3D Sun-  Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. FREE

A major solar flare erupts on the sun. Before long, your phone chirps in your pocket to let you know!    Pulling out your phone, you see a 3D view of the sun- a digital reconstruction of satellite images freshly downloaded from NASA’s “STEREO” satellites, orbiting millions of miles away. You rotate the sun with your finger to view it from any angle. You pinch in and out to zoom in for a closer look at the sun’s ever-changing surface.

Distant Suns 2- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $5.99

  [Note: this version is better for pre-iPhone 3GS level devices. If you have a newer device, take a look at Distant Suns 3, which takes advantage of the greater memory, better displays and faster chips.] Originally started in 1985, it has become one of the most venerable software titles around. Sporting a database of over 130,000 stars, along with nebula and galaxies, Distant Suns has earned the reputation of both having one of the most realistic displays of the night sky, while being one of the easiest to use astronomy programs available for the most casual sky watchers and serious astronomers alike.

Distant Suns 3- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $9.99

  Sporting a database of over 300,000 stars, along with nebula and galaxies and solar system simulator, Distant Suns has earned the reputation of both having one of the most realistic displays of the night sky, while being one of the easiest to use astronomy programs available for the most casual sky watchers and serious astronomers alike.

Planets- Compatible with Windows Phone, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later. FREE, Windows $0.99

  3D guide to the solar system for aspiring astronomers

 

Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. $2.99

  Have you ever looked up at the night sky, and wondered what exactly you were looking at? Pocket Universe is an easy-to-use app that will help you learn constellations, bright stars, and planets. You cal literally hold up your iPhone or iPad in front of you, and the app will use the built-in compass to display the same view of the sky you see- but one that’s complete with names and information. If you want your kids to lean the constellations, or to impress a date with the names of the stars, this is the only app you need.

Star Walk- 5 Stars Astronomy Guide- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $2.99

Star Walk enables you to point your iPhone at the sky and see what stars, constellations, and satellites you are looking at in real-time. Please note, you will need a 3GS/4/4th gen iPod touch for motion tracking, otherwise this app will be just a beautiful info-packed time-sensitive interactive star atlas that allows you to set your location manually to give you the most accurate picture.

Star Walk for iPad- interactive astronomy guide- Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $4.99

Star Walk enables you to point your iPad at the sky and see what stars, constellations, and satellites you are looking at in real-time.

Audubon Birds- A Field Guide to North American Birds- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $19.99, Android $9.99

The newly updated Audubon Birds app has all the right ingredients to enhance your birding experience. Now with eBird, you can experience the thrill of locating birds in real time with quick access to recent sightings, locations of notable and rare birds, and maps and directions to all the birding hotspots across North America. The best bird app just got better!

BirdsEye- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $19.99

Binoculars and field guides have long been the birder’s primary tools. Binoculars help you get a better look at the bird. A field guide helps you identify it. But how do you know where to see those birds? Are you at the right place to see the birds you want to see? Could you be missing something interesting nearby? BirdsEye is the indispensable new tool that gives you the inside scoop about which birds are being seen and where.

Birdlog North America- Compatible with Android, iPhone, and iPad. $9.99

BirdLog is the first and only mobile data app for quickly and easily recording and submitting your sightings directly into eBird from the field! Forget about notebooks, pencils, and sitting at your computer. Transform your bird sightings into eBird submissions to build your own lists while sharing your sightings and supporting conservation. You’ll enter more lists with BirdLog and enter them more accurately. It is easy to tally birds as you go- and thus counting them more accurately, automatically capturing the time and duration, and using the device’s GPS and map interface for greater precision of locations. BirdLog was developed by active eBird users as a power app for submitting data into eBird. If you are not already familiar with eBird, we recommend that you visit ebird.org and register befure using BirdLog the first time.

iBird- Compatible with Android, iPhone, and iPod touch. FREE-$29.99

Other iBird Apps at on Android.

 

iBird Explorer South- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $4.99

The world’s best-selling product line of birding apps just got WAY better! iBird South is an interactive guide to the bird species of the southern region of North America. And this latest version of iBird South is a major update, taking it far beyond all current birding apps. I’d like to tell you about just a few of the things we did to improve iBird. Many of the changes came from listening to our customers and we hope you continue to let us know what you like about the product.

iBird Pro HD- Compatible with Android and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $14.99, Android $9.95

Welcome to the newest member of the iBird Explorer family: iBird Pro HD, an interactive guide to the birds of North America and Hawaii. Designed specifically for the iPad, this product contains hand-drawn illustrations, beautiful photos, bird calls and comprehensive facts to help you identify and enjoy 924 North American bird species. We also include 16 birds endemic to Hawaii and 17 introduced species that aren’t found anywhere else in the United States.

Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires 7.0 or later. FREE

What’s that bird? Merlin Bird ID helps you solve the mystery. First, Merlin asks you a few simple questions. Then, almost like magic, it reveals the list of birds that best match your description. Pick your bird, then delve into more photos, sounds, and ID tips about your bird!

National Geographic’s Handheld Birds™- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $9.99

Based on the best-selling book, National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, National Geographic Handheld Birds™ is a breakthrough in birding. It was the first North American multimedia software program to empower birders of all levels with easy-to-use interactive referencing capabilities. Fully integrated and completely user-friendly, National Geographic Handheld Birds™ instantly transforms your experience in the field into a vibrant, expertly-guided adventure.

Peterson Birds of North America- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. $29.99

Roger Tory Peterson on your iPhone and iPad. Illustrations, songs, maps, and details on over 800 species from the the best-selling print field guide, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, with additional information from seven other Peterson bird guides.

The Sibley eGuide to the Birds of North America- Compatible with Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. $19.99

The Sibley Guide to Birds has become the most popular and fastest selling printed guide to birds as well as the most comprehensive and authoritative guide to North American Birds. Over 6600 images.

Audubon Guides- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Android $9.99, iPhone $19.99

If it crawls, slithers, wiggles, flies, swims, bites, burrows, hops, it can be found in one or more of the Audubon Nature Guides. Great for birdwatching, hiking, and exploring the outdoors, guides feature high quality photographs, range maps, animal sounds, and the ability to create your own lifelists and record sightings. What are you waiting for? Start exploring your world with Audubon Mobile Field Guides.

Botany Buddy- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later. $9.99

The ultimate tree and shrub guide for gardeners, professionals, educators, and nature lovers. Over 2,000 native and ornamental plant species trees and shrubs now expanded to include cactus, succulents, and tropical plants. Over 9,500 full color photos of full plants, leaves, flowers, buds, bark, fruit, and more. All of the photos in this app are pinch and zoom enables. Search and get results by common or botanical name.

iBird- Compatible with Android, iPhone, and iPod touch. FREE-$29.99

Other iBird Apps at on Android.

 

iBird Explorer South- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $4.99

The world’s best-selling product line of birding apps just got WAY better! iBird South is an interactive guide to the bird species of the southern region of North America. And this latest version of iBird South is a major update, taking it far beyond all current birding apps. I’d like to tell you about just a few of the things we did to improve iBird. Many of the changes came from listening to our customers and we hope you continue to let us know what you like about the product.

iBird Pro HD- Compatible with Android and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $14.99, Android $9.95

Welcome to the newest member of the iBird Explorer family: iBird Pro HD, an interactive guide to the birds of North America and Hawaii. Designed specifically for the iPad, this product contains hand-drawn illustrations, beautiful photos, bird calls and comprehensive facts to help you identify and enjoy 924 North American bird species. We also include 16 birds endemic to Hawaii and 17 introduced species that aren’t found anywhere else in the United States.

Leafsnap- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later. FREE

Leafsnap is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves.

Mammals of North America-Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later. $9.99

The best selling Princeton field guide to the land and marine mammals of the United States and Canada is now available in digital form.

Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires 7.0 or later. FREE

What’s that bird? Merlin Bird ID helps you solve the mystery. First, Merlin asks you a few simple questions. Then, almost like magic, it reveals the list of birds that best match your description. Pick your bird, then delve into more photos, sounds, and ID tips about your bird!

National Geographic’s Handheld Birds™- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $9.99

Based on the best-selling book, National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, National Geographic Handheld Birds™ is a breakthrough in birding. It was the first North American multimedia software program to empower birders of all levels with easy-to-use interactive referencing capabilities. Fully integrated and completely user-friendly, National Geographic Handheld Birds™ instantly transforms your experience in the field into a vibrant, expertly-guided adventure.

Peterson Birds of North America- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. $29.99

Roger Tory Peterson on your iPhone and iPad. Illustrations, songs, maps, and details on over 800 species from the the best-selling print field guide, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, with additional information from seven other Peterson bird guides.

Phyto- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. FREE

Phyto helps you learn to identify phytoplankton and their proper pronunciation. It includes the most common saltwater phytoplankton.The program consists of two main modes. the first mode is a listing of the different species and includes different images taken with a light microscope and the ability to hear the correct punctuation.The second mode is a flash card game to help you improve your phytoplankton identification skills.

Scientific Names- Compatible with Android. Requires Android 2.2 and up. FREE

The great thing about scientific names is that every plant and animal has a unique name that means people all over the world can talk about the exact same species but a common name can be vague and confusing. Scientific names app helps find both the common and scientific name for the most common animals and almost every plant and tree.

The Sibley eGuide to the Birds of North America- Compatible with Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. $19.99

The Sibley Guide to Birds has become the most popular and fastest selling printed guide to birds as well as the most comprehensive and authoritative guide to North American Birds. Over 6600 images.

TreeBook- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 2.2.1 or later. FREE

TreeBook is the authoritative guide to 100 of the most common trees in North America, produced by veteran forester Steve Nix (of forestry.about.com fame), and developed by Ash Mishra (developer of the very popular CBC Hockey and CBC Radio apps). The application’s easy, intuitive interface provides an easy way to determine the type of tree you are looking at-with images, search, synonyms for trees, layman terms, and for the more scientifically minded- detailed terminology.

Wildflowers of Central Texas- Compatible with  Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 4.3 or later and 2.2 and up for Android. $3.99

Name that flower- they cover roadsides and blanket fields and pastures, but do they have a name? Knowing your beautiful wildflower neighbors has never been easier than with this new guide to the most common and most dramatic wildflowers of Central Texas. Organized by color and flower shape, flowers are sorted with record ease, then you verify your choice with 5-10 photos. Close-ups show the flower, leaves, and full frame shots illustrate the whole plant. Easy to understand descriptions describe the flower, its range, and details that distinguish it from similar-looking species.

Earthquake- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. $1.99

The most comprehensive earthquake application! More reporting agencies worldwide than any other. Fastest load times! Track and follow earthquakes and tsunamis now around the world in real time!

Earthquake Lite- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. FREE.

Track and follow earthquakes now around the world in real time!

 

Gaia GPS: Topo Maps and Trails- Compatible with Android, iPhone, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 5.0 or later and 2.3.3 and up for Android. $19.99

Gaia GPS is an app designed specifically for backcountry hikers who like to travel off the beaten path. You can download unlimited topographic and road maps, search for and record tracks and waypoints, and keep track of all your off-grid adventures. You can also easily mark waypoints to document observations in the field.

Geograph TX- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later. $4.99

Geograph TX is the Texas edition of the first GIS for the iPhone. it is a self-contained application (no internet or cellular access required) that contains a vast amount of information about the physical geography and geology of Texas.

Geotag Photos Pro- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 6.0 or later and 1.6 and up for Android. $3.99

Professional geotagging solution-all you need to geotag photos taken by your EXTERNAL camera (DSLR or compact one). Supports JPG and many RAW file formats. Ideal for use with Lightroom, Aperture, Picasa and other photo apps that supports geotagged photos. There are a number of other apps that allow you to create a GPX file this same purpose.

Geotimescale- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later. FREE

This is an easy, quick way to get the names and numerical dates of each of the eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages. Just select which view you want and then scroll through the time scale.

Birdlog North America- Compatible with Android, iPhone, and iPad. $9.99

BirdLog is the first and only mobile data app for quickly and easily recording and submitting your sightings directly into eBird from the field! Forget about notebooks, pencils, and sitting at your computer. Transform your bird sightings into eBird submissions to build your own lists while sharing your sightings and supporting conservation. You’ll enter more lists with BirdLog and enter them more accurately. It is easy to tally birds as you go- and thus counting them more accurately, automatically capturing the time and duration, and using the device’s GPS and map interface for greater precision of locations. BirdLog was developed by active eBird users as a power app for submitting data into eBird. If you are not already familiar with eBird, we recommend that you visit ebird.org and register befure using BirdLog the first time.

iBats- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later. FREE

The iBats app will record the sound output from an ultrasonic bat detector plugged into the iPhone ans will simultaneously geo-reference the files. The app also provides a map interface to make navigating your rout easier. The geo-referenced sound file can then be automatically uploaded through your wireless network into the iBats online database which replaces the need for a separate sound recording device, GPS unit and recording sheets. You don’t have to be part of iBats to use the app, as you can also use it to record surveys and upload recordings to your own computer.

iNaturalist- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. FREE

Explore! Learn! Record! iNaturalist helps you record your observations from the natural world and contribute them to iNaturalist.org, a social network for naturalists. Check out Herps of Texas and Texas Freshwater Mussels Projects.

Invasive Plants in Southern Forests: Identification and Management- Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. FREE

This app is based on the U.S Forest Service publication: A Field Guide for the Identification of Invasive Plants in Southern Forests. Invasions of nonnative plants into forests of the Southern United States continue to go unchecked and only partially unmonitored. These infestations increasingly erode forest productivity, hindering forest use and management activities, and degrading diversity and wildlife habitat. Often called nonnative, exotic, nonindigenous, alien, or noxious weeds, they occur as trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, ferns, and forbs. This app provides information on accurate identification of the 56 nonnative plants and groups that are currently invading the forests of the 13 Southern States.Recommendation for prevention and control of these species is provided from the booklet, “A Management Guide for Invasive Plants of Southern Forests,” published by the Southern Research Station as a General Technical Report. Basic strategies for managing invasions on a specific site include maintaining forest vigor with minimal disturbance, constant surveillance and treatment of new unwanted arrivals, and finally, rehabilitation following eradication.

iTrack Wildlife- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $14.99

iTrack Wildlife is the most comprehensive digital field guide to animal tracks ever made. Whether you’re a naturalist, a hunter, a nature lover, an outdoor enthusiast, or a wildlife biologist, you will find iTrack Wildlife to be a terrific companion on your outdoor adventures. While the simple and intuitive design make this app accessible to the novice, the wealth of accurate information and powerful search tools will appeal to experts and wildlife professionals.

Journey North by Annenberg Learner- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. FREE

Seasonal change is all around us. Children see it in the length of a day, in theappearance of a flower, in the flight of a butterfly. Journey North is a long-established, highly respected, free Internet-based program that explores the interrelated aspects of seasonal change. Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles- and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events.

Project Noah- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. FREE

Project Noah is an amazing way to share your wildlife encounters and help document our planet’s biodiversity.

 

SciSpy- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later. FREE

Scout out the natural world. Something slinking in the garden? Snap it with your camera. Share it with the world. Submit a photo and you’re contributing to research initiatives that rely on amateur participation.

SoilWeb- Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 3.1.2 or later. FREE

GPS based, real-time access to USDA-NRCS soil survey data, formatted for the iPhone. This application retrieves graphical summaries of soil types associated with the iPhone’s current geographic location, based on a user defined horizontal precision. Sketches of soil profiles are linked to their official soil series description (OSD) page. Soil series names are linked to their associated page within the CA Soil Resource Lab’s online soil survey, SoilWeb.

TX Invaders-Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later and 2.2 and up for Android. FREE

The Invaders of Texas Citizen Science program collects species observations from volunteer “citixen scientists” trained to use a specially developed Invasis Species Early Detection and Reporting Kit. With this kit, volunteers detect invaders’ arrival and dispersal in their own local areas. The purpose of this database is to provide geographical locations and distributional information for known and “potentially” invasive plant species.

WildObs Observer- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. FREE

Know what mammals, birds, snakes, bugs, plants and more are around you? Look up 1000s of species by name. Record your wildlife encounters and contribute them to both your database and to the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Watch program. Learn what naturalists around you are seeing.

ArcGIS- compatible with Android, Windows Phone, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. FREE.

ArcGIS is a great way to discover and use maps. Maps come to life in ArcGIS.Tap on the map or use your current location and discover information about what you see. You can query the map,search and find interesting information, measure distances and areas of interest and share maps with others.

Compass Pro- Compatible with Android, Blackberry, iPhone, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. $1.99

The compass that shows direction to any location you want! With Compass Pro you can set a point on a map and Compass Pro will show you the direction to that point with a second marker on the compass in realtime. Compass Pro uses both the built-in GPS device and the built-in digital compass to calculate the heading towards the geographical north and also towards your defined point on the map.

Easy Trails GPS 6- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. $3.99

EasyTrails GPS is the application for outdoor experiences that users trust. With a ton of features, the EasyTrails GPS app provides everything that outdoor enthusiasts need and want, including great trail sharing functions. With its build in Google Maps and Google Earth, you’ll have a visual record of the distance you’ve travelled and the locations you’ve been to. You can get a general overview of the area or zoom in for a street view.

EveryTrail- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later. FREE

GPS enabled Self-Guided Tours. Create your own or search EveryTrail.com for over 350,000 worldwide. Internet access not needed on trail, Stores Maps, Guides, and Trips locally on smartphone. Trips and Guides are available on EveryTrail.com. Search for “Master Naturalist” created Tours. Your Trail Guides can be stored and shared on EveryTrail.com for free.

EveryTrail PRO- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later. $3.99

GPS enabled Self-Guided Tours. Create your own or search EveryTrail.com for over 350,000 worldwide. Internet access not needed on trail, Stores Maps, Guides, and Trips locally on smartphone. Trips and Guides are available on EveryTrail.com. Search for “Master Naturalist” created Tours. Your Trail Guides can be stored and shared on EveryTrail.com for free.

Gaia GPS: Topo Maps and Trails- Compatible with Android, iPhone, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 5.0 or later and 2.3.3 and up for Android. $19.99

Gaia GPS is an app designed specifically for backcountry hikers who like to travel off the beaten path. You can download unlimited topographic and road maps, search for and record tracks and waypoints, and keep track of all your off-grid adventures. You can also easily mark waypoints to document observations in the field.

Geotag Photos Pro- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 6.0 or later and 1.6 and up for Android. $3.99Professional geotagging solution-all you need to geotag photos taken by your EXTERNAL camera (DSLR or compact one). Supports JPG and many RAW file formats. Ideal for use with Lightroom, Aperture, Picasa and other photo apps that supports geotagged photos. There are a number of other apps that allow you to create a GPX file this same purpose.

Google Earth- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. FREE

Hold the world in the palm of your hand. With Google Earth, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world’s population and a third of the world’s land mass.
Maplets- Maps for All National Parks, Subway, Ski Resorts and more- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $2.99

The most comprehensive offline map app on the app store, with over 6000 maps in the US and worldwide including Yosemite, New York Subway, London Tube, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, State Parks, and more!

MotionX GPS- Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. $1.99

Great for cycling, hiking, jogging, sailing, flying, geocaching, and more! Get active with MotionX-GPS! MotionX-GPS shows your position and track at all times on street maps, topo/terrain maps, satellite/hybrid maps, or marine charts. Record or follow your tracks and share with a single click your position, track, trip statistics (date, start time, elapsed time, distance traveled, average speed, etc.) and a picture taken along the way. Free downloadable maps worldwide! Including MotionX Toad and Terrain maps, and NOAA marine charts. MotionX-GPS is the leading GPS solution for the iPhone, with over 5 million happy users. Exclusively designed and optimized for the iPhone.

Theodolite Pro- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $3.99

Based on a centuries-old astronomical instrument, Theodolite is a cool new multi-function augmented reality app for the iPhone that serves as a compass, GPS, map, zoom camera, rangefinder, and two-axis inclinometer. Theodolite overlays real time information about position, altitude, bearing, and horizontal/vertical inclination on the iPhone’s live camera image, like an electronic viewfinder. Uses are endless, and the app is great for hiking, boating, hunting, golf, sports, sightseeing, navigation, and finding your way around.

Topo Maps- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $7.99

View USGS 1:24,000 topographical maps on your iPhone or iPod touch. Ideal for hiking and other backcountry activities. Map downloads are FREE! Provides more than 69,000 maps covering the United States and Canada, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. iPad owners, please see the app “Topo Maps for iPad”.

Trailhead: The North Face- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. FREE

The North Face® Trailhead App is your one stop resource for exploration. Powered by EveryTrail.com, Trailhead finds trails, hikes, bike routes and more based on your location. You can even search by acrivity and length. Whether you’ve selected an existing trip or started a new one, Trailhead tracks your route, distance, speed and elevation in real-time. When you’re done exploring, you can post your trip to Facebook, Twitter, or EveryTrail.com

BeeSmart Pollinator Gardener- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. FREE

The BeeSmart™ Pollinator Gardener is your comprehensive guide to selecting plants for pollinators specific to your area. Never get caught wondering what plants to buy again! With the BeeSmart™ Pollinator Gardener’s easy user interface, browse through a database of nearly 1,000 native plants. Filter your plants by what pollinators you want to attract, light and soil requirements, bloom color, and plant type.

Botany Buddy- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later. $9.99

The ultimate tree and shrub guide for gardeners, professionals, educators, and nature lovers. Over 2,000 native and ornamental plant species trees and shrubs now expanded to include cactus, succulents, and tropical plants. Over 9,500 full color photos of full plants, leaves, flowers, buds, bark, fruit, and more. All of the photos in this app are pinch and zoom enables. Search and get results by common or botanical name.

BRIT Guide to Texas Range and Pasture Plants- Compatible with Android. $1.99

The mission of BRIT is to conserve our natural heritage by deepening our knowledge of the plant world and achieving public understanding of the value plants bring to life. We created this field guide to provide a valuable resource for those who strive to understand, study, use, protect, and appreciate key range and pasture plants of Texas. These plants have an impact on the economic well-being of our state’s agricultural industries and the region’s biodiversity. This guide is intended for anyone who has an interest in Texas range and pasture plants, including farmers, ranchers, and naturalists.

iPlant- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $2.99

iPlant is a reference guide containing culinary and medicinal information about common plants and herbs. It does not require an internet connection (except for the optional integrated wiki page). iPlant contains common, scientific (latin) and alternative plant names with descriptions, common usage, food and medicinal value with warnings. There are over 150 photographs, and over 300 plants and herbs listed, and growing every month. Currently a focus has been on useful plants, however plants such as poison ivy are listed so that harmful plants can be available for reference.

Leafsnap- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later. FREE

Leafsnap is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves.

Wildflowers of Central Texas- Compatible with  Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 4.3 or later and 2.2 and up for Android. $3.99

Name that flower- they cover roadsides and blanket fields and pastures, but do they have a name? Knowing your beautiful wildflower neighbors has never been easier than with this new guide to the most common and most dramatic wildflowers of Central Texas. Organized by color and flower shape, flowers are sorted with record ease, then you verify your choice with 5-10 photos. Close-ups show the flower, leaves, and full frame shots illustrate the whole plant. Easy to understand descriptions describe the flower, its range, and details that distinguish it from similar-looking species.

Animated Knots- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. $4.99

Learn to tie knots the fun and easy way from the creators of the web’s #1 knot site. Animated Knots by Grog is simply the best and most comprehensive teaching and references tool for boaters, climbers, fishermen, scouts, and hobbyists. Watch as knots tie themselves in simple step-by-step photo animations. Use the manual controls to step through the animations frame by frame as you learn each knot. Tap the info button to get detailed descritions about each knot’s correct use, advantages and disadvantages, and other information.

Day Journal- Private Diary- Compatible with Android. Requires 2.3 and up. FREE

Day Journal is a private diary app which helps you record your life. Collect, record, and organize your thoughts, ideas, and experiences with photos, audio, emotions, categories, tags, weather and location data. It won’t take long before you build up a wonderful collection of memories which you can then export or share in a number of different formats.

Day One (Journal/Diary) by Bloom Built, LLC- Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. FREE

Record life as you live it. From once-in-a-lifetime events to everyday moments, Day One’s elegant interface makes journaling your life a simple pleasure.

LightTrac- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $4.99

LightTrac is a must have tool for all outdoor photographers. Quickly determine at what time and location the light conditions are perfect to shoot your subject outdoors. The elevation and angle of Sun changes throughout the year depending on the location, date, and time of day. LightTrac calculates both the elevation and algle of sun and moon for any date and time, for any place on earth and plots it on top of a satellite map. Armed with this information and with an extremely easy to use interface, you can now plan your photo shoot even several months ahead of time and position yourself at the right spot at the right time for that perfect shot.

Office²- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $5.99

Office², the most intuitive and straightforward office document tool available on the iPhone, makes it easy to open, view, create and edit Word (DOC & DOCX), Excel (XLS) and PowerPoint (PPT) files right from your iPhone! Can use spreadsheet for recording AT and Volunteer hours.

Office² HD- Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. $7.99

Office², the most intuitive and straightforward office document tool available on the iPhone, makes it easy to open, view, create and edit Word (DOC & DOCX), Excel (XLS) and PowerPoint (PPT) files right from your iPhone! Can use spreadsheet for recording AT and Volunteer hours.

TEKS- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. FREE

View the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills in one app! A great reference for teachers, parents, and students to easily read and understand the standards. Quickly find and search standards by subject, grade level, and key word.

MyRefuge- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. FREE

National Wildlife Refuges have been called “America’s best kept recreation secret”. Well this app will let you in on the secret as you locate Refuges near you and learn about what they have to offer. MyRefuge lists interesting information like hours of peration, to special events and activities taking place on the Refuge, to the kinds of wildlife you are likeyly to see during a visit. Use MyRefuge to learn more about birds, recreation trails and historic sites on your favorite Refuges, or use it to help plan a visit. Get MyRefuge and get the inside scoop on some of America’s greatest outdoor locations.

Word Lens- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. FREE, but translators are $9.99 for Spanish to English and $9.99 for English to Spanish.

Instantly translate printed words from one language to another with built in iPhone camera in real time. Great app if you don’t speak or read Spanish. Use anytime you see a sign in Spanish and wonder what it says! You won’t believe this app. Best used for printed signs, menus, etc. Not network connection required. Languages: English, Spanish, and French.

Dragon Dictation- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. FREE

Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it’s up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard. Just the tap the record button and start talking. The app will create the text as you speak. When you’re done, just copy the text to any app. Works great for trail notes!

Flashlight- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. FREE

Flashlight uses the LED light on iPhone and fills your screen with bright white light to illuminate your world when you find yourself in a dark spot or concert. Includes full customizable special effects including: Strobe Light, Trippy, S.O.S., Yin-Yang, Halloween, Candy Hearts, Holiday Lights and more!

SoundCloud- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. FREE

SoundCloud is a sound sharing platform. The app allows you to record and post sounds online, as well as listen to other people’s recordings. Mostly this platform is used for music, but it is a convenient tool for documenting sounds. Once you record and upload your sounds, you can link them to iNaturalist observations.

Tiny Flashlight- Compatible with Android and Windows Phone. Requires 1.5 and up for Android. FREE

Incredibly simple and yet very useful flashlight application. Will use your device’s camera LED as a torch.

 

Smart Voice Recorder- Compatible with Android 2.1 and up. FREE

Smart Voice Recorder is designed for high quality long-time sound recording with skipping relative silence on-the-fly. It’s fantastic! NOTE: This app is not a call recorder. Recordings in this format cannot be sent via text/sms/mms.

Hurricane Pro- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $2.99

Hurricane Pro™, the ULTIMATE Hurricane tracking application for the iPhone and iPod Touch! No other hurricane tracker comes close to Hurricane™!

Hurricane Tracker- Compatible with Android, Windows Phone, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. $2.99. FREE for Android, and $1.29 for Windows Phone.

Get the most COMPREHENSIVE & popular Hurricane App! Complete tracking with Fast PUSH Alerts, Audio & Video Updates, Dozens of maps, Real Time Live Updates & Threat Level Maps- On the fly changes!- No other app can MATCH! Delivering minute by minute information! Also, we’ve just added the 0Z & 12Z GFS/ECMWF/CMC/GFDL model runs ( 4 major models) so you can track storms like the pros do!

RadarScope- Compatible with Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. $9.99

RadarScope is a specialized display utility for weather enthusiasts and meteorologists that allows you to view NEXRAD Level 3 radar data along with our most requested new feature, Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm, and Flash FLood Warnings issued by the National Weather Service. It can display the latest reflectivity, velocity, and other products from and NEXRAD radae site in the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico. These aren’t smoothed PNG or GIF images, this is the real Level 3 radar data rendered in its original radial format for a high level of detail.

Skeptical Science- Compatible Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1.1 or later. FREE

Ever heard someone claim global warming isn’t happening? Did their explanation seem wrong but you didn’t know why? Skeptical Science helps you find our what the peer reviewed science has to say about global warming. The easy navigation by skeptical argument allows you to take a statement and find out for yourself whether it is based on credible science or not.

WeatherBug Elite- Compatible with Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. $0.99, Android $1.99, and Blackberry $4.99

Access the largest network of professional weather stations in North America and thousands of locations around the world! WeatherBug Elite brings the most accurate, reliable, and timely weather information directly to your phone. Complete with Doppler radar, severe weather alerts, maps, forecasts, widgets, and much more, WeatherBug Elite is the most comprehensive weather app available.

AquaPlant- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. $5.99

AquaPlant is designed to help pond owners and their advisors in the identification and management of aquatic vegetation. Aquatic vegetation management can be a perplexing problem. THe first part of that problem is proper identification. Management of most aquatic plant species depends on properly identifying the desirable or nuisance plant. After identification of the aquatic plant is achieved with the visual index and description pages of AquaPlant, the user can then use the management section for each species to learn the correct tratment options including biological, mechanical, and herbicide controls.

AquaRef- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. FREE

The aquaculture and pond manager quick reference guide is an inclusive set of tables and conversion factors for aquaculture professionals. Conversion factors range from the weight of chemical unitas that must be added to water to achieve particular concentrations to temperature conversion to volumetric water conversion factors to metric-English conversion for chemicals. This guide is packed full of useful information including pond filling time, pumping rate equivalents, discharge rates from standpipes, net mesh sizes for grading fish, length/weight relationships for fish, oxygen saturation points, pounds of fish that can be hauled at temperature, egg development stages, stocking guides, fertilization rates, and much more. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s AquaRef is credited in large part to Larry Dorman with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, as he developed many of these materials for the quintessential Aquaculture Producer’s Quick Reference Handbook. Tables were reproduced with permission.

PondCalc- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. FREE

Comprehenisve tool for recreational pond users as well as aquaculture producers. One of the most common problems in pond management is overestimation of pond size. This tool allows the user to quickly and easily calculate the surface area of any shaped pond and then calculate the number of acre feet, all without having to do any math. These calculations allow the user to determine accurate pond area and volume for the application of chemical treatments and herbicides.

AquaCide- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. FREE

The Aquatic herbicide selection, effectiveness, and restriction guide is a tool for recreational pond managers as well as aquaculture professionals. This comprehensive visual guide helps you select the most effective herbicides for all aquatic vegetation classes, including the most common North American algae and floating, submerged, and emergent aquatic vegetation. Only herbicides that provide good or excellent control are provided for each species. AquaCide provides the environmental restrictions of all aquatically labeled herbicides, such as restrictions for human use (drinking, swimming, and fish consumption), livestock watering, irrigation (turf and crops), and other general comments pertaining to restrictions and  differences in formulation.

AmmoniaCalc- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. $0.99

The un-ionized ammonia calculator is an invaluable resource for on the go aquaculture producers and managers as well as home aquarium hobbyists. Ammonia is the major end product in the breakdown of proteins in fish. Total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) is composed of toxic (un-ionized) ammonia (NH3) and nontoxic (ionized) ammonia (NH4+). Over time the buildup of ammonia within the fish system, combined changes in pH and temperature causes fluctuations in the concentration of toxic un-ionized ammonia. AmmoniaCalc allows the user to input simple, easy, measured water chemistry measurements such as pH and temperature to instantly calculate the un-ionized ammonia concentration.

Texas Farm Pond Management Calendar- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.1 or later. FREE

The Texas Farm Pond Management Calendar is a virtual pocket guide/calendar to keep private pond managers up to date with the activities needed during each month of the year in order to manage their pond for the best fishing possible. The calendar may be accessed anytime, anywhere to determine the appropriate time to do activities such as stocking, liming, fertilizing, harvesting, weed control, draw down, feeding, and renovation if necessary. It also makkes managers and anglers aware of how much they should harvest and the time of year that different species are spawning.

Feral Hog Management- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.1 or later. $0.99

Feral Hog Management lets you quickly and easily access information on feral hog management techniques. Learn how to effectively bait, trap, shoot, snare, and use dogs to reduce feral hog populations in your area. An abundance of detailed photographs and drawings make management techniques clear. This app draws on science-based information, years of experience and observation, and places it all in the palm of your hands to effectively capture feral hogs.

Stocking Rate Calculator for Grazing Livestock- Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. $0.99

One of the most common problems livestock managers deal with is having too many animals on the land. Being overstocked beyond what the land can handle may lead to overgrazing, resulting in issues such as decreased forage production, erosion problems, and degraded wildlife habitat. GrazingCalc allows the user to quickly and easily calculate a correct stocking rate for your property based on the measured forage production. GrazingCalc can apply to cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The tool also allows you to manipulate the number of animals and grazing months based on estimated available forage.