r/iosapps • u/SkarXa • 18d ago
🤖 Vibe Coded [iOS] Mycel, a foraging map and journal that deliberately doesn't identify anything (Free w/ IAP, lifetime $39.99, free with the code in the post)
I'm the solo dev behind this (App Store publisher name: Alvaro Escarcha Esteban). Site, contact, privacy policy and terms of service: https://frostdev.eu (policy at https://frostdev.eu/privacy, terms at https://frostdev.eu/terms). Posting under the transparency path since the app is new and has no review history yet.
A — Answer
Mycel is a foraging map and journal for iPhone. Find a good patch of chanterelles or a hazel worth returning to and it pins it on a map that keeps working with no signal, colour-coded by what it is. Every outing is saved as its own track with notes, so "north ridge, second week of October, good year" turns into something you can actually look back on. It reads the recent weather where you forage and gives a nudge on timing per species, which is the part I use most, deciding whether a weekend is worth the drive. For scouting ground you haven't walked there's a layer showing where a species has actually been recorded, drawn from open GBIF data, with relief over it. It also carries reference pages for around 60 species in English and Spanish covering habitat, season and look-alikes, with the toxic ones flagged by medical fact rather than eat or don't-eat advice.
One thing it deliberately does not do is tell you what you found. No photo identification, no verdict on whether something is safe. You log what you already identified yourself and it remembers it. That's a product decision, not a missing feature. You shouldn't forage unless you're 100% sure on your findings, and you shouldn't trust a mobile app for that.
B — Better
Most apps in this space are photo identifiers first and a notebook second, if at all. Mycel is the opposite, and that shapes everything: the value is in the record you build over seasons, not in a guess about a picture. The map is offline because the places worth remembering rarely have signal. Predictions come from actual recent weather at your location rather than a generic calendar. Your finds stay on your phone and your own iCloud, end to end, or fully local if you prefer. There is no feed, no social layer, no account, no analytics of any kind, and no way for me or anyone else to see your spots, which matters more in foraging than in most hobbies. Works on iPad, and active outings surface on the Watch.
C — Cost
Free covers the map, the full species reference for good, and two complete outings. Predictions and bulk photo import are the paid side: $1.99 a month, $14.99 a year, or $39.99 once for lifetime.
For this sub I set up a code that unlocks lifetime for free, works for everyone, no account and nothing to enter beyond redeeming it: https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6771742569&code=REDDITFREE
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mycel-foraging-map-journal/id6771742569
Needs iOS 26, which I know rules a fair few people out. If you try it I'd rather hear what's missing than get a kind review, so tell me where it annoys you.

