Own product · Android app
Birdy, the bird app I built and run
Birdy recognizes 839 European birds by photo or song and saves the moment in a field journal. All the AI runs on the phone, fully offline and with no account. I designed and built the app, the site and everything in between, and I run it myself.
Birdy · a field journal for birds
Know the bird. Keep the moment.
A bird's name is the start of a story. Birdy gives you the name out in the forest and lets you keep where you were and what you saw.
a field journal that looks like a field journal
Three views from the app: identify, the field journal and the collection.
The background
Whenever I build something I start with the same question: what should the phone do that the web can't? For Birdy the answer was clear. The app has to recognize a bird from a photo or a call out in the forest, with no coverage and no account. A web page can't do that, so Birdy became a real app.
Birdy is also my own workshop. It is where I try out for real what I could otherwise only describe: AI that runs on the phone, a design that carries a whole brand, and the road from first sketch to an app on Google Play.
The app went live on Google Play in June 2026, with the field journal, the species guide and a private map of your sightings. It has its own site in Swedish and English, and an iPhone version is being built from the same codebase.
The concept
Recognize the bird
With the camera while you watch, with a photo from your gallery or with a short recording of the song. Birdy shows how sure it is.
Keep the moment
You confirm a match yourself before it is saved. Your sightings become a personal field journal to leaf through, not answers that vanish when the app closes.
Take it outside
The guide to 839 species, the pictures and the models live on the phone. Birdy works on a forest trail with no signal.
What I built
The app, from the ground up
Built in Kotlin Multiplatform with Compose, so the same codebase carries Android today and iPhone next. Swedish and English throughout the app.
AI that runs on the phone
Both image and sound recognition run locally. Nothing is sent to a server to get an answer, and it works with no coverage.
A guide to 839 species
Every species has its own profile to read and browse, offline too, so the app is a field guide and not just an identifier.
A private map of your sightings
Your sightings land on a map only you can see. Photos and journal stay on the device, and no account is needed.
The site, birdy.community
Built statically in Astro in Swedish and English, with field notes where I write about the thinking behind the app.
Premium through Google Play
Payment is handled by Google Play, and the prices come from there. People who installed Birdy early keep Premium for good.
Three choices that shaped Birdy
No account, no server
The simplest answer to where your sightings live is: with you. Running everything on the phone makes Birdy both private and useful where the coverage ends.
The app suggests, you decide
Birdy doesn't always know what you saw. It shows how sure it is and lets you check the match, so the journal only holds what you stand behind yourself.
A field journal, not a database
Paper, serif and a dash of handwriting. The design comes from the notebook you keep in your pocket, because that is the feeling the app should give.
Where Birdy stands now
Live on Google Play
The Android app with identification, field journal, species guide and private map.
Version 1.3
A visual lift and Premium for real, with the same features as today.
iPhone
An iPhone version is being built from the same codebase as the Android app.
Field notes
On birdy.community I write about how Birdy is meant to work: the structure, the plan and why I chose what I did. Here are the latest notes.
Why Birdy exists
The thinking behind the private field journal, the offline guide and the 839 European species.
Read on birdy.community →Why Birdy became an app and not a website
The question I ask before every build, and why the answer was a real app this time.
AI that works with no coverage
What it takes to recognize a bird on the phone, and what it costs in app size.
My other productAn HR tool for companies with 15 to 75 employees: a weekly check-in and material for the manager's conversations. A web app, because managers sit at a desk.
About LoopLead →Thinking about an app of your own?
Start with the question in When an app is right, or get in touch and I will tell you how Birdy was built and what it would mean for your idea.