Fishbrain App Review
Grade
B
by Ben Team
Anglers take a variety of different approaches to their craft. Some prefer to use every technical advantage available, including advanced electronics, rods made from cutting-edge composite materials and fishing lures with hyper-realistic finishes. Others are content to use a 20-year-old cane pole and a can of worms to catch catfish from their local pond.
Neither approach is inherently better than the other, but times have never been better for those in the former category. As cell phones and other wireless devices have become ubiquitous, software engineers have begun partnering with angling experts to develop applications that will help you catch more fish.
Fishbrain is a great example of such apps. We’ll examine the app in more detail below, discuss some of its best features and explain why it earns a solid B+ rating from Fishing Tech.
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Fishbrain App Features
At its core, Fishbrain is primarily a social application that helps you connect with other anglers. It is an extremely popular app, with the largest social network of any fishing app. Over three million anglers use the app and over two million catches have been logged since the app became available.
Most anglers who have tried the app have found it very helpful and provided very positive reviews of the product. Fishbrain is available in a free version, and you can also upgrade to a premium version for a nominal monthly fee for expanded functionality.
Some of the most impressive features provided by the free version of the app include:
Social Connectivity
Like most other fishing apps, Fishbrain allows you to connect with other anglers, including those in your area, who are fishing the same waters you are. You can talk with other anglers, share tips and try to get them to share their favorite secret fishing holes, even if you’ve never met them in person.
Catch Information
The Fishbrain app provides a wealth of data to help you catch more fish, as it details not only the location and time at which fish have been caught but also the lures that were used to catch them. This means you’ll spend less time aimlessly cruising around your local lake and more time fishing in the places you know hold fish.
Personal Fishing Statistic Log
Most experts recommend that you journal your fishing trips so that you can learn from the fish you’ve caught as well as the fish you’ve missed. But unfortunately, few anglers are inclined to spend the time necessary to do so. Fortunately, Fishbrain makes this effortless, as its personal fishing statistic function keeps track of your successes and failures for you.
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Fishbrain Review
Most anglers who try Fishidy are quite pleased with the product and begin using it regularly. Some of the features and capabilities that elicited the most praise from other anglers include those detailed below.
The Ability to Discover New Locations
Every angler is always keen to discover new fishing locations, but this is rarely an easy trick to pull off. Fortunately, the Fishbrain app will allow you to do exactly this, which will give you the opportunity to catch many more fish than you otherwise would.
Access to Bait Recommendations
You can spend hours staring at your tackle box, trying to determine the best lure for your target species and the current conditions, but Fishbrain can completely eliminate this problem, as it provides lure and bait recommendations. It does so in part by consulting the experiences other anglers have logged via their own app.
In-App Fishing Forecasts
As every angler knows, the weather has a strong influence on the behavior, movements and appetites of fish. Fishbrain not only provides you with up-to-date weather data, it also provides recommendations regarding the most productive locations and lures for more than 130 species of fish, based on real catch data.
The Option to Keep Track of Other Anglers
Interested in what your friends are catching? Want to know what your favorite angler is using at the moment? Fishbrain allows you to find out exactly this type of information quickly and easily. This way, you won’t be left behind when your friends discover a lure or location that is extremely productive.
Social Media Integration
You don’t have to restrict your interactions with other anglers via the Fishbrain app. Instead, you can use Fishbrain to connect with friends and family through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. This makes it easy to show off your recent catches with those who do not yet participate in the Fishbrain network.
Multi-Device Compatibility
Unlike some other fishing apps, which only work on some devices, Fishbrain will work on most smartphones, tablets and your desktop. It is also available for Android-based phones and those that run iOS. This not only means that you can access your Fishbrain account from home or your boat, it means you won’t have to learn a new app when you upgrade your phone or other devices.
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Fishbrain Pros and Cons
Like any other fishing tool, fishing apps have various strengths and weaknesses. It is important to consider these characteristics when deciding on the best fishing app for you.
- Fishbrain boasts the largest social network of any fishing app
- You can view the catches of other anglers from the entire country
- Bait and lure recommendations can help you catch more fish
- The forecasting function provides valuable data about the current conditions and the lures you should use
- Because it displays plenty of information about the local fish, it is very helpful for inexperienced anglers
- No geographic customization
- Several anglers complained that the app would frequently malfunction or fail to work properly, including the fish recognizing software
- Ads displayed in the premium versions
Fishing App Comparison
One of the best ways to assess the quality of a fishing app is by comparing it to similar products. This includes other versions produced by the same company as well as those offered by other organizations.
Free vs. Premium Version
Generally speaking, the free version of Fishbrain is a scaled-down version of the premium product. For example, the free version does not provide location recommendations like the premium version does. However, Fishbrain’s website does not clearly state the features that are included in the free version. Many users complained that the free version was essentially useless.
Like most other trial apps, the free version comes loaded with advertisements, but unlike most other products, which remove the ads for paying customers, the premium version still displays ads. This irritated many users, although others didn’t seem to mind very much – just be aware of the fact before breaking out the credit card.
Other Developers
Most fishing apps provide similar types of information; the big differences typically relate to things like map quality and – most notably in the case of this particular app – social functionality.
Fishbrain integrates better with and provides better access to most popular social media platforms. This makes it ideally suited for anglers who view the sport as being comprised of equal parts outdoor recreation and social interaction. Like many other fishing apps with elaborate social functions, Fishbrain offers plenty of privacy options.
This means that you can decide who gets to see your catches and other data. You can share it with only your family or you could open it up to all of your friends. You can even share your brag-worthy catches with the entire world if you like.
Several other fishing apps – including Fishidy and Navionics, among others – offer better maps than Fishbrain does. But this is probably not a problem for those with GPS units or advanced fish finders on their boats.
See our complete Fishidy Review.
The Bottom Line
Grade
B+
The Fishbrain App is a helpful application that will provide you with plenty of information to help improve your angling success. It is primarily designed to be a social tool, which allows you to leverage the experiences and catches of other anglers, but it also uses the data collected to provide tips and bait recommendations.
It is probably the best app available for anglers who are interested in the social functions, thanks to its immense user base and the apps ability to work seamlessly with various social media platforms. It will also serve novice anglers well, thanks to the information it provides about trends in your area that are proving successful.
While we wish that the app included more information about water bodies and had more detailed maps, it remains a valuable tool for any angler’s arsenal. Accordingly, Fishing Tech rates the Fishbrain App as a solid B+ and encourages anglers to try out the free version for themselves. Chances are, you’ll like the app and find that the premium version is well worth the cost.
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