're seeing:
Tell us if an ID was right or wrong
When you get a result, tap on the species
Use the thumbs up or thumbs down to tell us whether the ID was accurate
This is the most useful signal you can give us right now, since we're focused on how accurate Sound ID is in real-world conditions.
Share anything else
For bugs, confusing moments, suggestions, or anything else on your mind:
Tap the Send Feedback button on the results screen
Let us know which mode you were using (Simple or Detailed)
Tell us what you'd like us to know
Note: The audio you record while using Sound ID during the beta is stored on Audubon's servers and used to help improve the feature.
Simple vs. Detailed Sound ID and how to switch modes
Sound ID offers two ways to view your results:
Simple shows you only the best matches for birds the app is confident about.
Detailed shows you every bird the app hears, including uncertain IDs, along with more information about how confident each result is. The fuller the bar, the stronger the match.
You'll choose one of these the first time you use Sound ID, but you can switch anytime:
During a Sound ID session, tap the "i" icon in the top right corner
Toggle Detailed View on or off
Saving Sound ID audio recordings
By default, Sound ID saves the audio recorded during your session to My Recordings (found in My Audubon). You can turn this off if you’d rather not save recordings.
To manage this setting:
During a Sound ID session, tap the "i" icon in the top right corner
Toggle "Save Audio Recordings" on or off
Note: This setting only controls whether a recording is saved to My Recordings. By using the Sound ID beta, all audio you record is stored on Audubon's servers and used to help refine the feature, regardless of this setting.