Rock ID: Rockhounding.org

Rockhounding.org

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

Point your camera at a rock and Rock ID tells you what it is. Built by Rockhounding.org, the site behind the largest free rockhounding maps in the United States.

Identify from a photo. Take a picture and get an answer in seconds, with honest confidence and the runners-up when a call is close. The catalogue covers more than 1,000 rocks, minerals, gems, fossils and the man-made lookalikes people actually find — slag, sea glass, dyed stones, concrete.

No photo? Identify by hand. Answer what you can see — colour, shine, crystal shape — and the app narrows a thousand possibilities to a handful, then gives you the one kitchen test that settles it: the streak plate, a copper coin, a drop of vinegar.

Know how to tell lookalikes apart. Every result explains what else it could be and the exact test that separates them — how to tell agate from jasper, pyrite from gold, real turquoise from dyed howlite.

Keep what you find. Your scans and your collection stay on your phone, synced to your free rockhounding.org account if you want them everywhere.

Rock ID is free to use: every scan is earned by watching a short ad, and the identify-by-hand flow is always free. Rock ID Pro removes ads and makes scans unlimited — $59.99 per year, and included with a rockhounding.org Pro membership.

From the makers of rockhounding.org: free collecting maps for all 50 states, a reference page for every species, and a community of people who pick up rocks.

What’s new

A new look on every screen, easier to read outdoors. Results show how sure the match is, your photo beside a reference, the tell that separates a stone from its lookalikes, and a quick streak test. New: a map of the places on rockhounding.org where each stone has been found. Safety notes for stones that need care. Search the catalogue from the home screen, and a new icon.