Does Bird Journal need internet?

The Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android apps keep a full copy of your journal on the device, so nearly everything you do with Bird Journal works with no signal at all. Add entries, edit them, browse what you have recorded, manage locations, even edit your own taxonomies and checklists — none of that waits for a connection.

Changes sync the moment you make them if there is a connection, and the moment there is one if there is not. Nothing is lost in the meantime, and there is no button to press.

There is no need to sign out when you have finished. Sign out only if you are worried about somebody else on that device seeing or changing your records, or if you want to sign in as somebody else.

What does need a connection

• Creating an account, and signing in.
• Browsing the library. Items you have already installed, and your own, work offline.
• Installing anything from the library, or publishing to it.
• Maps, which fetch their imagery as you look at them.

Two things worth knowing

Photos are fetched as you look at them, so a newly signed-in device holds very few. Before a trip without a signal, use Tools ▸ Download All Photos to bring them all down first.

The web app is the exception to all of this. It runs in your browser with your journal on our systems rather than on your machine, so it needs a connection throughout. If you want Bird Journal where there is no signal, install the app for your device.