How to use Wildlife Engine

Install and first start

Install Wildlife Engine from Google Play (see Download), then:

1. Open Wildlife Engine. The welcome screen explains what the app does.
2. Tap Allow access to photos.
3. Android asks about notifications: tap Allow. You will then see progress while the app works in the background.
4. Android asks about photos: tap Allow all. The app needs your whole library to sort it; with limited access it can only see the photos you pick.
5. Your albums appear: All photos first, then each folder on the phone with its photo count.

At the bottom are three tabs, Albums, Dates and Species, plus Settings. You need Android 11 or newer and about 400 MB of free space.

Tell the app where you shoot

Set your region once. Species names become far more accurate, because the app only considers species found there.

1. Tap Settings and scroll to Where you shoot.
2. Type your region and country, for example Nashik, India or Kruger, South Africa.
3. Go back. It is saved as you type.

If you leave it empty, the app uses your phone's country.

Analyse an album

Analysis runs on the phone and keeps going when you leave the app. A 30-photo album takes about a minute on a recent phone.

1. On Albums, tap an album.
2. Tap Analyse N photos (in the background, free). The first photo takes longest while the app gets ready.
3. Leave the app if you like. A notification shows Analysing 12 of 30 with a progress bar and a Stop button.
4. When it finishes, the notification says Analysed 30 photos. Tap to review Selects and Rejects. Tap it to open the app.

New photos in an album are picked up the next time you analyse it. To redo an album from scratch, open its ⋯ menu and choose Re-analyse all photos here.

Reading the results

Every analysed photo gets 1 to 5 stars and lands in one list. Nothing is ever deleted or moved on your phone.

Stars come from sharpness, exposure and the eye. Two rules cap a photo at 2★: the eye can't be seen, or the animal fills too little of the frame. Both can be changed in Settings.

Bursts: photos taken a moment apart are grouped. The best frames (2 by default) are kept and the rest go to Rejects; the viewer shows #2 in burst.

Sorting and filters sit above the photos: Newest, Oldest, Best first, a star filter from 1★ to 5★ (scroll the row sideways), and Named for photos that have a species.

The photo viewer

Tap any photo to open it full screen. Swipe left or right for the next one, pinch to zoom and double-tap to fit. Under the photo you see:

• the file name, the stars, animal found and whether it is a Select or a Reject;
• the species and how sure the phone is, for example Common Emerald Dove · 99% (on phone);
• the reasons behind the stars, for example Sharpness 76% · Exposure 99% · sharp · eye visible;
• Also in: other lists the photo belongs to, such as Plants & flowers for a bird among flowers.

Select and Reject at the bottom overrule the app for this photo. Name… (or Change… when it has a name) lets you pick or type the species. The ⋯ menu at the top right has:

Selecting several photos

Press and hold a photo to start selecting, then tap more photos; the top bar shows 2 selected. In the ⋯ menu of that bar you can:

• Mark as Select or Mark as Reject: your choice always wins over the app's.
• Back to automatic: undo your choice and let the app decide again.
• Share… or Move to Trash… all of them at once.

Press the phone's Back button to stop selecting.

Photos that are not wildlife

Photos without wildlife get their own lists next to Selects and Rejects, and they are never sent for species names.

A photo can appear in more than one list: a bird among flowers is a Select and is Also in Plants & flowers. Only lists that have photos are shown; scroll the row of lists sideways to see them all.

Photos taken with a camera are treated as wildlife whenever the app is unsure, so a hidden bird is not lost. If a photo lands in the wrong list, open it and tap Select or Reject, or use Identify species (AI): a photo that gets an animal's name moves to wildlife. To keep everything in Selects and Rejects, turn off Sort non-wildlife into categories in Settings.

Species names

The phone names most species by itself, free and offline. The AI is an optional extra for the ones it is unsure about.

On the phone (free). While analysing, the app names each animal it is sure about, shown as 99% (on phone). Unsure ones stay not named. Setting Where you shoot makes these names much more accurate.

Name it yourself. Open the photo, tap Name… or Change… and type; suggestions from the species list appear as you type. Your names are never overwritten.

With the AI (optional, paid by you). The AI looks at the animal, cropped from the photo, with your region and the date.

1. In Settings › Species identification (AI), tap Get a key to create a free key on the AI provider's page, then Add key… and paste it. The key stays encrypted on your phone.
2. In an album, tap Identify species of N Selects, or use ⋯ › Identify species (AI) for a single photo.
3. Choose Now (names in a few seconds each) or Batch (half price, names arrive within 24 hours; the app checks by itself).

The AI provider bills your own account, about ₹0.12 (a fraction of a US cent) per photo with the Economy model. The monthly budget stops the AI when it is used up. With One photo per burst on, only the best frame of each burst is sent and the others get its name free.

The Species tab lists every species in your photos with its scientific name and photo count; tap one to see all its photos. The Dates tab shows your photos day by day, newest first; tap a day to see it with the same lists, sorting and filters as an album.

Every setting explained

The defaults suit most wildlife photographers. Change a setting and every album is re-sorted at once, without analysing again.

Culling

Species identification (AI)

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