BirdNET Live

The bioacoustics companion app for field researchers, conservationists, and birders. Identifies bird species in real time using on-device BirdNET+ inference — no internet required. Built with Flutter for Android, iOS, and Windows.

Download APK  ·  Documentation  ·  All Releases

NOTE: This is an early developer preview. The app is not yet feature-complete or fully polished. Expect bugs, crashes, and rough edges. Please report issues and contribute if you can!

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Features

• Live Mode — Real-time scrolling spectrogram with species identification
• Point Count Mode — Timed survey sessions with countdown timer and station metadata
• Survey Mode — Long-running transect surveys with GPS tracking, background monitoring, and detection sampling
• File Analysis Mode — Analyze existing audio files (WAV, FLAC, MP3, OGG, and more)
• Explore — Browse species expected at your location using the BirdNET geo-model
• Session Library — Review, edit, and export past sessions with audio playback
• Export — Raven Pro, CSV, JSON, GPX, and ZIP bundle formats
• On-device inference — BirdNET+ model (5,250 species), no internet required
• FLAC recording — Pure Dart encoder for compressed audio (50–60% reduction)
• Landscape & tablet layouts — Adaptive UI for phones and tablets in both orientations
• Localization — Full English and German UI

Install on Android

BirdNET Live is available as a signed APK for sideloading. Download the latest release from the Releases page, transfer the .apk file to your phone, and open it to install. You may need to allow installation from unknown sources in your device settings.

Note: The APK is ~237 MB because it includes the full BirdNET+ audio model (~152 MB) for offline inference.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Flutter SDK (>= 3.0)
• Android Studio (for Android SDK & emulator)
• Xcode (macOS only, for iOS development)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/birdnet-team/birdnet-live-app.git
cd birdnet-live-app
flutter pub get
flutter gen-l10n

Verify

flutter doctor    # Check Flutter setup
flutter test      # Run tests
flutter analyze   # Check for issues

Deploy to Phone

Android (USB — Windows / macOS / Linux)

1. Enable Developer Options on your phone: Settings → About phone → tap "Build number" 7 times.

2. Enable USB debugging: Settings → Developer options → USB debugging → On.

3. Connect phone via USB and accept the debugging prompt.

4. Check Flutter sees the device:

   flutter devices

5. Run (debug mode with hot reload):

   flutter run

   Or press F5 in VS Code with the Flutter extension installed.

6. Build release APK (optional):

   flutter build apk --release

   The APK will be at build/app/outputs/flutter-apk/app-release.apk. Transfer it to your phone and install.

Android (Wireless — Windows)

1. Complete steps 1–3 above (USB debugging on, phone connected via USB).
2. Pair over Wi-Fi (Android 11+):

   # On the phone: Developer options → Wireless debugging → Pair device with pairing code
   # Note the IP:port and pairing code shown
   adb pair <ip>:<port>
   # Enter the pairing code when prompted

3. Connect wirelessly:

   adb connect <ip>:<port>
   # Use the port shown under "Wireless debugging" (not the pairing port)

4. Unplug the USB cable. Run as usual:

   flutter run

iOS (macOS only)

1. Connect iPhone via USB.
2. Trust the computer on the phone when prompted.
3. Open ios/Runner.xcworkspace in Xcode and set your signing team under Signing & Capabilities.
4. Run:

   flutter run

   Or press F5 in VS Code.

VS Code Tips

• Install the Flutter and Dart extensions.
• Select your target device in the status bar (bottom-right).
• F5 to launch with debugger attached.
• Ctrl+F5 to launch without debugger (faster startup).
• Use the hot reload button (⚡) or r in the terminal for quick iterations.
• R in the terminal for hot restart (resets state).

Documentation

• User & Developer Docs: GitHub Pages (MkDocs Material)

To preview the documentation locally:

pip install mkdocs-material
mkdocs serve # python -m mkdocs serve on Windows

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8000 in your browser.

Project Structure

lib/
  core/           # Constants, theme, utilities, extensions
  features/       # Feature modules (live, point_count, survey, file_analysis,
                  #   audio, inference, explore, history, settings, home, about)
  l10n/           # Localization ARB files (en, de)
  shared/         # Shared models, providers, services, widgets
                  #   (e.g. ContentWidthConstraint for tablet max-width)

docs/             # MkDocs source for GitHub Pages documentation
assets/           # App assets (models, species data, images, fonts)
test/             # Tests mirroring lib/ structure

Development

flutter run          # Run with hot reload
flutter test         # Run tests
flutter analyze      # Static analysis
dart format .        # Format code

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

• Source Code: The source code for this project is licensed under the MIT License.
• Models: The models used in this project are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Please ensure you review and adhere to the specific license terms provided with each model.

Terms of Use

Please refer to the TERMS OF USE file for detailed terms and conditions regarding the use of the BirdNET+ V3.0 developer preview models.

Funding

Our work in the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics is made possible by the generosity of K. Lisa Yang to advance innovative conservation technologies to inspire and inform the conservation of wildlife and habitats.

The development of BirdNET is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (FKZ 01|S22072), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (FKZ 67KI31040E), the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (FKZ 16KN095550), the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (project 39263/01) and the European Social Fund.

Partners

BirdNET is a joint effort of partners from academia and industry. Without these partnerships, this project would not have been possible. Thank you!