February 16, 2026
Gotta scan ’em all?
Show HN: Wildex – we built Pokémon Go for real wildlife
Real-life Pokémon app triggers privacy alarm, safety panic, and "Why not iNaturalist"
TLDR: Wildex turns your phone into a wildlife spotter with points, rarity tiers, and leaderboards. Commenters love the idea but blast its tracking and ads, question safety around real animals, and ask why not use iNaturalist instead—some want a paid, no‑tracking version and clarity on how the IDs work.
“Pokémon Go, but nature” just hit the App Store—and the comments went wild. Wildex promises to ID any plant or critter with your camera, slap a rarity label on it, and let you climb leaderboards for rare finds. There’s even Danger ratings and a chirpy guide named “Wildboy.” It’s free and iPhone‑only, which sounds wholesome… until readers clocked the fine print: ads and tracking data like location and identifiers listed in its privacy policy. Cue the uproar.
The loudest camp? Privacy hawks. One user flatly declared “no go” over tracking, while another begged for a paid, no‑linking version. It’s the classic “fun app meets data diet” showdown, and the vibe is: don’t monetize my hikes. Meanwhile, a safety flare ignited: commenters recalled 2016’s Pokémon Go chaos and warned this could send newbies closer to real predators for XP—yikes. Some joked about “legendary raccoons,” but the concern felt real.
Then came the comparison clapback: “Why not iNaturalist?” The thread split between folks craving gamified nature walks and skeptics asking why reinvent a well‑known community tool. A few nerds asked how the IDs actually work—custom AI model?—but the dominant drama stayed on privacy, safety, and purpose. Verdict: people love the idea of collecting nature; they just don’t want to be collected themselves.
Key Points
- •Wildex is a free app that identifies plants, animals, and bugs via the device camera and builds a personal species collection with local rarity tiers.
- •Discovery features include nearby species lists, “hidden legendary species,” and a personal map logging where and when finds occurred.
- •Competitive elements include local/global leaderboards, quests for XP, and one‑tap sharing, alongside species fact pages for learning.
- •Version 2.0 adds an improved AI model, updated UI screens, danger ratings/rankings, and introduces a “Wildboy” wilderness guide.
- •App Store labels list tracking (identifiers, usage data), linked data (location, contact info, user content, identifiers, usage), and diagnostics not linked to identity; the app contains ads and supports iOS, macOS (M1+), and visionOS.