How Can I Identify Plants on My iPhone for Free?

1. IdentifyThisPlant (best results, no install)

Open Safari on your iPhone and go to identifythisplant.app. Tap "Take Photo" to open the camera, snap the plant, sign in with Google (one tap if you're already signed in on iCloud), and the AI returns the species + care guide in 3–5 seconds. First identification is free.

Pros: 99% accuracy, full care guide, no App Store install, photos never stored.
Cons: Requires one-click Google sign-in for the first free ID.

2. Apple Visual Look Up (built-in, no sign-in)

Available on iPhone with iOS 15+ and an A12 chip or later (iPhone XS and newer). To use:

1. Open the photo of the plant in the Photos app
2. Tap the small leaf icon at the bottom (next to the i icon)
3. iOS shows the species guess

Pros: Free, fully offline-ish, no sign-in needed.
Cons: Only works on existing photos (not real-time), accuracy varies, no care guide, limited to species Apple has trained on.

3. Google Lens (fastest guess)

Install the free Google app, tap the Lens icon in the search bar, point at a plant. Returns a guess plus web search results.

Pros: Free, fast.
Cons: No confidence score, no care guide, photos go to Google. See the full comparison.

Which one should I use?

• Need to actually keep the plant alive: IdentifyThisPlant (gets you the care guide).
• Just curious about a photo on your camera roll: Apple Visual Look Up.
• Already have the Google app open: Google Lens.

Add to Home Screen for one-tap access

IdentifyThisPlant works as a Progressive Web App. To add it like a native iPhone app:

1. Open identifythisplant.app in Safari
2. Tap the share icon (square with arrow)
3. Tap "Add to Home Screen"
4. Now the icon launches it like a regular app — no App Store needed