Help & Support

Subscriptions are managed by Apple, so you cancel on your iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap your name at the top, then Subscriptions.
3. Tap Pipwing, then Cancel Subscription (or Cancel Free Trial).

You can also get there from Pipwing: Settings › Manage subscription.

Cancel at least 24 hours before your trial or current period ends to avoid the next charge. After you cancel, you keep access until the end of the time you've already paid for. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.

The yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial. If you allow notifications, we remind you on day 5, two days before it ends. If you don't cancel, the yearly subscription ($19.99 in the US, shareable with your family) starts on day 7. The monthly plan ($3.99 in the US) has no free trial. Before subscribing you can also try 3 real scans free; a photo where Pip can't find a bird doesn't use one up. Free trials are for new subscribers, as determined by Apple.

1. Make sure you're signed in with the same Apple Account you used to subscribe.
2. Open Pipwing, go to Settings and tap Restore purchases. You'll also find Restore on the subscription screen.

Your subscription works on any iPhone signed in to that Apple Account. Your sightings follow you too, through iCloud; see "Where are my sightings stored?" below.

Apple handles all payments and refunds; we never see your payment details, so we can't refund you directly. Request a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in, choose the Pipwing charge and select "Request a refund". Apple decides refund requests.

Yes, a generous one, so the service stays fast and affordable: up to 40 scans a day, including during the free trial. Limits reset every 24 hours.

• Zoom in so the bird is big in the picture. Pipwing's camera opens at 2×. Pinch or tap 3× for far-away birds, then fit the bird in the box before you scan. Photos from your library get the same box.
• Side-on views are best. They show the most field marks.
• Show the beak, wings and tail. Beak shape, wing bars, tail shape and leg colour all help.
• Mind the light. Birds against a bright sky turn into silhouettes; try to have the light behind you.
• Scan a photo from your library. Got a great shot on another camera, or through binoculars? Save it to your photo library and choose it from there.
• Feathers, eggs or nests? Snap them where they are, but don't pick them up.
• Keep your distance. If the bird changes what it's doing, you're too close. A slightly blurry photo is better than a scared bird.

Pipwing uses AI to identify birds from a photo, and it's very good with clear photos of common birds. But a photo can't always separate look-alikes: think downy vs hairy woodpecker, Cooper's vs sharp-shinned hawk, female ducks or young sparrows. Distance, blur and plumage that changes with age, sex and season make it harder. That's why every result shows:

• a confidence level, so you know how sure it is;
• "Could also be" look-alikes, with how to tell them apart;
• a "Check it" tip: the field mark to look for, or the sound to listen for, next time you see it.

Think of a result as a well-informed starting point. For anything important, check with a field guide, a local bird club or an experienced birder.

Look at the "Could also be" list and the "Check it" tip, and try again with a closer, side-on photo if you can. If it's still wrong, email us the photo and what you believe it is. We use reports like this to improve how Pipwing explains and checks its answers. (We don't use your photos to train AI models.)

No. Pipwing identifies birds from photos only. Each result does tell you what the bird sounds like, in words you can copy, so you'll start recognising calls. If you mostly hear birds rather than see them, free sound-ID apps such as Merlin Bird ID are great, and they work nicely alongside Pipwing.

Baby bird on the ground? Most are fledglings learning to fly, and their parents are usually nearby. Watch from a distance and leave it be. Hurt or truly orphaned? Don't try to care for it yourself; contact a local licensed wildlife rehabilitator for advice.

Feathers, nests and eggs: photograph them where they are and leave them there. In the US it's illegal to collect the feathers, nests or eggs of most native wild birds, and similar laws exist in many countries. See section 5 of our Terms.

Birders call a species you've seen for the first time in your life a lifer, and the list of every species you've ever seen your life list. In Pipwing, the first time you identify a new species you get a "LIFER!" moment, and it joins your Life List with the date you first saw it. Pipwing identifies thousands of birds, and the Life List is the 78 every family can find, from cardinals and chickadees to herons, hawks and hummingbirds.

Pip starts as a Sleepy Egg and hatches with your first bird. Every new kind of bird you spot helps Pip grow through 7 stages:

1. Sleepy Egg
2. Hatchling: your first bird
3. Fledgling: 5 kinds of bird
4. Birdwatcher: 12 kinds
5. Sky Explorer: 25 kinds
6. Flock Leader: 40 kinds
7. Legend of the Skies: 60 kinds

Along the way you earn badges like Raptor Radar, Splash Zone and Knock Knock, and spotting birds on days in a row keeps your streak going (3 days earns Early Bird).

Pipwing is made for families to go birding together. It's a general-audience app with no ads, chat, accounts or social features, and its answers are written to be kind and suitable for children. Kids should bird with a grown-up, especially near water or roads, and a grown-up should manage the subscription.

Your sightings (photos, results, notes, favourites and map pins) are stored on your iPhone and are never uploaded to us. If you're signed in to iCloud, they also back up to your own iCloud and sync to every iPhone signed in to the same Apple Account, including a new phone: install Pipwing, open it, and your sightings arrive in a minute or two, with your life list, badges and Pip catching up from them. We never see that copy.

Not syncing? Check that you're signed in to iCloud (iPhone Settings › your name), that Back up finds to iCloud is on in Pipwing's Settings (the line under it says what's happening), and that your iCloud storage isn't full. A change to that switch applies the next time you open Pipwing. Sync covers devices on the same Apple Account; it doesn't share sightings between family members' accounts. With backup off, or if you're not signed in to iCloud, your sightings stay on that phone only (they're still in your normal iPhone backup), and deleting the app deletes them.

To identify a bird, the photo is sent securely to our server, which passes it to an AI service (Google's Gemini, on a paid plan) and returns the result. Our server doesn't keep your photo, and it isn't used to train AI. There's no account, no ads and no tracking. The full details are in our Privacy Policy.

No. Pinning sightings on your map is optional. If you turn it on, your location is saved with each sighting, on your phone and, with iCloud backup on, in your own iCloud. It's never sent to us or to the AI service. "Around now?" uses the region you picked during onboarding (such as "UK or Ireland"), not your location.

No. There's no sign-up or login. Your subscription is tied to your Apple Account by Apple.

Go to iPhone Settings › Notifications › Pipwing and turn off Allow Notifications. The trial reminder is the only notification Pipwing sends.

You can browse your sightings and life list offline, but identifying a new bird needs an internet connection. Out on the trail without signal? Take the photo with your camera and scan it from your photo library later.