Where Does Seek by iNaturalist Store Observations?
Where the Seek app keeps observations and badges on Android and iPhone, and how iNaturalist fits in.
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Seek is built for offline exploring, so most data stays on the device. Observations, badges, and challenge progress live in private app storage. The link to iNaturalist is opt in per observation, not a full sync. That surprises users who expect everything to follow their login.
Android may show a Seek folder under Android data for cache, but sightings that matter are private until posted. iPhone keeps them in the app container. For a permanent record, post key sightings to iNaturalist from inside Seek. The web account then holds them regardless of what happens to the phone.
Where Seek by iNaturalist stores this, by platform
/sdcard/Android/data/org.inaturalist.seek
Badges and sightings live privately until posted. A shared Seek folder may hold cache on some Android builds. Post key finds to iNaturalist to keep them beyond reinstalls.
On My iPhone/Seek
Observations live in the Seek container under On My iPhone. Share photos to Files for backup. Posted sightings also appear in your iNaturalist web account when linked.
Frequently asked questions
Do Seek observations move to a new phone?
Seek observations stay on the phone in private storage. Posting to iNaturalist copies selected sightings to your web account, which does transfer. Upload the ones you care about before switching, then sign into iNaturalist on the new phone to see them.
Does Seek back up to iNaturalist automatically?
Only the ones you posted to iNaturalist. Seek itself is offline first, with badges and challenges stored locally. A reinstall resets badges but leaves posted web observations intact. Screenshot your badge page if you care about the streak.
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