From first photo to field note.

Start a discovery and use the camera or choose existing media. Add between 1 and 10 photos or videos showing the same find. Each photo can be up to 100 MB; each video can be up to 1 GB. Tallgrass accepts supported RAW photos, although RAW decoding varies by camera format. If a RAW file cannot be prepared, export a JPEG and try again.

Add a caption and place if useful, then choose Friends-only or Global. Tallgrass asks for a location when you post and shares that map point with the groups you belong to when posting. The iPhone app needs a precise location first; on the web and in the Android app a discovery posts without a map point if location is denied or unavailable. Making a discovery global does not make its exact location global. Check the map point before you submit, especially for a home, sensitive habitat, or another person's property.

Open Camera and choose Live Scan. Review how preview images and questions are shared, then start scanning. Hold the camera steady on one subject. Tallgrass sends small preview images at a controlled pace and speaks short observations as replies arrive. A scan can last up to five minutes, with a limited number of AI turns. Unchanged views are skipped to reduce repeated answers and use of your allowance.

Type a question or use the microphone to ask about what you see. Voice questions listen only when you turn the microphone on and stop after a short utterance. The iPhone app requires available on-device speech recognition. Browser support varies, and a browser's voice service may process audio remotely; its disclosure appears before voice input starts. Typing remains available when voice input is unsupported or permission is declined.

Use the sound control to mute replies. Stop scanning, close the camera, or leave the app to stop new preview transmission. A stopped scan does not restart itself. If a connection, permission, device temperature, or daily allowance prevents scanning, use the normal camera and submit the discovery when you are ready.

A preview identification is provisional. Take a full-quality photo or video to create a discovery and receive its final report and score. A compact recent observation can help that analysis, but does not award points. Preview images are not saved as discoveries or retained in the beta-originals archive, and a scan is not an always-on microphone or a recording of every moment between preview frames.

Tallgrass saves a working draft on your device when local storage is available. Files upload in resumable chunks and can be staged before you press Add. Keep the app or page available while a large transfer is active. If a transfer stops, reopen the draft and retry instead of selecting different files with the same upload request.

Unfinished server upload sessions expire after 24 hours. A saved local draft and a staged server upload are separate, so clearing browser or app storage can remove the local copy even while a staged upload remains temporarily on the server.

AI analysis is part of Tallgrass: discoveries are analyzed by the AI providers named in the Privacy Notice, and there is no setting to turn it off. A pending account deletion pauses provider requests; saved results remain until the account is deleted.

Tallgrass prepares viewing copies and thumbnails before analysis. Video analysis uses sampled frames without sending video audio. New media also needs a valid content-screening result before it can publish. If preparation or analysis fails, keep the discovery and use Retry when shown.

AI reports estimate identity, rarity, encounter quality, behavior, and photographic quality. Standings and category boards use those saved results. They are a game and learning aid, not an expert determination.

If the identification appears wrong, open the discovery and choose Challenge identification. Add a concrete reason, such as a visible field mark or likely look-alike. A challenge requests a deeper reassessment and may uphold, revise, or leave the result inconclusive.

Friends-only is the default. These discoveries are visible to you and people in any group you currently share. Without a group, only you can see them. Create a group or join with its owner's code from Groups. Joining shares your earlier friends-only discoveries with the group's members, and you can see theirs. A code does not grant access to the beta itself.

Choose Global in the feed and standings to explore discoveries shared with all signed-in Tallgrass members. Choose a group to compare within that group. Explorer scores remain visible to other members and include points from friends-only discoveries; the private photos and their details do not appear on Global discovery boards.

Change a discovery's audience when posting or afterward. The Profile setting to share all posts globally applies to existing and future discoveries, replacing previous individual choices. You can then change individual posts again. Sharing a photo globally preserves the separate audiences for its exact location and earlier private comments.

When you open another member's discovery, its author can see that you opened it, and so can other members who share a group with both of you and the author. Anyone else who can see the discovery sees only how many others opened it, not who. Opening a public share link does not record a visit.

Group owners manage invitations and membership. Creating a new invitation code replaces the old one. Members can leave; an owner must transfer ownership or delete the group first. Original field club preserves the earlier beta community, and new Tallgrass members do not join it automatically. See the Privacy Notice for sharing details.

Use comments to discuss a resolved discovery. You can delete your own comments. Use Report on a discovery, comment, or member and give a concise reason for operator review. Use Block to hide each member's content and activity from the other; you control when to unblock.

Comments posted while a discovery is friends-only stay with the groups the commenter and owner shared at that time. Making the discovery global does not make those comments global. Private identification challenges keep a separate group audience too. Comments added while it is global can be seen by the discovery's audience.

Reports are not emergency services. Contact local emergency services when someone is in immediate danger. See the Community Guidelines for conduct and content rules.

Sign in with an eligible Badland account using Google or verified email and password, or use Sign in with Apple. A signed-in Tallgrass account can link an Apple identity from Profile; it does not automatically merge accounts by matching email.

Delete an individual discovery from its detail page. To remove your Tallgrass account on iPhone, open Profile and choose Delete account; on the web and in the Android app, tap your profile photo, then Delete Tallgrass account at the bottom of the page. You can also ask by email: see Delete your Tallgrass account. This removes Tallgrass records and files and requests revocation of a linked Apple authorization. A password account created through Tallgrass is deleted too; a separately created Badland account remains available to other Badland products. The Privacy Notice explains backup and audit-record limits.

Enable notifications from Profile, then allow them in the system prompt. You can change the permission later in iOS Settings. Remote completion notifications also depend on Tallgrass's Apple push configuration.

When asking for help, email [email protected] with your account email, device or browser, what you were doing, and the exact message shown. Do not send passwords, sign-in codes, session tokens, or private RAW files by email.