Exploring Nature with the Seek App

Many of us miss the mental health benefits of being out in nature because we just walk blindly through it, thinking of other things. Using an app to identify plants and animals can help us focus on what is around us in nature. The Seek app for iNaturalist keeps a list of species that you have identified. It also provides challenges to help focus your nature exploration and badges to celebrate observation milestones.

Download the Seek app from iNaturalist
(available in the App Store.)

  • Within the app, use the camera feature to identify a plant or animal. (Note: depending on your device, this may work best with creatures that are nearby and sitting still.)

  • Seek will tell you if this is a new species, or one you’ve already seen. 

  • As the app keeps track of your observations, it will award you badges. Example above. 

  • The app also gives you the opportunity to work on challenges with specific observation goals.

We are very connected to and dependent on our electronic devices. Instead of letting them be a distraction that prevents us from seeing the natural world, the Seek app provides a lens through which we can focus on nature.