Tap "Apiaries" from the home screen, then tap the + button. Give your apiary a name and optionally add a location. Your apiary is the top-level container that holds your hives.

Open an apiary, then tap the + button to add a hive. You can set the hive name, type (Langstroth, Top Bar, Warre, etc.), colour, and installation date. You can add as many hives as your plan allows.

The dashboard shows a snapshot of your operation: total apiaries, hives, and inspections. Quick-access tiles let you jump to any section. Tap the Account icon (top right) to access settings, subscription, and team options.

Yes. Bee Inspector is a universal app optimised for both iPhone and iPad, including a full split-view layout on iPad. Download free from the App Store.

Yes — Bee Inspector is available on Android via Google Play. The Android app includes all core features: inspections, queen tracking, treatment tracking, mite counts, harvests, analytics, and offline support.

Yes — the full app is available at my.beeinspector.com and works in Chrome and Edge. Safari is supported with some limitations (voice dictation and NFC are not available on web).

Yes, with one important requirement: you must be logged in and have opened the app at least once while connected to the internet before going offline. Once you've done that, inspections and notes will save locally when you're offline and sync automatically to the cloud when connectivity is restored. Attempting to use the app for the first time offline is not supported.

Navigate to a hive (Apiaries → Apiary → Hive), then tap the + button on the Inspections tab. Fill in the date, weather, overall health, brood, stores, queen observations, pests, and any notes.

When you start a new inspection, the form shows a summary of your last visit — key findings, health status, and smart alerts for things to follow up on (e.g. swarm cells, low stores, pest sightings). This helps you know what to look for before you open the hive.

A free-text field at the top of the new inspection form where you can write your plan before opening the hive — e.g. "Check queen status, look for swarm preparations, assess winter stores." It is saved with the record and shown on the detail screen.

Frames of Covered Bees is the number of frames that have a full covering of bees on both sides — a measure of colony population strength.

Frames of Capped Brood is the number of frames containing sealed brood. Strong colonies in spring and summer typically have 6–10+ frames of capped brood. Together these two numbers help you decide when to add a super, split a hive, or assess winter readiness.

Hive Entry Activity describes how busy the entrance is when you arrive — how many bees are flying, returning with pollen, or guarding.

None — no activity; bees may be clustered (winter) or colony may be weak.
Light — low traffic; normal on cool or overcast days.
Moderate — steady traffic; typical for a healthy, active colony.
Heavy — high traffic with many foragers returning; peak nectar flow.
Very Heavy — exceptional traffic; strong colony during a major flow.

Tracking this over time helps you spot seasonal patterns and catch early signs of weakness before opening the hive.

Excellent — colony is thriving, strong population, good brood pattern.
Good — colony is healthy with minor issues.
Fair — some concerns that need monitoring.
Poor — significant problems; take action soon.
Critical — colony is in serious distress; immediate action required.

A mite wash (alcohol wash) counts Varroa mites in a sample of bees. Toggle "Mite Wash Performed" and enter the number of mites counted and the number of bees sampled (minimum 300, taken from the brood area). The app automatically calculates the infestation rate and colour-codes it: green (Pass, below 3%), amber (Watch, 3–5%), or red (Fail, above 5%).

You can also record where the sample was taken from (Brood Area, Outer Frame, or Honey Super) and optionally flag any conditions that may affect accuracy — for example, a recent treatment or a recently split colony.

The pin-kill test measures how quickly your colony detects and removes dead or diseased brood — a trait called hygienic behaviour, which is strongly linked to Varroa resistance. To run the test, pin-kill (freeze) a patch of capped brood and return at 6 and 24 hours to count how many cells have been uncapped and cleaned.

Toggle "Pin-Kill Test Performed" and enter the cells killed and cells removed at 6 hours and 24 hours. The app calculates the cleaning percentage for each timepoint. Colonies that clean 80%+ by 24 hours are considered highly hygienic. The 6-hour reading is especially useful for identifying exceptional VSH candidates — colonies that begin removing brood within hours of the test.

The UBeeO test measures hygienic behaviour using a synthetic pheromone spray applied to a section of capped brood — no brood is harmed. Spray the UBeeO mixture onto a marked patch of capped brood, then return after exactly 2 hours and count the cells uncapped by the workers.

Toggle "UBeeO Test Performed" on the inspection form and enter the total capped cells in the sprayed area and the number uncapped at 2 hours. The app calculates the percentage automatically.

Low (0–39%) — limited hygienic response.
Medium (40–59%) — moderate response.
High (60%+) — strong hygienic behaviour; excellent breeding candidate.

The UBeeO score is the 7th trait on the queen score card. The pheromone is available from opterabees.com.

Voice to text — tap the microphone button on the Notes or Today's Focus fields to dictate observations hands-free while you work through the frames. The text is appended automatically when you stop speaking.

Screen stays on — the inspection form keeps your screen active for 15 minutes from your last tap, so it won't lock mid-inspection. If you'd like the entire app to stay awake, enable Keep Screen Awake in Account Settings → Preferences.

Yes. Go to Account → Export Data and tap Download Blank Inspection Form (PDF). The form is a single-page letter-size PDF with a wide left margin for ring-binder hole punching. Use it to record observations at the hive by hand, then enter the data into the app when you're back inside.

On iPhone, the iOS share sheet opens — tap Print to send to an AirPrint printer, or Save to Files to print later. On web, the PDF downloads directly.

Open a hive and tap the Queen tab, then tap + to add a queen record. You can track the queen's origin, colour marking, laying status, introduction date, and whether she has been marked or clipped.

Each queen is rated across up to eight traits — brood pattern, temperament, honey production, mite wash results, pin-kill hygienic behaviour, UBeeO pheromone test, Harbo/VSH score, and treatment-free mite resistance. Each trait scores 1–5 and an overall score is calculated from whichever traits have recorded data. Traits with no data are excluded from the score rather than counting as zero.

Laying — queen is actively laying eggs.
Present – not confirmed — queen was seen but laying was not verified.
Not seen — queen was not found during the inspection.
Superseded — colony replaced the queen naturally.
Swarmed — colony has swarmed; queen may have left.
Failed — queen is no longer productive.

The most recent status is shown on the queen card and the hive detail screen. The full observation history is available in the Observation History section on the hive detail screen.

Queen cells are capped cells used to raise a new queen. Swarm cells are typically built along the bottom of frames and signal the colony is preparing to swarm. Supersedure cells are usually built in the middle of frames and mean the colony intends to replace the existing queen.

The Harbo Score (0–4) rates a queen's Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) based on brood examination, following the method developed by Dr. John Harbo at the USDA Baton Rouge lab. Higher scores indicate a stronger tendency to detect and remove mite-infested brood.

0 — No hygienic response observed.
1 — Minimal response.
2 — Moderate response.
3 — Good response.
4 — Exceptional — strong VSH candidate.

On the queen record, toggle "Harbo Score" and set the value with the slider — or enter raw brood counts (Reproductive Mites Found and Cells Inspected) and the score is calculated automatically: 0% reproductive mites = 4, ≤5% = 3, ≤15% = 2, ≤25% = 1, >25% = 0.

The score appears on the queen card and is used in grafting candidate evaluation.

The VSH Worker Score (0–4) captures the hygienic behaviour score measured from the queen's worker offspring — separate from the Harbo brood inspection score. It should be assessed after the colony has had at least 7 weeks to express the trait through their workers.

The Sample Data field records the raw counts in the format used by the USDA VSH programme: Removed / Non-removed / Non-viable out of total cells inspected (e.g. "12,2,1/100"). This preserves the full dataset for breeding records.

You can also record the date the VSH assessment was completed and the hive that provided the drone source — useful for tracking lineage across your breeding programme.

Marking a queen as a Grafting Candidate flags her as a potential breeder — a queen whose traits (Harbo Score, VSH Worker Score, temperament, and hygienic behaviour) make her worth selecting for a grafting programme. Toggle this on the queen record when she meets your criteria.

Grafting Candidate queens are highlighted in the Queen list for easy identification and will be available as breeder selections in the companion Queen Grafting app.

On the queen record, expand the Lineage section and select an Origin Method to describe how the queen came into the hive:

Emergency (Donor Frame) — bees raised a queen from eggs or young larvae provided on a donated frame from another hive.
Queen Cell Transfer — a capped queen cell was moved from another hive directly into this one.
Grafted — raised via a grafting programme (larvae were grafted into queen cups).
Purchased — bought from a supplier, breeder, or nucleus seller.
Swarm — came with a captured swarm; mother queen's identity unknown.
Hive Split — emerged from existing brood when the colony was split.
Unknown — origin not recorded.

You can also record where the queen was sourced in the Where Acquired field — useful for tracking supplier performance over time.

Yes — this is the core of queen lineage tracking. When the Origin Method is set to Emergency, Queen Cell Transfer, Grafted, or Hive Split, a Mother Queen field appears on the queen record. Tap it to search your queen list and select the queen whose eggs or larvae were used to raise this one.

The app records the mother queen's name and the hive she came from. Once linked, the mother queen and her source hive are shown on the daughter queen's detail card and in the queen list — letting you trace genetic lines across multiple generations and hives.

This is particularly valuable for breeders running a VSH or hygienic behaviour selection programme, where tracking which queens produced the best offspring is essential for making good grafting decisions.

This is the 8th trait on the queen score card — it measures how well a colony manages Varroa without chemical treatment.

If any Varroa treatments (Oxalic Acid, Formic Acid, ApiVar, etc.) have been recorded for the hive — from either the Treatments tab or an inspection — the trait shows N/A and is excluded from the overall score.

If no Varroa treatments are recorded, the score is based on average mite wash counts: 0 mites = 5 stars, 1–3 mites = 4 stars, 4–6 mites = 3 stars, 7–9 mites = 2 stars, 10+ mites = 1 star. Mite wash data must be recorded before this trait can be scored.

Marking a hive as inactive records that the colony has ended (e.g. colony died, absconded, sold, combined with another hive) without permanently deleting the hive. All historical inspections, harvests, and queen records are preserved for analytics.

Open the hive detail screen, tap the ⋮ menu in the top right, and choose "Mark as Inactive". A picker will appear with the reason (e.g. Colony died, Absconded, Sold, Winter loss, etc.). Select a reason and confirm. The hive will no longer appear in the active hive list.

On the hive list screen for an apiary, use the segmented filter at the top (Active / Inactive / All) and tap "Inactive" to see inactive hives. Open the hive — an amber banner shows the inactive reason and date. Tap "Reactivate" to return it to active status.

Yes. Inspections, harvests, and queen records from inactive hives are included in all historical analytics and exports. The hive count on the dashboard reflects only active hives.

Open the hive you are splitting, scroll to the "Hive History" section, and tap "Record Split". The split wizard will ask you to fill in: split date, name for the new hive, new hive type, number of frames moved, where the queen goes, and optional notes. Tap "Record Split" to confirm. The new hive is created in the same apiary and a split entry is added to the source hive's history timeline.

The source hive keeps everything — its name, all inspection records, and all supers. The frame count is left unchanged; if you backfill with empty frames, update it manually on the hive edit screen. The split is recorded as a divider event in the hive history timeline.

Queen stays on source hive — the frames moved to the new hive contain brood and young bees; the colony will raise a new queen from those frames. The queen record remains on the source hive.

Queen moves to new hive — the queen physically moves with the frames of brood to the new hive. Her queen record is transferred automatically. The source hive is now queenless and will need to raise a new queen or have one introduced.

There is no one-tap undo, but you can reverse the steps manually: delete the new hive (only if it has no meaningful data yet), and if the queen was moved, use "Move Queen" to transfer her back first. The split event entry in the source hive's history timeline cannot currently be removed, but it does not affect inspections or data.

If you're moving the same colony into a bigger box (same bees, same queen, just larger equipment), this is an equipment upgrade — not a combine. Open the hive detail screen, scroll to "Hive History", and tap "Combine / Move" → "Move to a Bigger Box". You can update the hive name, type, frame count, and brood box count. All inspection history stays under the same hive.

Open the hive that will be absorbed (e.g. your nucleus), scroll to "Hive History", and tap "Combine / Move" → "Combine with Another Hive". Select the destination hive, decide what to do with the queen, then tap "Combine Hives". The source hive is marked inactive with reason "Combined with another hive" and all its history is preserved.

Move queen to destination — use this when the destination hive is queenless and the nucleus queen will take over. The queen record is transferred to the destination hive.

Leave queen on source — use this when the destination hive already has a queen and the nucleus queen will be lost or removed during the combine (e.g. newspaper method). The queen record stays on the now-inactive source hive for historical reference.

NTAG215 NFC stickers can be attached to your hive boxes. Tapping the tag with your phone opens that hive directly in Bee Inspector — no searching or scrolling needed. Works on iPhone (7 or later, iOS 13+) and most modern Android phones with NFC.

See how it works →

Use a free NFC writing app to program the tag before attaching it. Write a plain Text record containing the hive name exactly as it appears in Bee Inspector — for example Hive 1. Then write the record to an NTAG215 sticker and attach it to your hive box.

Recommended free apps (available on both App Store and Google Play):

NFC Tools by wakdev — simple and widely used on both platforms.
NFC TagWriter by NXP — made by the chip manufacturer; very reliable.
Simply NFC (iOS only) — clean, beginner-friendly interface.

From the Bee Inspector home screen, tap the NFC button in the top right corner. Hold your phone near the tag and the app reads the hive name and opens it directly.

iPhone: hold the top of the phone (near the camera) close to the tag.
Android: hold the middle or back of the phone close to the tag. NFC must be enabled in Android Settings.

iPhone: NFC requires a physical device (iPhone 7 or later). Make sure NFC isn't blocked in iOS Settings. Hold the top third of the phone near the tag.

Android: confirm NFC is turned on — go to Settings → Connected devices (or Similar) → NFC and enable it. Hold the middle or back of the phone against the tag. Some phone cases block NFC signals; try removing the case.

Both platforms: the hive name on the tag must match exactly what you named the hive in the app — the match is case-sensitive. Re-program the tag if the name changed.

Go to Account → Preferences → Appearance. Choose Light, System (follows your device's system setting), or Dark mode. Your preference is saved automatically and applies across all your devices.

When enabled, this setting prevents your device screen from locking while Bee Inspector is open — even if you haven't touched it. This is especially useful for beekeepers working with gloves or a veil, where unlocking the phone mid-inspection is awkward. Enable it before heading to the apiary so you can walk between hives without losing the screen. Find the toggle in Account → Preferences → Keep Screen Awake.

Go to Account (top right of home screen) and scroll to the bottom. "Sign Out" will return you to the login screen. "Delete Account" permanently removes your login credentials — your beekeeping data is retained in the database.

The account owner can generate an invite code from Account → Team. Share this code with co-beekeepers. When they enter the code in their app, they see all the same apiaries, hives, and inspections as the owner. All data is stored under the owner's account.

Yes. Team members have full read and write access to the shared account data — they can add inspections, notes, harvests, and more.

Go to Account → Team, then tap "Leave Team" at the bottom. You will return to your own standalone account. Any data you added while in the team will remain under the owner's account.

Yes — the core features are free. The Free plan includes 1 apiary and up to 3 hives with no charge and no credit card required. Pro subscription plans unlock additional hives and features for larger operations.

Free — 1 apiary, up to 3 hives. No charge.
Hobbyist — unlimited apiaries, up to 20 hives. $19.99/year.
Beekeeper — unlimited apiaries, up to 50 hives. $34.99/year.
Professional — unlimited apiaries, up to 100 hives. $49.99/year.

All plans include full access to inspections, queens, notes, harvests, analytics, NFC, and exports.

Go to Account → Subscription and tap Upgrade. You can also tap the plan badge on the home dashboard to jump straight to the subscription screen.

To restore a previous purchase after reinstalling or switching devices, tap Restore Purchases on the same screen.

iPhone / iPad: purchases are processed through Apple and can be managed in iOS Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions.
Android: purchases are processed through Google Play and managed in the Google Play Store → Subscriptions. Your subscription is automatically recognised when you sign in with the same Google account used when you originally subscribed.

This was a known display issue fixed in version 1.6.0. The plan badge now stays hidden until your subscription status has fully loaded from the server, so it only ever shows your correct plan.

When creating or editing a note, toggle "Set Reminder" and pick a date and time. The app will send a local notification at that time. Tap the notification to open the Notes list.

First confirm the reminder date and time were set correctly, and check that the note hasn't been marked complete (which cancels the reminder).

iPhone / iPad: go to iOS Settings → Notifications → Bee Inspector and ensure notifications are allowed.
Android: go to Settings → Apps → Bee Inspector → Notifications and ensure notifications are enabled. On Android 13 and later, notification permission must be granted explicitly when the app first requests it.

Tap "Harvests" from the home screen, then tap +. Select the hive, enter the quantity and unit (lbs or kg), honey type, grade, frame count, and optionally moisture content. The harvest list shows your total weight across all records.

Grade A — premium quality honey.
Grade B — good quality, minor colour or flavour variation.
Grade C — acceptable quality.
Ungraded — not formally assessed.

Open a hive and tap the Treatments tab, then tap +. Select the treatment type (Oxalic Acid, ApiVar, Formic Acid, etc.), the pest being targeted, the treatment date, and optionally add notes.

You can also record a treatment during an inspection — any treatment entered in the "Treatment Applied" field on the inspection form is automatically added to the hive's Treatments tab as well.

The treatment list includes: ApiGuard, ApiLife Var, ApiVar, Formic Acid, HopGuard, Norroa, Oxalic Acid, Verroxsan, and Other. If you use a product not in the list, select Other and add details in the notes field. The Pest Targeted field lets you record whether the treatment is for Varroa Mites, Small Hive Beetle, Wax Moths, Ants, or Other.

Yes. Any treatment entered on the inspection form is automatically synchronised to the hive's Treatments tab. If you later edit or delete the inspection, the linked treatment record is updated or removed to match. All treatments are visible in one place regardless of how they were entered.

The queen score card checks all treatment records for the hive. If any Varroa-targeted treatment is found, the "Treatment-Free Resistance" trait is automatically marked N/A and excluded from the overall score. This applies whether the treatment was entered on the Treatments tab or recorded through an inspection.

Go to Account (top right of home screen) → Export Data. Choose which data to include (inspections, queens, notes, and/or treatments), select an apiary or hive filter, set a date range, and choose CSV or PDF format.

On iPhone and Android the system share sheet opens — you can save to Files, share via email, AirDrop, or any other app. On web the file downloads directly to your browser's downloads folder.

Inspection rows include dates, health ratings, brood pattern, frames of capped brood, hive entry activity, stores, queen observations, pest and treatment info, and notes. Queen rows include marking, origin, laying status, and introduction date. Note rows include type, title, content, and priority. All CSVs can be opened in Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets.

The PDF is a formatted report with a cover page showing your filter criteria and summary statistics, followed by one page per inspection or harvest record. Useful for sharing with mentors or keeping printed records.

The Analytics screen shows charts and trends across your hives: inspection frequency, health rating distribution over time, honey harvest totals by month, mite count trends, and queen laying status history. Use it to spot patterns across your operation.

Yes. Historical data from inactive hives — inspections, harvests, and queen records — is always included in analytics and exports. This is the main reason to mark a hive inactive rather than deleting it.