The Hinterland Guide Request pilot access

Invite-only Android pilot

Turn backyard curiosity into real science.

The Hinterland Guide is a field app for curious explorers of all ages. Photograph plants, animals, fungi, and other living things you find outdoors, build a personal Dex, complete nature expeditions, and watch your own Sanctuary grow from real observations.

  • Closed beta
  • Parent-managed accounts
  • No ads
  • No public chat
Request pilot access Read our privacy promise

Please do not include your child’s full name in this request.

A quiet field notebook for real outdoor finds

How The Hinterland Guide works

A simple rhythm for noticing the living world.

Go outside

Kids take a photo of something living: a plant, insect, bird, mushroom, or other organism.

Log the observation

The Hinterland Guide helps them record what they found. They can choose a suggested species or enter what they know.

See what changed

Each observation fills their Dex, advances expeditions, and brings new life to their Sanctuary.

Meet The Sanctuary

A world that only grows from real discoveries.

The Sanctuary is a quiet illustrated habitat inside The Hinterland Guide. It starts sparse. As kids log real observations, the meadow grows, the pond ripples, birds visit the sky, and tiny details appear.

  • Your first plant wakes up the meadow.
  • A butterfly brings movement to the flowers.
  • A frog adds ripples to the pond.
  • More observations make the scene richer over time.
Sanctuary habitat scene A simple illustrated scene with sky, meadow, pond, woodland edge, soil layer, and a small hinterland.

Safety and trust

Built for families, with kids managed by adults.

For kids

  • No public chat
  • No direct messages
  • No ads
  • No follower counts
  • No public profiles
  • No pressure streaks

For adults

  • Parent or teacher creates the group
  • Kids join only through an invited account
  • Observation sharing stays inside the family or class group
  • Adults can review flagged photos

Families and teachers

Made for invited groups, not a public social network.

The Hinterland Guide is designed for invited families and classrooms. Parents and teachers create kid accounts and groups. Kids explore inside a supervised, closed group.

For families

Use The Hinterland Guide as a supervised way to turn walks, yards, gardens, and parks into a growing field record.

For teachers

Use The Hinterland Guide with controlled pilot groups for nature clubs, school gardens, and field walks.

Closed Android pilot

A small supervised pilot before any public release.

The Hinterland Guide is preparing a small Android pilot through Google Play Internal Testing. We are starting with known families, parent supervision, and careful feedback before any public release.

The Hinterland Guide is in a small supervised pilot. We’ll reply if we can include your family in the next test group.

  • Known families only during this Internal Testing phase.
  • Adult supervision is expected, especially for the first kid test.
  • The pilot request email asks for adult contact details and kids’ age range only.
Request pilot access

The pilot is limited. A parent or guardian should be present during the first kid test.

Please do not include your child’s full name in this request.

What happens next?

A careful path into the pilot.

  1. We review pilot requests.

  2. If selected, we send Android internal-testing instructions.

  3. A parent or guardian helps create the kid account.

  4. The first test should happen with the adult present.

FAQ

Clear answers for the first pilot families.

What age is The Hinterland Guide for?

The Hinterland Guide is designed for curious explorers of all ages. Kid accounts are managed by adults.

Is The Hinterland Guide public?

No. The Hinterland Guide is preparing for a limited Android Internal Testing pilot with invited families and adult supervision.

Is The Hinterland Guide a public social network?

No. The Hinterland Guide has no public kid profiles, public chat, direct messages, follower counts, or open discovery.

Does The Hinterland Guide have ads?

No. The Hinterland Guide does not include ads, tracking pixels, ad SDKs, or marketing chat widgets.

What data does The Hinterland Guide collect?

During the pilot, The Hinterland Guide may collect organism photos, observation location, timestamp, species or taxon choices, kid nickname or display name, group membership, and adult account contact details. The privacy page explains the pilot draft in more detail.

What is The Sanctuary?

The Sanctuary is a private illustrated habitat that grows from real observations. It is not a public profile, social feed, or map.

Can teachers use The Hinterland Guide?

Teacher and group-leader use is planned for controlled pilot groups, nature clubs, school gardens, and field walks. Teacher access stays invite-only during testing.

Is The Hinterland Guide available now?

No. The Hinterland Guide is preparing for a closed Android pilot. Broader release depends on privacy, legal, store-review, and field-testing gates.

Is this available on iPhone?

Not yet. The first pilot is focused on Android through Google Play Internal Testing.

How do I request pilot access?

Use the pilot request button or email support@thehinterlandguide.app. Please do not include your child’s full name in this request.