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How do I identify an insect?

Open the app, choose The insect, and photograph it as close as your phone will focus — whole body in frame, including the antennae. Confirm that something for scale is visible, and the answer comes back in a few seconds.

I don't have an insect — just a pile of wings.

That is the case this app was built for, and it gets its own mode. Choose Just the wings and lay two or three wings flat, side by side, then photograph them from directly above. Four wings that are all the same size and much longer than a body means termite; two pairs of different sizes means ant. Most identifiers can't answer this at all, because they are built to classify an organism and a shed wing has no organism.

Why does it ask whether there's a coin in the photo?

Because a photograph carries no scale, and size is the one feature that rules out the most dangerous look-alike. A booklouse is 1–2 mm and completely harmless; a termite swarmer is 8–12 mm. Photographed close up, they look the same — and in our own testing both AI models read a 2 mm booklouse as "8–12 mm" and agreed with each other. A known-size object next to the insect fixes that. A coin, a fingertip, or the edge of a credit card all work.

What makes a good photo?

• Get close, but keep the whole body in frame — the antennae and the waist are half the answer.
• Put a coin or your fingertip right beside it.
• Photograph on a plain surface if you can move it — a windowsill or a sheet of paper beats carpet.
• Good light, and hold still until the phone locks focus.
• Shooting through a window or a jar costs you sharpness; open the window if you safely can.

What do TERMITE, FLYING ANT and NOT SURE mean?

Your photo is checked by two independent AI models. TERMITE and FLYING ANT are only returned when both models say the same thing. If they disagree, or if what's in the photo is neither, you get NOT SURE instead of a guess. On a decision this expensive, an honest "can't tell from this photo" is worth more than a confident wrong answer.

It said NOT SURE. What now?

Take one more photo, and change something: put a coin or fingertip beside the insect, get closer, keep the antennae in frame, or — if there are shed wings around — photograph two or three of those laid flat instead. The app tells you which of these to try. A failed or cancelled check never uses up one of your identifications.

How accurate is it?

The app is built to abstain rather than guess: it takes two models agreeing to produce a verdict, and it rules out common harmless look-alikes — booklice, mayflies — before it will call anything a termite. That design costs it some recall, and it will sometimes say NOT SURE about a real termite. It is an identification aid, not an inspection, and no photo-based tool can tell you how far an infestation has spread inside a wall.

It says TERMITE. What do I do in the next 24 hours?

• Don't disturb the swarm and don't spray it.
• Collect several swarmers or shed wings in a sealed jar or zip bag for the inspector.
• Note where you found them: which room, which window, and whether it was near a light at night.
• Walk the inspection checklist in the app — a single insect is one data point, and finding mud tubes or frass turns a maybe into a yes.
• Book a licensed inspector. An inspection typically costs far less than treating damage that was missed.

It says FLYING ANT. Am I in the clear?

For that insect, yes — a flying ant on the windowsill is not a structural alarm. The verdict is about the specimen you photographed, though, not about your whole house. If you have also seen mud tubes, frass, blistered paint or hollow-sounding wood, the checklist is still worth walking.

What's on the inspection checklist?

The five things an inspector looks for: mud tubes (pencil-width mud tunnels on foundations, walls or joists), frass (gritty pellets like coarse sawdust or coffee grounds), blistered or bubbling paint with no water source, hollow-sounding wood (tap skirting and window frames — damaged wood sounds papery), and piles of shed wings on sills, in cobwebs, or near light fittings. You can tick each one and note where you saw it. The checklist is free on every plan, forever.

What is the swarm calendar?

Termites don't fly at random. Enter your ZIP code and the app shows which species swarm in your region and when: eastern subterranean (R. flavipes) on warm still mornings in April–May, dark southeastern in June, light southeastern from July to September, Formosan on May nights around 8–11pm near outdoor lights, and drywood in the autumn.

Does it need my location?

No. It asks for a ZIP code, not location permission, and the whole calendar is bundled in the app — it works offline and your ZIP code never leaves your phone.

Will it notify me?

Only if you turn on "Warn me before my local swarm". You get one notification, about a week before the window opens — the moment a windowsill is actually worth checking. You can turn it off in the app or in iOS Settings.

What's free and what's paid?

Free: three identifications, both capture modes, the full inspection checklist and safety guidance, the swarm calendar, and your last three scans. Premium: unlimited identifications, the annotated breakdown of how each check decided on your own photo, species-level identification rather than just termite-or-ant, swarm alerts, and your full scan history.

The checklist and the safety guidance are never paywalled. Someone deciding whether to book an inspection gets them whether or not they have paid us anything.

Is there a free trial?

Yes — the Premium Annual plan ($39.99/year) includes a 7-day free trial. You'll only be charged at the end of the trial. Cancel any time in your Apple ID subscription settings before it ends. Monthly is $7.99.

Do my free identifications reset?

No — the three free identifications are a lifetime allowance, not a daily one. Checks that fail or that you cancel don't count against them.

How do I restore my purchase?

Open Settings inside the app and tap "Restore Purchases". This re-applies an active subscription previously bought with the same Apple ID.

How do I cancel my subscription?

Open the iOS Settings app, tap your name at the top, then tap Subscriptions. Find Termite Identifier and tap Cancel Subscription. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.

Where do my photos go?

To identify an insect the app uploads that one photo over an encrypted connection to our processing service, which passes it to two AI models running on Replicate. The photo is deleted the moment the check finishes — whether it succeeded or not. Only the verdict is kept, and your own copy stays on your phone. There is no account, and there are no ads or analytics SDKs in the app. See the Privacy Policy for the full detail.

What permissions does the app need?

Camera (only when you take a photo), Photo Library read-only (only for the photo you pick), and Notifications (optional, only for swarm alerts). It never asks for your location.