Project Monarch

Cellular Tracking Technologies

About this app

Project Monarch is an effort to leverage recent advances in tracking technology, that have enabled the development of the world’s smallest tracking devices, to track Monarch migration.

The tracking devices on the monarch butterflies transmit at the same frequency as Bluetooth which means that everyone with a smartphone is carrying around a receiver in their pocket! This revolutionary approach can potentially create the largest wildlife tracking receiver network in the world, but only if members of the public download and use the free Project Monarch app.

These data will allow scientists to track the movements of monarch butterflies in detail never previously imagined. We will see how monarchs utilize key stopping points along migratory routes and learn more about the speed and direction of migration, helping identify the most important sites for habitat conservation and restoration. Ultimately, this technology can help guide conservation planning and lead to increases in monarch populations.

Ratings and reviews

To keep the app from crashing on launch, first goo into permissions and permit location sharing and nearby devices; then it works and it's very cool! It would be good if the app told you this instead of crashing... (Oh and yes, the verification email does tend to go to spam, so check for it there.)

Launch doesn't work unless you do the verification they send to your email, which i found in my spam folder. I'm surprised I've detected none of your butterflies for a many as I've seen this year. but with the Bluetooth comment that somebody else made, I'm not sure if I have it set up correctly.

Dowloaded and installed app on my Samsung Android phone. Created an account and when I hit "launch" the program crashed. Even if you log out and hit launch again it still crashes. No contact information on who might help resolve this issue.