Roberts Birds App - Support and FAQ

Gibbon Multimedia (https://gibbonmm.com) handles support of the older Version 2 of the Bird App, visit their FAQ section on their website or contact them by email (guy@gibbonmm.com).

The Roberts Birds app is purchased and downloaded from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store (for convenience called the “App Store”). Open the App Store on your device and search for Roberts Birds. When you select to Install, you will be asked to either confirm payment on an existing account, or to add account and credit card details for a new account. You can also purchase using gift cards purchased from retail outlets. Note that you must purchase the base version before you can use the app. You use your App Store account to purchase apps which is personally managed with your App Store account, ID and passwords, credit cards and purchases, and downloads to devices. The payment mechanism is handle by the App Store and the Roberts Birds app is simply a product available on the store. This means that we will not always be able to assist with the purchasing process. The purchase of any app on the App Store is linked to your email address used for your account, which means that any device registered with the same email address will be able to use the app without having to purchase again, once it has been downloaded and the license restored.

Note that you can use Family Sharing to share your app purchases with immediate family. This is arranged on your App Store account and gives access to all your apps (not just the Roberts app) and also allows purchases on your account unless you specifically block these. We think its a great idea to encourage young children and share your interest with family, but hope that those who would otherwise purchase the app are encouraged to do so. Note that the family sharing features and family members need to be set up in your App Store account.

Download the app on the new device, open the app and select Restore Purchases on the new device. Ensure that both devices are registered with the same email address in your account. If you would like to transfer your sightings, please go to Settings on the old device, and click on “Sync sightings with server”. Follow the instructions to register and login, then allow some time for your sightings to upload to the server. Use the same login credentials on the new device to download sightings from the server.

Apple and Android are 2 separate platforms so purchases cannot be transferred between them. This applies to all apps on the platforms. We suggest you cancel the subscriptions on the one platform and purchase a new subscription on the new platform. You will be able to migrate your sightings, though, if you sync your sightings with our server.

The Roberts Birds app is not supported on Huawei devices as they don’t use Android any more. You might be able to use one of the Android simulator apps like GSpace to run the app on your Huawei device, but we cannot ensure full functionality.

The Apple and Android platforms requires all user to accept permissions for the app to use different functions. These may sound alarming but you will find that many well-known apps are already using these permissions. The following permissions are required for the Roberts Birds app to function properly:

• Access your GPS location while using the app to add GPS co-ordinates to bird sightings and show bird lists at your location.
• Access the media (illustrations, photos, sounds, distribution maps and texts) which was downloaded with the app and allowing you to add your own photos.
• Access the camera to allow for the Image Recognition feature to access the device camera.

We believe the subscription model suits the Roberts Birds app well as this is a constantly evolving app. We are committed to frequently updating the app with all the new information, including things like adding new species, name changes and distribution maps. Additionally, an app is not like a book which stays static. With each new upgrade of the Apple or Android operating system, the app needs to be tested and in some cases significant changes are required to the source code to ensure the app is supported on the newest versions of the operating systems.

We have had many users wanting to switch between the Apple and Android platforms, and with a once-off purchase you will have to purchase the full app at an elevated price again. Many users have contacted us to request a refund, which created an administrative and accounting challenge for the support team.

No, this will be an additional purchase as not all users are interested in using this feature. This allows for a lower cost of the base version.

To import your sightings and lists from an older version of the app:

On the old app:

• Go to “My Lists”
• Click on the export button on the bottom menu
• Select “Import/Export Files”
• Select “Share/Print all to CSV”
• Choose a location to save the CSV file which is accessible to the new app.

On the new app:

Ensure that you have registered and logged in to sync your sightings on the new app. You can do that by going to Settings and selecting “Sync sightings with server”, then follow the instructions on the app.

• Go to “My List”
• Click on the import button next to the New List button
• Log in to the sightings website (if not already logged in).
• Click on the “Import List” button and browse to the saved file.
• Another option is to use a computer to import the CSV file. You can go to www.smartsearchsightings.com/roberts on any computer and import the list from there.
• After the import is completed the sightings will sync to your new app.

Contact us directly by email on support@robertsbirds.co.za and we will get back to you as soon as possible to help out.