Best Beekeeping Apps & What They Have to Offer

In this post, we shall explore the best and most popular apps for beekeeping and what they have to offer.

We, beekeepers, love to work with our hands, don’t we? It’s a very manual job. The downside is all the heavy lifting, which, when done incorrectly, can do a lot of damage. Even then, we stick with it.

One of the reasons why we still do it is because some of the work has gotten easier. If we think back to when the Langstroth hive was invented, that definitely made inspections easier.

Now, we have the Flow Hive, which is a revolutionary way to harvest honey.

There are gadgets that even allow you to monitor your hive in the winter without opening it up by using infrared technology.

Now, technology has once again come through to arm us with vast information about our precious bees and help with record keeping.

Best Beekeeping Apps Every Beekeeper Should Have

Hivekeepers for Beekeepers

This is a very popular app for hobbyists and commercial beekeepers alike.

It allows you to record information about your apiaries, hives, and even frames separately. This is one of the great beekeeping apps for analyzing the strength of local traits vs. purchased colonies.

You can use this app to capture vital information on the productivity of the queen, her brooding pattern, resistance to pests and diseases, and even honey production.

The great part about this app is the ability to update your records using photographs.

Records analysis has to be the biggest advantage of this app. Over the years, you can look at the performance of your colonies.

It even provides notifications if you neglect a hive for too long. This is a great beekeeping app to add to your beekeeper’s kit.

Pros:

• Comes in a tiered subscription, depending on your needs (with a 30-day trial).
• Provides detailed activity tracking.
• Some features: Create New Apiary, Inventory, Hive Builder, and Weather Tracking.

Cons:

• Annual subscription required after a 30-day free trial.
• Some users may find it pricey, especially for smaller operations.

Beekeeper Lite

This app is a great inspection assistant. It allows you to record the details of each colony.

It helps in managing hive records, inspections, and honey production. It’s available for both Android and iOS users.

You can quickly record the temperament of the girls, the presence of the brood, and the presence of the queen, either evidenced by eggs or by seeing her.

You just need to tap your screen, and you have a very comprehensive record of your hive inspections. The records tab will act as a checklist, reminding you to check for all the vital signs of your colony’s health and well-being.

The checklist would remind you to check if your queen is marked, whether you have seen your queen, if the brood is sealed, and if supers have honey, among others.

Since the app also allows you to record the strain of bees that you have, you can compare and contrast their performance. Among other beekeeping apps, this one is a quick tool to use on the go.

The developers of the app respond to queries and complaints should you have any.

Pros:

• Simple and easy to use for beginners.
• Locations for sites and hives are easily stored for easy navigation during inspections.
• Available on both Android and iOS.

Cons:

• May not be suitable for commercial or large-scale beekeepers.

HiveTracks Mobile App

If your apiary is someplace outside in the wilderness, then this app is definitely for you.

The recording is done offline, so you don’t need to worry about cell service and WiFi signals. It keeps a record of your hives based on the GPS coordinates that don’t need cell service to work.

Once you’re at the apiary, you can utilize your hands since it’s the best beekeeping app that utilizes audio to record detailed information about all your inspections.

That makes capturing all the vital information so much easier, and you have fewer items to juggle during your inspection visits.

If you see something particularly significant, you can just take a picture and then continue with your audio recording.

Once you’re back within range, the app will upload the data collected and add photos and audio to cloud storage associated with the set-up account.

Pros:

• Syncs data instantly across all your devices.
• Easy-to-use design with powerful tools to analyze your data.
• Great customer service and well-organized information.

Cons:

• Requires a paid subscription, which might be pricey for some.
• It might take some time for beginners to learn how to use it.

Bee Health App

There’s no doubt that bees are under attack by… us.

Well, perhaps, to be more precise, we have created an environment that is wiping them out at an alarming rate. By moving colonies across the world, we have exposed them to pests and diseases they are not equipped to deal with.

Part of the problem is a lack of information. In order to help the bees, we need a better understanding of the challenges they face and the treatment options for them.

This free app is just what beekeepers need. It’s great for beginners who are just starting out. The first year of beekeeping is really difficult.

A century ago, beekeeping was simple. All you have to do is place the hives at a convenient place and let the bees do all the work.

Now, you need to worry about mites, monitoring their numbers, and rotating treatments. You need to worry about diseases that affect the brood and how to prevent them. You need to learn to diagnose diseases affecting adult bees.

This app is a handy resource for beekeepers focused on maintaining the health of their colonies. It provides detailed information on bee diseases and pests. It also comes with updated scientific information on treatment options, making it an essential tool for beekeepers aiming to protect their hives.

Information is a must-have in your beekeeping kit. This definitely is one of the best beekeeping apps that remain free.

Pros:

• Comprehensive information on bee health, pests, and diseases.
• Free to use and easy to navigate.
• Available on both Android and iOS.

Cons:

• Primarily an informational app, lacking in hive management features.
• May not be suitable for those looking for a full beekeeping management system.

Apiary Book

One look at the Apiary Book application, and you can tell there is definitely a beekeeper behind this app.

There are lots of people who are content to keep their records the old-fashioned way. Pen and paper never really go out of style, but they have challenges.

One of them is that analyzing trends, especially over a period of years, can be taxing. I reserve that energy for doing my taxes.

This comprehensive app allows you to record every single aspect of beekeeping. It has been developed to capture all the vital information you need to maintain bee colonies and keep them healthy.

Another valuable feature is the app set reminders for important tasks.

Sometimes, you have a hive that is set up separately from the others. Out of sight, out of mind.

When you’re just beginning, you would think this is an unlikely scenario, but as you expand, sometimes a few things slip your mind. This will help to remind you to look in on that lone ranger colony to keep them healthy.

Pros:

• Hands-free voice recording, so you don’t need to use your hands.
• Works on both iOS and Android.
• Perfect for beginners with reminders and helpful tools built in.
• The paid versions for Android users come with a Mentorship Program.

Cons:

• The free version only lets you manage 1 apiary with 9 hives, and you have to pay for extra features.
• It might be expensive if you have a lot of hives to manage.
• The iOS version has limited Apiary Book PRO Features.

BeePlus Beekeeping Manager

This is a fantastic app available on the Apple app store.

Remember everything you used to put down in your notebook? It’s all here, and they’ve even added some information that you may have forgotten to include.

For instance, how often do you note the weather on the inspection day? This may seem whimsical, and you may set this aside for the poetic beekeeper, but it has scientific weight.

If the bees appear more aggressive than usual, there is the temptation to quickly blame genetics and seek to requeen the hive.

But why not go back to your records and look at your previous inspections? What was the weather like that day? You might notice that their testiness was caused by excessive humidity.

It’s also a great tool for tracking your bee equipment, for instance, supers. You can quickly scan your records and establish how many supers you need to add for nectar flow.

You have a unique QR code for the hives, and the app has the capacity to allow pictorial records of your hive visits. If you are an Apple product user, this is a great app to have for your beekeeping activities.

Pros:

• Comprehensive data tracking, including visual records through the use of photos.
• Supports QR codes for quick hive identification.
• Useful for both hobbyists and professional beekeepers.

Cons:

• Available only on iOS, leaving Android users out.
• It is hard to seek support from the app provider itself.
• No voice recording that could help during hive inspections when your two hands are busy.

Bee Appy – Hive Management

I’ll go straight to my favorite feature of this app. That’s the feedback channel they use.

How many times have you used an app and thought, does whoever built this know anything about what the real-world scenario is?

Well, the Bee Appy people have thought this part through, and using Trello ensures that you can provide valuable information on the features you most value on the app as they continue to improve it.

In addition to that, it provides you with all the things that a helpful inspection tool does.

An easy-to-follow checklist (with tick boxes and note fields) is the cornerstone of any beekeeper, and the app simplifies this so that data entry comes down to just a few seconds.

This is one of the best beekeeping apps for both the beginner and the experienced beekeeper.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface for efficient hive management.
• Focused on essential features for managing hives and tracking production, such as weather records, supers data, dates of inspections,.
• Ideal for small to medium-scale beekeepers.

Cons:

• Only available on iOS.
• Lacks some advanced features found in other beekeeping apps.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I find the Apiary Book the most helpful, being a beginning beekeeper myself. It is user-friendly and helps with my with day-to-day hive management.

Of course, as a novice beekeeper, I complement this with the Bee Health App (no cost!). As I am new to the beekeeping world, I find the valuable information in this app a great resource to keep my bees and colonies healthy, something I find necessary when starting out with beekeeping.

However, these are but my personal preferences. While these beekeeping apps should make your work easier, you should choose an app that would work best for your own apiary.

If you work gloveless, then it’s easy to go with an app that allows you to tap into your findings. If you would prefer to keep your hands gloved, then a voice-activated option would be the best app for you.

Let’s not forget that even though an app does not allow you to record information, it can still be valuable because it provides you with information.

The beauty of these beekeeping apps is that you do not need to limit yourself to just one. As long as you find it useful, why not try it?