Skip to the end for the Too Long Didn't Read (TLDR) version...
I've been playing with a new species ID app lately that I'd like to share. Long story short, it's worth playing with but don't count on it for consistency or accuracy. Use it just as one tool in your toolbox. I was really excited to try this one. I know a lot about a little, a little about a lot, and VERY little about mushrooms.
It starts with a splash screen when you first fire it up with the obligatory NEVER EAT MUSHROOMS warning. You know, 'cause they'll kill you -- at which point you probably won't care which mushroom it was. That said, it then shows you the symbols the app uses to tell you which ones are edible as opposed to toxic. That's a red flag to me. While some apps have become quite good at identifying different species, a mushroom ID app seems like a poor way to decide if something is safe to eat. I don't understand why they would bother putting if it is edible or not.
As to the species ID, it seems to be hit or miss. You can scan one of two ways. The first is the standard of using a picture that the app attempts to automatically classify. You can take the photo in the app or upload it from the gallery. Alternatively, you can do a live scan of the mushroom.
For the live scan, holding the mushroom in your hand and rotating it or the camera in order to get an entire scan of the specimen. Keeping the mushroom in focus is of course very important. It is also of course rather difficult. For the most part it'll stay in focus but it's inevitable that a portion of your scan is going to be blurry. I intentionally caused a loss of focus and it (as you'd expect) causes a mis-ID. I mentioned in my introduction that I know little about mushrooms, so how can I tell that it misidentified the test 'shroom? Excellent question, dear reader! Running scan on the same mushroom gave different ID's with multiple attempts. This method will also try to identify anything that you put in the viewfinder. My coffee mug shows up as one of 5 different mushrooms. One of them is red. My mug is cream/green. Eh?
Regarding uploading a photo, I uploaded a picture of a raccoon as another test. It identified it as homo sapiens, so the app does have a sense of humor. It goes as far as to say "It is not a mushroom. Do not eat." When uploading a photo of the mushroom, it did make a suggestion that overlapped with the live scan -- so that gives me hope that the app might have some value.
You can also scroll through mushroom information without trying to identify information. You're basically reading through a field guide on this tab. I appreciate that you can browse the information as opposed to JUST identifying something.
A fun little add on is the mushroom ID quiz within the app. I tried to answer 20 questions. I never got more than 2 right in a row. I think I'll stick to store bought mushrooms.
tldr: I like everything about the app except it's mushroom ID consistency. This was disappointing as it has over 1 million downloads and 4.3 stars so I feel like I was expecting more. I feel like a competent user and have a good natural resource base to understand any questions. I read a lot of the reviews and many of them give 4+ stars but mention how it's not always correct. I leave you with this quip from "A Google user" - "It's not always correct but usually or [sic] gives enough to figure it out..."
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